LITMIR.BIZ

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student on the brink of life.

      It looked as if she’d succeeded. He’d learned a lot about her business, but nothing about the woman. What had she been doing these past seven years beyond Vacation Nannies?

      Did she have a boyfriend?

      The thought twisted his gut.

      He had no rights. Any he’d had years ago he’d forfeited when he’d told her goodbye.

      “You need to do what you need to do and have no regrets,” she’d said at that coffee shop when he’d told her he was breaking it off with her to remarry Margo.

      He wished he could have lived with no regrets.

      The past was past. Now he needed her in a different way—to help with his daughter.

      He remembered Vacation Nannies’ office manager telling him the nanny had to approve the children or they would not take the job.

      He hoped Jacey would behave. He needed someone to be there for his daughter when he had to work. He’d know by tomorrow shortly after ten.

      The next morning Declan was up early and back at work to finish up loose ends before the trip. His housekeeper was with Jacey. She herself would be taking a vacation while he was gone. Had she been a younger woman, he would have prevailed on her to go with them to California. But, in her late fifties, she was not interested in backpacking in the mountains.

      His vice president would be in charge of the business for the next few weeks. Declan knew he’d do a good job. It was hard to leave with so many different irons in the fire, but he was determined that while Jacey was with him, he’d do what he could to get his daughter comfortable around him. He wanted his sweet little girl back.

      The trip was not all about bonding with Jacey. He was interested in adding an entirely new direction to the company. The fact he was combining business with their time away was prudent. He’d show his daughter some of what he did for a living, thus correlating work with earning money. Her mother was filling her head with an entitlement attitude that drove him crazy. Nothing in life came free.

      Some things came with a steep price. He thought about Savannah and couldn’t help but feel a stirring of anticipation. He’d see her soon. He had told Jacey about hiring a nanny and hoped she’d behave.

      He’d forgotten over the past seven years how pretty Savannah was. Or had he deliberately suppressed the memory? He’d genuinely tried to make the marriage work. It took two, however, and Margo’s agenda had been different from his.

      Marrying Margo a second time had been a huge mistake almost from the beginning. Granted, she was stunning. Long dark hair, mysterious eyes, a sly, catlike smile. He’d been captivated the first time around. If she’d told him she was pregnant before they’d divorced, he might have stayed in the marriage. She was high maintenance from the get-go, always wanting to party, to be seen in all the trendy places, to acquire clothes and jewelry and anything else that could be construed as a status symbol. Nothing had changed the second time they married. She’d hired a housekeeper and fobbed Jacey’s care off on her.

      But she hadn’t told him. They’d divorced and he’d met Savannah.

      She’d been a small-town girl, new to New York and focused on the business idea she and her sister had of nannies for vacations only. He’d never felt so young and carefree as he had in the months they were together. That time still remained a special memory.

      She’d been the first person he’d thought about when he decided to take Jacey backpacking in the wilderness. Savannah was no longer a shy country mouse. From her hair to her attire to her attitude, she was just what he wanted Jacey to be like when she grew up. Trendy without being over the top. Confident, assured, pleasant.

      And she probably hated his guts.

      He stared at the numbers in the reports he was skimming. None of them made any sense. All he could see was the cool manner in which Savannah had deliberated before giving him an answer. Her final agreement was predicated on her meeting with Jacey going well.

      He checked his watch. Time to head for home. What wasn’t done wouldn’t get done. The world wouldn’t end.

      Jacey was watching television when he entered his flat a short time later. Mrs. Harris, his housekeeper, was sitting with his daughter, crocheting. Jacey looked up and then deliberately looked back at the television without any greeting.

      He had to admit the all-black attire, the dark circles around her eyes and the straight, flat black hair had taken him aback when Margo had brought her by unexpectedly a week ago. Where was the sunny smile Jacey had had when she was younger? The enthusiasm she’d evidenced when she saw him? She used to run to hug him.

      “Hi, Jacey,” he greeted her, going across the room to give her a kiss on her cheek.

      She pulled back and glared at him. “When’s the babysitter coming? I called Mom. She’ll want to know you plan to pawn me off on some stranger.”

      “Since your mother didn’t consult me at all about this summer, I suspect she’ll be happy enough to go along with what I have planned. I thought she was in the Hamptons.”

      Mrs. Harris, his housekeeper, rose and smiled at her employer. “I’ll just finish up in the kitchen,” she said and took off without even a glance at Jacey. She did not like confrontations and there’d already been a couple of major storms since the evening Margo had arrived unexpectedly with Jacey, announcing she had plans for the summer and Declan could take a turn with his daughter.

      Declan rarely saw Jacey. While he had visitation rights, Margo had demanded full custody. And many of the times he’d planned to see his daughter, Margo had had other plans and couldn’t have Jacey spend time with him.

      “She has a life, too, you know,” Jacey said. “She has a hard time making ends meet. She’s going to petition for more child support. And I think you could help out your only child. It’s tough living in New York on a small salary.”

      He looked at her, hearing Margo’s voice in his child’s words.

      “I send more than adequate child support. If she wishes to challenge it in court, maybe we should consider you coming to live with me. That way all her money could go straight to her own needs.”

      “I don’t want to live with you. I’m stuck here this summer when I could be going to the Hamptons with Mom’s friends.”

      He smiled without humor. “Yet your mother brought you here.”

      Jacey frowned. The fact was she was as angry with her mother as much as with Declan. He was angry with Margo for putting such ideas in his daughter’s head. If he could audit his ex-wife’s finances, he knew he’d find more of the support money was spent on Margo than on his daughter. He knew how much he sent each month. He doubted Jacey saw much of it, however. Margo had always been high maintenance.

      Jacey pouted and looked away, studying the toes of her black shoes. “I wish I was at home.”

      “What do you normally do at home?” he asked easily.

      “Hang out with my friends, for one thing.”

      “Maybe when we get back from California we can see about having some come over here. Or you can visit.”

      “It’s not like I can walk there.”

      “I’ll provide transportation.”

      “Whatever.”

      “Until then you have San Francisco, then backpacking in the High Sierras to look forward to. Remember how we used to go camping?”

      “Oh, pul-ease, not camping. I was a kid then. What did I know? When I hear California I think beaches in LA, maybe go to Hollywood, see something worth seeing.”

      “I understand the views from the Pacific Crest Trail in Yosemite are amazing.”

      The doorbell sounded. Declan took a breath. Make-or-break time.

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