The Billionaire's Secrets (6 page)

Gaelan
suppressed a s
mile. "Fortunately for you, I’
v
e already decided to compensate
you for your trouble." Of course he hadn't - but she didn't need to
know that. It would, however,
make an interesting test. If he was right abou
t her, and he was sure he was,
the offer would, one, get rid of her, and, two, confirm that it was his money she was inter
ested in all along. "
How’
s
six-
months pay for not lifting a finger?”

He watched with grim satisfaction as her eyes grew larger. "I thought that would
do the trick," he said quietly
but not without a certain disappointment.
Hope, as they say, springs eternal
, he thought grimly.

Then her face changed. For a second he thought she was going to fly across the desk at him. “Is that why you think I’m here, for the money?" she asked indignantly. "I came because I
love
children and I love
to teach.”

“Then why aren’t you teaching in a school?" he said, deciding that his test probably hadn’t proved a thing. He could see her hesitate, and he knew she wasn't being straight with him. She was hiding something from him - he could see it in those beautiful
green
eyes of hers. "Why are you here?" he demanded.

"I wanted a change," she said, the haughtiness gone from her voice.

"And…?
"

"I saw the ad in a magazine for retired teachers
. I
t looked interesting, so I thought I would apply."

"The fact that it was in a magazin
e for retired teachers should’
ve been a clue. Twenty-year-olds need not apply."

"I’
m not twenty.
I
’
m thirty-two.
" She was indignant again, but he noticed there was little conviction in her tone. "But if this is about age, I can assure you that I am both mature and responsible."

"I’m sure you are,
Ms.
Winters." He couldn't very well explain that it most certainly was about age, that he was looking for someone that looked like his grandmother. He walked out from behind the desk and went over to poke the languishing fire. He gave it a vicious jab with the poker, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney. He wanted another scotch, but he would not pour another. He felt like he needed all of his faculties. Already he felt he had missed something important. She had hesitated
,
and he had failed to discover why.

"I have a lot of experience as well," Chloe said somewhat hopefully from behind him.

"In what?" he said cruelly
as he let the poker fall to the stone hearth with a clatter. He leaned back against the mantle. He had definitely rattled her
,
and he felt his edge returning. He'd get her to come clean yet.

She had been nursing her drink in careful little sips, but now she finished it off in a single swallow and set it on the desk. "How about we start again?" she said.

Gaelan
noted she had put her schoolmarm voice back on. Nobody had spoken to him like that since he was ten. Maybe she would make him sit in the corner. He almost smiled at the thought and suddenly realised he was maybe enjoying this a little too much. No wonder he had let himself get dragged into an argument. "I don't th
ink we need to start again. I’
ve made up my mind
-
you're going." Did he detect the slightest bit of regret in his own voice?

Perhaps Chloe detected it too. She dropped the schoolmarm tone
,
and there was a note of pleading in her voice. She looked at her feet
,
and her hair dropped around her face like a rich curtain. "I came such a long way," she said quietly.

"I told you I'd compensate you," he said firmly. He could not allow himself to feel regret.

"But I don't want
six-
months
pay for doing nothing. I want to stay here and teach.
Even more so, now that I've met
Sophia
."
She looked up and pushed the waves back from her face. "Has she ever shown you her drawings?"

This was not a conversation that
Gaelan
was comfortable with and was part of the reason he had given the job of interviewing to Marcus. How was he to explain he had virtually nothing to do with the child - that just to look at her brought back her mother and a whole history he would just as soon forget? He felt guilty of course, but that's the way it was.

"Sometimes," he said, although it was a lie.
Sophia
never showed him anything - she knew he didn't like her to bother him. They didn't even eat meals together.
Sophia
ate in the kitchen with Windy, while
Gaelan
ate here in his office. And with his business, weeks could go by without them seeing each other at all.  Really, her impassioned plea not to send Chloe away tonight was more than she had said to him in months.

"They're very good, aren't they?"

"I suppose so," he said evasively. He would ask
Sophia
to show him her drawings tomorrow.

"She's very talented, and I would like to encourage her to draw more."

Gaelan
said nothing, but Chloe was not deterred. "She likes animals too, doesn't she?"

This
Gaelan
did know. "Yes, she does." She had asked for a kitten for her sixth birthday, and even he had been touched by her delight when he presented her with the tiny tabby. And on several occasions he had heard her chattering to Windy about the puppy she would like to have.

"I believe in working with a child's interests," Chloe said. "It makes learning much more natural."

Gaelan
could see the interest in her eyes, and he had to admit she looked genuinely excited about the prospect of teaching
Sophia
. Could he be wrong? Maybe Marcus wasn't matchmaking at all. Maybe he was only thinking of
Sophia
. And God knows
,
it was good someone was.
Gaelan
felt her eyes on him and became aware she was waiting for an answer to the question she'd just asked him. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Does she speak any French?" Chloe repeated.

He shook his head. He had put French as a job requirement in his advertisement, believing everyone should know a second language. This being Canada, French was the obvious choice. He himself was completely bilingual but had never spoken French to
Sophia
. Just another one of the ways he had failed her.

Chloe continued. "I’
m
fluent in French
. My father
grew up in Massachusetts, but my
mother
was born in
Quebec City
. I thought we could speak French together at least part of the day. Children learn very quickly. Has she started learning the piano? I teach piano as well.”

"Nobody
is
doubting
your teaching qualifications, Ms. Winters," he said, feeling annoyed with himself. He wouldn't risk it. He couldn't.

"Chloe," she insisted. "And if it
isn’t
my teaching abilities that are in question, what is?" she asked almost desperately.

"I thought I told you, I was looking for someone who is retired."

"And
I thought I addressed that sufficiently," she insisted.

"Not for me." He watched as a lock of
strawberry blond
hair fell down over her eye. He felt an urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear. The thought suddenly made him notice it was getting hot by the fire, so
he edged
away, a move
that
unfortunately narrowed the space between them. He forced himself to look away from the tempting lock of hair. He was suddenly aware of how
much
he was holding himself back. It would be good to feel her body against his. He swallowed hard and hoped the thought didn’t reach a certain uncontrollable part of his anatomy. "So unless you can age forty years overnight...” God forbid, he thought
dryly... “I don't think there’
s any way to satisfy my requirements."

"But-
"

"There are no buts,” he said firmly. “What are you going to do out here? Widow's Cliff is extremely isolated. Yes, Puffin's Cove is close, but
it’s
hardly a bustling metropolis. And as you know
,
St. John's is
two
-hours away - in the winter, both places might as well be a million miles away given the roads can be closed for days on end.”

"I don’t mind isolation. I love it. I may have lived in
Boston
, but I like to go camping on the weekends...”