Page 30 of Baby Nanny

“I thought you were in Paris.”

“That was last month.” Taye paused, and his angel’s face assumed a wicked expression. “Doesn’t really matter, does it ? Icouldn’t miss your wedding, could I?”

Jack spared Derek a brief glance. “You told him?” he asked.

“About the wedding, yes.”

“About the reason for it, no,” Taye contributed with the comfortable brazenness of an old friend. “But I can make a fairly good guess. And I’m guessing it has something to do with Isabella and that ongoing fight you’re having with CPS. Am I right?”

Jack started to agree, then for reasons he didn’t dare analyze, he hesitated. “Isabella’s part of the reason,” he grudgingly admitted.

He couldn’t explain his reluctance to go into the finer points, but suspected it had something to do with Annalise. Even though Derek had drawn up the prenup that spelled out every last detail of their forthcoming marriage, he felt a bone-deep urge to protect his bride from his two best friends, which struck him as vaguely ludicrous. Even so, he didn’t want them to think she planned to married him for financial gain, mainly because he knew her true reason. Like him, she was simply putting Isabella first, and that fact had to be protected and celebrated.

Derek’s eyes narrowed. “Well, well. Who’d have thought?”

“Thought what?” Jack asked defensively.

“That the great Jack Mason has been brought to his knees by his nanny.”

“Stuff it, Fletcher. It isn’t like that.”

“Huh.” Taye appeared intrigued. “I think it’s exactly like that . Idon’t doubt Isabella is a big part of the reason for the hasty marriage, but I think you have a thing for your bride-to-be.” Before Jack could argue the point, he added, “But, the more interesting question is why the hell would she marry you, Mason?”

Jack felt his anger stir. “If that’s the attitude you two are going to adopt, you can support me on my wedding day by not being there.”

Taye chuckled. “Oh, yeah . Ican definitely see the appeal now.”

“You know…” Derek chimed in, “Taye raises an interesting point . Ithought she was marrying you for the obvious reasons.” He and Taye exchanged a knowing look and chimed in together, “Money.”

“You don’t think she is?” Taye asked.

“Guys—”

Derek shrugged. “I’m not so sure. When I met with her yesterday , Ididn’t read ‘gold digger,’ if you know what I mean.”

Jack lost his patience. “That’s because she isn’t.”

“Which brings us back to Taye’s point.” Derek lifted a sooty eyebrow. “Precisely why is she marrying you, Jack? For Isabella’s sake? Fast work, that. What in the world would prompt a woman to sacrifice two years of her life for a child she barely knows?”

“Unless for money.” Taye slipped the suggestion in again with far too much cynicism. But then, he had cause, as Jack knew all too well . Asmall case of been there/done that. “If it wasn’t for the money…” Taye allowed the comment to trailoff.

Jack shrugged uneasily. “She cares about Isabella, just as I do. She plans to get her master’s over the next two years, and this will provide her with the perfect opportunity to set herself up for the future while helping Isabella.”

It sounded weak, even to his ears. As though sensing his concern, his friends exchanged meaningful looks and deliberately changed the subject. Jack listened with half an ear. Now that he stopped to consider the matter, he had to admit his plan to circumvent CPS had fallen into place with impressive ease. Granted, he’d always had a knack for getting his own way and making things come together to his advantage. This wasjust one more example of that, right? But he couldn’t stop the question from fomenting in the back of hismind.

Why had Annalise really agreed to marry him? Was it for Isabella’s sake, as she claimed? Or did she have a very different agenda?

The weddingitself took place late that afternoon in the serenity of his backyard, with Taye and Derek at his side. Annalise and Isabella walked hand-in-hand across the lawn toward him, while a string quartet played softly and a photographer worked discreetly in the background. His bride paused halfway to the makeshift altar and stooped to adjust his niece’s hat. Dappled sunlight framed them, capturing them within a golden glow. And just like that, his heart stopped.

In that moment, his wife-to-be had to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her hair had been pulled back from her face and allowed to tumble in an abandoned riot of curls down her back . Agold and silver coronet anchored her wispy veil in place, the craftsmanship of the leaf-and-diamond-encrusted circlet drawing attention to her vivid eyes. Her ivory gown perfectly suited her tall, lean figure, the bodice fitted, the sweeping skirt complemented by a long flowing train. She looked like a fantasy creature from another era, and yet he knew just how real shewas.

Isabella also wore an ivory gown with lace insets that matched the trim on Annalise’s wedding gown. As far as Jack was concerned, his niece resembled nothing more than a small angel. Instead of a veil, she wore an adorable wide-brimmed bonnet that framed her apple-cheeked face. Gold-tipped brown ringlets peeked out from the edges and bobbed in the gentle breeze. She beamed with excitement.

Instead of carrying her Nancy doll—something he rarely saw her without—she held a basket full of ivory and blush-pink roses. Then, much to his amusement, he noticed the doll perched at the base of the tree near where he stood. He grinned. His adorable niece had dressed the doll for the occasion in a gown and bonnet that, even to his untrained eye, appeared identical to the one Isabellawore.

An instant later, the two joined him beneath the weighty fuchsia blossoms of a crêpemyrtle, and the minister spoke the traditional opening words that would join them together as husband andwife.

The ceremony took no time at all. One minute he was a man who’d sworn never to take a wife. The next he’d married a woman who gazed at him with such a wealth of emotion, it took every ounce of self-control to keep himself from sweeping her into his arms and carrying her off to where they could spend the next twenty-four hours in uninterrupted seclusion.

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