A Prince of a Guy

“Well, no.” His charming smile was clearly rusty—he hadn’t tried to charm a woman in a good long while. He was about to give wheedling a shot when the doorbell rang.

His new nanny sent him a smile every bit as charming as his own—and just as manipulative. “I’ll make you a deal,” she said, already backing away. “I’ll get the door, you get dinner going.”

“Not a fair trade,” he called, rising from his chair, listening as her laughter floated toward him.

“First one to the door,” she called tauntingly.

A challenge. He loved challenges. He raced down the hallway after her, enjoying the way her far-too-big skirt flew up, flashing him his second view of her legs. Why she wanted to hide them was a complete mystery.

But then again, most women were mysteries.

With his long strides, he could have easily overtaken her, but he got distracted by those legs, so she hit the front door a fraction of a second before he did. Whirling, she pressed her back to the wood, twisting to laugh at him.

To stop his motion, his arms came out automatically, his hands landing on either side of her head to avoid crushing her against the wood.

Both of them were laughing like little kids.

Until his body brushed hers. Time stopped as he stared wide-eyed at her, stricken by the strange electrical current that ran through them.

She seemed similarly conflicted.

Being pressed against a woman wasn’t a new experience. Yes, it had been awhile, but not that long. Not long enough for him to be holding himself utterly still in order to get a better feel of all those warm curves he could feel beneath her clothes. And not just warm curves, but really great warm curves.

Breasts smashed into his chest. Soft feminine hips pressed to his own. Not an inch of space between them. That combined with the real fact of already being attracted to her as a person caused a very base reaction, and she couldn’t have missed it.

Her eyes went wide.

Nope, she didn’t miss it. No more than he missed the way her nipples hardened to two tight tips, drilling through all her layers into his shirt.

She felt amazing. Her mouth opened, but the only sound to escape was a little sigh he would have sworn was the sound of helpless awareness. Arousal.

And he couldn’t help it. He lowered his head just a fraction, so his mouth nearly touched hers. She was a near stranger, but he needed to kiss her more than he needed his next breath. Given the way she angled her head and parted her lips, she felt the same way.

The doorbell rang again.

Slowly Sean pulled back, his chest, his belly, his thighs leaving hers reluctantly.

She made that little sound again, the one that tugged at him so primally. Hardly able to think, he pulled open the door.

Mrs. Trykowski, Slovak immigrant, next-door neighbor and local pest, brushed past him and marched right on in without being asked.

The eighty-something woman was barely five feet tall, walked with a little skip in her step and had a voice like a truck driver’s. “Brought you some fruitcake,” she barked in the gravelly, heavily accented voice that assured everyone she’d been smoking like a fiend for over half a century.

She brought Sean fruitcake on a regular basis. Not because he couldn’t feed himself, but because the woman had a curiosity streak a mile long.

True to form, she craned her neck down the hallway, looking for new and exciting clues to his life.

Then she spotted Carly.

“Ah,” she said, a secret smile on her lips. She winked at Sean.

“Stop it,” he said. “Stop it right now.”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” she said innocently, her narrow, sharp gaze on Carly.

Sean groaned, knowing what was coming—

“Ten,” she said triumphantly.

She had a terrible habit of rating his dates. “Mrs. Trykowski, Carly isn’t—”

“What does she mean, ten?” Carly asked him.

“Nothing,” he assured her, giving his nosy, bossy neighbor the evil eye. “Carly Fortune is Melissa’s new nanny for the next two weeks, just until my sister comes back.”

“Whatever you say.” Mrs. Trykowski had been playing matchmaker for the better part of a year now, though Sean was having no part of it. “A ten,” she repeated triumphantly. “She is the one, Sean. Remember this.”

“I’m the one what?” Carly asked, looking a little unnerved.

Sean knew the feeling. Yes, Carly was smart and funny. Yes, there was something about her, but he’d known her all of a few hours. And anyway, no woman was ever going to be the one, not ever again. “Carly, this is Mrs. Trykowski. She lives next door and has clearly forgotten to take her medicine.”

Mrs. Trykowski grinned.

Sean ushered her to the door. “They’ll be hauling you away in a white jacket if you’re not more careful.”

Carly looked horrified.

Mrs. Trykowski laughed.

Melissa came down the hall doing the pee-pee dance. “Gotta go again, Uncle Sean!”

Sean could only groan, wondering what had happened to his nice quiet life.

3

IT WAS NOTHING short of a miracle, but finally, after needing water, a multitude of stories, three bathroom stops, monster checks in the closet and countless hugs good-night, Melissa was ready for bed.

As they had before, the hugs had stopped Carlyne cold. Her family never hugged good-night. In fact, they never hugged at all, but Melissa hadn’t cared about Carlyne’s reserve, she’d just crawled in her lap, wrapped her thin, bony arms tightly around Carlyne’s neck and squeezed so tight Carlyne could hardly breathe.

“One more hug,” the little girl pleaded. “Please?”

Carlyne had something sticky in her hair, grimy handprints all over her, and she couldn’t wait to take a shower, but Melissa wouldn’t let go.

“I miss my mommy,” she whispered.

Carlyne’s heart melted, and she found herself stroking Melissa’s hair. “I know, baby.”

“You smell pretty.” She burrowed her face into Carlyne’s neck. “Like a mommy.”