“Don’t worry about them,” an English-accented voice said.
I’d glanced to my left to see an attractive guy grinning mischievously at me. He had longish brown hair and dark eyes. “Excuse me?”
He jerked his chin in the direction of Michelle and the three other women. “Thirsty single mothers.”
“Excuse me?” I repeated.
“Thane Adair is sexy, wealthy, and a single father. Not just any single father—a widow. Bleeding hearts love that. Plus, he’s an Adair. That name has gravitas in these parts.”
My suspicions were confirmed. “They all have their sights set on Thane?”
“Yes.” The man smirked, his eyes dropping down my body but not in the insulting way Michelle and her friends’ gazes had. “They’re not happy to hear you’re living with him as his nanny.”
At my confused expression, he chuckled. “You have looked in a mirror, yes?”
The blood in my cheeks turned hot. As arrogant as it might sound to admit it out loud, I knew I was pretty. I’d never lacked for boyfriends. But I’d never prioritized physical appearance. The guys I’d dated all had one thing in common: charisma. Other than that, they’d been totally different in the looks department. Some typically good-looking like Maddox, and some made attractive by his inner sexiness rather than overt handsomeness.
Anyway, I hadn’t expected to find myself back in high school in a small village in the Scottish Highlands, hated on because I was dating the sexiest guy in school. And this time, I wasn’t even dating him—I was working for him.
“Jesus,” I muttered, throwing them a look. “They think I’m a threat?”
“Aren’t you?”
Perhaps it was because I hadn’t quite been able to talk myself out of a crush on Thane that I snapped, “Of course not. Thane’s a gentleman. He’s my boss, that’s all.”
The guy raised his hands, his gaze flicking to the school doors as the kids flooded out. “Hey, I meant nothing by it. I’m Will, by the way. My fiancé works for Thane’s brother at the estate. Jock. He’s on the security team.”
Jock, as in Sarge? “You’re Sarge’s fiancé?”
Will chuckled. “He told me you call him that. And yes. That little munchkin running toward me is Adam!” he said, just as a boy who looked like a mini version of Jock jumped into his arms. “How was school?”
“Fine.” The boy eyed me shyly. “Glad it’s over.”
I smiled at him, but I was watching for Eilidh and Lewis.
“Your little one is just coming.” Will pointed out Eilidh in the crowd. “She and Adam are in class together, so I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
I’d waved goodbye to Will and Adam just as Eilidh ran up and wrapped her arms around my legs. She threw her head back, grinning up at me, and announced, “It’s Friday!”
Shaking myself out of the memory of that first full week as Thane’s nanny, I shot the four women a look. Even though I knew all their names now, I kept referring to them as the thirsty single moms since Will first called them that. Will, I’d discovered, was an artist, and not only did I fall in love with his paintings, but I was kind of in love with him. We grabbed a quick coffee after school drop-off twice a week when we’d chat about everything and nothing. He’d told me all about Jock getting his ex-girlfriend pregnant and how they’d met when Will moved to Ardnoch to set up his gallery. He didn’t go into too much detail, but I could read between the lines that Jock had a tough time accepting he was bisexual. Eventually, though, he came out to his family and moved in with Will.
During all of it, he’d battled for full custody of Adam because of his ex-girlfriend’s heroin addiction. There was so much evidence of neglect that he won.
Will was a great buffer between me and the thirsty moms, but he, Jock, and Adam were on vacation in the Caribbean for two weeks, so I was alone at the gates this week.
My sister didn’t text back, which meant Lachlan was totally telling Thane about the moms. Not that it mattered. If they were this obvious with me, how obvious were they with Thane?
Another glance over. I caught the brunette’s eye—her name was Laura—and smiled.
She frowned like she didn’t know what to do with that.
Whatever. Looking down again, I sent Robyn a link to a wedding designer in Edinburgh. While I’d been nannying and housekeeping my ass off this past month, I’d also been helping Robyn plan her wedding. Everything was going smoothly, considering they were getting married at Ardnoch Castle and using the estate’s resources for that. But we still had bridal-party wear, décor, music, band, invitations, and all that to sort out. They were having a spring wedding, only seven months away.
Two minutes later, the bell rang and I put my cell away. For once, Lewis reached me first.
“Hey, buddy, good day?”
He shrugged. “It was okay.”
I rested a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to my side and inwardly cursing Mrs. Welsh to hell. While Connor’s mom filed a complaint and Mrs. Welsh had issued an apology, she was still “impatient and mean.” I felt powerless, hating that Lewis disliked school so much because of her. In fifth grade, I had an awful teacher who made me feel stupid all the time, and she’d seriously made me hate school. Until that year, I’d loved school. I didn’t want that to happen to Lewis.
“Since it’s Friday, I thought we’d grab an ice cream from Morag’s. What do you think?”
He gave me a small smile and a nod. As we waited for Eilidh to detach herself from an excited huddle in the middle of the playground, Lewis moved closer into my side.
It was subtle, but it happened.
My hand tightened on his shoulder.
Finally, Eilidh broke away from her friends and skipped to us, her fishtail braids with the pink ribbons tied at the ends flying up around her. “We started a girl band!”
Taking her hand, I chuckled. “Yeah? What are you guys called?”
“Don’t know yet. I like the Unicornies, but Maisie likes the Mermaids.”
Walking the kids toward the car, I tried hard to keep a straight face. “Well, that’s a big decision to make.”
“Not really.” She shook her head adamantly. “Unicornies are better than the silly mermaids.”
“Are you the lead singer?”
Eilidh gave me a look as if to say “well, duh,” and this time I couldn’t help but laugh. As I opened my eyes, I caught sight of Michelle watching me as she loaded her kids. Deciding not to let the scrutiny bother me, I led my charges to the Range Rover and filled Eilidh in on the ice cream plan.
Just as she did with chicken nuggets, she announced ice cream to the world in her monster voice. Even Lewis giggled.
11
Regan
The drive to the beach was a mere twenty minutes from the house. It was on the opposite end of the coastal line, so we drove through the village to get to it. I’d been to the beach with Robyn on weekends; as much as I could, I tried to give Thane space with Eilidh and Lewis on my days off. If I wasn’t with Robyn (because I was trying to give her space with her fiancé), I was hanging out with Arrochar or Eredine or both. We’d taken day trips to Inverness, and they’d gotten me back into hiking by showing me trails through the Cairngorms. Of course, I’d needed to outfit myself with new gear from the outdoor clothing store, and that hadn’t been cheap. But it was worth it.