Kitabı oku: «The Nanny»

Chapter Two

“He’s your…?”

“Papa,” Cassie said again.

Annie looked down at Ginny and Drew, who were peeking around her. They nodded.

She dared turn to the man again, withering beneath his harsh gaze. “You’re their…father?”

“I am.”

“Then that would make you…”

“Josh Ingalls.”

“Oh, dear.” Josh Ingalls. Her employer.

“What’s your name?” Josh demanded.

She gulped. “Annie. Annie Martin. I work here, tending the gardens.”

He looked at her long and hard. “I asked you what’s going on here.”

Cassie buried her face in Annie’s neck, holding on tighter. Ginny and Drew squeezed closer.

Certainly the man should know what his children had been up to. Shooting a person with a slingshot deserved punishment of some sort. But with the children cowering around her, Annie simply couldn’t bring herself to tell him what they’d done.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Mr. Ingalls,” Annie said.

His eyes narrowed. He knew she was lying.

“I objected to their behavior,” she said. “I told them so.”

Josh’s brows went up. “And?”

Annie gazed right back at him. “You needn’t worry yourself with the details, Mr. Ingalls. I handled the situation.” She dropped Cassie to the ground and urged the children away. “Run along, now.”

For an instant they stood there, glancing at their father, then at Annie. She gave Ginny a little push. “It’s all right. Go play.”

Ginny grabbed her sister’s hand and the three of them raced away.

Annie watched them go, feeling the relief she’d seen in their little faces. Feeling, also, the heat of Josh’s gaze on her back.

She took a breath and turned to him. He didn’t seem to notice her as he watched the children disappear into the corn rows. “Damn…for what I pay a nanny, you’d think I could keep one here.”

Josh stared after the children a while longer, then looked down at Annie. “Come up to the house. Now.”

He didn’t wait for her reply, just touched his heels to the horse’s sides and galloped away.

A numb silence hung in his wake. Not even leaves dared to rustle in the trees overhead. Annie stood rooted to the spot, unable to move.

He was going to fire her.

Only a short while ago, everything had—finally—started to look up for her. She had a job she liked. She could help provide for her family.

She could save her little sister.

Annie’s stomach twisted into a knot. Of all the things that troubled her, that one was the worst.

Now, like everything else in her future, it was all gone. Simply because she couldn’t mind her own business.

Josh Ingalls would fire her. She was sure of it. And why shouldn’t he? After the way she’d spoken to him, the way she’d taken it upon herself to discipline his children.

It was none of her business. None at all.

With a heavy sigh, Annie headed toward the house. As she passed the garden, three little faces peeked out through the cornstalks.

“You’re gonna get it,” Drew predicted grimly.

“Get it good,” Ginny agreed solemnly.

Cassie nodded wisely.

Annie drew in a breath, shaking off the fear humming in her veins. “I’m sure your father simply wants to discuss something with me.”

The three children shared a skeptical look and shook their heads gravely.

Annie squared her shoulders and marched on toward the house.

“Wait!” Ginny ran after her and tugged her sleeve. “Are you going to tell Papa what we did? With the slingshot?”

Gazing down at the three frightened faces, Annie still couldn’t bring herself to tell their papa what they’d done.

“What happened is between us,” she told the children. “It’s our business. No one else’s.”

“That means you ain’t gonna tell?” Drew asked.

Annie smiled. “That’s exactly what it means.”

His eyes widened. “Truly? You ain’t gonna tell on us?”

“Truly,” Annie said.

Instead of a thank-you, or even a smile, Drew stuck out his tongue at her. Ginny grabbed little Cassie’s hand and they all ran away.

For a moment, Annie considered running after them. Escape. It certainly seemed preferable to what lay ahead of her at Mr. Ingalls’s house.

Annie trudged on. The house came into view. She imagined Josh Ingalls inside at this very moment, telling his foreman to find someone else to tend the gardens.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that Josh Ingalls was also looking for a nanny.

Her footsteps slowed as her mind spun. Annie had seen the last nanny leave two days ago. What was it Josh had said in the meadow just now? Something about how much he paid his nanny?

Money. Annie’s heart beat faster. She needed money for her family. If a nanny earned more than a farm worker, maybe she could—

At the rain barrel at the corner of the cookhouse, Annie pushed her straw hat off, letting it dangle against her back, and washed her face and hands. She did her best to brush the dust and dirt from her clothes.

Gracious, she hardly looked fit to enter such a fine home, especially now when she desperately needed to make a good impression. Now, with this great idea bubbling in her mind.

Annie hurried up the back steps. A woman blocked the door—tall, thin, with her dark hair streaked with gray and drawn back in a severe bun. She wore a black dress and a frown.

Mrs. Flanders, surely. Annie had never met the woman, but the other field workers she’d talked to here at the Ingalls farm had spoken of her. She ran the house.

“Miss Martin?” she asked, looking her up and down.

Annie managed a nod, feeling all the more out of place in her plain clothing.

“Follow me,” Mrs. Flanders instructed.

Trailing her through the house, Annie found her heart thumping in her chest. Thick carpets with intricate designs lay on the floors. Graceful furniture with carved arms and legs filled the rooms, along with framed paintings, delicate lanterns and figurines. Everything was elegant and pristine.

Except for Annie. She glanced behind her, fearful she’d tracked dirt on the floor.

At the end of a long hallway, Mrs. Flanders motioned for her to stop, stuck her head inside double doors, then turned to Annie once more.

“You may go in,” she said, her lips curling downward in a disapproving scowl. “Don’t touch anything.”

Anger sparked in Annie as the woman disappeared down the hall. Certainly, her clothing was soiled. But that was because she’d been working in the garden, doing the job she was hired to do. And, yes, she was a plain and simple young woman. But that made her no less a good person. Regardless of how the housekeeper looked down on her.

Regardless of what the gossips said.

“Miss Martin?” Josh Ingalls’s voice boomed from inside the room.

Annie’s shoulders straightened. The man could fire her if he chose. But she wouldn’t run away like a whipped dog. She’d have the satisfaction of speaking her mind. And maybe, just maybe, she’d come away with a better job.

Annie stepped into the room. Dark carpets covered the floor. Leather-bound books filled one wall. A moose head with antlers hung above the fireplace. A gigantic desk dominated the center of the room. Josh Ingalls sat behind it.

“Come in,” he said impatiently, shuffling papers on the desk.

He’d taken off his hat, and Annie saw that his hair was thick and dark, the same color as the children’s. For once, it seemed, the rumors were true. Josh Ingalls was a handsome man, with a strong jaw, straight nose and clear brown eyes. He looked even bigger seated behind his desk than he had atop his horse.

His white shirt was open at the collar, revealing a slice of deeply tanned skin—like his face—and black, curling chest hair. Even after being in the fields all morning, he looked clean and crisp.

Annie glanced down at her fingernails, then curled her hands behind her.

He made a spinning motion with his hand, urging her closer to his desk as he opened drawers, searching for something.

“When I ask a question, Miss Martin, I expect an answer. A complete answer, not simply what you choose to tell me,” Josh said. “So I’ll ask one last time. What went on out there with those children?”

“Your children, do you mean?” she asked, and stopped in front of his desk.

His gaze came up and he ceased rifling through the drawers. “Yes. My…children.”

“I don’t know what type of nanny you’re used to, Mr. Ingalls, but when I see a situation that needs addressing, I handle it. That’s what happened with your children,” Annie told him. “If I overstepped my boundaries, I apologize. But I see no need for you to concern yourself further. Surely you have more important matters to attend to.”

He blinked at her, taken aback by what she’d said. Apparently, Josh Ingalls wasn’t used to being spoken to in that manner. Annie held her breath.

He shrugged and started going through the drawers again. “That’s for damn sure,” he muttered. “I’ve searched the settlement, written to agencies all the way to the East Coast, everything. Why should it be such a monumental task to get and keep a nanny?”

“Perhaps you’re not looking in the right place,” Annie offered. “Or for the right sort of person.”

He glared at her now, clearly not pleased at her criticism. “For your information, Miss Martin, the women I hire as nannies are quite competent.”

“Including the last one?”

“Of course.”

“The one I saw running from the house two days ago, screaming and tearing at her hair?”

Josh looked away. “She—she took the job for the wrong reason.”

“My point exactly,” Annie said. “I’m aware of what those reasons are, Mr. Ingalls. You’re wealthy. The Ingalls name is to be envied. You, personally, are the talk of the settlement. Women find you attractive and are captivated by the size of your…”

Josh’s brows rose. He leaned forward slightly. “The size of my…?”

“House,” Annie told him.

A tense, awkward moment passed while they simply looked at each other. A strange warmth pooled inside Annie. Josh seemed to look at her—and really see her—for the first time. Then he swallowed hard and yanked open the bottom drawer.

Annie rushed ahead. “Anyway, unlike all the other young women in the settlement, Mr. Ingalls, I’m only interested in the welfare of your children. That’s why I’d make a perfect nanny.”

Josh pulled a ledger from the drawer. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” she declared, standing straighter.

“You’ve had experience as a nanny?”

To tell him the truth would end all chances of her getting the job—and the increase in her pay.

“Certainly,” Annie said. Surely having two younger sisters and tending an endless number of nieces, nephews and cousins qualified her to look after small children—even the unruly Ingalls children.

He sank further into his chair, studying her at his leisure. Annie felt her skin heat and tried desperately to think of something else to say.

“Tell me about yourself, Miss Martin,” Josh said at long last. “You and your family.”

A cold chill passed through Annie. Her and her family. Why hadn’t she thought ahead enough to realize he’d want this information? Why had she even come in here and asked for the job?

Then it occurred to Annie that if he was asking, that meant he didn’t already know. But how could that be? How could he not have heard about her and her family? Was it possible the gossip hadn’t spread to the Ingalls farm?

Apparently, it hadn’t.

“My mother was widowed several years ago,” Annie said, choosing her words carefully. “We moved here a few weeks ago to live with my cousin. My cousin is Angus Martin. He owns the farm that adjoins your property just down the road. Have…have you heard of my family, Mr. Ingalls?”

Josh simply waved his hand, anxious, it seemed, to get on to other matters. No, apparently, he didn’t know about her family—or at least, what was being said about them. Annie heaved a quiet sigh of relief.

“I know Angus Martin. Good man,” Josh said, as if that were enough. He considered her again. “And you have no interest here but that of the children?”

“Just your children,” Annie said. The children and the salary that came with them.

“All right, you’re the new nanny.”

Annie’s eyes widened. Had he just declared her the children’s nanny? Had she heard him correctly?

“You start immediately. Go find Mrs. Flanders and tell her I said so.” Josh flipped the ledger open, sparing her a glance. “That’s all.”

She’d come here thinking she was about to be fired, and somehow she’d ended up the nanny—to the worst-behaved children in the settlement.

“If I could ask, Mr. Ingalls, about the wages?”

He scribbled in his ledger, then flipped it around for her to see. “I trust this will be adequate compensation, Miss Martin?”

Annie’s knees nearly gave out as she gazed at the salary he’d written beside her name. More money than she’d ever imagined!

The future opened up to her, full and blessed. Now she could help her mother with expenses. And her youngest sister—she’d make everything happen for her.

All that money, for simply taking care of children. True, Annie didn’t know much about children, but it couldn’t be very difficult. Even the wild Ingalls brood.

“Provided, of course, that you do a good job,” Josh told her.

Annie’s enthusiasm cooled a little. “No need to concern yourself, Mr. Ingalls.”

“So, we have a deal?”

Annie opened her mouth to agree, but the words wouldn’t come out. At that moment, gazing at Josh, something inside her warned her away. It was dangerous here in the Ingalls home…with Josh Ingalls. Not on a physical level. It was something different. Something deeper. Something she couldn’t reason out, could only sense.

Josh rubbed his forehead. “Miss Martin, I don’t have all day to wait around for your answer.”

Would she be a fool to turn down such a generous offer? Or a fool to accept?

Annie didn’t know for sure. Thoughts, odd feelings, ricocheted through her. But in the end, her family—her sister—made up her mind.

“Very well, Mr. Ingalls,” she said. “I’ll accept the position as nanny.”

Josh rose from his desk and waved his hand at her vaguely. “Go home and get whatever you need. I’ll send a wagon with you for your things.”

“My things?”

“Of course. You’ll be living here from now on.”

“Living here?” A hot surge shot through Annie. “Here?”

“Is that a problem?” The tiniest hint of a grin tugged at Josh’s lips. “Does the size of my…house…frighten you?”

Heat crept up Annie’s neck and bloomed in her cheeks. Josh seemed as stunned as she by what he’d said. He turned abruptly and left the room.

Annie sagged against his desk. Leave her home? Her family? Move here? With Josh Ingalls? And all those unruly children?

Good gracious, what had she gotten herself into?