Page 21 of Always Be Mine

“It will be.” Charli chose a pastry from the box but almost immediately pushed it away. She was in her first trimester of pregnancy, and judging from what Craig observed, pretty much unable to eat most of the time. “You’re not the only one Mom taught to trust their gut.” She smiled knowingly at him.

He hadn’t said anything about their mother, but Charli knew. Their mother had encouraged all of them to tune into their instincts.Usually, your gut reaction is the right one, she’d say. It wasn’t always easy to remember that advice, but there were times, like when Lucy had walked into the shop for the first time, when it was impossible to ignore.

“I hope you’re right.”

Charli stood and crossed the room to give him a kiss on the cheek. “It’s going to be okay, brother. All of it. I’ve been through it, remember?”

Charli had been the second one to receive herordersfrom their father’s will. Her task had been to take a small investment and double it in a matter of six months. It turned out to really be a lesson in believing in herself, which through the process of taking Alpenglow, her hobby flower farm and turning it into a year-round flower business, she had.

“I know it might not seem like it right now, and I know if anyone had tried to tell me this when I was in the middle of it, I wouldn’t have believed them either, but Dad really did know what he was doing. Trust the process and really open yourself up to it. You never know what could happen.”

Craig knew she was talking about the fact that not only did she learn to believe in herself, make a success out of her business, and fulfill their father’s request, but she’d also fallen in love with her childhood best friend and superstar skier, Symon Scott, subsequently gotten engaged and they were now expecting their first child.

“With all due respect, sis. Marriage and more babies aren’t in the cards for me. I know you and Kat would love nothing more than to romanticize every situation, but in this case, it’s not happening. Meri is my priority, and I’m doing this for her. To protect her inheritance. That’s the only reason.”

Ultimately, that’s all it came down to. Meri. It was the only reason he did anything he did. And this was no different.

It didn’t matter what Charli or Kat or any of them said. He didn’t need to beopento the process or even try to understand why their father did what he did. He just needed to get through it. Preferably with as little disruption to his little girl as possible.

Which meant that even if he did think Lucy was ridiculously cute with her big blue eyes, sexy soft lips, and what seemed to be an endearing amount of clumsiness, and even if he had on more than one occasion toyed with the idea of dating again one day if he ever got a spare moment, it wouldn’t be with his daughter’s nanny.

Lucy was questioning all her life choices.

Especially the latest one that had led her to be standing on the top of a mountain, with two boards attached to her feet.

“I don’t know about this.” She turned to the man next to her, but Kane flashed her the same brilliant smile that had convinced her, against her better judgment, to agree to a ski lesson.

“Trust me.” His voice was soothing, and when he placed a gloved hand on her shoulder, Lucy surprised herself by doing just that.

“Okay.”

Okay? Whowasshe?

It wasn’t just the impromptu ski lesson, although that was a huge part of it. But she’d only been in this new town for a few days, and already she was making decisions that she would never have made in a million years if she were in Vancouver.

The jury was still out on whether or not that was a good thing.

No.It was definitely a good thing.

All the decisions she’d made in Vancouver, at least in the last few months, had done nothing but get her in trouble. So really, what was the harm in doing things differently?

From the moment she’d agreed to take the nanny job, which was something Lucy would never have seen coming, Lucy made a decision to embrace the unexpected. At least for the next few months. It wasn’t as if her life could get any more screwed up than it already was. It was obviously time for something new.

Like, apparently, learning how to ski for the first time at thirty-one years old.

“It’s really quite easy.” Kane started to speak. “Remember what I taught you down on the beginner run?”

She nodded. “I think we should go back to the beginner run.”

“Sure thing.” He laughed but there was no malice in it. “But there is only one way down the mountain.”

“The chairlift?” She pointed behind her to the lift they’d just come off.

“No.” Kane turned her arm gently so it pointed down the hill. “Down.”

The panic began to well up inside her once again, but Kane continued to talk. “But first,” he said. “Take a minute to appreciate this.”

She shook her head but took a deep breath before looking out to where he was using her hand to point.

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