The Nanny's Plan

†† (#litres_trial_promo)The Doctor’s Pregnant Proposal #1635

†† (#litres_trial_promo)Thunder in the Night #1647

The Nanny’s Plan #1701

Silhouette Books

The Coltons

Close Proximity

DONNA CLAYTON

is the recipient of the Diamond Author Award For Literary Achievement 2000 as well as two HOLT Medallions. In her opinion, love is what makes the world go ‘round. She takes great pride in knowing that, through her work, she provides her readers the chance to indulge in some purely selfish romantic entertainment.

One of her favorite pastimes is traveling. Her other interests include walking, reading, visiting with friends, teaching Sunday school, cooking and baking, and she still collects cookbooks, too. In fact, her house is overrun with them.

Please write to Donna c/o Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!

Dear Mom & Dad,

We are having fun this summer wit Uncle Pierce. We were worryed at furst becuz Uncle Pierce doesn’t have any kidz & he doesn’t really no how to have fun & he works to mush much! But the new nanny is fixing that. Amy keeps us buzy every day. She helped us bake the cookies four this care pakage. Yummy chocklit chips! Our favrite! We ate a few, but maled you most of them.

We are afraid that Uncle Pierce & Amy are cu coming down with some kind of straynge dize di getting sick. They keep looking at each other with funny goo-goo eyes like how youz look at each other befour you send us to watch movies on kidz nite and cloze your bedroom door. We dont no what is going on, but if they start runing a fever, we will call the dokter doctor.

Hope you are having a good time in Africa! don’t wory about us! We are fine!! But we are not so sure about Uncle Pierce & the nanny.

With love from your suns sons,

Benjamin & Jeremiah

Contents

Chapter One (#u5b796994-4528-537d-be41-99614cf23676)

Chapter Two (#u275565a4-ee99-53b5-8bae-8274f4069a77)

Chapter Three (#ud61090ff-9cae-55be-a446-5e76b751c6ca)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One

Amy Edwards had spent her whole life avoiding the traps: relationships, love, marriage and, most of all, kids. So why had she agreed to spend the summer caring for a set of six-year-old twins?

The only answer she could come up with was that she’d totally lost her mind.

She chuckled as she cut the engine. “Imagine that,” she murmured, pulling the key from the ignition and opening the car door. “Temporary insanity made me a temporary nanny.”

Because an inner ear infection had caused the airline’s company physician to ground her for two months from her new job as a flight attendant, all she’d have been doing was watching the corn grow in Kansas while she waited to heal. And the pay offered to her had been generous.

Still …taking care of children.

If anyone other than her father had asked this of her, she’d have turned them down flat. But she’d have crawled to the top of Mount Everest on her hands and knees for her dad. The good Lord knew he’d sure sacrificed for her.

She pulled her suitcase from the trunk and lifted her gaze. The stone-and-stucco house looked like something right out of the pages of a glossy architectural magazine. The vast grounds were neatly manicured, and flowers bloomed in a riot of color. The blue-green water of the Delaware Bay served as a tranquil backdrop to the setting. Even the idea of minding children couldn’t dampen the bright prospect of spending eight weeks in this paradise.

Giddiness churned in her belly, urging her to go and take a quick peek at the cove. She should fight this feeling. This overzealousness that swallowed her up since escaping the Midwest made her feel so…small town. So unrefined. But before a few short weeks ago, she’d never seen a body of water larger than the man-made fishing pond just outside Lebo. The Delaware Bay was out there just waiting for her to feast her eyes on the view. Veering off the path that wound its way to the front door, she made a beeline for the water.

She heard the young voices before actually spotting the boys. Her charges, she quickly surmised. Two peas in a pod. Or rather, in a rowboat. They bobbed on the surface of the bay just offshore. She frowned and searched the area for whoever was supposed to be with them. Young children and deep water didn’t mix well, in her mind.

“Jeremiah!” she called, lifting her hand in friendly greeting. “Benjamin!”

When the boys’ mother had flown to Kansas to reacquaint herself with Amy, the woman had been clear that Benjamin was called Benjamin. Not Ben. Not Benny. But Benjamin.

The twins seemed startled by Amy’s appearance; however, they tentatively returned her wave. She realized then that one of the boys had been crying.

She dropped her case to the grass. “What are you guys doing out there?”

It was impossible to tell one boy from the other, so she had no idea who it was who tipped his chin up defiantly and said, “We’re going east. We’re rowing out into the Atlantic Ocean.”

Amy’s mind raced. She quelled the urge to shout at them to return to shore this instant. Instead, she thought it better to make friends and coax the boys to safety.

“I’m not an expert in geography,” she told them amiably. “But I’m pretty sure that, if you head due east, you’re going to run smack into New Jersey.”

The boys looked surprised by this news.

Before they could regroup, Amy called, “How about if you come ashore and we’ll go inside to check the atlas and you can see for yourself where you are.”

The child with the red-rimmed eyes stood up, clearly impatient with her suggestion, at the same time stating, “We know where we are.”

Panic made Amy’s tone grow more stern. “Sit down. Right now.”

The boat was hit with a gentle wave that sent it rocking, and both boys’ eyes widened in alarm. An oar slipped from its ring, momentum sending it bobbing several feet from the boat.