LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER THREE

      MELISSA turned around, surprised. “I thought you and Max were in the living room.”

      “He had a call to make before it got too late in London. I thought I heard voices, so came to investigate.” He looked at Alaya. “If you wish me to post a letter, I’m happy to do so.”

      “Thank you, Uncle Surim,” she said shyly, moving closer to Melissa.

      “Uncle? We’re cousins,” he explained.

      “Easier for them if you’re Uncle Surim and your new bride will be their new aunt.” Speaking softly, Melissa leaned closer. “They don’t want a replacement for their parents just yet.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “My new bride,” he said evenly.

      Melissa swallowed. Was that some secret? She shouldn’t have said that.

      “I heard you were looking for a wife,” she said, feeling embarrassed, as if she’d been caught gossiping behind his back.

      His face was impassive. “That is the plan.”

      Heat turning her face bright red, Melissa was thankful when Hamid interrupted. “Melissa is going to read us a story,” he said firmly. “Come on, Melissa.”

      “You have a way with the children,” Surim said. “Don’t let them pester you.”

      She glanced sharply at him. “They aren’t pestering me, for heaven’s sake. They just want some adult attention. You should be reading them their stories. Annis’s English is limited. She only reads French stories; they don’t understand those.”

      “She speaks English,” he said, his brow creasing.

      “And stop frowning, it scares them,” she said.

      He looked at her in astonishment.

      Melissa almost cringed. She needed to watch her tongue or she’d be asked to leave so fast her head would swim. This was a sheikh, not some bumbling idiot.

      “Sorry, but I do think you should try smiling more.” She bit her lip and looked at Alaya.

      Surim stooped down until he was at a level with Hamid. “Should I read to you?” he asked gently.

      Melissa was the astonished one. She’d never heard such gentleness in Surim’s voice, nor expected him to do something so kind to a little boy.

      Hamid seemed undecided. “Can you both read to us?”

      Surim smiled and nodded, glancing up at Melissa.

      Melissa was struck dumb. When he smiled his entire face changed. He looked younger. And much more appealing. A flutter of nerves centered in her stomach. He would have no trouble wooing some woman to become his wife if he smiled at her once a day.

      Rising to his full height, he continued looking at Melissa, a hint of amusement in those dark eyes. “You have a way with children; do you have any of your own?”

      “Of course not, I’m not married.”

      “Neither am I, but I seem to have acquired three.”

      Melissa wanted to point out he planned to ship them off to some school, but she kept quiet, conscious of the presence of the two children. Maybe if Surim spent some more time with them, he’d find he couldn’t send them away.

      “Come on, then, let’s read these children to sleep,” he said.

      It was oddly intimate, Melissa thought, to be with Surim tucking the children in bed. Almost as if they were the children’s parents. Surim had dismissed Annis when she’d rushed out to see to the children. Melissa glanced across the bed to watch as he patted Hamid on his small shoulders. She thought it was the first time for the man.

      “Sleep through the night, little one,” Surim said, almost as an order.

      Melissa hid a smile. He might be trying, but his manner needed polishing.

      She selected two books, and handed one to Surim. “Want to start?” she asked.

      “Ladies first. Besides, if they fall asleep on your watch, I don’t have to read.”

      She laughed. “Very well.”

      His strategy worked. Before Melissa finished the book she’d selected, both children were fast asleep.

      “Tomorrow night, you can read the first book,” Melissa whispered as they left the bedroom.

      “I would never be able to put as much enthusiasm into reading. Nor come up with different voices for the different characters. You have a talent for working with children.”

      “I should, it’s my job.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “I’m a nanny by profession.”

      He paused at the top of the stairs. “I thought you were a translator.”

      “Max very kindly found me some work between jobs—at my mother’s insistence, I’m sure. She recently married Max’s father, you know.”

      Surim nodded.

      “Anyway, I finished my last job before Christmas and my next one doesn’t start until February, so I’m helping out at Bella Lucia. They obviously knew I had no experience in anything except childcare, so Max found this job for me. I speak French and Italian and a smattering of German. I needed it when I lived in Switzerland.”

      “Where is your next job?”

      “In Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.”

      “I’m familiar with Boston,” he said dryly. “Quite a change from Switzerland.”

      “And from what I’ve been doing. Until now, I worked at a childcare facility at one of the resorts in Switzerland. You know, come for a week and let us take care of your children so you can enjoy all the amenities. It was great fun, but now I want to try working for a family. When the McDonalds asked me, I jumped at the chance. It’s what I was trained for.” She had no intention of letting anyone know part of the reason for her desire for

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