The Nanny's Plan Read online

  “Well—” said Pierce, clearing his

  throat “—would you like to have your

  first swimming lesson right now?”

  The edginess that had infected him must have been contagious. Amy’s head bobbed, and her intriguing brown gaze turned aside momentarily. Finally, her eyes lifted to his as she answered with a tiny nod.

  The timidity she exhibited did something strange to the air surrounding him. Even though he was standing waist-deep in the bay, he felt flushed, overheated.

  She looked the very essence of freshness. Of vitality. And until this very instant, he’d never realized how her energy enthralled him. His heart tripped against his ribs as he realized that in order to teach Amy to swim, he was going to have to get close to her—very close.

  Dear Reader,

  Discover a guilt-free way to enjoy this holiday season. Treat yourself to four calorie-free, but oh-so-satisfying brand-new Silhouette Romance titles this month.

  Start with Santa Brought a Son (#1698) by Melissa McClone. This heartwarming reunion romance is the fourth book in Silhouette Romance’s new six-book continuity, MARRYING THE BOSS’S DAUGHTER.

  Would a duty-bound prince forsake tradition to marry an enchanting commoner? Find out in The Prince & the Marriage Pact (#1699), the latest episode in THE CARRAMER TRUST miniseries by reader favorite Valerie Parv.

  Then, it’s anyone’s guess if a wacky survival challenge can end happily ever after. Join the fun as the romantic winners of a crazy contest are revealed in The Bachelor’s Dare (#1700) by Shirley Jump.

  And in Donna Clayton’s The Nanny’s Plan (#1701), a would-be sophisticate is put through the ringer by a drop-dead gorgeous, absentminded professor and his rascally twin nephews.

  So pick a cozy spot, relax and enjoy all four of these tender holiday confections that Silhouette Romance has cooked up just for you.

  Happy holidays!

  Mavis C. Allen

  Associate Senior Editor

  The Nanny’s Plan

  DONNA CLAYTON

  This book is lovingly dedicated to

  Mrs. Margaret Edwards, the third-grade teacher

  who sparked my lifelong love of books

  by introducing me to Beverly Cleary.

  Books by Donna Clayton

  Silhouette Romance

  Mountain Laurel #720

  Taking Love in Stride #781

  Return of the Runaway Bride #999

  Wife for a While #1039

  Nanny and the Professor #1066

  Fortune’s Bride #1118

  Daddy Down the Aisle #1162

  *Miss Maxwell Becomesa Mom #1211

  *Nanny in the Nick of Time #1217

  *Beauty and the Bachelor Dad #1223

  †The Stand-By Significant Other #1284

  †Who’s the Father of Jenny’s Baby? #1302

  The Boss and the Beauty #1342

  His Ten-Year-Old Secret #1373

  Her Dream Come True #1399

  Adopted Dad #1417

  His Wild Young Bride #1441

  **The Nanny Proposal #1477

  **The Doctor’s Medicine Woman #1483

  **Rachel and the M.D. #1489

  Who Will Father My Baby? #1507

  In Pursuit of a Princess #1582

  ††The Sheriff’s 6-Year-Old Secret #1623

  ††The Doctor’s Pregnant Proposal #1635

  ††Thunder in the Night #1647

  The Nanny’s Plan #1701

  Silhouette Books

  The Coltons

  Close Proximity

  DONNA CLAYTON

  is the recipient of the Diamond Author Award For Literary Achievement 2000 as well as two HOLT Medallions. In her opinion, love is what makes the world go ‘round. She takes great pride in knowing that, through her work, she provides her readers the chance to indulge in some purely selfish romantic entertainment.

  One of her favorite pastimes is traveling. Her other interests include walking, reading, visiting with friends, teaching Sunday school, cooking and baking, and she still collects cookbooks, too. In fact, her house is overrun with them.

  Please write to Donna c/o Silhouette Books. She’d love to hear from you!

  Dear Mom & Dad,

  We are having fun this summer wit Uncle Pierce. We were worryed at furst becuz Uncle Pierce doesn’t have any kidz & he doesn’t really no how to have fun & he works to mush much! But the new nanny is fixing that. Amy keeps us buzy every day. She helped us bake the cookies four this care pakage. Yummy chocklit chips! Our favrite! We ate a few, but maled you most of them.

  We are afraid that Uncle Pierce & Amy are cu coming down with some kind of straynge dize di getting sick. They keep looking at each other with funny goo-goo eyes like how youz look at each other befour you send us to watch movies on kidz nite and cloze your bedroom door. We dont no what is going on, but if they start runing a fever, we will call the dokter doctor.

  Hope you are having a good time in Africa! don’t wory about us! We are fine!! But we are not so sure about Uncle Pierce & the nanny.

  With love from your suns sons,

  Benjamin & Jeremiah

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Amy Edwards had spent her whole life avoiding the traps: relationships, love, marriage and, most of all, kids. So why had she agreed to spend the summer caring for a set of six-year-old twins?

  The only answer she could come up with was that she’d totally lost her mind.

  She chuckled as she cut the engine. “Imagine that,” she murmured, pulling the key from the ignition and opening the car door. “Temporary insanity made me a temporary nanny.”

  Because an inner ear infection had caused the airline’s company physician to ground her for two months from her new job as a flight attendant, all she’d have been doing was watching the corn grow in Kansas while she waited to heal. And the pay offered to her had been generous.

  Still …taking care of children.

  If anyone other than her father had asked this of her, she’d have turned them down flat. But she’d have crawled to the top of Mount Everest on her hands and knees for her dad. The good Lord knew he’d sure sacrificed for her.

  She pulled her suitcase from the trunk and lifted her gaze. The stone-and-stucco house looked like something right out of the pages of a glossy architectural magazine. The vast grounds were neatly manicured, and flowers bloomed in a riot of color. The blue-green water of the Delaware Bay served as a tranquil backdrop to the setting. Even the idea of minding children couldn’t dampen the bright prospect of spending eight weeks in this paradise.

  Giddiness churned in her belly, urging her to go and take a quick peek at the cove. She should fight this feeling. This overzealousness that swallowed her up since escaping the Midwest made her feel so…small town. So unrefined. But before a few short weeks ago, she’d never seen a body of water larger than the man-made fishing pond just outside Lebo. The Delaware Bay was out there just waiting for her to feast her eyes on the view. Veering off the path that wound its way to the front door, she made a beeline for the water.

  She heard the young voices before actually spotting the boys. Her charges, she quickly surmised. Two peas in a pod. Or rather, in a rowboat. They bobbed on the surface of the bay just offshore. She frowned and searched the area for whoever was supposed to be with them. Young children and deep water didn’t mix well, in her mind.

  “Jeremiah!” she called, lifting h
er hand in friendly greeting. “Benjamin!”

  When the boys’ mother had flown to Kansas to reacquaint herself with Amy, the woman had been clear that Benjamin was called Benjamin. Not Ben. Not Benny. But Benjamin.

  The twins seemed startled by Amy’s appearance; however, they tentatively returned her wave. She realized then that one of the boys had been crying.

  She dropped her case to the grass. “What are you guys doing out there?”

  It was impossible to tell one boy from the other, so she had no idea who it was who tipped his chin up defiantly and said, “We’re going east. We’re rowing out into the Atlantic Ocean.”

  Amy’s mind raced. She quelled the urge to shout at them to return to shore this instant. Instead, she thought it better to make friends and coax the boys to safety.

  “I’m not an expert in geography,” she told them amiably. “But I’m pretty sure that, if you head due east, you’re going to run smack into New Jersey.”

  The boys looked surprised by this news.

  Before they could regroup, Amy called, “How about if you come ashore and we’ll go inside to check the atlas and you can see for yourself where you are.”

  The child with the red-rimmed eyes stood up, clearly impatient with her suggestion, at the same time stating, “We know where we are.”

  Panic made Amy’s tone grow more stern. “Sit down. Right now.”

  The boat was hit with a gentle wave that sent it rocking, and both boys’ eyes widened in alarm. An oar slipped from its ring, momentum sending it bobbing several feet from the boat.

  “I’m coming.” Without thought, Amy slipped off her high-heeled shoes and started toward them. She hoped the water wasn’t too deep. Swimming wasn’t much of a concern in Kansas, where you were surrounded by farmland.

  The bay was cold, despite the clear, sunny sky overhead. Her skin broke out in goose bumps when the water reached waist level, and she shivered. She was nearly within arm’s reach of the rowboat when the thought passed through her mind that the twins had gone oddly silent. That’s when she heard a masculine voice behind her say, “Maybe this will help.”

  She twisted around just as her hand closed over the wooden bow.

  Sunlight gilded the man’s jet-black hair, sparked the greenest gaze in all the universe. The honed angles comprising his features made for an utterly handsome face. A breath-stealing face.

  Amy gaped.

  Inexorably, she slowly became aware that the gorgeous man standing on the shore had a rope in his hand. Her gaze followed the dripping line, and her cheeks burned with embarrassment when she realized that one end was tethered to the front of the rowboat.

  “Jeremiah,” the man said, “sit down.”

  The child obeyed. The boat swayed under her grasp.

  “Hold on,” he told the twins. “I’m going to haul you in.”

  Out of the corner of her eye she spied the oar. She waded toward it, and when her fingers curled around the smooth surface, she was struck with the realization that the salty bay water had surely ruined her silk shirtdress. She was going to look a wreck when she trudged ashore.

  Confidence. She must remember to don an air of self-assurance. Her instructor at flight attendant school had been adamant—perception was everything. If a traveler sensed you were calm and in control during any given situation, then the battle was nearly won.

  She slogged onto the sand, the fabric of her dress sticking to her thighs as if it had been glued on.

  The man had pulled the bow of the boat onto dry land and was plucking the boys from it when he said to her, “You’re Amy Edwards? The nanny?”

  “Yes. That would be me.” She stepped forward meaning to offer him her hand, but realized her fingers were cold and damp, so she eased them behind her back. “You’re Dr. Kincaid. The boys’ uncle.”

  Her well-practiced, cocksure tone came without thought, but she was anything but certain. The boys’ parents had been scheduled to leave before she arrived in Glory, Delaware. But for all Amy knew, plans could have changed. Cynthia Winthrop had told her that her brother would be with the boys when Amy arrived; however, the man could be anyone—another relative, a family friend, a neighbor.

  He smiled, and Amy’s brain went haywire. She felt as if she might melt right into the carpet of thick grass beneath her bare feet.

  “That’s right,” he told her. “Call me Pierce.”

  He crouched down on his haunches then, turning his attention to the children.

  “I thought I left you in front of the television watching a video,” he said, a distinct reprimand in his tone.

  “But the movie’s been over for a long time, Uncle Pierce,” one of the boys complained.

  “A long time,” the other parroted.

  Surprise lifted his features. He studied his wristwatch. Then his shoulders rounded a bit and he looked down at his nephews. “So it has. I’m sorry, boys. I guess I got caught up in my work.”

  Once again that vivid green gaze was on her, and it unsettled her all over again. She fought the urge to smooth her hand over her soggy dress.

  “I have to say,” he told her, placing his palms on his knees and standing, “I’m impressed with your quick attempt to fetch the boys. Although I find it amusing that you went at the rescue the hard way. The lanyard was lying right there.”

  Her heart pounded. Explaining herself wasn’t something she did very well, especially when she felt put on the spot. Her father had warned her that Dr. Pierce Kincaid was a highly intelligent man…and Amy usually avoided highly intelligent men. For very good reason. However, neither her dad nor Cynthia Winthrop had warned Amy that the doctor could be a grumpy Gus when he wanted to be.

  During her two-day drive from Kansas, she’d pondered a hundred possible situations that might leave her looking like an idiot in front of the doctor, as well as means to avoid them. Walking into the Delaware Bay, fully clothed, had not been a scenario she’d anticipated.

  “How could I see it?” she asked when the idea came to her like a bolt from the blue. “It was under water until you picked it up.”

  The man’s oh-so-perfect mouth went flat. He murmured, “I guess that’s true enough.”

  She added, “Besides that, someone had to rescue the oar.”

  He nodded, his features relaxing as he looked at her.

  “They shouldn’t have been out here alone.” She hadn’t meant to criticize, but the opinion seemed to roll off her tongue by its own volition.

  Contrition darkened his green gaze. “You’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t have lost track of time like that.” After a moment, he sighed and then focused his attention on the twins.

  “What were the two of you thinking?”

  “The boat wasn’t on the list of rules you gave us,” one child quickly replied, blatant defensiveness in his tone. “So we thought it would be okay.”

  One of the man’s dark eyebrows arched dubiously.

  “Obviously your powers of deduction haven’t fully matured.”

  The second twin said, “It was Benjamin’s idea.”

  “Was not!”

  “Was too!”

  “Boys.”

  Although his voice hadn’t risen at all, the children went quiet. Amy chuckled.

  Horrified that all eyes were on her, she reached up and pressed her fingers to her mouth. It was nerves. No doubt about it. This situation had her as tense as a lop-eared rabbit in a rocking-chair factory.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. Unwilling to reveal her state of anxiety, she only shrugged. “The twins sure are cute when they squabble.”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “They’re cuter when they’re not getting into trouble.”

  Automatically Amy’s gaze drifted to the twins. The red, bleary eyes of one, the defiant chin thrust of the other. A strange thing happened to her insides. They turned all warm and mushy.

  “You said you were heading east,” she said. “Out into the Atlantic. You were going after your mom and dad, weren’
t you? You were heading for Africa.”

  The child who had been crying blinked, his chin trembling at the mention of his parents, and Amy thought her heart would dissolve right there in her chest.

  She went to him, bent down and tilted her head to one side. His cheek was downy soft against her fingertips. “Are you Jeremiah? Or Benjamin?”

  “Jeremiah.” The child could barely speak around the emotion lumping in his throat.

  “Well, Jeremiah, I know how you’re feeling. I miss my parents, too.”

  He sniffed. “Did your mom and dad go to Africa?”

  Her mouth curled. “No. My dad is back in Kansas.” She paused, not quite knowing how to explain about her mother. “My mom went far, far away.”

  “Farther than Africa?” Benjamin’s tone was awed.

  “Farther than Africa.” She gave both boys a smile. “But you know what I do when I’m missing them something fierce?”

  The children waited, subdued anticipation holding them still.

  “I keep busy doing fun things,” she told him. Then she grinned. “And that’s just what we’re going to do this summer. You and me. Lots of fun things.”

  “Speaking of fun things,” the boys’ uncle interjected, “who’s ready for dinner?”

  She straightened and saw that he’d picked up the suitcase she’d left on the grass. He’d also gathered up her shoes. Having him carry her shoes felt too…personal to Amy. She hurried to take them from him. Their gazes collided and she murmured her appreciation. For a moment it seemed as if the cool breeze died and the sun grew hotter. Amy found it difficult to swallow.

  But the stillness was broken when Jeremiah got upset all over again. He wailed, “But I don’t like ruffled sprouts.”

  Benjamin’s nose wrinkled. “They smell bad.”

  “They’re Brussels sprouts.” Pierce corrected his nephew with a laugh. “And they’re good for you. Packed full of vitamins. If you don’t like them, you don’t have to eat them. All I ask is that you try them.”

  The boys trudged ahead of them toward the house, grumbling a warning that they intended to try only one, and that their uncle would know they didn’t like it by all the gagging they would surely make.