His E-Mail Order Wife

Amanda scooted off Lilly’s lap and swiveled the office chair so that Lilly could stand. Lilly grasped the cane and rose on uncooperative legs, her eighty-three-year-old joints groaning in protest. She’d been sitting too long, and she was too creaky to stay in the same position for minutes, much less hours.

Looking down on sweet, sweet Amanda’s trusting green eyes so full of hope, the guilt finally hit Lilly full-force. Had she done the right thing? Entirely too late to turn back now.

Lilly wished she could kneel at Amanda’s level but she might never get up if she did. She settled for touching the top of Amanda’s head covered in fine white-blond hair. “Dear, you realize this might not work between your father and Kristina, don’t you?”

“It will work,” Amanda said adamantly, topped off by a determined jut of her chin. “She’ll love my daddy, and my daddy will love her, too.”

Lilly’s heart took a little tumble. Although Amanda might look like her mother—God rest poor Talia’s misguided soul—she had her father’s tenacity. Luckily she’d been blessed with Lilly’s optimism. “We’ll hope your daddy and Kristina get along, but I want you to know that sometimes adults don’t see eye to eye on things. We also have to keep this our little secret for a while.” And, she hoped, by the time Kristina Simmons did learn the truth, all would be settled with love.

“Kristina says she likes puppies,” Amanda replied as if she refused to consider the possibility that the arrangement wouldn’t work. “Maybe she’ll talk Daddy into getting me one.”

“One step at a time, dear. She has to meet your daddy first.” And convince him to let her stay.

Lilly prayed she had, indeed, done the right thing. Prayed that Drew would give the young woman a chance. Prayed that Kristina Simmons possessed a strong heart and the ability to heal Drew’s shattered one.

One could always hope that that would be the case.

One

Drew Connelly dropped his bags at the bottom of the staircase leading to the second floor—and landed the largest on his foot. He muttered a string of curses directed at his stupidity, the late hour, the sound of the nanny’s grating voice coming from the kitchen while she gabbed on the phone with God only knew who.

When Mrs. Parker had abruptly left his employ to move in with her ailing daughter out of state, Drew had been desperate. The agency had sent him Debbie Randles, a young au pair with minimal experience. One week in her presence and he’d had his doubts about her abilities, but because of urgent business in Europe, he’d had no choice.

At least he’d been assured that his grandmother would stop by to check on Amanda daily. Thankfully nothing out of the ordinary had happened during his absence.

After the weekend, he’d contact the agency again and demand that they find him a suitable replacement, someone a little older with more experience. Someone who liked Amanda, and whom Amanda liked.

God, how he’d missed his daughter. A month was entirely too long to be away from her. The daily phone calls had been sorry replacements for seeing her vibrant smile, hearing her contagious laughter. He recalled their last conversation in which she’d told him she had a surprise for him. At least the nanny had followed one of his mandates—bedtime for Amanda no later than 10:00 p.m. since it was summer—otherwise he would have been greeted by his squealing six-year-old, a bundle of energy and joy wrapped up in one delicate dynamite package. The very light of his life, and the reason why he got up every morning to face his grueling schedule as Vice President of Overseas Operations for Connelly Corporation, his family’s legacy.

Unfortunately, the responsibility was rapidly aging him. Tonight he felt two hundred years old, not twenty-seven.

Trudging up the stairs, Drew planned to go immediately to Mandy’s room and kiss her good-night, take a quick shower, then pass out in bed. But he stopped short when he heard a giggle coming from his second-floor study. Amanda’s giggle.

So much for his daughter being tucked soundly into bed. Yeah, he had to find another nanny, and soon.

Drew dropped his bags once again, this time avoiding his toes, and strode down the hallway and into the office to find Amanda perched on her knees in his chair, her face lit by the glow of the computer screen and sheer amusement.

“Young lady, you’re supposed to be in bed,” he said with all the sternness he could muster.

“Daddy! You’re home!” Amanda climbed out of the chair and rushed him like a tiny tornado. Drew hoisted her up in his arms, relishing the clean scent of her hair, her soft cheek resting against his evening-shadowed jaw, her fragile frame curled against his chest. Little did his baby girl know she had his heart so securely tied around her little finger he could never stay mad at her for any length of time. Then again, she probably did know.

After he hugged her hard and kissed her cheek, she pulled back and studied him with green eyes bright with excitement. “Daddy, I missed you so bad!”

“I missed you too, sweetheart, but we need to talk about the computer.” He attempted to look serious, sound serious, a difficult thing to do with Amanda smiling at him. “Haven’t I told you that you’re not supposed to be on the Internet unless an adult is with you? It’s dangerous, Mandy.”

“I know, Daddy.” She began to play with his tie, avoiding his scrutiny. “But Nana Lilly was with me.” She looked up and nailed him with another luminous grin. “I showed her how to use the computer.”

A miracle in itself. His grandmother normally had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new world. “But she’s not here now, is she? Which means you’ve disobeyed me.”

Amanda’s lip puckered and Drew’s heart began to hurt. “Debbie was with me until a few minutes ago, Daddy. We were surfing together.”

That provided little relief for Drew. “Visiting your favorite animal site?”

“I helped her pick out a man.”

Obviously he’d underestimated the nanny’s poor judgment. “What do you mean you picked out a man?”

“On Singlemania.”

“Singlemania?”

“The same place we got your surprise.”

The scenario was getting more and more bizarre. “My surprise?”

His daughter’s face once again brightened. “The surprise I told you about on the phone, silly Daddy. It will be here in the morning.”

Drew sensed certain disaster. “Debbie helped you with this surprise?”

“Debbie showed me and Nana the website. Nana helped me get you the surprise.”

Great. Just great. He couldn’t imagine anything of merit to be found on a singles’ site. His grandmother could be way out there at times, but she wouldn’t subject Amanda to anything kinky. Still, Drew didn’t have a clue what Lilly had done. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he had to find out. “What kind of surprise did you and Nana come up with?”

She looked away again. “I’m not supposed to tell you ’cause then it won’t be a surprise.”

“Ah, come on, Mandy,” he cajoled. “Just a little hint. I won’t tell Nana you told me.”

Amanda tipped up her chin with pride, beamed like a billboard and proudly announced, “We got you a wife.”

“Get off the phone, Ms. Randles. Now.”

Kicked back in a chair in the kitchen, Debbie stared up at Drew, the cordless phone tucked between her jaw and shoulder while she filed her nails. “I’ll call you back, Henry.”

She dropped the nail file and phone onto the table and her feet from the chair across from her then came to attention. “Uh, Mr. Connelly, I didn’t know you were home.”

“No kidding.”

“Is there something wrong?”

Drew released a humorless bark of a laugh. “You could say that. Amanda tells me she’s been getting quite an education on your singles’ site. Seems she helped you pick out a man.” And in turn helped his grandmother select him a wife.

“I was only checking out some profiles and getting her opinion.”

“And you think this is proper for my daughter?”

“I don’t think she’s been damaged by the experience.”

Drew lost any semblance of calm. “She’s six years old, dammit.”