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“Jason! Daniel!” he called, striding into the foyer.
“They’re in here, Mr. Whitmore,” Mrs. Gray said.
Alex veered toward the front room. The twins were sitting on the sofa. Mrs. Gray had insisted that they were unhurt, but Alex couldn’t breathe until he crossed the floor and was able to see them for himself.
“Hi, Dad! Are you mad at us?”
“Yeah, are you mad at us?”
Smears of dirt the same color as the dark loam of the flower bed clung to the cuffs of the twins’ pyjamas. Faint traces of the same dirt streaked their hands and cheeks, yet there was no sign of scrapes or bruises.
Dropping to his knees in front of them, Alex ran his hands over their arms and legs, reassuring himself that they were all right, then wrapped his arms around their shoulders and pulled them against his chest. His lungs heaved. “Thank God,” he said roughly.
“He’s not mad,” Jason mumbled into Alex’s jacket.
“Told ya,” Daniel said, squirming in his father’s embrace.
“Mrs. Gray said we had to wait for you. She said you’d be mad. She said we were gonna get it.”
“She made us sit here forever.”
“What are we gonna get, Dad?”
Alex closed his eyes, allowing the nightmare images that had tormented him on the drive home to fade. Jason and Daniel really were all right.
“I wasn’t going to let them out of my sight,” Mrs. Gray said. “I wanted you to see for yourself what these two hooligans did.”
He swallowed hard. “I saw the car, Mrs. Gray.”
“I’m giving you my notice, Mr. Whitmore. I’ll be leaving as soon as I pack my suitcase.”
That made it three times in the past week she’d threatened to quit. A new record. Alex took a deep breath and turned his head to look at his housekeeper.
Mrs. Gray was perched on the antique settee, the least comfortable piece of furniture in the room. She lived up to her name. The starched dress that she wore was a sober gray, as was her tightly curled hair. Even the long-haired cat that curled on her lap was gray, except for the spots where its fur still bore traces of the twins’ purple paint.
The housekeeper had come highly recommended by the agency Alex had always dealt with. And she’d lasted almost four months, which was longer than any of her predecessors. But one look at her closed expression and he suspected that she might actually follow through with her threat.
“I’ll have the damage to your car repaired, Mrs. Gray,” he said. “And we can discuss your salary—”
“Don’t think you can buy me off this time, Mr. Whitmore. Your money doesn’t solve everything. Never in all my years have I worked with such—” She broke off, extending her arm to point a shaking finger at his sons. “Mark my words, they’re on the path to a life of crime. You don’t need a housekeeper, you need a warden.”
He rose to his feet, keeping his hands on the twins’ shoulders. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“They’re bad seeds. They’re demon children. They—”
“Mrs. Gray,” Alex said. “That’s enough.”
At his harsh tone, she pressed her lips into a bloodless line and stood up, cradling her purple-tinged cat to her chest. She glared at the twins, then sniffed and stalked out of the room.
“She’s a goner,” Jason said happily.
“Yeah,” Daniel said, bouncing on the sofa cushion.
Alex heard a door slam in the depths of the house.
He had never particularly liked Mrs. Gray, but her loss was going to throw a major wrench into the smooth-running machinery of his life. He wanted to kick something. He wanted to tip back his head and vent his frustration in a blistering string of curses. But as always, he did neither. He breathed in deeply, striving for control, feeling a familiar throbbing start at his temples. The men with the hammers were already warming up.
“Hey, who’s that? Is she gonna be our new sitter?”
Alex followed the direction of his son’s gaze. Lizzie was standing just inside the doorway, her lips parted as she took in the scene.
Wonderful, he thought. This was a hell of a way to impress a new partner. How much farther off track could his plan to dazzle her get? “Boys, this is Miss Hamill. And, no, she’s not your new baby-sitter.” He turned to Lizzie. “I’m sorry I dragged you out here,” he began.
“No, it’s understandable. You were worried.” Lizzie crossed her arms and rubbed her palms over her sleeves, glancing toward the bay window that overlooked the garden. Even from within the lighted room, the glint of Mrs. Gray’s car was clearly visible in the moonlight. “You’re better off without her.”
“What?”
“If that was your housekeeper, you’re better off without her. Losing control of her car is one thing, but blaming it on innocent children…” A blush rose in her cheeks. “Sorry, it’s none of my business.”
Her defense of his sons, as misplaced as it was, brought an unexpected rush of warmth. It was a different warmth from the kind caused by her smile. But it was just as unwelcome. He frowned, trying to remember what he’d told her about the accident on the way over here. “Mrs. Gray wasn’t driving.”
“That’s even worse. If she let someone else—”
“We were only borrowing it,” Daniel interrupted.
“We were sharing,” Jason said. “Barney says it’s good to share.”
“It was just like our cars,” Daniel added.
“Except it went fast.”
“Yeah, real fast.”
Alex shuddered as he pictured his children treating the ton and a half of metal like another one of their toys. He’d given them battery-powered cars a month ago. He’d thought the boys had enjoyed puttering around in them, but evidently they hadn’t been satisfied. They’d only been training for the real thing.
Lizzie looked from one twin to the other, her eyes widening with dawning comprehension. “You mean that…” Her gaze settled on Alex. “Are you telling me that these children were driving?”
He nodded stiffly.
“But…” She looked at the boys again. “How?”
“Jason stood on the seat to steer and I pushed on the pedals,” Daniel said, twisting on the sofa to face Lizzie. “Smart, huh?”
She lifted her hand to her mouth, her eyes sparkling. “Oh, Lord love a duck.”
“We took the keys when Mrs. Gray went to the bathroom,” Jason said. He wrinkled his nose. “She stays in the bathroom forever.”
“Forever,” Daniel echoed.
“It was easy. Just like our cars. ’Cept the key made a weird noise until I let go of it. Like this. Kshckkk,” he said, doing a fair imitation of the sound of grinding starter gears.
Alex tried to keep his tone even, despite the anxiety that pulsed along his nerves whenever he let himself think about what could have happened. “What you did was wrong, boys. It was dangerous. You could have been badly hurt.”
“We only wanted to borrow it. We were going to give it back,” Daniel said, pushing out his lower lip.
“See?” Jason mumbled to his brother. “He is mad. Told ya.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m not stupid. You’re the one—”
The budding squabble was halted by a muffled shriek from the back of the house.
Alex grimaced. Now what?
“Uh—oh,” Daniel said, climbing over the back of the sofa and dropping to the floor.
Jason scrambled after him. “Uh—oh.”
There was the sound of a door opening, followed by Mrs. Gray’s indignant shout. “Mr. Whitmore, there are worms in my suitcase!”
Without a backward glance, the boys ran out of the room and headed for the stairs.
LIZZIE SIGHED as she sank into the luxurious cushions of the ivory-colored couch. She looked around, marveling once more at the beautiful room. Like the Whitmore and Hamill office, Alex’s home practically oozed wealth and sophistication. It was like something out of a decorating magazine, from the lustrous wood of the delicate side tables to the pale upholstery and the antique settee.
Except magazine photos didn’t usually include muddy footprints.
Her gaze dropped to the cushion beside her. Against the elegant ivory brocade, dark smears of dirt marked the place where Alex’s sons had been sitting. The twins had also tracked part of the flower bed across the carpet. Evidently, they had been barefoot and in their pyjamas when they had decided to take their housekeeper’s car for a spin.
It must have terrified Alex when he’d heard about the accident. It could have turned out so much worse. As it was, the damage wasn’t serious—the tow truck that he’d called had already extracted the car from the flower bed and had hauled it away to the body shop. The lawn and the rosebushes could be patched up easily enough. But it didn’t look as if Alex’s housekeeper was going to retract her threat to quit. From the sound of things, Mrs. Gray was still intent on leaving…as soon as she cleaned the worms out of her suitcase.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Lizzie couldn’t prevent the grin that tugged at the corners of her mouth. Worms. Had they been squiggly little earthworms or the big slimy nightcrawlers? Well, that was one advantage of living in the city. At least the twins didn’t have ready access to snakes and frogs.
Those boys were something else. A real pair of charmers, just like their father. Neither of them was big enough to see over the steering wheel of Mrs. Gray’s brown sedan, but they hadn’t let that stop them. They weren’t even five years old, but they’d had the ingenuity and resourcefulness to figure out how to drive a car. Obviously, when they set their minds to doing something, they didn’t let anything stand in their way. Did they get that determination from their father, too?
Probably. When it came to his business, he could be pretty single-minded about what he wanted. Was he the same way when it came to…other things? What was he like when he wanted a woman? How would it feel to be the object of such unwavering purpose?
Lizzie’s smile faded. Couldn’t she stop dwelling on that for more than a minute? She should be ashamed of herself for continuing to lust after Alex under circumstances like these.
He wasn’t any prince out of a fairy tale. He was worse. He was a real man with real children. And the emotion she’d seen on his face when he’d held his sons was so real it brought a lump to her throat even now.
What other emotions did he keep locked away behind his charming image? What would it be like to have the power of those emotions directed at her?
Was he as passionate a lover as he was a father?
Muffling a groan, she put her head in her hands. Coming home with him had been a mistake. She’d been finding Alex irresistible enough already, but now that she’d seen him with his children, she was, as the twins so nicely put it, a goner.
Chimes echoed from the hall. Lizzie lifted her head and twisted around just as Mrs. Gray marched past the doorway, a bulging flight bag in one hand, her cat cradled to her chest with the other. Voices rose from the direction of the foyer.
Lizzie hesitated for only a moment before pushing to her feet and moving toward the commotion. The front door stood ajar. Light spilled past the pillars that flanked the entrance onto the curving driveway where an old Chevy idled just to one side of Alex’s dark green sports car. A woman with hair the color of mouse fur helped Mrs. Gray put her bag in the trunk of the Chevy, then got behind the wheel. Without looking back, Mrs. Gray slid into the passenger seat and closed the door with an indignant thump. Seconds later, the car pulled away.
“Well, that’s it then.”
At the deep voice, Lizzie jumped. She hadn’t heard Alex approach—for a large man, he could move surprisingly quietly. She glanced over her shoulder. “What?”
He walked over to close the door. “Mrs. Gray went to stay with her sister.”
“I guess that means she actually did quit?”
“Yes. I’ll have the rest of her things sent to her. She didn’t want to use her suitcase.”
The suitcase. Lizzie pressed her lips together to keep her smile to herself. She was sure Mrs. Gray hadn’t seen much humor in those worms. And it didn’t seem as if Alex had, either.
Sympathy coursed through her as she took in his appearance. Poor Alex. He looked more like a harried father than a suave businessman. He’d discarded his jacket and loosened his tie. The top button of his shirt was undone and his hair was rumpled into uneven furrows, as if he’d been raking his fingers through it.
Yet to Lizzie’s eyes, he didn’t look disheveled, he looked adorable. And he also looked more…approachable than he ever had before.
“I’m sorry to have left you on your own for so long like this, Lizzie,” he said, coming over to stand in front of her.
“That’s okay. Are the boys in bed?”
“As far as I know. They appeared to be asleep when I left them.”
“I’m sure they’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
“I hope so,” he muttered.
“They’re all right now, aren’t they?”
“They weren’t hurt. Thank God the car wasn’t going fast.”
She tilted her head, noticing the fine lines that radiated from the corners of his eyes and the tension that tightened his jaw. “What about you?” she asked.
“Me?”
She dropped her gaze. Beneath the fine cotton of his white shirt, his shoulders were stiff with the same tension she saw in his face. “I’ve been through my share of accidents with the children at my day care,” she said. “Mishaps like swallowed buttons or bumps from swings, and it’s been my experience that kids are a lot more resilient than their parents.”
“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s Jason and Daniel I’m concerned about.”
“Of course, you’re concerned.”
“They had no idea how dangerous their latest stunt could have been.”
“I’m sure they didn’t.”
“I still don’t understand how Mrs. Gray could have been so negligent as to let this happen.”
“It isn’t easy to keep track of two active boys, especially a pair who are as resourceful as your twins,” she said, although she didn’t know why she would be trying to make excuses for his housekeeper. The woman had looked like a humorless disciplinarian.
“The job should be simple enough,” Alex said. “I’ll have to make sure the next person I hire is more capable.”
Lizzie ignored the twinge of irritation she felt at his dismissive tone. He didn’t really think that taking care of children was simple, did he? He seemed too intelligent to make a dumb statement like that—it must be his lingering anxiety over the twins’ close call. “They seem like great kids,” she said.
“They’re the reason for everything I do,” he said softly, seeming to talk more to himself than to her. As if realizing his lapse, he cleared his throat and attempted a smile. “I’m afraid we missed the curtain.”
“What curtain?”
“The play I promised you.”
She couldn’t very well tell him that she’d found this glimpse into his home and his emotions much more fascinating than any Broadway play. “It’s okay. But I guess I’d better get back to the hotel,” she said, taking a step backward.
“I’d drive you myself, but now that Mrs. Gray isn’t here, I can’t leave the boys.”
“No, of course not. I’ll call a taxi,” she said, taking another step.
Afterward, she was never sure exactly how it happened. Undoubtedly, the chain of events was triggered by the chunks of dirt from the flower bed that had been trailed inside by Alex’s sons. Lizzie’s heel came down on a pebble, causing her shoe to slide across the floor unexpectedly. Normally, it wouldn’t have been difficult to regain her balance, but because her attention was still focused on Alex, she was slow to react. By the time she did, Alex had already caught hold of her arms to steady her.
Her hands flattened against his chest. “Oh!” she gasped. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s my fault. I should have warned you about the dirt on the floor.”
She shook her head. This was just like what he’d done when she’d spilled her wine at dinner. They both knew that it was her own clumsiness that was responsible for her stumble. He was still trying to be a…prince. Her lips twitched.
His clasp on her arms loosened, but he didn’t let her go. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, splaying her fingers over the front of his shirt, feeling a jolt of pleasure from the warmth that rose from his body. And she had a sudden greedy urge to discover what his skin would feel like under her palms…and to see how his chest would look all naked and sweaty…
“It’s been a long day. You must be exhausted.”
Oh, did he have to use that love-potion voice? How was she supposed to get a grip on her imagination when he merely had to open his mouth to make her start fantasizing again? She lifted her gaze to his lips. And speaking of mouths, she doubted whether the dollar-a-mouthful wine she’d been enjoying at dinner would be able to compare to a taste of Alex—
“Lizzie?”
And his kiss would probably be a lot more potent than Bobby’s cordial. Then again, she suspected that just about anything of Alex’s would be more potent than something of Bobby’s. “Mmm?”
“I may have to delay our tour of the city tomorrow until I arrange a replacement for Mrs. Gray. And then there are a few things I need to take care of at the office before I pick you up.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” she said. “And if you can’t find a baby-sitter, you could always bring the boys with you. It wouldn’t be so bad, as long as you check their pockets for worms, and keep them away from the car keys, and don’t let them near any purple paint.”
“What?”
She glanced up at him and smiled. “I couldn’t help noticing what they did to your housekeeper’s cat. I hope you took a picture.”
It began at the corners of his eyes, as the lines that had been etched with tension started to crinkle with amusement. It spread to the narrow dimples that appeared in his lean cheeks, then finally to his lips as they stretched into an answering smile that wasn’t perfect or controlled or charming. Instead, it was real.
And just as Lizzie was trying to absorb the impact of the first genuine smile she’d seen Alex give, he did something that stole her breath altogether. He laughed.
It was brief, and it seemed to surprise him as much as it surprised her, yet it surrounded her with the sudden warmth of sunshine breaking through a cloud. It made her think of hazy August afternoons and skinny-dipping in the pond, of dust motes in the hayloft and sweet kisses trailing down her neck….
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