Will He Ask Her to be His Bride?: The Millionaire's Convenient Bride / The Millionaire's Proposal / Texas Ranger Takes a Bride

She forced herself to walk slowly upstairs instead of running up to burn off some of her annoyance. Connah Carey Jones might be paying her well for her services but he was getting good value for every penny. She was an experienced, highly qualified nanny, who could also cook and keep house. And, as the icing on the cake, her family had unknowingly passed John Austin’s security check with flying colours. It was the unknowing part that really hacked her off, no matter what her hormones felt about him.

Lowri was fast asleep. Hester drew the covers higher and went to her own room to ring her mother to report on her first day in the Carey Jones household. Moira was full of eager questions, which Hester answered in detail before mentioning the proposed visit with Lowri. This received such an enthusiastic response that Hester promised to bring the child round for tea as soon as possible.

‘We’ve got some shopping to do first, Ma. Lowri needs clothes, and I must have a session at the supermarket.’

‘Come on Wednesday afternoon, then. I’ll bake.’

‘I told Lowri you would!’

Hester woke next morning at six as usual, and got up to shower before Lowri surfaced. Leaving the sleeping child to the luxury of a lie-in, Hester went silently downstairs to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea, and almost turned tail and went out again when she found Connah there before her, drinking coffee, dressed ready to leave and looking so much the embodiment of every dream she’d ever had that Hester was struck dumb for a moment.

‘Good morning, Hester,’ he said, surprised. ‘You’re an early riser.’

She pulled herself together, irritated by the effect he had on her. It was too much to cope with at this time of day. ‘Good morning. Babies and toddlers wake early, so it’s a habit I can’t break. Lowri is still asleep, so I left her in peace for a while.’

He gave her one of his piercingly direct looks. ‘Actually I’m pleased to have caught you before leaving. Last night I could tell that you were unhappy about having your family investigated, Hester, but where Lowri is concerned you must appreciate that I can’t take risks.’

‘And now you know that my stepfather is a recently retired headmaster and my mother the daughter of a clergyman, you’ll be happy to leave Lowri in my care,’ she said without inflection, and moved past him to fill the kettle.

‘From your point of view, I was sure of that the moment I saw you with John at the Chesterton,’ he said, surprising her.

She swung round in surprise. ‘You were there when he interviewed me?’

‘Beforehand, not during. I sat outside in the lounge behind a newspaper.’ He shrugged. ‘I was beginning to despair by the time you arrived. The other three might have been suitable carers for small babies, I suppose, but much too old to be a companion for Lowri.’

‘So my age was your main reason for employing me?’

‘It was part of it, yes.’ He gave her a sudden disarming smile. ‘But watching you talk to John as he saw you out, I knew Lowri would take to you. And, to be candid, I’m sure the others would have marched off in high dudgeon if asked to pose as my housekeeper.’

‘But you thought I’d take it in my stride?’

‘I think you take most things in your stride, Hester.’

She smiled a little. ‘After years of looking after other people’s children, I should have the knack by now.’

Connah smiled back as he put his empty cup in the sink. ‘Am I forgiven for the security check?’

When he smiled like that she could forgive him anything. ‘I expected one for myself as a matter of course. But no one’s ever checked up on my family before.’

‘Will you do me a great favour?’ he asked, surprising her.

‘If I can,’ she said cautiously.

‘I assume that your mother knows I’m the man who came knocking on her door in the snow all those years ago?’

‘Of course. I rushed home to tell her after the first interview—’ Hester halted. ‘By the way, if you saw me at the Chesterton, may I ask why you interviewed me twice?’

‘The first time was to make sure that my first impression was right, and you were exactly what I was looking for. But I had to wait for the security check before I could call you back to offer you the job.’

‘I see.’ She held the look steadily. ‘So what favour do you need?’

‘Have you told your family I had them investigated?’

‘Certainly not.’

‘Good. In that case, could you keep it to yourself? Your stepfather would probably just be furious, but your mother would be hurt. I don’t want that any more than you do, Hester.’

‘Then I won’t tell her.’ She glanced at the clock. ‘Can I cook you some breakfast?’

‘Coals of fire?’ Connah smiled crookedly. ‘It’s a tempting thought, but no, thanks. I must be on my way. If you need to speak to me while I’m away, ring me.’

‘I hope I won’t.’

‘I know you do,’ he said, and left her to her tea.

‘Good morning,’ said Sam, coming into the kitchen a few minutes later. ‘Did you see the boss before he left?’

‘Yes, I did. Good morning, Sam.’ She finished her tea. ‘There’s more in the pot if you want. I’d better check on Lowri. She was out for the count when I got up.’

Hester smiled wryly as she went up to Lowri. The job had an unexpected benefit. Three flights of stairs would do wonders for her personal fitness.

Lowri was still out for the count. Hester eyed the sleeping face for a moment, then scribbled a note to ask Lowri to come down for breakfast when she woke. With the radio for company, Hester had ironed half the contents of the trunk by the time the yawning child finally trailed into the kitchen in her dressing gown.

‘Good morning,’ said Hester, smiling. ‘How about scrambled eggs?’

Lowri nodded sleepily. ‘Yes, please.’ She slid into a chair at the table, watching as Hester folded the ironing board. ‘Has Daddy gone?’

‘Yes, he left very early.’

‘Do you know when he’s coming back?’

‘He didn’t say.’ Hester poured orange juice into Lowri’s glass. ‘But cheer up. He said yes to a visit to my mother and Robert.’

Lowri’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. ‘When? Today?’

‘No, tomorrow for tea. Today we go shopping for clothes. Then we have some lunch and shop for food. How’s that for a programme?’

‘At last!’ said Lowri when Hester emerged from her own room later in a navy cotton shirt and white denim skirt. ‘You look nice. Can I buzz Sam now and say we’re ready to go?’

The morning was tiring but very entertaining. Let loose in a shopping mall packed with chain stores full of clothes that sent her into raptures, Lowri looked through every last bit of merchandise in each shop they went into, it seemed to Hester, before she made her final choices. But though Connah had handed over a generous sum of money, Hester firmly steered her charge past shops that sold expensive designer clothes.

‘You’ll be tired of them or have grown out of them, long before you get your money’s worth,’ she said practically. ‘And with those long legs everything will look good on you, anyway. With shoes it’s different, no economising there.’

‘Trainers?’ said Lowri hopefully.

‘Of course. And something less sporty too.’

‘Not school shoes!’