Marrying the Virgin Nanny / The Nanny and Me: Marrying the Virgin Nanny / The Nanny and Me

One dark eyebrow lifted. “Are you stalling, Maggie? Maybe you’re having second thoughts?”

Second. Third. Fourth. But God had given her the means to a miracle, and now she decided it best not to think at all. “I gave my word.”

He nodded. “Then let’s do this.”

She sighed once, then squared her shoulders and followed him through a door. The room was an office, the man before them an officer of the court.

“Fred Knox,” he said, shaking hands with Jason. Then he glanced at the baby. “Nice-looking fella.”

“Thanks.” Jason’s voice was warm with pride.

“You’re here to make this family official.”

Jason met her gaze. “That’s the idea.”

“Let’s do it, then.” He opened a book and settled their marriage license on it. “Do you Jason Hunter Garrett take Margaret Mary Shepherd to be your wife for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health?”

“I do.”

When he repeated the words to her, Maggie said, “I do.”

“Do you have rings to exchange?”

Jason reached into his jacket pocket and produced a jeweler’s black-velvet box with two gold bands inside and handed them over. He’d thought of everything.

The man said, “These rings signify that love is enduring, without beginning or end.”

And sometimes it’s nonexistent because this marriage wasn’t about love. In spite of her sound logic and self-reassurances, the thought made her sad.

Jason slipped the band on her left ring finger and it fit perfectly. His large hand dwarfed hers as she did the same, using a little effort to slide the circle of gold over his knuckle.

“With the authority vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Garrett. You may kiss your bride.”

Maggie’s eyes widened as her gaze shot to Jason’s. She was also aware that most business deals ended with a handshake, not a kiss. Her heart was pounding, but he seemed cool and in control. His hands on her arms were strong as he drew her against him. Then he lowered his lips to hers and her eyes drifted shut. The touch of his mouth was warm and soft. His hands slid down her arms and left heat in their wake. Her heart fluttered, quick and hard. Then he pulled away and she wasn’t ready for it to be over.

“That’s it then,” he said softly.

Was that it? She looked at him and the intensity in his eyes made her shiver with a sort of excitement that was as new and different as her marital state. Before she had a chance to guess at what he was feeling, Jason glanced at his watch.

“It’s getting late. We have to go.”

After congratulations and goodbyes, he took the car seat and placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her outside and to the waiting car. When they were settled inside, he gave the driver instructions to drop him at his office and take Maggie and the baby home.

“You’re going to work?” she asked.

“I’m late for a meeting,” he explained.

Of course he was. This was just another day at the office to him. What had she expected?

That was the thing. Until she’d taken each step and realized otherwise, she hadn’t been aware of having expectations. Getting married felt like a big deal to her, but to him it was simply the first business deal of the day.

She’d never expected to be sad and disappointed on her wedding day.

Chapter Six

It was his wedding day.

“Night,” Jason said to himself, something tightening inside him.

He tossed back the remainder of the Rémy Martin in his glass as he glanced around his study, noting that everything was the same. The lie echoed through him and collided with the heat that still lingered from kissing Maggie after their vows. The sensation was a lot like what happened when cold and hot air smashed together. Turbulence. Tornado.

All day he’d tried to get her off his mind. Some of it was about the bruised look in her eyes when his driver had left him at the office and Maggie realized her wedding day would be nothing out of the ordinary.

The devil of it was that there’d been nothing pressing workwise and he could have taken her someplace special for lunch. He hadn’t because it was important to set a tone for the marriage. They were husband and wife in name only per their deal. What had seemed like a good idea at the time didn’t look as rosy from this side of the marriage license.

Like every other night since she’d been his nanny, Maggie was bathing the baby and he was working in the study. He wanted to be with them but was keeping to his protocol of establishing a pattern. It seemed important until tension and heat ground through him.

He shot to his feet, grabbed his empty glass and went to the sideboard where he kept the cognac. After pouring another shot, he drank it down, glad for the burn in his throat and the scorching all the way to his gut. For that few seconds the scalding was all he could think about. When it subsided, there was still a vision of Maggie and the innocently seductive way she’d slid her tongue over her soft lips after he’d kissed her.

The phone rang and Jason was grateful for the distraction. “Yes?” he said into the receiver.

“Mr. Garrett, it’s Peter Sexton.”

The doorman. “What is it, Peter?”

“Sir, a Mr. Hunter Garrett is here to see you.”

His father. “Send him up, Peter.”

“Right away, sir.”

The old man usually stopped by Garrett Industries corporate offices if he had something to say. This must be important. Jason had a pretty good idea what it was about.

When the bell rang, he opened the door. “Hi, Dad.”

“Jason.”

Hunter marched right in. “I need to talk to you.”

“I figured.” He shut the door. “Let’s go in my study.”

Jason led the way down the hall and held out a hand for his father to take one of the chairs in front of the desk. It occurred to him for the first time that the pretentious leather and gold buttons suited his father much better than his nanny. There was a resemblance between Hunter and himself, but he’d gotten his dark eyes and hair from the maternal DNA, not that he remembered much about the woman who’d birthed him. The few pictures he’d managed to find confirmed it.

The man who’d sired him was often called distinguished and that was fair. He was tall, and a personal trainer hammered him into fitness. Silver streaked his brown hair and his blue eyes, never brimming with warmth, were glacial at the moment.

“Would you care for a drink?” Jason asked him.

“Yes.”