ТОП просматриваемых книг сайта:
Out of Hours...Enticing the Nanny. Rebecca Winters
Читать онлайн.Название Out of Hours...Enticing the Nanny
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781472082954
Автор произведения Rebecca Winters
Серия Mills & Boon M&B
Издательство HarperCollins
She had such a vivacious personality, Nick was mesmerized. No wonder Leah had picked her. Ms. Chamberlain had to have stood out a hundred miles from any of the other nanny candidates.
“He’s still asleep on my bed.”
“I’ll just wash my hands and peek in on him.”
“While you do that I’ll ask the kitchen to send up our dinner.” He made the call, then started looking through the bags, curious to see what she’d purchased for one tiny baby. In a minute the concierge came through with even more cartons.
“Have fun putting all this together, Mr. Wainwright. Leave the empty boxes outside in the hall and I’ll pick them up.”
Nick thanked him and walked him out in time to ask the waiter to set up their dinner in the dining room. Halfway back to his bedroom he met her in the hall carrying Jamie in her arms. “This little guy was awake. I guess he could hear the noise and started to fuss. He needed a diaper change and let me handle it, but I think he wanted you to do the honors.”
“Well, now that the deed is done, our food is ready in the dining room.”
“That sounds good. If you’ll open the carton that says baby swing, we can set it up in there and he can watch you while we eat. It will be perfect for him when we go out on the terrace during the day.”
He hadn’t seen one of those at the Hirsts’. “You want to swing?” Nick gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading into the nursery. Reese followed him and waited while he opened the carton.
“There should be some batteries taped to the inside of the lid.”
“Batteries?”
“They make it swing and play music at the same time.”
Though he moved millions of dollars around on paper every day, the world of a baby and all its attendant necessities had passed him by completely. Whether his boy needed a swing or not, he had one now. Thankfully it wasn’t as difficult to put together as installing the base of the infant car seat in the limo. It had taken him several attempts before he’d managed to do it right.
“Let’s go try this out.”
“Your daddy’s a genius to assemble it so fast, Jamie.”
“Don’t speak too soon in case it goes crashing down, taking my son with it.”
“We’re not worried.”
He stared into her shimmering blue eyes, dumbfounded over Leah’s find. “Then you should be.”
WHEN Nick looked at her like that, Reese’s heart began thudding for reasons she didn’t dare explore right now.
She followed him back to the living room. The floor-to-ceiling French doors at the end had been opened to reveal a dining room that took her breath. First came the chandelier of Czechoslovakian glass. One of this kind and size was a museum piece. She thought the same thing of the massive Italian provincial hutch that lined the far wall.
Its shelving held handblown Venetian glass and stunning pieces of china no longer made. On the opposite wall was a long European hunt board with its distinctive stylized pheasants and peacocks. A still-life oil painting of fruits hung above it.
The window featured tapestries with tassels pulled halfway down depicting various pastoral scenes. When she could tear her gaze away, it fell on the rectangular table of dark oak dominating the room. She counted sixteen chairs around. The exquisite woodwork was complemented by the upholstery fabric, a blend of rich green and cream striping on velvet.
Two candelabras with lighted tapers flanked a breathtaking centerpiece of fresh flowers including creamy lilies and roses interspersed with greenery. The top of the beautifully carved table had such a highly polished surface, everything gleamed. Two places nearest the doors had been set where their dinner awaited them.
She finally looked at her employer. “I’m afraid whoever dreamed up this masterpiece of a room didn’t have that swing in mind.” He’d set it on a gorgeous Persian rug at the corner of the table.
“I have to give my wife credit for much of the apartment’s decor.”
So they had lived here together. How painful this must be for him. “She had incomparable taste.”
He took the baby from her and fastened him in the seat. “Let’s see if he likes this.” When he pressed the button, it started to swing and played “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.” Jamie looked at his father. The baby acted happy and it brought a ghost of a smile to his father’s lips.
Mr. Wainwright’s eyes unexpectedly narrowed on her features. “Your contribution to the room keeps it from feeling like a museum. Shall we eat?”
Reese could imagine the apartment felt that way to him with his other half gone out of his life. But he had his adorable son staring up at him in wonder, as if his father was the whole world to him. That had to compensate for his loss.
Leaving him to sit at the head of the table, she took her place at the side just as the song changed to another nursery rhyme. It played a medley of ten tunes.
He removed the covers from their plates, sending a mouthwatering aroma through the room. “Help yourself to coffee or tea.”
“Thank you, but I’ll just have water.” She poured herself a glass from the pitcher and drank a little before starting in on her food. “This roast chicken is delicious.”
“I’ll tell the chef. He was plucked from a five-star hotel in Paris.”
“The chicken or the chef?”
His deep laugh disarmed her. “Touché.”
She laughed with him. “It explains the buttery taste I love. I’m afraid I’m as bad as Julia Child. We think alike. Butter is the building block for good food.”
His dark eyes flicked to hers. The candlelight reflecting in them made the irises look more brown than black. Until now she hadn’t been able to decide their exact shade. “You eat a lot of it out in Nebraska, do you?”
“We Cornhuskers never heard of cholesterol,” she teased, laying it on a little thick. “In truth, all of us healthy farm girls thrive on it.”
One dark brow shot up. “If I offended you, I didn’t mean to.”
She smiled. “I know you didn’t. I was just having fun.”
“That’s a refreshing quality of yours, Reese. Mind if I call you that?”
His genuine warmth came as a surprise. She hadn’t expected a truly successful, wealthy CEO like him to be so well-rounded. It was probably that quality as much as his brilliant mind that drew people to him and made him such a paragon.
“To be honest, I hate being called Ms. Chamberlain, Mr. Wainwright.”
He smiled. “If that was more funning on your part, I still get the hint. Call me Nick.”
“Thank you. I was afraid it wouldn’t happen for a while.”
Another chuckle ensued. “Am I that impossible?”
Reese was already too addicted to his potent charisma. “Not at all, but I’d like Jamie to know I have a first name. Ms. Chamberlain is kind of heavy for a ten-week-old.” She put her fork down. “Speaking of the baby, I know it looks like I bought out the store, but everything I purchased was for a reason. Of course I’ll take anything back you don’t like or find necessary.”
“I’ll reserve judgment until tomorrow. We’ve worked hard enough today and need an early night.”
“The