Nanny and the Professor (4 page)

"Andy?" Joshua's eyebrows shot up.

Andrew
giggled,
an unhindered sound of pure delight that can only come from kids.

Cassie felt her cheeks flush pink. "I shouldn't call you Andy? I didn't know—"

"I like it," Andrew exclaimed, his head bobbing up and down. He grasped her hand and pumped it as though they were sealing a pact.

"I like it too," she told him.
"Very much."

Joshua looked from one to the other and then back again. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you two had already met."

Cassie and Andy shared a pseudo-innocent smile and then she said, "I think we're going to get along just fine. Right, Andy?"

"Right, Ms. Simmons."

"Oh, we'll have none of that," she told him. "We'll be spending too much time together for any of this Ms. Simmons stuff. Why don't you call me Cassie?"

A horn sounded out front and Joshua exhaled sharply. He gave his watch a darting glance. "That's the airport shuttle and I haven't finished packing."

"Go, go," Cassie said, shooing him out into the hall. "Andy and I will stall the driver."

Abruptly, as though a light flicked on in her brain, she remembered Eric. "Wait, Professor Kingston," she called out.

He turned halfway up the stairs, his distraction obvious.

"I, uh, I have a brother," she said, uncertain of how to broach the subject. "I'd like to know... Is it okay
... ?
Can he—?"

"Sure, sure," he answered hurriedly. "I don't mind if your brother visits.
But no parties.
Aunt May will be checking up on things." With that, he disappeared up the steps, taking them two at a time.

That wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, but it would have to do until he returned from his conference. What in the world would he say when he found out she didn't want Eric to visit her, but to live here with her?

"Thanks for not
tellin
' on me." Andy's mouth cocked in an engaging half grin.

"I didn't tell your father, but don't think that means
it's
okay for you to disobey him," she warned. "Climbing out onto that tree branch was dangerous and I don't want you to do anything like that again."

"Aw, I won't," he promised. "It's just that Tinker–"

"And that cat has got to go."

"Aw, but–"

"You heard me. Kittens are against the rules. Now, where is Tinker?"

Andy glanced up the steps to make sure his father couldn't hear. "Under my bed," he whispered.

"As soon as your dad leaves, we'll put Tinker outside, okay?"

Andy gave a resigned nod. "He belongs to the neighbor, anyway."

There was a knock at the door and the two of them went to let the shuttle driver in.

"Someone here going to the airport?" the man asked.

"I'm ready," the professor called from the top landing. He trotted down the stairs with an overnight bag in one hand, his suit jacket in the other.

He dropped the bag and searched his pockets.
"Tickets, wallet, reading glasses.
I guess I'm all set."

"Briefcase?"
Cassie reminded him.

"Right," he said, and rushed into the study.

The driver picked up the overnight bag and went out the door.

When Joshua reappeared, he had his briefcase in hand. "Thanks." He smiled at Cassie.

The warmth that curled in the pit of her stomach startled her so that her breath caught and held in her throat. She made a conscious effort to slowly drag oxygen into her lungs. With that smile, Joshua Kingston could charm the birds from the trees. He certainly charmed me from one, she thought wryly.

She watched father and son hug and say their farewells.

"You
be
good," Joshua told Andy.

"I will."

Then Joshua's intense gaze locked onto hers. "You'll be okay?"

"Andy and I will be fine. Don't worry." Joshua's eyes didn't waver as they bored into hers, and Cassie felt her nerves begin to jangle like a bell. Enthralled by his gaze, Cassie felt as though she were being pulled deeper and deeper–

The driver honked, breaking the spell that seemed to have captivated them both. Joshua's lips tilted into a tiny smile and he gave her an almost imperceptible nod. Again, a funny, heated feeling coiled deep in her belly. Then he turned and jogged toward the van.

As Cassie watched her new employer disappear down the road, all she could think about was Joshua Kingston's charming smile– and her peculiar reaction to it.

Chapter Two

The jet engine hummed steadily as Joshua stowed his briefcase and settled
himself
into the seat. He hadn't wanted to go on this trip. He'd put it off and put it off until Dean Lasher had reminded him of his original agreement with the university: that of not only teaching, conducting research and publishing the results of that research, but also of traveling to other colleges, conferences, and private corporations to speak on his findings.

Joshua knew very well that his seminars afforded the university a certain amount of prestige and publicity, publicity that went a long way in procuring monetary donations from the businesses he visited. So he understood and was not offended by Dean Lasher's gentle prodding.

It wasn't as though Joshua was careless when it came to his profession, not by any means. He worked hard preparing lessons for his students and made certain he was always available for the young men and women he taught. He spent hours in the lab on his research, and even more hours writing the papers that were successfully published in numerous scientific journals. But he couldn't argue with the dean when the man had pointed out that the travel had ceased. At least it had for the past three years– ever since the death of Joshua's wife.

Memories of
Elizabeth
's last days brought a cloud of guilt that fogged his brain. You're an intelligent man, a familiar, accusatory voice echoed in his head. You should have seen the signs long before the accident.

Clenching his jaw, he forced the dark thoughts aside. He had one hell of a lot of sins to atone for. He knew that. And he was trying.
With Andrew.

Joshua shook his head. He still couldn't believe he had left his son in the care of a virtual stranger.

He took a moment to remind himself that the stranger had the highest recommendation from his aunt, that she had first-aid certification and eight full years' experience with children. The new nanny might be a stranger, but he was certain she was a competent stranger.

Cassandra Simmons.

The rush of adrenaline that shot through his body just at the mere thought of her name amazed him. It was absolutely illogical.

Unbidden images of her filled his mind as though she were flower-scented air that permeated every nook and cranny of his brain.
The open smile that widened her temptingly full lips.
Her perky little nose.
Those alluring cobalt eyes– eyes that held an impish gleam as though Cassie knew a secret she intended to reveal to no one. He chuckled at the thought. God, she was cute.

After rubbing his fingers across his jaw in deep contemplation, he placed his elbow on the armrest and cupped his chin in his hands. He could feel the raw hormones coursing through his body and he frowned. Cassie Simmons conjured feelings and desires in him that he hadn't experienced in a long, long time.

Why now? Why her? If he were forced to hazard a guess, he'd have to blame the fact that she looked nothing like what he expected. When his aunt had called and told him she was sending over a friend of hers, he'd expected a grandmotherly type… like all the other nannies he'd hired in the past. Finding the gorgeous, sexy Cassie climbing down out of that tree had clearly knocked him a little off-kilter.

"Fasten your seat belt, please." The flight attendant touched his shoulder and continued along the narrow aisle.

As he moved to follow instructions, Joshua's analytical mind rationalized that having unwittingly viewed Cassie's long legs, firm thighs, trim hips, and lush breasts as she'd descended the ladder had to be the explanation for his reaction to her. This purely physiological response to a beautiful, curvaceous woman was normal. Of course it was.

Unfastening the top button of his shirt, he loosened his tie and sighed. He felt
better,
relieved somehow, now that he understood that the thoughts invading his mind were quite natural.

He pulled from his breast pocket the index cards on which he'd jotted notes for his seminar. But try as he might, he couldn't seem to focus. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head against the padded seat back. Immediately, Cassie's twinkling eyes gleamed at him, her sunny fragrance filled his nostrils and his blood raged.

Normal
, he told himself.
Quite normal.

~
 
~
 
~

"You got the job!" Mary Kingston hugged Cassie and kissed her on the cheek. "I knew you'd win Joshua over." She gave Cassie's shoulder a grandmotherly pat.

"Mary, the man didn't have much choice in hiring me, now, did he?" Cassie sprinkled the question with light sarcasm. "You didn't tell me he had to leave so soon. We barely had ten minutes to get acquainted before he had to run out the door."

Mary's soft wrinkled brow creased even more with a befuddled frown. "I didn't mention that he was leaving to give one of his seminars? I'm almost certain I mentioned that." The old woman shrugged. "As you get older, the mind begins to rust, you know." She smiled brightly. "But everything turned out for the best."

"It sure did," Cassie agreed, her heart constricting with the deep emotion she felt for this woman.

Mary Kingston had been a friend of Cassie's grandmother and Cassie loved the lady dearly. Mary had been a godsend two years ago. When Cassie's mother died leaving Cassie sole guardian of Eric, Mary had contacted her with an offer of help. And help Mary did, insisting that Cassie and Eric live in an upstairs apartment in a house the woman owned across town and then going even further by setting the rent ridiculously low. When Cassie found herself dealing with the crisis of unemployment, Mary had once again unselfishly and generously intervened with a recommendation to Joshua Kingston.

Cassie gazed out the window to check on Eric and Andy, the steady tap, tap of Mary's knitting needles lulling her into a hazy trance.

Crisis had seemed to be Cassie's middle name since the age of fifteen. Her father had died in a freak accident at the small processing plant where he worked, a fly-by-night company that hadn't bothered with insurance. Cassie's mother had felt somewhat avenged when the company went bankrupt. But justice had been bittersweet because the lawyers had reported that, after all was said and done, no compensation would be forthcoming for Mrs. Simmons and her teenage daughter. Cassie's mother sank into a black depression.

Barely one month later, when Cassie celebrated her sixteenth birthday– which was anything but
sweet– she discovered her mother was
experiencing a menopausal pregnancy. This turn of events only seemed to darken Mrs. Simmons's despair.