“Sometimes I don’t see Daddy for days,” Mariah said. “He works very, very hard, you know, and although I miss him terribly, I understand. People depend on him. That’s why your credentions have to be exemplary. We’ll be spending a lot of time together. I really want a baby sister. And I promise to be lots of help with her. I’ll read all the baby books and learn everything. You won’t have to worry one little bit. And I’m always well-behaved. I promise. Aren’t I, Daddy?”
All during this long persuasive speech, Mariah’s little face was a picture of hope. Kelsey’s heart twisted. With each word, Kelsey had grown more sure that Ryan Storm was a success-oriented workaholic and not much else. Poor little Mariah.
“Yes, you are, peanut.” Ryan tweaked the end of the little girl’s nose and then spoke to Kelsey.
“So you see, with Mariah’s intellect, I need to hire someone who can not only care for her full-time, but who can homeschool her as Janine did. She didn’t fit too well in kindergarten and I don’t intend to expose her to that again.”
“Kids in kindergarten didn’t like me much, although I’ll never understand their reasoning. Playing with blocks seemed a little silly to me, but I was still nice to them and helped them organize the blocks into a color-coordinated map of Dallas.” Mariah frowned. “For some reason, that made them all run away.”
Ryan tilted an eyebrow at Kelsey as if to say, see what I mean? “Private tutors, in my opinion, are best for children like Mariah.”
“Eventually, she’ll have to learn to interact with other children,” Kelsey said. “No matter how bright she is, she needs to learn to play like a normal kid.”
“I’m far more concerned with making the most of her intelligence. Kids are born knowing how to play.”
“Well, I think you’re wrong about that.” Kelsey didn’t know what possessed her, exhaustion she supposed, but she was still annoyed that the child had been running loose in the airport without supervision. Add to that Mariah’s concern about her father’s emotional well-being, and Kelsey figured the guy needed to get a clue. “Socialization is important, too, particularly at this age.”
“My daughter is quite social, as you have already observed.”
“That’s not what I meant. Did it ever occur to you that she needs to be a little girl instead of worrying about you?” Oops. Now she’d gone too far.
He blinked, those intense eyes hardening to onyx. “Excuse me. I think this interview is concluded.”
Well, la-dee-da. Concluded.
“And here I didn’t even know an interview was going on. Silly me.” Story of her life. Lose the job before she even applied for it. Before she could shove the next words back down her smart-aleck throat, she blurted, “Sounds like somebody needs a nap, and I don’t mean your daughter.”
After a tense ten seconds while her former classmate contemplated her with both surprise and curiosity and maybe even a little horror, he turned aside and stared out the frosted window.
Steepling his fingers, he bounced them against his chin with a sigh of utter hopelessness. For a fleeting moment, Ryan Storm, king of Storm International, looked like a lost child himself. Kelsey felt a twinge of sympathy, which made no sense under the circumstances. First of all she should be red-hot and furious at his dismissal, but she wasn’t. She thought his defensive reaction was kind of funny and pompous and completely characteristic of the brooding young man she’d known in high school. He’d moved through the hallways with a know-it-all stare and a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas Stadium. Though he said little, his groupies followed, anxious to do the bidding of the rough-edged boy in fitted T-shirt and faded jeans. He was in command even then.
Secondly, and probably most important given the unpredictable state of her emotions, here was a man of enormous success and confidence who had the world in the palm of his hand. She, on the other hand, was a mess. Why should she feel sorry for Ryan Storm?
Mariah, who hadn’t missed a single glare or sigh or comment, glanced from her father’s stormy face to Kelsey’s and back again. “Can’t we negotiate?”
Worry filled her dark eyes and pinched Kelsey’s conscience. Concern for her daddy emanated from her small form in pleading waves. Here was a child who could probably read Shakespeare but was stuck with a workaholic father who hadn’t a clue. If ever a little girl needed a mommy, this one did.
“Didn’t you hear? Kelsey isn’t interested in the job,” Ryan muttered.
Maybe it was the child’s big brown eyes.
Maybe it was the father’s lost expression. Maybe it was hormones.
Most likely it was pure desperation.
“Actually,” Kelsey said. “I think I am.
CHAPTER TWO
SLOWLY, SLOWLY, RYAN TURNED towards the woman. First, she’d told him he had no idea how to raise his own child. And now, she wanted to work for him.
He didn’t think so.
He ran a hand down his face, heard the scratch of beard left untended.
Bone weary of sitting in this airport, he had missed two crucial meetings, and had just spent forty-five minutes on the telephone trying without success to salvage a deal gone sour. By the time he’d ended the call, Mariah had done one of her disappearing acts. His little girl was the only person on the planet who could ruffle his composure and send him into panic mode.
When he’d rounded the concourse and seen her here, talking to the pregnant woman, safe and sound, he’d nearly imploded with relief. If anything happened to Mariah, he couldn’t go on.
Losing Amanda had nearly killed him. Losing Mariah would.
As it was, she drove him crazy, her brilliant mind too young to make appropriate decisions and too smart not to explore the world around her. Once, she’d gotten away from Janine with a handful of change from his dresser and had boarded the trolley for a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium. A quick-thinking driver had saved them all a great deal of grief.
The child needed a keeper who was as smart as she.
Running on minimal sleep, he wasn’t in the best frame of mind to make decisions. But Kelsey Slater, boy hater? Probably not.
All the reasons why he should not hire Kelsey loomed before him as obvious as her pregnant belly. That was the number one reason right there. Pregnant women made him nervous. No, not nervous. Terrified.
But she was someone he knew, at least had known. Kelsey had been the nice, ordinary girl in the front row whose hand was always in the air, volunteering to head the homecoming committee or to do cleanup after the dance. Only she looked so different. Really different. Her glasses had hidden the most stunning blue-green eyes he’d ever seen and a delicate, heart-shaped face framed by long, loose hair the color of his bedroom furniture. Mahogany. And he shouldn’t be thinking of his bedroom in the same sentence with a nanny applicant.
Sheesh. He was tired.
“What makes you think you’re right for the job?”
“What makes you think I’m not?”
The fact that I want to shut that sassy mouth of yours with a kiss.
For a horrified second, he thought he might have spoken aloud but when she didn’t slap his face, he breathed a sigh of relief and said instead, “My daughter seems quite taken with you. Her needs are paramount.”
“As they should be.” She shifted uncomfortably. An airport was no place for a pregnant woman. She didn’t look too far along, but her face and arms were thin, as if she’d recently lost weight instead of gaining.