She could see what he was asking. He was worried that Genevieve had hurt the girls in a way he didn’t know about. Rose said quickly, “Of course not. I think it was just that she was always kind of distant, and she never made any effort to really bond with the girls. Kids pick up on that kind of thing really easily. If anything had happened, I would have told you. I promise. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  James sighed visibly and slouched back against the couch. “Okay. Thanks.”

  Rose nodded and waited for him to say something else. He didn’t, though, so she wondered if the conversation was over so she should get up and go to her own room.

  She and James were certainly not in the habit of sitting on the couch together after the girls had gone to bed.

  “Did you always want to be a nanny?” James asked, out the blue. He’d been staring at a blank spot in the air, but now he looked over at her, his tone and expression both thoughtful.

  “No,” she told him, once she’d processed the question. She leaned back against the couch, since he clearly wanted to sustain the conversation. “Not really.”

  “So why did you become one?”

  “Well, I always wanted to teach in elementary school, but we were always so short on money that Deanna and I tried to get jobs right away, instead of spending money or taking out loans for college. I always planned to get started, taking classes part-time, but it never seemed like the right time. Being a nanny seemed as close as I could get to teaching children.”

  “You’re really good at it. You’d be a great teacher.”

  She sighed and then turned to smile at him. “Maybe I will one day.”

  “You could start taking classes now.”

  “I know.”

  “So what’s holding you back?”

  She glanced away. “I don’t really know. I enjoy being a nanny, and I’ve always been a little…hesitant about changes and new things. I’m sure I’ll start soon.”

  She wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but she still wanted to be an elementary school teacher, which meant she would have to eventually go to college.

  James was silent for a while, evidently thinking about their conversation. Then he asked, “What’s your family like?”

  Rose wondered what was leading to these unusual questions. “I don’t know.”

  “Of course, you know.”

  She gave a little smile. “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain them. You got a taste of them the other day.”

  James chuckled, the amusement softening his hard features. “Your grandmother seems quite…formidable.”

  “She is. No one can defy her. And, even if they do, they’ll eventually end up doing what she wanted all along. She’s just like that. She’s obsessed with history and all things connected with our family, of course. You should have seen the lengths she went to in order to restore our old house.”

  “I heard something about that. She engineered your sister’s marriage?”

  “Yeah. Kind of. But I wonder sometimes if it was just for the money. Afterwards, when Deanna and Mitchell fell in love, it was like she’d known that would happen all along.”

  “What kind of plans does she have for you?”

  Rose shivered at the thought. “I have no idea. She’s always left me alone to be a nanny. I don’t know why, though. She made Deanna go to every garden party and cotillion on the calendar in the hopes of finding her a rich husband. I don’t know why she wasn’t on the same sort of quest with me.”

  She had a random glum thought that might answer that. She added, “Maybe she just thought I wasn’t pretty enough to be of interest to a rich man.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” James said gruffly, giving her a decidedly cool look.

  She raised her eyebrows, surprised by the words. He’d never been rude to her before. “It’s not stupid. It’s just a thought. I’ve never been as pretty as Deanna.”

  “That’s not even true.” He seemed to be bristling with some sort of resentment, which was nice if he resented what she’d said about herself.

  “It is true,” she said. She wasn’t insecure like she used to be, but she was realistic about who she was and what she looked like. “I’m not saying I’m ugly or anything, but Deanna was always prettier. You’ve never even met Deanna.”

  “I’ve seen her pictures, and she’s not prettier than you.”

  Rose felt herself blushing again, no matter how firmly she told herself to stop. “Well, I don’t think so, but thanks for the thought, anyway.”

  “What about your younger sister?” James asked.

  “Oh, she’s very pretty too, but she refuses to dress up or make herself more attractive. You saw her last night.”

  “I didn’t mean if she was pretty. I meant, does your grandmother have big plans for her?”

  Rose shook her head. “Not that I know of. As far as I can tell, she really relies on Kelly. Kelly takes care of the house, now. Maybe Grandmama doesn’t want to marry her off because that would mean there would be no one left in the house with her.”

  “I’m sure you all would take care of her.”

  “Of course we would. She’s eccentric and pushy and sometimes incredibly embarrassing, but we love her.”

  “What does she do that’s embarrassing?”

  Rose shot him a quick look. “Like last night, bullying you into wearing the jacket and top hat, even though you clearly didn’t want to. She’s always done things like that with our friends and people we want to impress. I can’t tell you how many times I was embarrassed growing up.”

  James was almost smiling now, his eyes resting on her face. “Which am I?”

  “Which are you, what?”

  “Which am I? A friend or someone you want to impress?”

  “Oh.” Rose dropped her eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t mean you.”

  James chuckled softly and reached up to brush back the fall of her hair, which she’d been hiding her face behind. “You’d be terrible at poker.” Despite the words, his tone was soft, almost affectionate.

  She sucked in a breath and met his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you can never hide what you’re feeling.”

  She hoped—desperately hoped—that wasn’t true. “I certainly can,” she said, a little sharply. “I’ve felt all kinds of things that you have no idea about.”

  “Is that right?” He was smiling again, pushing her hair back again since it had fallen forward into her face once more. “What kinds of things have you been feeling all this time?”

  Her heart was racing now, and she couldn’t seem to take a full breath. He’d never acted like this with her before, but that didn’t mean that it was serious, that it meant something.

  He was in a strange mood, and people did a lot of things they didn’t mean when they were in strange moods.

  “That’s none of your business. All I meant was that you can’t possibly know everything I feel just by my face. I don’t give away everything.”

  “You give away a lot. Either you blush or you lower your eyes or you let a little dimple right here show.” His finger brushed the side of her mouth, very softly, making little shivers of pleasure run up and down Rose’s spine. “Your face is very easy to read.”

  “I don’t think it’s as easy as you think,” she insisted. “For instance, what do you think I’m feeling right now?”

  “I think you’re self-conscious that I’ve seen through you so easily.”

  “See, you’re wrong! That’s not what I’m feeling.” She gave him a cold glare. “I actually want to shake that smug smile off your face.”

  She couldn’t believe she’d actually said those words out loud, even half-teasing as she was. She held her breath until James burst into warm laughter, dropping his hand back beside him on the cushion.

  “I guess you told me,” he said, reaching to turn the television to a cable news channel.

  Rose leaned back to watch the news too, since she was too keyed up right now to sleep. “I guess I did.”

  He was still smiling, even as he focused on the television, and Rose was intently aware that she was still smiling too.

  ***

  Rose stayed downstairs watching the news for a long time. Too long.

  She kept telling herself she’d go upstairs at the next commercial break, but she never did. James didn’t leave either, so she kept thinking she didn’t want to be rude and leave before he was ready.

  The truth was she just didn’t want to leave him—at all.

  So she ended up staying far too long. She knew it was too long because she fell asleep on the couch.

  She wasn’t aware of falling asleep, of course. Not until she started to wake up.

  When she woke up, her cheek was pressed against James’s shirt.

  She blinked, trying to make her mind work, and she shifted slightly, wondering what the big, hard, hot thing against her was.

  It was James’s body, and the heavy thing around her was his arm.

  She’d fallen asleep on top of him.

  She tried to pull back, but his arm resisted the move, and he made a few wordless mutters. That was when she realized he was asleep as well.

  One of her hands was pressed against his chest, and she instinctively moved it down, feeling the firm line of his belly and loving the feel of it.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt a man like this. Maybe never.

  She was warm and content and incredibly comfortable, and she didn’t want to move. But she really needed to. It would be brutally embarrassing if he were to wake up and discover he was sleeping with his nanny.

  She tried again to pull back, and this time his arm shifted. He mumbled again, but his eyes were closed when she sat up enough to look at him.

  He looked relaxed and far younger than he normally looked with his eyes closed. He desperately needed to shave and his dress shirt was hopelessly wrinkled.

  Her eyes dropped down even lower, and she saw something there. There was a definite bulge in the front of his trousers.

  She smothered a gasp and stood up, straightening her clothes and walking out of the room quickly, leaving James sleeping on the couch.

  The erection obviously didn’t mean anything, except he was a man who was still in the prime of life.

  But it made Rose think about sex. About sex and James together, in the same breath.

  And that was something she absolutely couldn’t do, not if she wanted to hold onto any vestige of professionalism.

  She wondered if he found her attractive. He’d called her pretty last night, but he might have just been trying to be nice.

  It would be nice if her body could arouse him, though—because his body could sure arouse her.

  Five

  James was so distracted the next morning that he ended up forgetting his phone at home.

  His phone contained everything—his schedule, his contacts, his notes about projects he was working on—and he was absolutely useless without it, since he could never keep details in his head. So, after getting to his office, he had to turn around and drive back home.

  He’d gotten more sleep last night than he had the two nights before, but most of that sleep had been with Rose in his arms.

  He’d known what he was doing the previous evening when Rose had dozed off and unconsciously leaned over toward him. He’d put his arm around her on purpose, knowing he shouldn’t and also knowing that he wanted to hold her like that. She’d been asleep, so he’d told himself it didn’t matter. He could enjoy it for a little while and then get up and go to bed.

  He hadn’t gotten up. He’d fallen asleep too. He’d half-woken a couple of times, aware that her body was pressed against his fully and that his own body really liked it, but she’d been gone when he woke up this morning for real, his back stiff and his groin hard.

  He’d taken a long shower and reminded himself that these were feelings he couldn’t indulge again. Things were already getting messy in his life—sliding into a kind of chaos he remembered from after Melissa had died—and he wasn’t going to straighten them out again if he let himself lust after their nanny.

  But he was tired and frustrated and generally cranky as he parked in the driveway and let himself in through the kitchen door.

  He froze when the first thing he saw was a wide expanse of Rose’s breasts.

  She was leaning over, evidently trying to hook the leash onto Topsy, who was spinning around like crazy. She wore only a short, thin bathrobe which was hanging down to reveal most of her chest.

  James stared fixedly at the full, heavy curve of her breasts and the glimpse of a rosy nipple he could see, his body immediately tightening with interest at the sight.

  Rose jumped up when she saw him, making a breathless sound and taking a couple of steps backward. “Oh, Mr. Harwood!”

  He knew he was expected to speak, and he tried to make himself do so, but his mouth was bone dry and his growing erection in his pants began to pulse. By standing up, she had hidden most of her breasts, but the robe was still hanging loose, and he could see more of her fair skin than was good for him.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, a flush starting to stain her cheeks. “I wouldn’t have come down like this if I’d known you were coming back. Topsy really needed to go. She was doing her spins.”

  He managed to clear his throat, finally finding his voice. “It’s fine. I forgot my phone. I’m—I’m sorry to interrupt.”

  That last part was pretty stupid, but it was the best he could do, given the circumstances.

  Rose had dropped her eyelashes delectably and was closing her robe more with her left hand. She still held Topsy’s leash in her right. “Well,” she said. “I better take her out.”

  “Yes. You better. I mean, I’ll just run get my phone.”

  He wasn’t sure he could move immediately, so he was relieved when Rose walked past him with Topsy and took the dog outside.

  James took a few shaky breaths and tried to pull himself together.

  This was ridiculous. He was never afflicted with lust like this. He could hardly ask Rose to stop looking so sexy in his presence. He was the one who needed to get his responses under control.

  He finally managed to move, and he hurried down the hall to his office, which was the last place he’d used the phone.

  Once he’d grabbed it, he made a quick stop in the bathroom.

  He could hardly go back to work with an erection.

  ***

  James stayed at work later than usual. There were a lot of things he needed to get done, but he was also relieved at the excuse to avoid Rose for a little longer.

  He felt guilty about his responses to her lately, and he was afraid it would complicate what had been a very good working relationship between them for more than two years.

  He just needed a little time and distance, and then he would be fine.

  He told his assistant to go home at six, but he stayed on, clearing out email and working through the pile of paperwork on his desk. He would have to get home early enough to spend some time with the girls, but that still gave him another hour to delay.

  At close to seven, the office building was mostly empty, so he was surprised to hear a tap on his office door. He stared at the door blankly for a minute, trying to figure out if he’d actually heard the knock or imagined it.

  Then the door pushed open, and Genevieve walked in.

  His eyes went wide, and he stood up immediately, feeling a wave of defensiveness and confusion. “What are you doing here?”

  She gave him a sultry smile. She wore heels and a belted coat, and her hair was pinned up with a clip. “Is that any way to greet me?”

  His confusion was now paired with annoyance. “What are you doing here?” he asked again, a little more gravel in his voice.

  “I wanted to say I was sorry.” She smiled again, this time looking apologetic, although James didn’t really believe it was genuine.

  He stayed behind his desk. “Sorry for what?”

  “For pouting the way I did. I was just upset. You know I don’t normally act that way.”

  In fact, he knew very well that she always acted that way. She had a whole routine she used to get her way, and pouting was one of her strategies. He’d never put the pieces together this way before, but he could see it all now. She’d always been that way.

  Whatever she was doing here was part of a strategy too.

  “Okay,” he said. “You’re sorry. I accept the apology, but it doesn’t change anything.”

  She came over closer to the desk he was still standing behind. “I think it changes a lot.”

  He shook his head. “What exactly does it change?”

  “I don’t think you really wanted to break up with me, and I’m telling you that you don’t have to.”

  He almost groaned in frustration. This was not what he wanted to be dealing with at the moment. He wanted to go home and see his girls. And maybe brood about Rose a little more. “I think I made myself perfectly clear two nights ago. It wasn’t working, and it’s time for us to just call it quits. I’m sorry if it hurts you or if this isn’t what you want, but I don’t know how else I can say this. I just don’t want to marry you.”

  He felt bad for the words, since he didn’t actually like to hurt people, but it was as if they didn’t even penetrate to Genevieve’s brain. She didn’t stop smiling and giving him her sexy eyes. “I think you do—you just need a little refresher.”

  “I don’t need a refresher. I just need—”

  He didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence because Genevieve unbelted and then dropped her coat to the floor.

  She was completely naked beneath it.

  She’d always had an attractive body, and he didn’t mind that her breasts were almost certainly surgically enhanced. Men didn’t tend to be too picky about that kind of thing. But he was so tired of her and frustrated by her behavior that his body didn’t even react to the sight of her naked body in front of him.

  “This kind of refresher,” she murmured.

  “Genevieve,” he said, blowing out a breath, “Put your coat back on.”

  “You don’t want me to.”

  “Yes, I do. I’m not going to have sex with you. I’m not going to stay engaged to you.” He walked around the desk and picked up her coat, handing it to her. “I didn’t want to be mean, but you’re not giving me any other choice. It’s over between us, and I don’t want to see you again.”

 

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