“’Course not. I just meant … I don’t know.” Lachlan sighed wearily. “I’m just worried about her. Robyn thinks if we all make Regan feel at home, feel embraced here, she might settle down.”
Thane snorted. “She’s living in my annex, looking after my kids. How much more do you want me to embrace her?”
His brother burst into laughter. “Fair enough.”
Grinning, Thane stared out at the water again. A door closing in the distance sounded, followed by the hum of music. Lachlan glanced over his shoulder, toward the side of the house. When he looked back, he wore a small, almost imperceptible smile. “Robyn’s working.”
His brother had built a separate building for Robyn’s photography business.
“I’m glad you found her,” Thane said. And he genuinely was. Lachlan deserved someone special like Robyn.
Lachlan looked somber of a sudden. “I love her so much, I can barely contain it. I don’t know how you did it, Thane. How you got up every day and kept going after you lost Fran. I’m humbled by you.”
Emotion burned in his throat. Thane reached out and patted Lachlan’s shoulder. He didn’t know how to tell his brother that in the end, he hadn’t had with Fran what Lachlan had with Robyn. There was no point. It didn’t change the fact that a woman he loved, the mother of his children, had died abruptly and he’d grieved over her deeply. Still grieved for her.
After a few moments of silence, Thane said, “You’re going to let Eilidh be a flower girl, aye? Until Regan showed up, it was all she talked about.”
“Of course.” Lachlan grinned the smile of a smitten uncle. “We’ll make sure she gets the dress she wants … Eils likes Regan, then?”
“Oh, aye.” Concern niggled in Thane’s gut. “So does Lewis. You know he doesn’t take to folks quickly, but I can tell he likes her. I explained to them that it’s just temporary, that Regan goes back to the States in six months, but I’m worried about how attached they already are to her, and it’s only been two days.”
“If Robyn has anything to do with it, her sister will be here longer than six months.”
“What do you mean?”
“She thinks this place will be good for Regan.”
It would make his life easier if Regan could stick around longer than six months. “At her age? I doubt this place will keep her interested for long. Still, you should see my house. It’s gleaming. All the kids’ stuff is organized and tidy. I come home to dinner ready. Even my office … she cleans it without messing anything up in there.”
Lachlan grinned at him. “Sounds like you’re enjoying your nanny housekeeper.”
Although he knew his brother meant nothing sexual, Thane felt a flush of physical longing.
Just the beer, he told himself, unable to meet his brother’s eyes.
“It’s nice not living in chaos.”
However, when he returned to the house an hour later, he found Regan curled up asleep on his couch. He’d noticed her dress that morning, wondering what happened to her comfortable jeans and T-shirt, which was more appropriate for her daily tasks, but had made no comment since she could wear whatever the fuck she wanted.
But now he was definitely noticing the dress. It had ridden up high so he could see the curve of a very pert ass beneath it. Her gorgeous hair spilled across the sofa cushions.
His gut tightened with need as he took in the sight of the sleeping beauty on his sofa.
She looked sleepy and comfortable …
And sexy as hell.
Reaching for the throw over the back of the couch, he brought it down over her, careful not to touch her.
She was too young for him.
Not to mention his brother’s soon-to-be sister-in-law.
And he was her boss.
That she was a beautiful woman must be ignored.
Switching off the TV, he stood back, not making a move to leave, apparently hypnotized by the sight of her lovely face relaxed in sleep.
Earlier, he’d watched her face as she animatedly read a book to Eilidh. She was brilliant at acting it out and doing all the voices, and she’d even made him chuckle.
The image of her laughing face, those dimples deepening in her apple cheeks, made him harder.
“Fuck,” he muttered as he quietly stumbled upstairs. “Just a bit drunk,” he reassured himself. That was all. He wasn’t actually attracted to his twenty-five-year-old nanny.
He was a better man than that.
10
Regan
Still getting nasty side-eye from thirsty single moms.
I tried not to smirk as I sent off the text to Robyn. A couple seconds later, my cell buzzed in my hand.
Lachlan wondered what I was laughing at so I told him. He thinks it’s hilarious. Is prob gonna tell Thane.
Oh, no. He wouldn’t. He better not.
It was bad enough hiding my ever-increasing crush on the man. He didn’t need to know there was a group of single moms at Ardnoch Primary School who clearly had Thane in their sights. Over three weeks ago, at the end of my first complete week working as the nanny, and after these moms had eyeballed me at the school gates every morning and afternoon, two of them made an approach to ask who I was. At first, I thought they were just looking out for Eilidh and Lewis. While the school was big enough to accommodate all the outlying settlements around Ardnoch, it wasn’t massive. And I already knew from Robyn that everybody knew each other here. Naive me thought they were being friendly.
“I’m Regan Penhaligon.” I’d offered a hand to the attractive older blond who introduced herself as Michelle.
“Any relation to Lachlan Adair’s fiancée?” her brunette companion asked.
“Her sister.”
“And you’re … watching the children for Thane?” the blond queried.
“I’m his new live-in nanny.”
Abruptly, the atmosphere turned frosty and their smiles grew tight. They dragged their gazes down my body in that way women did when they wanted you to feel judged.
And there I was thinking how awesome their Scottish accents were and how I liked Michelle’s modern take on preppy style.
Then it got worse. “Just the nanny?” The brunette arched an eyebrow.
I raised an eyebrow right back at her. “No. I also cook and clean.”
Having been taught by the master (Robyn) how to out-stare someone, the brunette lost our match and looked away, her lips pursed.
Michelle gave me another tight smile. “You’re awfully young to be a nanny, are you not?”
Damn, she had a cool accent. It was a thicker brogue, a bit like Mac’s. Pity her accent was cooler than she was.
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Oh, you look younger than that.” The brunette’s expression was suspicious, as if she didn’t believe me. What the hell?
“Aye, we thought you were just out of high school.”
Yeah, right. What was going on here?
“We’ve known Thane a long time,” the brunette said haughtily. “We really do miss him at the school gates. Will he not be coming back, then?”
My suspicions built. “Not in the immediate future.”
The bell rang, and thankfully the women scampered back to their companions who leaned in to hear what they’d discovered in their reconnaissance mission. I rolled my eyes and tried to forget them, excited for Eilidh and Lewis to come out of the school.