The Nanny Proposition

Her mind overflowing with memories of her own, Jenna looked down at the baby who had caused such a reaction in Liam. “There’s nothing quite as powerful as the trusting gaze of a newborn.”

“Yes, that’s it,” he said, turning to face her, “along with knowing I’m the only parent she has left. I’m hers. And Bonnie is mine.”

“That’s a beautiful thing to say,” she said, smiling up at him. It was true—as a single mother, she knew something of the challenges that lay ahead for him, but if he wanted his daughter, truly wanted her as it appeared that he did, then Bonnie was lucky.

“And now I have sole custody of a three-day-old baby.” He speared his fingers through his already disheveled hair. “It still feels surreal. Yet the proof is currently in your arms.”

“Oh, she’s definitely real.” Jenna smiled at him then transferred her gaze to Bonnie. “Aren’t you, sweetheart?”

“It’s a strange thing,” he said, his voice far away, “but the idea terrifies me, yet at the same time fills me with so much awe that I don’t know what to do with it.”

She knew that juxtaposition of fear and joy. Since she’d given birth to Meg, she knew it well.

Bonnie had finished the bottle, so she handed it to Liam, then lifted her against her shoulder and gently patted her back.

“What about Rebecca’s family?” she asked. “Will they be involved in her life?”

He tapped his fingers against the empty bottle in a rapid rhythm. “When I was at the hospital, I met Rebecca’s parents for the first time. They weren’t happy to meet me.” His expression showed that was an understatement.

“You hadn’t met them when you were dating Rebecca?” She’d always been intrigued about how couples navigated the issue of each other’s families when those families didn’t include the reigning monarch of the country. She’d assumed—perhaps wrongly—it was much simpler for regular people.

He shrugged one shoulder. “We were only together a few months, and we hadn’t been serious enough to meet each other’s families. Apparently she’d been living with her parents while she was pregnant and had planned to take the baby back there after the birth,” he said casually. Almost too casually. “They were going to help her raise my daughter.”

“Without you?” Every day she wished Alexander had lived—for so many reasons, but most importantly so Meg could have met and known him. What mother would deliberately deny her child the love of its own father?

“My name was on the birth certificate, so I have to believe she was going to tell me at some point.” But he said the words through a tight jaw. “And she did ask the staff to call me when she realized something was wrong, much to her parents’ annoyance.”

Watching the banked emotion in his eyes, Jenna put two and two together. “They’re not happy that Bonnie is with you.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “You could say that. In fact, I’ve already had a call from their lawyer about a custody suit they plan to file.”

“The poor darling.” Jenna brought Bonnie back down to lie in her arms and looked at her sweet little face. “To have already lost her mother, and now someone’s trying to deny her a father.”

“They won’t win,” he said, his spine straight and resolute. “My lawyer is dealing with it. Bonnie is mine. No one will take her away.”

And seeing the determination etched in his every feature, she had no trouble believing him.

* * *

The next morning, Jenna tucked both babies into the new double stroller and set out to explore the gardens behind the house. The call of the outdoors was irresistible once the sun was shining. Besides, she was feeling restless.

After Bonnie’s night feedings, she’d had difficulty falling asleep. Visions of the expanse of smooth skin on Liam’s torso had tormented her. Memories of the crisp, dark hair scattered over his chest had dared her to reach out and test the feel under her fingertips the next time he was near. Which would be wrong on many levels, starting with Liam being her boss. She grimaced. She hadn’t held many jobs—this was only her second paid position—but even she knew that making a pass at your employer wasn’t the path to job security.

Beyond the patio, a small patch of green grass was hedged by a plant with glossy leaves, and beyond that, rows and rows of flowers stretched. Bright yellows, deep purples, vibrant pinks. So much color that it made her heart swell. Workers in wide-brimmed hats were dotted among the rows, and off to the side was a large greenhouse.

As they moved through a gap in the hedge onto a paved walkway, Meg squealed and reached her little hand out toward the nursery before them.

“That’s where we’re headed, honey,” Jenna said to her daughter. “To see all the pretty flowers.”

She’d known Hawke’s Blooms had a large flower farm that produced much of the stock they sold in their state-wide chain of flower shops—and sent weekly deliveries to Dylan’s apartment that she used to arrange—but seeing it in person was another thing entirely. It was as if she’d been watching the world in black and white when suddenly someone had flipped the switch to full Technicolor brilliance.

She pushed the stroller through the gate in the chainmail fence that surrounded the whole farm and along the front of the rows, stopping at the top of each one to see what was growing there, bending an occasional flower over for Meg to smell. They hadn’t made much progress when she caught sight of Liam making quick progress toward her from the greenhouse.

“Good morning,” she said as he neared them. “We missed you at breakfast today.”

“Morning.” He nodded, his face inscrutable. “I wanted to get an early start to catch up on some work.”

She took a deep breath of air fragranced with flowers and freshly turned earth. If she worked somewhere like this she’d probably be eager to start her days too. “It’s beautiful out here. Meg and Bonnie seem to love it already.”

His eyes softened as he reached down to stroke each baby’s cheek with a finger. “It’s not a bad place to work.”

She lifted Bonnie from the stroller and placed a delicate kiss on her downy head. “What do you think?” Jenna whispered. Bonnie’s huge eyes fixed on Jenna’s face, then as Liam came near, they settled on her father. “Do you want to hold her?” Jenna asked him, her heartbeat uneven from his closeness.

“Yeah, I do.” He took his daughter and held her up for a long moment before murmuring, “Hello, Princess.” Then he tucked her into the crook of his arm. “Thanks for bringing her out.”

“No problem,” she said, trying not to react to Liam using “princess” as a term of endearment for his daughter. To cover any reaction, she lifted Meg up onto her hip and asked, “Do you work out here in the gardens?”

“I come out to check on things occasionally, and sometimes I’m in the second greenhouse where we do the propagating, but mostly I work over there.” He pointed to a long white building that looked more like an industrial complex than a gardening structure.

“What happens there?”

“The most interesting aspect of the entire business,” he said with a grin. “Research.”

Enthusiasm sparked in his eyes and she wanted to know more about what it was that made him happy, about what made this man tick. “Better ways to grow things?”

“We have people who work on that, but I prefer the plant and flower development side of things.”

“Creating new flowers?” she said, hearing the touch of awe in her voice.

“Basically. Sometimes it’s taking an old favorite and producing it in a new color. Or combining two flowers to create a brand-new one.”

She tilted her head to the side and regarded him. “So really you’re a farmer.”

“No, I’m a scientist,” he said in a tone that made it clear there was no doubt on this subject. “Though my parents were vegetable farmers before they moved here and started this business, and they always saw themselves as farmers.”

She looked him over. His pants were neat and pressed, albeit with dirt smudges on the thighs. And his shirt was buttoned almost to the top, though there was no tie. There was definitely an aspect of “scientist in the field” about him. Which made her wonder about how he ended up here.

She switched Meg to her other hip to accommodate her daughter leaning toward Bonnie. “Did you always want to join the family business?”

“When we were young, we didn’t have a choice. The business put food on the table, so we all helped. Dylan was a charmer even back then, and Adam always had an eye for a profit, so they usually manned the flower stall with Mom on weekends, and I helped Dad in the garden—digging, planting, grafting.”

She chuckled. “Sounds like your brothers got the easier end of the deal.”

“No, but I made sure they thought that.” He shaded his eyes with his free hand as he looked out over the gardens, maybe seeing them as they once were, not as they were now. “I loved those days. Dad teaching me to graft, then leaving me alone with a shed full of plants to experiment. And once he realized I could create new flowers, things no one had seen before, he gave me room to experiment even more.”

“Actually, that does sound pretty fun.” She glanced down at a nearby row of red poppies and, suddenly wanted to sink her fingers into the rich earth and do a bit of gardening herself.

Following her gaze, he crouched down to the poppies, barely jostling Bonnie. He picked a single poppy with two fingers and handed it to Meg, who squealed with glee. “And,” he said, still watching Meg, “there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of creating something with your own hands and knowing that it will contribute to keeping your family clothed and fed.”