‘Absolutely. It comes with a higher pay grade, for a start.’
She didn’t care about the money. The money wasn’t the reason she was here.
‘With all the associated security clearances.’
Had he just made a joke? She grinned—partly in shock but mostly in delight. ‘Now that is an attractive fringe benefit.’
‘Is that a yes, then?’
She glanced at the baby. It’d be way more fun to look after George, but it wasn’t why she was here.
‘You’re hesitating. May I ask why?’ He gestured to the baby. ‘You seem a natural. While I understand there may be some allure to dancing with vacuum cleaners, you did seem to enjoy singing nursery rhymes too.’
She’d definitely rather look after George than dust and vacuum, but she’d promised her mother she’d find out what was troubling Aunt Katherine. Looking after a baby 24/7 could put a serious dent in the amount of time she could give to that.
‘Ms Hartley?’
‘Mr Coleman, I have a feeling that your idea of what being a nanny involves and my idea of the same are worlds apart.’
He blinked.
She nodded at the letter he held—the letter from his sister that he still hadn’t opened. ‘You don’t know how long George is here for. You don’t know what his mother’s wishes are and—’
‘How will our ideas about a nanny’s duties differ?’
She eyed him uncertainly. ‘I think you’ll expect me to be on duty twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in working those kinds of hours. That’s not the reason I came to Tesoura. I’m here to spend some time with my aunt. And in my free time I plan to lap up all of the tropical gorgeousness that I can.’ Until she returned home, and her real life started. A thrill rippled through her at the thought…along with a growing thread of fear. ‘The former is going to prove difficult and the latter impossible with a baby in tow.’
He tapped a finger against his lips. ‘Asking you to work those hours would be completely unreasonable.’ He said the words with such a deep regret that in other circumstances she might’ve laughed.
She didn’t laugh. She edged towards the door before she weakened and did what he wanted—became a full-time carer to that gorgeous bundle of baby.
‘Where are you going?’
His sharp tone pulled her to a halt. ‘To go and perform the duties you’re currently paying me for.’
‘You can’t leave me alone with the baby.’ Panic rippled across his face. ‘Please.’
That please caught at her, tugged on all of her sympathies and completely baffled her. ‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know a single thing about babies.’
George had been staring at them as if aware of the tension that had started to zing through the air, and he promptly burst into tears. She didn’t blame him. She swooped down and lifted him in her arms, patting his back as he snuffled against her neck. ‘Well, lesson number one is to not yell around them. It upsets them.’
Aunt Katherine came into the room with her brisk step. ‘Goodness, I thought I heard a baby. So the cot and pram that were just delivered weren’t mistakes, then?’
Jasper gave a curt shake of his head and gestured towards George. ‘Emily’s baby.’
Her aunt’s eyes widened. ‘Well, now, that’s a turn up for the books.’ She moved across and clasped one of George’s hands. ‘Hello, little man, it’s nice to meet you. I knew your mummy, back in the days before you were born.’ She glanced back at Jasper. ‘Poor little tyke looks tired. How long is he here for?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’
Imogen refrained from pointing out that if he read his sister’s letter, they might get an answer to that particular question.
Katherine pursed her lips. ‘Right.’
Imogen glanced from one to the other, trying to make their relationship out. Katherine had been on the island for the past two years. Before that she’d worked for the Coleman family for seventeen years. Were they friends? She bit her lip. Were they lovers? The question disturbed her, though she couldn’t have said why. At forty-nine Katherine was still young, and she was certainly attractive. While Jasper would be what—mid-thirties? It didn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.
Her aunt was keeping secrets. Every instinct Imogen had told her that. Was Jasper one of those secrets?
If he were either a friend or a lover, though, he’d have given Katherine the week’s leave she’d requested at Christmastime.
Her aunt’s laughter hurtled her back. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Jasper, because the answer is a big fat no. If I’d wanted to look after a baby, I’d have had one of my own.’
That made Imogen smile. Katherine didn’t have a maternal bone in her body.
‘But—’
‘No buts,’ Katherine said without ceremony. She glanced at Imogen and then Jasper again, and her eyes started to gleam. ‘I’ll let you continue your negotiations with Imogen, shall I?’
‘What negotiations?’ he grumbled. ‘She’s as hard-headed as you.’
Imogen surveyed her perplexing boss. For someone who’d been shocked into white-faced silence at the arrival of the baby, he seemed to have taken it into his stride now, seemed almost…resigned. Why—if he didn’t want the baby here—wasn’t he making arrangements to send the child back?
Katherine turned and patted Imogen’s arm. In a low voice she said, ‘Get him to help with the baby,’ before disappearing into the kitchen.
If she did what her aunt asked, would Katherine stop avoiding her and tell her what was wrong?
‘What did your aunt just say to you?’
She did her best to smooth out her face. ‘Only that lunch is ready.’
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t call her on the lie. She pulled in a breath. ‘Mr Coleman, I think between the three of us we can work something out.’
He widened his stance. ‘You heard your aunt—she’ll have nothing to do with him.’
‘She won’t change dirty nappies or bathe George. But she’ll give him a bottle and be happy to keep an eye on him when he’s napping.’
‘There’s one other thing you need to take into consideration, Ms Hartley, and that’s the fact that I’m not looking after that baby.’
‘Mr Coleman,’ she said very gently, ‘that’s not my problem. It’s yours.’
He knew he was being unreasonable—not to mention irrational—but he could barely check the panic coursing through him. It’d smashed through the walls he’d put up to contain it, and while part of him knew the panic was illogical, another part understood all too clearly that he had every reason to fear the consequences of his nephew’s visit.
Aaron wanted revenge, and Jasper didn’t doubt that his brother-in-law would use George as a weapon—to hurt him or extort money from him. That was the best-case scenario he could come up with—that Aaron wanted money. And Jasper would give money—a lot of money—to keep this child safe.
But he’d learned to not rely on best-case scenarios. With his luck in another day or two police would show up and arrest him for allegedly kidnapping the