The Nanny and the Millionaire: Promoted: Nanny to Wife / The Italian Tycoon and the Nanny / The Millionaire's Nanny Arrangement

Marissa, feeling at her most vulnerable, began to fold her napkin, uncertain what to do next.

‘You’re not going anywhere surely?’ His brilliant black eyes pinned her in place. ‘I thought I told you to stay.’

‘Well, I thought probably my being here had something to do with your frayed nerves?’ she found herself saying.

He stared at her for some time. ‘You know you’re right! But let me worry about that. Have dessert, maybe a coffee, afterwards we can take a turn in the garden.’

Her heart fluttered like a bird, right up into her throat. ‘Isn’t that a bit social for a governess?’

He took his time considering. ‘Do you know, I think it is, but you seem to have transformed yourself into a little friend of the family. My grandmother is quite taken with you. That’s not always the case. It’s certainly not in the contract. And you and Olly are into sharing secrets.’

She could feel herself flush. ‘How do you know?’

He leaned forward, giving her a slow, mocking smile. ‘This is my house, Ms Devlin I have no compunction whatever about eavesdropping.’

Simply for something to do, she started to drum her fingernails against the timber table. ‘I’ll have to remember that.’

‘Then I shouldn’t have told you. Can you do that while rubbing the top of your head?’

‘What?’ Completely thrown, she stared back at him. My God he was handsome!

‘I can,’ he said. ‘Perfect co-ordination.’ He began to drum the fingers of his right hand on the table while with his other hand he circled the top of her head.

‘Easy!’ She took up the challenge, thinking she would have the children try it.

That was how Olly found them.

Marissa checked on the children; found them soundly asleep, before going back downstairs. Going for an after dinner stroll with the master of Wungalla she thought a bit over the top, but he’d insisted and she needed this job. Besides, he knew perfectly well the way he made her feel. Not that she was going to allow her quite understandable susceptibilities to get out of hand. She was certain Holt McMaster was used to a great deal of female attention.

Had he gone for evening strolls with the previous governesses? she wondered. If so no wonder they got wild ideas into their heads. Had he and Lois taken nightly walks beneath the glorious Outback stars? Poor desperately angry and hurt, Lois. Had Lois been led down the metaphoric garden path? Were they, in fact, lovers? A man like that with such a powerful sexual aura, was hardly likely to have remained celibate after his divorce. Were there other lovers tucked away? Quite likely. But weren’t men always going on about a male heir? He would remarry. Running a vast cattle station was a man’s job in a man’s world.

‘Do we keep to the path?’ Her voice sounded composed, but her nerves were jingling.

‘Absolutely! The straight and narrow,’ he confirmed.

‘Did you ask my predecessors to take an after-dinner stroll?’ The words left her mouth before she had time to call them back.

He looked down his dead straight nose at her. ‘Just because I asked you doesn’t mean I’ve asked others, Ms Devlin.’

‘I’m sorry. Should I be flattered, Mr McMaster?’

‘You’re not supposed to be anything!’ he told her crisply. ‘Just enjoy the stars and the night air. By the way you can drop the Mr McMaster.’

‘So soon?’ How the man loosened her tongue!

‘You know, Ms Devlin, I’m concerned at the way you’re starting to question what I say.’

The truth of that jolted her. She attempted an explanation. ‘It’s only because you go out of your way to make me feel uncomfortable.’

‘How?’ He moved a long sweeping frond away from her face.

‘I don’t really know my position.’

‘More or less governess,’ he said. ‘I’ll always try to think of you that way. I can’t answer for my grandmother. You did tell her you’d read to her?’

‘Of course I will!’ She stared up at him, seeing him clearly in the glow from the exterior lights. ‘I’d be delighted to. I don’t say things I don’t mean.’

‘How I wish I could say the same of myself,’ he said dryly, taking hold of her elbow momentarily while he steered her onto a branching path. ‘I’m taking Lois back with me tomorrow. We’ll leave right after an early breakfast. I’m not asking you to run down and join us. I’ll be gone for several days, probably a week.’

‘I take it I’m in charge of the schoolroom?’ Her leaping nerves had gone haywire when he touched her. How could just the touch of a hand do that?

‘I could scarcely put you in charge of anything else. Gran told me you ride? I’d appreciate your being absolutely honest about this. You ride, or you can just about manage to stay on a very quiet horse?’

She had to move closer to him as the branching foliage reached for her. ‘I love the way you put things. I suppose I could say in all modesty I’m a good rider. My father bought me my first pony when I was five. He—’ She stopped abruptly, her memories clinging to her like a second skin.

‘And I hate it when you do that,’ he said. ‘Go on.’

‘I’ve said enough.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve answered the question. Riley can ride, as well. Both of us are what you call naturals. We love horses.’

‘Well, of course! We inherit our tastes. Georgy you will find has a fear of horses. She had a bad experience when she was quite small. Much the same thing happened at the pool. She fears the water.’

‘That’s sad.’ Was it possible he had thrown the child in at the deep end? She had heard of a few fathers who did that, genuinely believing their child would somehow miraculously swim. She couldn’t see Holt McMaster doing it—certainly not to a little girl—though she wished he would reach out more to his child. He seemed more like a laid-back, affectionate uncle than a father. ‘A few things have occurred to me that might cure that. I promise I would take things slowly. I understand children’s fears. Riley will be a big help. Like me he’s a good swimmer.’

‘Did you teach him?’

She pushed her windswept hair away from her face. ‘No, I didn’t.’

He glanced down at her. She was wearing a silvery little blouse she must have had tucked away somewhere in her travellight luggage. It looked expensive. It suited her. Oddly he had an idea he had seen it before. If it did turn out she was a single mother on the run she still managed to retain a look of exclusivity. Ms Marissa Devlin had a story to tell. One, he found, he badly wanted to hear. He knew he could have her background checked in a minute, but something in him shied away from that. He wanted to hear it from her own lips.

‘So who did?’ he asked finally.

‘My father.’ Marissa started to retreat automatically, but found herself adding. ‘He taught Riley lots of things.’

‘He did well. Riley’s a great little guy.’

‘I think so.’

The enchanted indigo-blue night and the brilliance of the stars should have soothed her, but however hard she tried, she had to accept she was succumbing to this man’s black magic. And it was magic. Like so many others before her, she was falling for it.

‘You haven’t asked me anything about my teaching methods?’ she said. ‘Or told me if there’s any subject in particular you want me to work on with Georgy?’

There was a torched pause. ‘Best of all, Ms Devlin, I’d like you to work on her day-to-day behaviour although I have to say whatever system you have in place it’s having great results. You did allow me to see your excellent reference from the worthy Doctor Bell, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, my friend and my mentor. She did everything she could to make life easier. At school at least.’

‘What exactly was wrong with your home life?’

‘Nothing was really wrong. It was just that I was looking for love.’