Falling for His Nanny

Susan Hayashi is everything Sam Hinton is not looking for. She’s energetic, outspoken and spontaneous—the exact opposite of what he would want in a wife. Yet the wealthy widower can’t deny that the young teacher is great with his daughter, Mindy. In desperate need of a summer nanny, the small-town CEO hires Susan. After all, it’s only temporary. But Susan and her unconventional approach soon work their way into his and Mindy’s lives. His head says she’s all wrong for them, but a part of him believes that this unexpected nanny might really be his Mrs. Absolutely Right…

Why was his hand still moving toward her hair?

Just in time, he pulled it back. That wouldn’t do at all.

Sam was getting a little too interested in Susan. She was totally wrong for him in the long-term, even though she was turning out to be an amazing summer nanny. He needed to find Mindy a permanent mom. And he needed to do it soon.

He’d make sure to get back on the dating circuit right away. He just needed to get himself motivated to do it. He’d been too busy. But now that Susan was in place—Susan, who was completely inappropriate for him—he’d jump back into pursuing that all-important goal.

He forced himself to take a step backward. “If you’re interested in the extra job of planning my company picnic, I’d appreciate having you do it. It would be easy, because you’re here in the house anyway. But if you’re not comfortable with it, I’ll find someone else.”

She studied him, quizzical eyes on his face. “I can give it a try,” she said slowly.

Sam tried to ignore the sudden happiness surging through him.

LEE TOBIN McCLAIN read Gone with the Wind in the third grade and has been a hopeless romantic ever since. When she’s not writing angst-filled love stories with happy endings, she’s getting inspiration from her church singles group, her gymnastics-obsessed teenage daughter and her rescue dog and cat. In her day job, Lee gets to encourage aspiring romance writers in Seton Hill University’s low-residency MFA program. Visit her at leetobinmcclain.com.

Small-Town Nanny

Lee Tobin McClain

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

—Jeremiah 29:11

To the real Bob Eakin.

Thank you for your service.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Sam Hinton was about to conclude one of the biggest business deals of his career. And get home in time to read his five-year-old daughter her bedtime story.

He’d finally gotten the hang of being a single dad who happened to run a multimillion-dollar business.

Feeling almost relaxed for the first time since his wife’s death two years ago, Sam surveyed the only upscale restaurant in his small hometown of Rescue River, Ohio, with satisfaction. He’d helped finance this place just to have an appropriate spot to bring important clients, and it was bustling. He recognized his former high school science teacher coming through the door. There was town matriarch Miss Minnie Falcon calling for her check in her stern, Sunday-school-teacher voice. At a table by the window, one of the local farmers laughed with his teenage kids at what looked to be a graduation dinner.

And who was that new, petite, dark-haired waitress? Was it his sister’s friend Susan Hayashi?

Sam tore his eyes away from the pretty server and checked his watch, wondering how long a visit to the men’s room could take his client. The guy must be either checking with his board of directors or playing some kind of game with Sam—seeming to back off, hoping to drag down the price of the agricultural property he was buying just a little bit more before he signed on the dotted line. Fine. Sam would give a little if it made his client’s inner tightwad happy.

Crash!

“Leave her alone! Hands off!” The waitress he’d noticed, his sister’s friend Susan, left the tray and food where she’d dropped them and stormed across the dining room toward his client.

Who stood leering beside another, very young-looking, waitress. “Whoa, hel-lo, baby!” his client said to Susan as she approached. “Don’t get jealous. I’m man enough for both of you ladies!”

“Back off!”

Sam shoved out of his chair and headed toward the altercation. Around him, people were murmuring with concern or interest.

“It’s okay, Susan,” the teenage waitress was saying to his sister’s friend. “He d-d-didn’t really hurt me.”

Stepping protectively in front of the round-faced teenager, Susan pointed a delicate finger at his client. “You apologize to her,” she ordered, poking the much larger, much older businessman in the chest with each word. She wore the same dark skirt and white blouse as all the other wait staff, but her almond-shaped eyes and high cheekbones made her stand out almost as much as her stiff posture and flaring nostrils. Three or four gold hoops quivered in each ear.

“Keep your hands off me.” Sam’s client sneered down at Susan. “Where’s the owner of this place? I don’t have to put up with anything from a...” He lowered his voice, but whatever he said made the color rise in Susan’s face.

Sam clapped a hand on his client’s shoulder. He hadn’t pegged the guy as this much of a troublemaker, but then, he barely knew him. “Come on. Leave the ladies alone.”

The other man glanced at Sam and changed his tone. “Aw, hey, I was just trying to have a good time.” He gave Susan another dirty look. “Some girls can’t take a joke.”

“Some jokes aren’t funny, mister.” She glared at him, two high spots of color staining her cheeks pink.

The restaurant manager rushed up behind them. “We can work this out. Mr. Hinton, I do apologize. You girls...” He clapped his hands at the two waitresses. “My office. Now.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to cause trouble!” Crying, the teenage waitress hurried toward the office at the back of the restaurant.

Susan touched the manager’s arm. “Don’t get mad at Tawny. I’m the one who got in Prince Charming’s face.” She jerked her head sideways toward Sam’s client.

The restaurant manager frowned and ushered Susan to his office.

Sam’s client shrugged and gave Sam a conspiratorial grin as he turned toward their table. “Ready to get back to business?”

“No,” Sam said, frowning after the restaurant manager and Susan. “We’re done here.”

“What?” His client’s voice rose to a squeak.

“I’ll see you to your car. I want you out of Rescue River.”

Ten minutes later, after he’d banished his would-be client, settled the bill and fixed things with the restaurant manager, Sam strode out to the parking lot.

There was Susan, standing beside an ancient, rusty subcompact, staring across the moonlit fields that circled the town of Rescue River. He’d only met her a couple of times; unfortunately, he worked too much to get to know his sister’s friends.

“Hey, Susan,” he called as he approached. “I got you your job back.”

She half turned and arched an eyebrow. “Oh, you did, did you? Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Really?” He stopped a few yards away from her. Although he hadn’t expected gratitude, exactly, the complete dismissal surprised him.

“Really.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against her car. “I don’t need favors from anyone.”

“It’s not a favor, it’s just...fairness.”

“It’s a favor, and I don’t want it. You think I can go back in there and earn tips after the scene I just made?”

“You probably could.” Not only was she attractive, but she appeared to be very competent, if a little on the touchy side. “Rescue River doesn’t take kindly to men being jerks. Most of the people in that room were squarely on your side.”

“Wait a minute.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. “Now I get it. You’re part owner of the place.”

“I’m a silent partner, yes.” He cocked his head to one side, wondering where this was going.

“You’re trying to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit, aren’t you?”

His jaw dropped. “Really? You think that’s why...” He trailed off, rubbed the heavy stubble on his chin, and thought of his daughter, waiting for him at home. “Look, if you don’t want the job back, that’s fine. And if you think you have a harassment case, go for it.”

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t me your buddy was groping, and I’m not the lawsuit type.” She sighed. “Probably not the waitress type either, like Max said when he was firing me.”

Sam felt one side of his mouth quirk up in a smile as he recognized the truth of that statement. He found Susan to be extremely cute, with her long, silky hair, slender figure and vaguely Asian features, but she definitely wasn’t the eager-to-please type.

Wasn’t his type, not that it mattered. He preferred soft-spoken women, domestic ladies who wore makeup and perfume and knew how to nurture a man. Archaic, but there it was.

Just then, the teenage waitress came rushing out through the kitchen door. “Susan, you didn’t have to do that! Max said he fired you. I’m sorry!”

“No big deal.” She shrugged again, the movement a little stiff.

“But I thought you needed the money to send your brother to that special camp—”

“It’s fine.” Susan’s voice wobbled the tiniest bit, or was he imagining it? “Just, well, don’t let guys do that kind of stuff to you.”

“I know, I know, but I didn’t want to get in trouble. Especially with Mr. Hinton on the premises...” The girl trailed off, realizing for the first time that Sam stood to one side, listening to every word. “Oh, I didn’t know you were there! Don’t be mad at her, Mr. Hinton. She was just trying to help me!”

Susan patted her on the shoulder. “Go back inside and remember, just step on a guy’s foot—hard—if he tries anything. You can always claim it was an accident.”

“That’s a great idea! You’re totally awesome!” The younger woman gave Susan a quick hug and then trotted back into the restaurant.

Susan let her elbows drop to the hood of her car and rested her chin in her hands. “Was I ever that young?”

“Don’t talk like you’re ancient. What are you, twenty-five, twenty-six?” Susan was relatively new in town, and if memory served, she was a teacher at the elementary school. Apparently waitressing on the side. Sam assumed she was about his sister Daisy’s age, since they’d fast become thick as thieves.

“Good guess, Mr. Hinton. You didn’t even need your bifocals to figure that out. I’m twenty-five.”

Okay, at thirty-seven he was a lot older than she was, but her jibe stung. Maybe because he knew very well that he wasn’t getting any younger and that he needed to get cracking on his next major life goal.

Which would involve someone a lot softer and gentler than Susan Hayashi. “Listen,” he said, “I’m sorry about what happened. You should know that guy who caused the trouble is headed back toward the east coast even as we speak. And he’s not my friend, by the way. Just a client. Former client, now.”

She arched a delicate brow. “My knight in shining armor, are you?”

What was there to say to a woman who misinterpreted his every move? He shook his head, reached out to pat her shoulder, then decided it wasn’t a good idea and pulled his hand back. If he touched her, she might report him. Or throw a punch.

Definitely a woman to steer clear of.

There didn’t seem to be any sweetness in her. So it surprised Sam when, as he bid her goodnight, he caught a whiff of honeysuckle perfume.

* * *

The next day, even though she wanted to pull the covers over her head and cry, Susan forced herself to climb out of bed early. She’d committed to spend her Saturday morning helping at the church’s food pantry, and honestly, even that might not have gotten her out of bed, but she knew her best friend, Daisy, was going to be there.

“Come on,” Daisy said when Susan dragged herself down the steps and into the church basement, “we’re doing produce. Hey, did you really get fired last night?”

Embarrassment heated Susan’s face as she followed her friend to an out-of-the-way corner where bins of spinach and lettuce donated by local farmers stood ready to be divided into smaller bunches. “Yeah. How’d you hear?”

“That sweet little Tawny Thompson spread it all over town, how you rescued her from some creepy businessman. What were you thinking?”

“He practically had his hand up her skirt! What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, tell the manager? Honestly, I would’ve done the same thing, but I’m not in your position. You needed that job!”

“I know.” Susan blew out a sigh as she studied the wooden crates of leafy greens. Her hopes of funding the summer respite her mom needed so desperately had flown out the window last night. “Waitressing at a nice restaurant like Chez La Ferme is definitely the best money I can make, but I get so mad at guys like that. I thought Max would back me up, not fire me.”

“Can you even send your brother to camp now?”

“Probably not. I shouldn’t have told him he could go, but when I landed this waitressing job and found out it could be full-time as soon as school lets out for the summer, I thought I had the fee easy. I had a payment plan, everything. Now...” She focused on lettuce bunches so Daisy wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. And to top it off, I might have to move home for the summer.” Even saying it made her heart sink. She loved Rescue River and had all kinds of plans for her summer here.

“Why? You’re always talking about how you and your mom...”

“Don’t get along? Yeah.” She sighed, wishing it wasn’t so, wishing she had a storybook family like so many of the Midwestern ones she saw around her these days. “I love Mom, but she and I are like oil and water. If I go back, honestly, it’ll stress her out more. I just want—wanted—her to have a summer to garden and antique shop with her friends, maybe even go on a few dates, without worrying about Donny.”

An older couple wandered over. “You guys okay? Need any help?”

“We’ve got it.” Daisy waved them away and carried a load of bagged lettuce to a sorting table. “So you had a good plan. But you couldn’t help what happened.”

“I could have been more...refined about it.” A couple of tears overflowed, and Susan took off her plastic gloves to dig in her pocket for a tissue. “When am I ever going to learn to control my temper?” She blew her nose.

Daisy put an arm around her. “When you turn into a whole different person. You know, God made you the way you are, and He has a plan for you. Something will work out.” She paused. “Why would you move back home, anyway? What’s wrong with your room at Lacey’s?”

“Lacey’s got renovation fever.” Susan pulled on a fresh pair of plastic gloves. “Remember, she gave me my room cheap because she knew I’d have to move when she started fixing up the place. So now her brother—you know Buck, right? Well, he’s dried out and ready to help, and summer’s the best time for them to get going.” She gauged the right amount of lettuce for a family of four, put it in a plastic bag and twist-tied it. “And I don’t have money for a deposit on a new place. I’ll need to save up.”

“You can stay with me. You know that.”

“You’re sweet.” Susan side-hugged her friend. “And you live in a tiny place with two dogs and a cat. You have exactly zero room, except in that big heart of yours.”

Daisy pried open another crate, this one full of kale leaves. “We just have to pray about it.”

“Well, pray fast, because Lacey asked if I could be out next week. And even if I can land a job at another restaurant in Rescue River—which I doubt, with the non-recommendation Max is giving me—I won’t be making anything like the tips I could bring in at Chez Le Ferme.” She sighed as she dumped out the last of the kale leaves and stowed the wooden crate under the table. “I’m such an idiot.”

“I’ve got it!” Daisy snapped her fingers, a smile lighting her plump face. “I know exactly what you can do for the summer!”

“What?” Susan eyed her friend dubiously and then went back to bagging kale. Daisy was wonderful, but she tended to get overexcited when she had a new idea.

“You know my brother Sam, right? He was at the Easter service at church, and at Troy and Angelica’s wedding.”

“I remember. In fact, he was at the restaurant last night. He...actually said he could get me my job back, but I turned him down.” Susan felt her face flush as she thought of their conversation. She’d still been heated about the encounter with that jerk of a businessman, and she hadn’t had her guard up around Daisy’s brother, as she had the previous couple of times they’d met. She had the distinct feeling she’d been rude to him, but truthfully, he’d disconcerted her with his dominant-guy effort to make all her problems go away.

He was a handsome man, no doubt of that. Tall and broad-shouldered, an all-American quarterback type with a square jaw and close-cropped dark hair.

But he was one of those super traditional guys, she could just tell. In fact, he reminded her of her father, who thought women belonged in the home, not the workplace. Dad had wanted his wife to stay home, and Mom had, and look where it had gotten her. To make matters worse, her father had expected Susan to do the same, sending her to college only for her MRS degree, which she obviously hadn’t gotten. Which she had no interest in getting, not now, not ever. She was a career woman with a distinct calling to teach kids, especially those with special needs. Susan wasn’t one of those people who heard clear instructions from God every week or two, but in the case of her life’s work, she’d gotten the message loud and clear.

Daisy waved her hand impatiently. “You don’t want that job back. I have a better idea. Did I tell you how Sam hired a college girl to take care of Mindy over the summer?”

“What?” Susan pulled herself back to the present, rubbed the back of her plastic-gloved hand over her forehead and tried to focus on what Daisy was saying.

“Sam texted me this morning, all frantic. That girl he hired to be Mindy’s summer nanny just let him know late last night that she can’t do it. She got some internship in DC or something. Now Sam’s hunting for someone to take her place. You’d be perfect!”

Susan laughed in disbelief. “I’d be a disaster! I’m a terrible cook, and...what do nannies even do, anyway?” She had some impression of them as paid housewives, and that was the last thing she wanted to be.

“You’re great with kids! You’re a teacher. Do you know Mindy?”

Susan nodded. “Cute kid, but sort of notorious for playground fights. I’ve bailed her out a few times.”

“She can be a bit of a terror. Losing her mom was hard, and then Sam hasn’t been able to keep a babysitter or nanny...”

“And why would that be?” Susan knew the answer without even asking. You could tell from spending two minutes with Sam that he was a demanding guy.

“He works a lot of hours and he expects a lot. Not so much around the house, he has a cleaning service, but he’s very particular about how Mindy is taken care of. And then with Mindy being temperamental and, um, spirited, it’s not been easy for the people Sam has hired. But you’d be absolutely perfect!”

“Daisy, think.” Susan raised a brow at her friend. “I just got fired for being too mouthy and for not putting up with baloney from chauvinistic guys. And you think this would be perfect how?”

Daisy looked crestfallen for a minute, and then her face brightened. “The thing is, deep inside, Sam would rather have someone who stands up to him than someone who’s a marshmallow. Just look how well he gets along with me!”

Susan chuckled and lifted another crate to the table. “You’re his little sister. He has to put up with you.”

“Sam’s nuts about me because I don’t let him get away with his caveman attitude. You wouldn’t, either. But that’s not the point.”

“Okay, what’s the point?” Susan couldn’t help feeling a tiny flicker of hope about this whole idea—it would be so incredible to be able to send Donny to camp, not to disappoint him and her mother yet again—but she tamped it down. There was no way this would work from either end, hers or Sam’s.

“The point is,” Daisy said excitedly, “you’re certified in special education. That’s absolutely amazing! There’s no way Sam could say you don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Uh-huh.” Susan felt that flicker again.

“He’ll pay a lot. And the thing is, you can live in! You’ll have the summer to save up for a deposit on a new place.”

Susan drew in a breath as the image of her mother and autistic brother flickered again in her mind. “But Daisy,” she said gently, “Sam doesn’t like me. When we talked last night, I could tell.”

One of the food pantry workers came over. “Everything okay here, ladies?”

“Oh, sure, of course! We just got to talking! Sorry!”

For a few minutes, they focused on their produce, efficiently filling bags with kale and then more leaf lettuce, pushing a cartload of bundles over to the distribution tables, coming back to bag up sugar snap peas and radishes someone had dumped in a heap on their table.

Working with the produce felt soothing to Susan. She’d grown up urban and gotten most of her vegetables at the store, but she remembered occasional Saturday trips to the farmers market with her mother, Donny in tow.

Her mother had tried so hard to please her dad, who, with his Japanese ancestry, liked eggplant and cucumbers and napa cabbage. She and her mom had watched cooking videos together, and her mom had studied cookbooks and learned to be a fabulous Japanese chef. Susan’s mouth watered just thinking about daikon salad and salt-pickled cabbage and broccoli stir-fry.

But had it worked? Had her dad been happy? Not really. He’d always had some kind of criticism, and her mother would sneak off and cry and try to do better, and it was never good enough. And as she and Donny had grown up, they hadn’t been enough either, and Susan knew her mother had blamed herself. Having given birth to a rebellious daughter and a son with autism, she felt she’d failed as a woman.

Her mom’s perpetual guilt had ended up making Susan feel guilty, too, and as a hormonal teenager, she’d taken those bad feelings out on her mother. And then Dad had left them, and the sense of failure had been complete.

Susan shook off the uncomfortable reminder of her own inadequacy and looked around. Where was Daisy?

Just then, her friend stood up from rummaging in her purse, cell phone in hand. “I’m calling Sam and telling him to give you an interview.”

“No!” Panic overwhelmed Susan. “Don’t do it!” She dropped the bundle of broccoli she was holding and headed toward Daisy. There was no way she could interview with a man who reminded her so much of her father.

“You can’t stop me!” Daisy teased, and then, probably seeing the alarm on Susan’s face, put her phone behind her and held out a hand. “Honey, God works in mysterious ways, but I am totally sensing this is a God thing. Just let me do it. Just do an interview and see what he says, see how you guys get along.”

Susan felt her life escaping from her control. “I don’t—”

“You don’t have to take the job. Just do the interview.”

“But what if—”

“Please? I’m your friend. I have no vested interest in how this turns out. Well, except for keeping you in town.”

“I...” Susan felt her will to resist fading. There was a lot that was good about the whole idea, right? And so what if it was uncomfortable for her? If her mom and Donny could be happy, she’d be doing her duty, just as her dad had asked her to do before he’d left. You have to take care of them, Suzie, her dad had said in his heavily accented English.

“I’m setting something up for this afternoon. If not sooner.” Daisy turned back to the phone and Susan felt a sense of doom settling over her.

* * *

That afternoon, Susan climbed out of her car in front of Sam’s modern-day mansion on the edge of Rescue River, grabbed her portfolio, and headed up the sidewalk, all the while arguing with God. “Daisy says You’ll make a way where there is no way, but what if I don’t like Your way? And I can say for sure that Sam Hinton isn’t going to like my way, so this is a waste of time I could be—”

The double front doors swung open. She caught a glimpse of a high-ceilinged entryway, a mahogany table full of framed photos and a spectacular, sparkling chandelier, but it was Sam Hinton who commanded her attention. He stood watching her approach, wearing a sleeves-rolled-up white dress shirt and jeans, arms crossed, legs apart.

Talk about a man and his castle. And those arms! Was he a bodybuilder in his spare time or what?

“Thanks for coming.” He extended one massive hand to her.

She reached out and shook it, ignoring the slight breathlessness she felt. This was Sam, Daisy’s super-traditional businessman of a brother, not America’s next male model. “No problem. Daisy thought it would be a good idea.”

“Yes. She had me squeeze you in, but you should know that I’m interviewing several other candidates today.”

“No problem.” Was God going to let her off this easy?

“It seems like a lot of people are interested in the job, probably because I’m paying well for a summer position.” He ushered her in.

“How well?”

He threw a figure over his shoulder as he led her into an oak-lined office in the front of the house, and Susan’s jaw dropped.

Twice as much as she’d ever hoped to make waitressing. She could send Donny to camp and her mom to the spa. Maybe even pay for another graduate course.

Okay, God—and Daisy—You were right. It’s the perfect job for me.

He gestured her into the seat in front of his broad oak desk, and Susan felt a pang of nostalgia. Her dad had done the exact same thing when he wanted to talk to her about some infraction of his rules. Only his desk had just been an old door on a couple of sawhorses in the basement. How he would have loved a home office like this one.

“I don’t know if you’ve met Mindy, but she has some...limitations.” His jaw jutted out as if he was daring her to make a comment.

“If you think of them that way.” The words were out before she could weigh the wisdom of saying them, and she shouldn’t have, but come on! The child was missing a hand, not a heart or a set of lungs.

Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “I think I know my child better than you do. Have you even met Mindy?”

Rats, rats, rats. Would she ever learn to shut her big mouth? “I teach at Mindy’s school, so I’ve been the recess and lunchroom monitor during her kindergarten year. I know about her hand. But of course, you know her better, you’re her father.”

Sam was eyeing her with a level glare.

“We have a sign up at school that reads, ‘Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.’ I think it’s Richard Bach. I just meant...it’s an automatic response.” Stop talking, Susan. God might have a nice plan for her, but she was perfectly capable of ruining nice plans. She’d done it all her life. She fumbled in her portfolio. “Here’s my résumé.”

He took it, glanced over it. Then looked more closely. “You’ve done coursework on physical disabilities? Graduate coursework?”

“Yeah. I’m working on my master’s in special ed. Bit by bit.”

“Why not go back full-time? At least summers? Why are you looking to work instead?”

“Quite frankly, I have a mother and brother to help support.” Hello, Mr. Rich Guy, everyone’s not rolling in money like you are.

“Doesn’t the district pay for your extra schooling?”

“Six credits per year, which is two classes. I’ve used mine up.”

He was studying her closely, as if she was a bug pinned on the wall. Or as if she was a woman he was interested in, but she was absolutely certain that couldn’t be. “I see.” He nodded. “Well, I’m not sure this would be the job for you anyway. I go out in the evenings pretty often.”

“Really?” She opened her mouth to say more and then clamped it closed. Shut up, you want this job.

“I know, being young and adventurous, you must go out a lot yourself.”

“Don’t make assumptions. That’s not what I was thinking.” She looked away from him, annoyed.

“What were you thinking?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Try me.”

“I was thinking: you work super long hours, right? And you go out in the evenings. So...when do you spend time with your daughter?”

* * *

Sam stared at Susan as her question hung in the air between them. “When do I...? Look. If you’ve already decided I’m a terrible parent, this isn’t going to work.”

Truthfully, her words uncovered the guilt that consumed him as an overworked single dad. He hated how much time he had to spend away from Mindy. Half the time, he hated dating, too, but he’d promised Marie that he’d remarry so that Mindy wouldn’t be raised without a mother in the home. Probably, she’d made him promise because she knew how much he worked and feared that Mindy would be raised by babysitters if he didn’t remarry.

Well, he’d changed and was trying to change more, but he’d made a promise—not just about remarrying, but about what type of mom Mindy needed, actually—and he intended to keep it. Which didn’t mean this snippy schoolteacher had the right to condemn him.

“Look, I’m sorry. It’s not my place to judge and I don’t know your situation. Ask Daisy, I’m way too outspoken and it always gets me into trouble.” Her face was contrite and her apology sounded sincere. “The thing is, I know kids and I’m good with them. If you’re struggling, either with her disability or with...other issues, I could help. Build up her self-esteem, encourage her independence.” Those pretty, almond-shaped brown eyes looked a little bit shiny, as if she was holding back tears. “Don’t turn me down just because I’m mouthy, if you think I’d be a help to Mindy.”

She was right. And he was a marshmallow around women who looked sad, especially seriously cute ones like Susan. “It’s okay.”

And it was okay. He recognized already that his burst of anger had more to do with his own guilty feelings than with her comment. But that didn’t mean he had to hire her.

The doorbell chimed, making them both jump. “That’s probably my next interview. I’m sorry.” He stood. “Here’s your résumé back.”

“It’s all right, you can keep it. In case you change your mind.” She stood and grabbed her elegant black portfolio. Come to think of it, all of her was elegant, from her close-fitting black trousers to her white shirt and vest to her long black hair with a trendy-looking stripe of red in it, neatly clipped back.

Just for a minute, he wondered what that hair would look like flowing free.

Sam forced that thought away as he came around his desk to Susan’s side. She looked neat and professional, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it became apparent that she was quite a character. Sam shook his head as he ushered her through the entryway. Why Daisy had thought he and Susan could work together was beyond him.

Thinking about her interview, he couldn’t help grinning. What job applicant questioned and insulted the potential boss? You didn’t see that in the business world. He was used to people kowtowing to him, begging for a job. Susan could take a few lessons in decorum, but he had to admit he enjoyed her spunk.

The doorbell chimed again just as they reached it, so he was in the awkward position of having two job applicants pass each other in the doorway. The new one, a curvaceous blonde in a flowered dress, stood smiling, a plate of plastic-wrap-covered cookies in her hands.

“Hi, are you Mr. Hinton? Thank you so much for agreeing to interview me. I would just absolutely love to have this job! What a great house!”

“Come on in.” He gestured the new applicant into the entryway. “Susan, I’ll be in touch.”’

“I hope so,” she murmured as she brushed past him and out the door. “But I’m not holding my breath.”

Chapter Two

The next Thursday afternoon, Sam arrived at the turnoff to his brother Troy’s farm with a sense of relief. His sister was right; he needed to take a break from interviewing nannies during the day and working late into the night to make up for it. But he was desperate; Mindy’s last day of school had been Tuesday, and without a regular child care provider, he’d had to stay home or use babysitters who weren’t necessarily up to par.

Mindy bounced in her booster seat. “There’s the sign! Look, it says D-O-G, dog! But what else does it say, Daddy?”

He slowed to read the sign aloud: “A Dog’s Last Chance: No-Cage Canine Rescue.”

“Cuz Uncle Troy and Aunt Angelica and Xavier rescue dogs. Right?”

“That’s right, sugar sprite.” And he hoped they could rescue him, too. Or not rescue—they had too much going on for that—but at least give him ideas about getting a good child care provider for Mindy for the summer.

“There they are, there they are! And look, there’s baby Emmie!”

Sure enough, his brother and sister-in-law stood outside the fenced kennel area. He parked, let Mindy out of the car and then paused to survey the scene.

Troy was reaching out for the baby, all of two weeks old, so that his wife could kneel down to greet Mindy with a huge hug.

The tableau they presented battered Sam’s heart. He wanted this. He wanted a wife who would look up at him with that same loving, admiring expression Angelica gave Troy. Wanted a woman who’d embrace Mindy, literally and figuratively. Seeing how it thrilled Mindy, he even thought he wouldn’t mind having another baby, a little brother or sister for them both to love.

This was what he and Marie had wanted, what they would have had, if God hadn’t seen fit to grab it away from them.

He pushed the bitterness aside and strode up to the happy family. “How’s Emmie? She sleeping well?”

Troy and Angelica looked at each other and laughed. “Not a chance. We’re up practically all night, every night,” Troy said, and then Sam noticed the dark circles under his brother’s eyes. Running a veterinary practice and a rescue while heading a family had to be exhausting, but though he looked tired, there was a deep happiness in Troy’s eyes that hadn’t been there before.

That was the power of love. Troy and Angelica had married less than a year ago and instantly conceived a baby, at least partly in response to Angelica’s son Xavier’s desire for a little sister. They’d even gotten the gender right.

Sam renewed his determination: With or without God’s help, he was going to find this for himself and Mindy. He didn’t need the Lord to solve his problems for him. He could do it on his own.

“Where’s Xavier, Uncle Troy?”

Troy chuckled. “It’s Kennel Kids day. Where do you think?”

For the first time, Sam noticed the cluster of boys on the far edge of the fenced area. It was the ragtag group of potential hoodlums that Troy mentored through giving them responsibilities at the kennel. Amazing that his brother, busy as he was, had time to work with kids in need. Or made time, truth be known, and Sam’s conscience smote him. He ought to give more back to the community, but he felt as if he was barely holding his own life together these days. “Who’s monitoring the boys? Is that Daisy?”

“Can I go play, Daddy?” Mindy begged.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not safe, honey.”

“But Xavier’s over there.”

“Xavier’s a boy, honey. And...” He broke off, seeing the knowing glance Troy and Angelica exchanged. Okay, so he was overprotective, but those boys were playing rough and Mindy, with her missing hand, had one less means of defense.

And one more reason to get teased, in the sometimes-cruel world of school-aged kids.

Mindy’s face reddened and she drew in a breath, obviously about to have a major meltdown.

Sam squatted down beside her, touching her shoulder, willing her to stay calm. He was so tired after another late night working, and he wasn’t that great about dealing with Mindy’s frequent storms. Didn’t know if there even was a good way to deal with them.

“Hey!” Angelica got a little bit in Mindy’s face, startling her out of her intended shriek. “I know! Why don’t you and your daddy go ask Xavier to take you down to the barn? He can show you the newest puppies. You can stay outside the fence,” she added, rolling her eyes a little at Sam.

“Okay! C’mon, Daddy!”

Thank you, he mouthed to Angelica, bemused by the way a little girl’s mood could change in a second.

“Not sure if you’ll be thanking me in a minute,” she said with a chuckle.

She must mean his ongoing battle with Mindy, the one where Angelica and Troy were staunchly on Mindy’s side. “We’re not getting a puppy!” he mouthed over his shoulder to Angelica, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t reawaken Mindy’s interest in the issue.

But as he and Mindy approached the group at the other end of the fenced enclosure, Sam wondered if Angelica might have been talking with Daisy...and if her joke about him not thanking her might have meant something entirely different.

Because she was there.

Susan, the firebrand waitress and job candidate he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind for the past four days.

Who was she to tell him he wasn’t raising his daughter right?

And what on earth was she doing here?

The answer, apparently, was that she was working with the kids, because she was squatting down beside one of the smaller boys, probably seven or eight years old. From the boy’s awkward movements, Troy guessed he had some kind of muscular disorder.

And Susan was helping him to pet a pit bull’s face.

Sam shook his head. Of course she was. The woman obviously had no common sense, no safety consciousness, no awareness of what was age-appropriate. If that kid’s parents could see what she was doing...of course, given the nature of Kennel Kids, the boy might not have involved parents. Still, Troy or Angelica ought to rein Susan in.

At that moment, she lifted her head and saw him. Her mouth dropped open, and then her eyes narrowed as if she was reading his mind.

“Xavier!” Mindy’s joyous shout was a welcome distraction. “C’mere! C’mere!”

Susan called out to Daisy, who was, he now realized, standing guard over the overall group. Daisy came and knelt beside the boy Susan had been helping, and Susan exchanged a few heated words with her, then rose effortlessly to her feet. She followed Xavier, who was running toward the fence to see Mindy.

A knee-high black-and-white puppy bounded over on enormous, clumsy feet, barking. The kids immediately started playing with it, Mindy poking her fingers through the fence to touch its nose and Xavier jumping and rolling with the puppy on the inside of the enclosure. Which left Sam to watch Susan’s approach. She wore cutoff shorts and a red shirt, hair up in a long ponytail. She looked young and innocent, especially since she’d removed her multiple earrings. “Didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t betray his strange agitation.

“The feeling’s mutual, and when I get the chance, I’m going to strangle your sister.” She knelt down, and Xavier, along with the black-and-white dog, fell into her lap, pushing her backward.

Daisy. Oh. Susan’s being here was Daisy’s doing. “I never could control that girl. She always does exactly what she wants.”

She flashed a smile. “And she always means well.”

He watched Susan struggle out from under the dog, laughing when it licked her face. Then she handed Xavier a ball from her shorts pocket and he threw it for the dog to fetch.

“What’s Daisy doing?” Sam asked. “Is she pushing us together on purpose?” If his sister was playing matchmaker, she was doing a poor job of it. She had to know Susan wasn’t his type, even though the thought of going out with Susan sounded the tiniest bit appealing, probably just for the chance to argue with her.

“She wants you to give me your nanny job, which you and I both know is ridiculous.”

Oh, the job. Heat rose to the back of Sam’s neck as he realized he’d misinterpreted his sister’s actions as dating-type matchmaking. And, yes, it was ridiculous from his own point of view to hire someone as mouthy and inappropriate as Susan, but why did she find the idea ridiculous?

“Hi, Miss Hayashi,” Mindy said, looking up at Susan with a shy smile.

“Hi, Mindy.” Susan’s voice went rich and warm as honey when she looked down at his daughter. “Want to come in and play with the dogs?”

“No, she can’t come in!” The words practically exploded out of Sam’s mouth.

“Oh.” Susan looked surprised, and Mindy opened her mouth to object.

“She can’t...” He nodded down at her. “It’s not safe.”

Xavier provided an unexpected escape route. “You’re too little to come in here,” he explained. “But I can take you to the barn and show you our new tiny puppies. There’s eight of them, and they’re all gray ’cept for one spotted one, and their eyes are shut like this!” He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, them immediately opened them, grinning.

“I want to see them!” Mindy jumped to her feet, hugged Sam’s leg and gazed up at him. “Please, Daddy?”

Love for his daughter overwhelmed him. “Okay, if you have an adult with you.”

Xavier ran a few yards down to the gate, and with an assist from Susan, got it open. “Come on, Dad will help us,” he said, and the two children rushed off toward the barn.

Leaving Sam and Susan standing with a fence between them. “You shouldn’t have invited Mindy to come in without my permission,” he informed her.

“Right. You’re right. I just...who knew you were that overprotective? She’s not made of glass, but you’re going to have her thinking she is.”

“I think we’ve already established that you don’t have the right to judge.”

“Yeah, but that was when I was trying to get the job with you. Now, I’m just a...well, an acquaintance. Which means I can state my opinion, right?”

“She’s an acquaintance with a double certification in elementary and special ed,” his sister, Daisy, said, coming from behind to put a hand on Susan’s shoulder. “Sam, when are you going to realize you’re way too cautious with that child? Marie was even worse. You’re going to have Mindy afraid of her own shadow.”

“That day is a long way off,” Sam said, frowning at the idea that Marie had been anything but the perfect mother. Did everyone think he was too overprotective? Was he? Was he hurting Mindy?

“Um, think I’ll go help get the kids ready to go home.” Susan walked off, shoulders squared and back straight.

Daisy glared up at Sam. “What’s your problem, anyway? Susan said her interview with you didn’t go well.”

“Did she tell you she couldn’t stop questioning my abilities as a father? I hardly think that’s what I want in a summer nanny.”

“Come on, let’s walk up to the house,” Daisy said, coming out through the gate and putting an arm around him. “Sam, everyone knows you’re the best dad around. You stepped in when Marie got sick and you haven’t taken a break since. If you’re a tiny bit controlling, well, who can blame you? Mindy’s not had an easy road.”

“You’re using your social worker voice, and I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there.” He put his own arm around his little sister. She definitely drove him crazy, but he didn’t question her wisdom. Daisy was the intuitive, people-smart one in the family, and Sam and his brother had learned early on to respect that.

“The thing is, you’re looking for a clone of your dead wife. In a nanny and in a partner. What if you opened your mind to a different kind of influence on Mindy?”

“What do you mean, in a partner?” He’d kept his deathbed promise to Marie a secret, so how did Daisy know he was looking for a new mom for Mindy?

Daisy laughed. “I’ve seen the women you date. They’re all chubby and blonde and worshipful. It’s not rocket science to figure out that you’re trying to find a replica of Marie.”

The words stung with their truth. “Is that so bad? Marie was wonderful. We were happy.” He’d never been like Daisy and Troy, adventurous and fun-loving; he’d always been the conventional older brother, wanting a standard, solid, traditional family life, and Marie had understood that. She’d wanted the same thing, and they’d been building it. Building a beautiful life that had been cut short.

“Oh, Sam.” Daisy rubbed a hand up and down his back. “It’s understandable. It was a horrible loss for you and Mindy. For all of us, really. I loved Marie, too.”

Reassured, Sam could focus on the rest of what Daisy had said. “You think I need to be worshipped?”

“I think you’re uncomfortable when women question your views, but c’mon, Sam. You’re Mensa-level smart, you’re practically a billionaire and you’ve built Hinton Enterprises into the most successful corporation in Rescue River, if not all of Ohio. It’s not like you need reassurance about your masculinity. Why don’t you try dating women who pose a little bit of a challenge?”

“I get plenty of challenge from my family, primarily you.” He squeezed her shoulders, trying not to get defensive about her words. “My immediate problem is finding a nanny, not a girlfriend. And someone like Susan has values too different from mine. She’d have Mindy taming pit bulls and playing with hoodlums.”

“She’d let Mindy out of the glass bubble you’ve put her in!” Daisy spun away to glare at him. “Look, she’s the one with coursework in special ed, not you. She’s not going to put your daughter at risk. She’d be great for Mindy, even if she does make you a little uncomfortable. And you did kind of contribute indirectly to her getting fired from her waitressing job.”

A hard lump of guilt settled in his stomach. He didn’t want to be the cause of someone losing their livelihood. He’d always prided himself on finding ways to keep from laying off employees, even in this tough economy.

She raised her eyebrows. “Think about it, bro. Are you man enough to handle a nanny like Susan, if it would be the best thing for Mindy?”

* * *

Susan sat at the kitchen table with Angelica and the new baby while Daisy warmed up the side dishes she’d brought and ordered her brothers outside to grill burgers.

“Do you want to hold her?” Angelica asked, looking down at the dark-haired baby as if she’d rather do anything than let her go.

“Me?” Susan squeaked. “No thanks. I mean, she’s beautiful, but I’m a disaster with babies. At a minimum, I always make them cry.”

Of course, Sam came back into the kitchen in time to hear that remark. She seemed to have a genius for not impressing him.

“I used to feel that way, too,” Daisy said, “but I’m great with little Emmie. Here, you can stir this while I hold her.” She put down her spoon and confidently scooped the baby out of Angelica’s arms.

Susan walked over to the stove and looked doubtfully at the pan of something white and creamy. “You want me to help cook? Really?”

“Oh, never mind, I forgot. Sam, stir the white sauce for a minute, would you?”

“You don’t cook?” he asked Susan as he took over at the stove, competently stirring with one hand while he reached for a pepper grinder with the other.

In for a penny, in for a pound. “Nope. Not domestic.”

“You’ll learn,” Angelica said, stretching and twisting her back. “When you find someone you want to cook for.”

“Not happening. I’m the single type.”

“She is,” Daisy laughed. “She won’t even date. But we’re going to change all that.”

“No, we’re not.” Susan sat back down at the table.

“Yes, we are. The group at church has big plans for you.”

“My singles group? Who would run it if I somehow got involved with a guy?” Susan pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, taking in the large, comfortable kitchen with appreciation. Old woodwork and gingham curtains blended with the latest appliances, and there was even a couch in the corner. Perfect.

She enjoyed Daisy and enjoyed being here with her family because she’d never had anything like this. Her family had been small and a little bit isolated, and while Donny was great in his way, you couldn’t joke around with him.

She watched Sam stir the sauce, taste it, season it some more. This was another side of the impatient businessman. Really, was there anything the man wasn’t good at?

He probably saw her as a bumbling incompetent. She couldn’t succeed at waitressing, at cooking, at holding a baby. He thought she’d be bad for his daughter, that much had been obvious.

Too bad, because she needed the money, and Mindy was adorable. Kids were never the problem; it was the adults who always did her in.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Xavier rushed through, followed closely by Mindy. “Give it back. Give it back!” she was yelling as she grabbed at something in his hands.

“No, Mindy, it’s mine!”

Mindy stopped, saw all the adults staring at her, and threw herself to the floor, holding her breath, legs kicking.

Sam dropped the spoon with a clatter and went to her side. “Mindy, Mindy honey, it’s okay.”

The child ignored him, lost in her own rapidly escalating emotional reaction.

“Mindy!” He scolded her. “Sit up right now.” He tried to urge her into an upright position, but she went as rigid as a board, her ear-splitting screams making everyone cringe.

Sam was focused on her with love and concern, but at this point that wasn’t enough. Susan knew that interfering wasn’t wise, but for better or worse, she had a gift. She understood special-needs kids, and she had a hunch she could calm Mindy down.

She sank to her knees beside the pair. “Shhhh,” she whispered ever so softly into Mindy’s ear. “Shhhh.” Gently, she slid closer in behind the little girl and raised her eyebrows at Sam, tacitly asking permission.

He shrugged, giving it.

She wrapped her arms around Mindy from behind, whispering soothing sounds into her ear, sounds without words. Sounds that always soothed Donny, actually. She rubbed one hand up and down Mindy’s arm, gently coercing her to be calm. While she wasn’t a strict proponent of holding therapy, she knew that sometimes physical contact worked when nothing else could reach a kid.

“Leave me ’lone!” Mindy cried with a little further struggle, but Susan just kept up her gentle hold and her wordless sounds, and Mindy slowly relaxed.

“He has a picture frame that says...” She drew in a gasping breath. “It says, Mom. M-O-M, Mom. I want it!”

Sam went pale, and Susan’s heart ached with sympathy for the pair. Losing a parent was about the worst thing that could happen to a kid. And losing a wife was horrible, but it had to be even more painful to watch your child suffer and not know how to help.

To his credit, Sam regrouped quickly. “Honey, you can’t take Xavier’s picture frame. But we can get you one, okay?”

“It might even be fun to make one yourself,” Susan suggested, paying attention to the way the child’s body relaxed at the sound of her father’s reassuring words. “Then it would be even more special. Do you have lots of pictures of your mom?”

“Yes, ’cause I’m afraid I’ll forget her and then she’ll never come back.”

Perfectly normal for a five-year-old to think her dead mother would come back. But ouch. Poor Mindy, poor Sam. She hugged the child a little tighter.

“Hon, Mommy’s not coming back, remember? She’s with Jesus.” Sam’s tone changed enough on the last couple of words that Susan guessed he might have his doubts about that. Doubts he wasn’t conveying to Mindy, of course.

“But if I’m really good...”

“No, sweetie.” Sam’s face looked gray with sadness. “Mommy can’t come back to this world, but we’ll see her in heaven.”

“I don’t like that!” Mindy’s voice rose to a roar. “I. Don’t. Like. That!”

“None of us do, honey.” Daisy squatted before her, patting the sobbing child’s arm, her forehead wrinkling. “I don’t know what to do when she’s like this,” she said quietly to Susan.

“Mommy!” Mindy wailed over and over. “I’ll be good,” she added in a gulp.

Sam and Daisy looked helplessly at each other over Mindy’s head.

“It’s not your fault. You’re a good, good girl. Mommy loved you.” Susan kept her arms wrapped tightly around Mindy and rocked, whispering and humming a wordless song. Every so often Mindy would tense up again, and Susan whispered the soothing words. “Not your fault. Mommy loved you, and Daddy loves you.”

She knew the words were true, even though she hadn’t known Sam and his wife as a family. And she knew that Mindy needed to hear it, over and over again.

She was glad to be here. Glad she had enough distance to help Sam with what was a very tough situation.

Very slowly, Mindy started to relax again. Daisy shot Susan a smile and moved away to check the stove.

“Shhh, shhh,” Susan whispered, still holding her, still rocking. Losing a piece of her heart to this sweet, angry, hurting child.

Finally, Mindy went limp, and Susan very carefully slid her over to Sam. Took a deep breath, and tried to emerge from her personal, very emotional reaction and get back to the professional. “Does she usually fall asleep after a meltdown?”

Sam nodded. “Wears herself out, poor kid.” He stroked her hair, whispering the same kind of sounds Susan had made, and Mindy’s eyes closed.

“She’ll need something to eat and drink soon, maybe some chocolate milk, something like that,” Susan said quietly after a couple of minutes. “Protein and carbs.”

“Thank you for calming her down,” he said, his voice quiet, too. “That was much shorter than she usually goes.”

“No problem, it’s kind of my job. Did she have tantrums before you lost your wife?”

Sam nodded. “She’s always been volatile. We thought it was because of her hand.”

Susan reached out and stroked Mindy’s blond hair, listening to the welcome sound of the child’s sleep-breathing. “Having a disability can be frustrating. Or she could have some other sensitivities. Some kids are just more reactive.”

“Did you learn how to be a child-whisperer in your special ed training?”

Susan chuckled. “Some, but mostly, you learn it when you have a brother with autism. Donny—that’s my little brother—used to have twenty tantrums per day. It was too much for my mom, so I helped take care of him.”

Sam’s head lifted. “Where’s Donny now?”

“Home with Mom in California,” she said. “He’s eighteen, and...” She broke off. He was eighteen, and still expecting to be going to a camp focused on his beloved birds and woodland animals, because she hadn’t had the heart to call and tell him she’d screwed up and there wasn’t any money. “He’s still a handful, that’s for sure, but he’s also a joy.”

Mindy burrowed against her father’s chest, whimpering a little.

“How long has it been since you lost your wife?” Susan asked quietly.

“Two years, and Mindy does fine a lot of the time. And then we have this.” He nodded down at her.

“Grief is funny that way.” Susan searched her mind for her coursework on it. “From what I’ve read, she might re-grieve at each developmental stage. If she was pre-operational when your wife died, she didn’t fully understand it. Could be that now, she’s starting to take in the permanence of the loss.”

“I just want to fix it.” Sam’s voice was grim. “She doesn’t deserve this pain.”

“No one deserves it, but it happens.” She put a hand over Sam’s. “I’m sorry for your loss. And sorry this is so hard on Mindy, too. You’re doing a good job.”

“Coming from you, that means something,” he said with a faint grin.

Their eyes caught for a second too long.

Then Angelica and Daisy came bustling back into the room—when had they left, anyway?—followed by Xavier. How long had she, Sam and Mindy been sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor?

“Hey, the potatoes are done,” Daisy said, expertly pouring the contents of one pan into another. She leaned over and called out through the open window. “Troy, how about those burgers?”

“They’re ready.” Troy came in with a plate stacked high with hamburgers, plus a few hot dogs on the side.

Sam moved to the couch at the side of the kitchen, cuddling a half-asleep Mindy, while the rest of them hustled to get food on the table. Susan folded napkins and carried dishes and generally felt a part of things, which was nice. She hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long time. Being around Mindy, she felt as if she was in her element. This was her craft. What she was good at.

Again, she couldn’t help comparing this evening to those she’d spent with her own family. The tension between her mom and dad, the challenges Donny presented, made family dinners stressful, and as often as not, the kids had eaten separately from the adults, watching TV. Susan could see the appeal of this lifestyle, living near your siblings, getting to know their kids. Cousins growing up together.

This was what she’d want for her own kid.

And where on earth had that thought come from? She totally didn’t want kids! And she didn’t want a husband. She was a career girl, and that was that.

So why did she feel so strangely at home here?

Chapter Three

A while after dinner, Sam came back into the kitchen after settling Mindy and Xavier in the den with a movie.

The room felt empty. “Where’s Susan?”

“She left.” Daisy looked up from her phone. “Said something about packing.”

“She’s going on a trip?” That figured. She seemed like a world traveler, much too sophisticated to spend her free summer in their small town. Applying for the job as Mindy’s nanny had probably been just a whim.

Then again, she’d mentioned needing to help support her mother and brother...

And why he was so interested in figuring out her motives and whereabouts, he didn’t have a clue.

“No...” Daisy was back to texting, barely paying attention. “She’s gotta move back home for the summer.”

“Move?”

“Yeah, to California.”

“What? Why?”

Daisy was too engrossed in her phone to answer, and following a sudden urge, Sam turned and walked out into the warm evening. He caught up to Susan just as she opened her car door. “Weren’t you even going to say goodbye?”

“Did I hurt your feelings?” she asked lightly, turning back to him, looking up.

She was so beautiful it made him lose his breath. So he just stared down at her.

It must be the way she’d helped Mindy that had changed her in his eyes, softened her sharp edges, made her not just cute but deeply appealing.

And he obviously needed to get on with his dating project, because he was having a serious overreaction to Susan. “Daisy said you’re leaving town.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, in a few days. Got to go back to California for the summer.”

“You’re not driving that, are you?” Lightly, he kicked the tire of her rusty subcompact.

“No! I’m taking the Mercedes.” She chuckled, a deep, husky sound at odds with her petite frame. “Of course I’m driving this, Sam. It’s my car.”

“It’s not safe.”

She just raised her eyebrows at him. As if to ask what right he had to make such a comment. And it was a good question: What right did he have?

The moonlight spilled down on them and the sky was a black velvet canopy sprinkled with millions of diamond stars. He cleared his throat. “Does this mean you don’t want the job?”

“Does this mean I’m still in the running?” There was a slightly breathy sound to her voice.

They were standing close together.

“You are,” he said slowly. “I liked... No. I was amazed at how you were able to calm Mindy.” He couldn’t stop looking at her.

She stepped backward and gave an awkward smile. “Years of experience with my brother. And the coursework. All the grief stuff. You could call a local college, find someone with similar qualifications.”

“I doubt that. I’d like to hire you.”

“We don’t get along. I wouldn’t be good at this. I mean, nannying? Living in? Seriously, ask anyone, I’m not cut out for family life.”

He cocked his head to one side, wondering suddenly about her past. “Oh?”

She waved her hand rapidly. “I was engaged once. It...didn’t work out.”

He nodded, inexplicably relieved. “Maybe you should come work for me on a trial basis, then.”

“A...trial basis?” That breathy sound again.

“Yes, since you’re not cut out for family life. It’s a live-in job, after all.”

“I do need a place to stay,” she said, “but no. That wouldn’t look right, would it? Me living in your house.”

Her eyes were wide and suddenly, Sam felt an urge to protect her. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to compromise your reputation. We have a mother-in-law’s suite over the garage. It has a separate entrance and plenty of privacy.”

“Really? You’re offering me the job? Because remember, I can’t cook.”

“You can learn.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I... What made you change your mind? I thought you didn’t like me.” She was nibbling on her lower lip, and right now she looked miles from the confident, brash waitress who’d stood up to a businessman in front of a restaurant full of people.

He smiled down at her. “My sister. My brother. And the way you handled Mindy.”

“But she’s probably not going to have another trauma reaction for a long time. Whereas cooking’s every day. You really don’t want to hire me.”

“Why are you trying to talk me out of it?” Her resistance was lighting a fire in him, making him feel as if he had to have her, and only her, for Mindy’s nanny. “I do want to. The sooner the better. When could you start?”

“Well...” She was starting to cave, and triumph surged through him. “My room is going to be remodeled out from under me starting this weekend.”

“Great,” he said, leaning in to close the deal. “I’ll have a truck sent round tomorrow. You can start setting up your apartment over the garage.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Paying what you told me before?”

He flashed a wide smile. “Of course.”

She paused, her nose wrinkling. Looked up at the stars. Then a happy expression broke out on her face. “Thank you!” she said, and gave him a quick, firm handshake.

Her smile and her touch sent a shot of joy through his entire body. He hadn’t felt anything like that before, ever. Not even when Marie was alive.

Guilt overwhelmed him and he took a step back. “Remember, it’s just a trial,” he said.

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

Of course, everyone and his brother was in downtown Rescue River the next Saturday morning to comment on the moving truck in front of Susan’s boarding house. The truck carrying Susan to her absolute doom, if the scuttlebutt was to be believed.

“So you’re the next victim,” said Miss Minnie Falcon, who’d hurried over from the Senior Towers, pushing her wheeled walker, to watch the moving activities. “Sam Hinton eats babysitters for lunch!”

“It’s just on a trial basis,” Susan said, pausing in front of the guesthouse’s front porch. “If I don’t like the job, I can leave at any time. Don’t you want to sit down, Miss Minnie?”

“Oh, no, I’d rather stand,” the gray-haired woman said, her eyes bright. “Don’t want to miss anything!”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” That was small-town life: your activities were like reality TV to your neighbors, and truthfully, Susan found it sweet. At least everyone knew who you were and watched out for you.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” her landlady, Lacey, said as she helped Susan carry her sole box of fragile items down the rickety porch steps. “I’m really sorry about making you move. It’s just that Buck seems to be serious about staying sober, and he’s looking to make money, and of course, he’s willing to work on this place for cheap because he’s my brother.”

“It’s fine. You’ve got to remodel while you can,” Susan soothed her. “And we’ll still hang out, right?” She’d enjoyed her year at Lacey’s guesthouse, right in the heart of her adopted town. She wouldn’t have minded staying. But sometimes, she felt silly being twenty-five years old and having to use someone else’s kitchen if she wanted to make herself a snack.

“Of course we’ll hang out. I’ll miss you!”

“I know, me, too.” She and Lacey had gotten close during a number of late-night talks. Susan had comforted Lacey through a heartbreaking miscarriage, and they’d cried and prayed together.

“And it’s not just me. The cats will miss you!” Lacey said. “You have to come back and visit all the time.”

As if to prove her words, an ancient gray cat tangled himself around Susan’s ankle and then, when she grabbed the bannister to keep from tripping, offered up a mournful yowl.

Susan reached down to rub the old tomcat’s head. “You and Mrs. Whiskers take care of yourselves. I’ll bring you a treat when I come back, promise.”

They went outside and loaded the box of breakables into the front seat of Susan’s car, only to be accosted by Gramps Camden, another resident of the Senior Towers. “Old Sam Hinton caught himself a live one!” he said. “Now you listen here. Those Hintons are trouble. Just because my granddaughter married one—and Troy is the best of the bunch—that doesn’t mean they’re a good family. I was cheated by that schemer’s dad and now, his corporation won’t let up on me about selling my farm. You be careful in his house. Lock your door!”

“I will.” She’d gotten to know Gramps through the schools, where he now served as a volunteer.

“He wasn’t good enough for that wife of his,” Gramps continued.

“Marie was pretty nearly perfect,” agreed Miss Minnie Falcon.

From what Susan already knew about Sam, she figured any woman who married him would have to be. And yet, for all his millionaire arrogance, he obviously adored his little daughter. And a man who loved a child that much couldn’t be all bad. Could he?

“Is that all your stuff, ma’am?” the college-age guy, who’d apparently come with the truck, asked respectfully.

Gramps waved and headed back to the Towers with Miss Minnie.

“Yes, that’s it,” Susan said. “What do I owe you?”

“Nothing. Mr. Hinton took care of it.”

“Let me grab my purse. I want to at least give you a tip for being so careful.”

The young man waved his hand. “Mr. Hinton took care of that, too. He said we weren’t to take a penny from you.”

“Is that so,” Susan said, torn between gratitude and irritation.

“Money’s one thing Sam Hinton doesn’t lack.” The voice belonged to Buck Armstrong, Lacey’s brother. He put a large potted plant into the back of her car, tilting it sideways so it would fit. The young veteran had haunted eyes and a bad reputation, but whenever Susan had run into him visiting his sister, he’d been nothing but a gentleman. “You all set?”

“I hope so. I’m hearing horror stories about my new boss, is all.” And they were spooking her. As the time came to leave her friendly guesthouse in the heart of Rescue River, she felt more and more nervous.

Buck nodded, his eyes darkening. “Sam didn’t use to be quite so...driven. Losing a wife is hard on a guy.”

Sympathy twisted Susan’s heart. Buck knew what he was talking about; he’d lost not only his wife, but their baby as well. That was what had pushed him toward drinking too much, according to Lacey.

“You giving this gal a hard time?” The voice belonged to Rescue River’s tall, dark-skinned police chief. He clapped Buck on the shoulder in a friendly way, but his eyes were watchful. Chief Dion Coleman had probably had a number of encounters with Buck that weren’t so friendly.

“He’s trying to tell me Sam Hinton is really a nice guy, since I’m going to work for him,” Susan explained.

Dion let out a hearty laugh. “You’re going to work for Sam? Doing what?”

“Summer nanny for Mindy.”

“Is that right? My, my.” Dion shook his head, still chuckling. “I tell you what, I think Mr. Sam Hinton might have finally met his match.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Susan asked, indignant.

“Nothing, nothing.” He clapped Buck’s shoulder again. “Come on, man, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee if you’ve got half an hour to spare. Got something to run by you.”

Buck was about to get gently evangelized, if Susan knew Dion. He headed up a men’s prayer group at their church and was unstoppable in his efforts to get the hurting men of Rescue River on the right path. According to Daisy, he’d done wonders with her brother Troy.

As Buck and Dion headed toward the Chatterbox Café, Lacey came out to hug her goodbye. “You’ll be fine. This is going to be an adventure!” She lowered her voice. “At least, let’s hope so.”

An odd, uncomfortable chill tickled Susan’s spine as she climbed into her car and headed to her new job, her new life.

Chapter Four

Sam paced back and forth in the driveway, checking his watch periodically. Where was she?

Small beach shoes clacked along the walkway from the back deck, and he turned around just in time to catch Mindy in his arms. He lifted her and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek, making her giggle.

And then she struggled down. “Daddy, Miss Lou Ann says I can play in the pool if it’s okay with you. Can I?”

Lou Ann Miller, who’d worked for his family back in the day and had helped to raise Sam, Troy and Daisy, followed her young charge out into the driveway. “She’s very excited. It would be a nice way for her to cool off.” She winked at him. “Nice for you if she’d burn off some extra energy, too.”

Sam hesitated. Lou Ann was an amazing woman, but she was in her upper seventies. “If she stays in the shallow end,” he decided. “And Mindy, you listen to Miss Lou Ann.”

“Of course she will,” Lou Ann said. “Run and change into your suit, sweetie.” As soon as Mindy disappeared inside, Lou Ann put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at Sam. “I was the county synchronized swimming champion eight years running,” she said. “And I still swim every morning. I can get Mindy out of any trouble she might get into.”

“Of course!” Sam felt himself reddening and reminded himself not to stereotype.

He just wanted to keep Mindy safe and get her home environment as close to what Marie had made as was humanly possible. Get things at home back to running like a well-organized company, one he could lead with confidence and authority.

The moving truck chugged around the corner and up to the house, and Sam rubbed his hands together. Here was one step...he hoped. If Susan worked out.

He gestured them toward the easiest unloading point and helped open the back of the truck as Susan pulled up in her old subcompact, its slightly-too-dark exhaust and more-than-slightly-too-loud engine announcing that the car was on its last legs. He’d have to do something about that.

As the college boys he’d hired started moving her few possessions out, she approached. Her clothes were relaxed—a loose gauzy shirt, flip flops and cut-off shorts revealing long, slender, golden-bronzed legs—but her face looked pinched with stress. “Hey,” she said, following his glance back to her car. “Don’t worry, I’ll pull it behind the garage as soon as the truck’s out of the way.”

“I didn’t say—”

“You didn’t have to.” She grabbed a box off the truck and headed up the stairs.

He helped the guys unload a heavy, overstuffed chair and then followed them up the stairs with an armload of boxes.

There was Susan, staring around the apartment, hands on hips.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is it suitable? Too small? We can work something out—”

“It’s fine,” she said, patting his arm. “It’s beautiful. I’m just trying to decide where to put things.”

“Good.” There was something about Susan that seemed a little volatile, as if she might morph into a butterfly and disappear. “Well, you need to put the desk in that corner,” he said, gesturing the movers to the part of the living room that was alcoved off, “and the armchair over there.”

“Wait. Put the desk under the window. I like to look out while I work.”

The young guys looked at him, tacitly asking his permission.

Susan raised her eyebrows, looking from the movers to Sam. There was another moment of silence.

“Of course, of course! Whatever the lady wants.” But when they got the desk, a crooked and ill-finished thing, into the light under the window, he frowned. “I might have an extra desk you can use, if you like.”

“I’m fine with that one.”

He understood pride, but he hated to see a teacher with such a ratty desk. “Really?”

“Yes.” She waited while the young movers went down to get another load, then spun on him. “Don’t you have something else to do, other than comment about my stuff?”

“I’m sorry.” He was controlling and he knew it, but it was with the goal of making other people’s lives better. “I just thought...are you sure you wouldn’t rather have something less...lopsided? The money’s not a problem.”

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