Page 1 of The Billionaire and the Nanny

CHAPTER 1

LEO

They call me king of the jungle.

And like any other king, I am feared, trusted, reviled, and loved in equal measure.

Yet, Leo Donovan, CEO of The Donovan Group and king of the corporate jungle was defeated by a bunny.

I frowned at the little girl in the pink bunny costume who held me hostage.

“Have mercy on your Daddy, Cotton Tail. I’ve read the same story seven times already,” I begged. “It’s time to go to bed.”

“No!” declared Her Bunny-ness, with her lip stuck out. “I’m wide awake. It’s time to play.”

My daughter, Madeline, was only five years old, but she was already a little Donovan in the making.

“Sweetheart, Daddy has to go out now. I’ll be back before you wake up,” I promised.

When Maddie was born, I told myself that I’d be the sort of father I’d never had. A hands-on one. My parents treated mybrothers and me as heirs, not as sons. We had the best nannies and tutors. But we didn’t have a family.

Not until my coked-up mother crashed the two-seater plane she was flying just minutes after take-off, and killed herself and my father instantly. That’s when my father’s sister took charge of raising the three of us and showed me the true meaning of family. Aunt Fee was more of a mother to us than our own mother had ever been.

When I realized that my wife, Natalie, was happier to play socialite than to play mom, I decided never to allow Maddie to suffer as I had done. We had nannies, of course - a string of very expensive and highly qualified nannies. But they could never replace a parent.

And that was why, no matter where I went, I returned home every night to read my baby girl a bedtime story and kiss her goodnight. If I had to travel, Maddie traveled with me. Maddie and an entourage of nannies and helpers.

Now, my wife was dead, and Maddie barely remembered her. But she still had me. And she always would. If only she would accept that I wasn’t going to leave her like her mother.

Maddie was only one year old when Natalie died. I took a deep breath and shoved aside the fury that rose in me at the thought of Natalie and her selfishness. My marriage was a closed chapter now, and it meant nothing more to me than a cautionary tale, because if it had taught me anything, it was that women were not to be trusted. They looked like angels but had souls like demons from the deepest circle of hell.

I took another deep breath and fought the anger and resentment with all my might because I refused to let it taint my time with my baby. Maddie was nothing like her mother or mine. I didn’t know from where she inherited this fount of love and goodness, but it wasn’t from any of us.

“Please stay with me, Daddy,” she said, with a pout.

Aww, man! I could never resist that pout.

I had spent a lot of money on tickets to the very exclusive and very expensive event at an art gallery, and now, I was resigned to the fact that I was going to miss it just because I couldn’t bear to disappoint my little princess.

“Don’t be daft, Leo. She’s just playing you,” pointed out Aunt Fee. “Come now, Maddie, it’s time to say goodnight to Daddy. I’ve brought you a new book, but I’ll only read it if you agree to go to bed like a good girl after the story.”

Maddie weighed her options, and the smart cookie realized that while she could run rings around me, she couldn’t fool Aunt Fee. Her lips quivered dangerously for a few minutes, and then she put her little arms up to hug me goodnight.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I shut her bedroom door behind me. Aunt Fee was already reading to her and I was spared the usual waterworks that accompanied my departure. The valet brought the limo around, and I frowned. That car was never the vehicle of my choice, and I wondered if the valet had forgotten that.

Just then, my brothers came walking around the corner of the house, and I realized why the party bus had made an appearance after languishing in the garage for so long.

“Hold up,” called Luke, my youngest brother. “We’re riding with you.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re planning to use you as an excuse to ditch the event fairly early,” said Marcus, Luke’s twin.

He was older than Luke by just a minute, but their personalities were as different as chalk and cheese. Marcus was the saint to Luke’s sinner.

“Why?”

“Because I have an early morning call with our Vegas team regarding the new merger, and I want to be alert for the call,” he replied seriously.

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