Page 29 of The Billionaire and the Nanny

Watching Leo with his family showed me exactly what I was missing in life, and I did what any woman in my position would do if she had an ounce of sense. I ran.

Maybe if I was a different, braver woman, one who didn’t automatically expect to be rebuffed if she reached out to anyone,I might have stayed and basked in the reflected warmth of a loving family. But I wasn’t. I was just me. Broken, alone, and scared. So I whisked myself away from the temptation of what I could never have.

I thought of calling Celine to check on her, but it was late and I didn’t want to risk waking Rose. So I had a leisurely shower, standing under the spray until the hot water had relaxed the tightness in my shoulders. My first day as a nanny was surprisingly hectic. I hadn’t spent much time around kids, except Rose, and she was still a baby, content with cuddles and songs. I had no idea that children of Maddie’s age had so much pent-up energy! Where did it even come from? Ah, they probably sucked it from the souls of the adults around them, I thought wryly as I toweled off, and got into a more sedate pair of pajamas than the ones I had worn on my first night in this house. I flushed as the memories of that stolen night flashed into my mind.

Nope! Not going there, I decided, shaking my head to clear it. I wish I could go into my brain and erase those memories with a dry eraser, but I had a feeling I was going to need them when all this was over and I went back to my lonely existence. If the nannying worked out, maybe I could take it up as a profession. I knew I could count on Fee to give me a reference as long as I did a good job. Maddie was a lovely child, but I didn’t think it was wise to stay on as her nanny for more than a few months. My heart couldn’t take being around Leo and treating him like a stranger all the time.

I wondered if my Lord Crankypants had eaten anything beyond that bowl of chips. It was such a Donovan thing, I realized. Hanger ran in the Donovan family.

Maddie had been cranky too, this afternoon, because she had refused to eat the healthy lunch provided by her school. She wanted a juicy burger and milkshake, she’d said, stompingher little foot. Ramsay had the burger waiting for her as soon as she stepped into the house, so I knew this was a regular phenomenon.

It reminded me of when my grandmother would visit us from India, and she’d have a plate of piping hot parathas waiting for me when I got home from school. It wasn’t as if my childhood had been lacking in any way. My parents were wealthy, and there was no dearth of staff to look after us. But there was no one who cared to spend quality time with me, except my grandmother who visited us every year until I went off to boarding school at the age of twelve.

I got into bed with a packet of popcorn and the TV remote, ready to spend the next couple of hours staring at the screen while I tried not to think about Leo. Maddie seemed to be fast asleep in her room because the baby monitor on my table was silent. According to Fee, she was a heavy sleeper and would wake only in the morning.

I was just getting into a documentary about cats when there was a loud knock on my door. By the time I got out of bed, the knocking had escalated to banging on my door. I rushed to open it, wondering if there was a fire or something. As it turned out, the ‘or something’ was an angry bear of a man glaring down at me like I was an axe murderer.

“What’s wrong, Leo?” I asked, tying my robe hastily.

“You! You’re what’s wrong,” he bit out.

“Excuse me?”

Fee came running behind him, looking anxious.

“What’s going on?” I asked worriedly.

How had I messed up even before I started my new job? I tried to think of anything I could have done to deserve this anger, but nothing came to mind.

Leo barged into my room, advancing on me menacingly. I backed away slowly.

“How dare you put my daughter’s life at risk?”

Umm, what?

“I would never do that,” I said, outraged. “What the hell are you talking about, Leo?”

“Leo, honey, calm down,” said Fee, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged it off and continued to advance on me. I decided it was time to stop retreating and stood my ground.

“You and Maddie were attacked by wasps in the garden yesterday, and you didn’t think to mention it,” he snarled. “Was that oversight, or did you keep quiet on purpose?”

Shit!

“Leo, I didn’t want to get Maddie into trouble.”

“Really? Or was it your own ass you were trying to cover? Ramsay said someone threw a rock at the nest. Was that you, Tia?”

I stared at him in horror. Did he hit his head or something?

“Why would I do that?”

“You tell me, Tia. Maybe the Monanis aren’t done hurting my family. Is your brother trying to get to me through you? Was all of this a huge act, just to get you into my house so that you could hurt my baby?”

“Ohmigod! The ‘Monanis’ aren’t after you, you blithering idiot,” I snapped. “I saved your baby from those wasps! And you were the one who brought me into your house after you kidnapped me! Did you forget that fact?”

“I’ve forgotten nothing! Not how your brother stole my wife, not how he smirked at me over her dead body at the site of the crash, and definitely not the fact that the woman who seduced me three years ago turned out to be just another tool in her brother’s campaign to hurt me,” roared Leo.

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