Read the book: «Twelfth Night Proposal»

Chapter One

“Montgomery here,” Leo said as he flipped open his silver cell phone and stepped away from the boat trailer into the hot December sun.

“This is Verity. Heather’s nanny.”

The fact that he had to be reminded of her job position spoke of how little he’d paid attention to the new nanny. Maybe that was because he expected her to come and go as the rest had. Maybe it was because of her glasses, tied-back hair and oversize T-shirts. For almost a month she’d moved around like a ghost in his house, seemingly quite capable, as Jolene had predicted she would be, yet definitely always in the background.

Now he was on the alert because this call most probably concerned his daughter. “Verity, what is it?”

“It’s Heather. I didn’t want to bother you, but I thought you should know that she fell against the coffee table in the great room and cut her forehead.”

Leo’s heart pounded and he felt panic grip him. “Is she all right? Did you take her to the emergency room?”

“I applied pressure and used a butterfly bandage, but you might want to have her checked. Just tell me what you’d like me to do.”

Merely three, with her light-brown, wavy hair and her blue, blue eyes, all Heather had to do was look at him and his heart melted. The thought of her hurt—

“I’ll be right there. Fifteen minutes tops. Is she crying? Is she upset?”

Verity’s voice was helpfully patient. “She’s sitting in my lap, sucking her thumb with her head on my shoulder.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I tell my foreman where I’m going. Keep her calm and call me if you see any change.”

“Yes, Mr. Montgomery.”

Leo headed for the production plant.

Fifteen minutes later he arrived at his house in a select section of Avon Lake, Texas, where the houses in his development were quietly luxurious. His ranch house sat back from the curb with a curved drive leading to it. He left the car in the driveway and hurried to the front door.

Usually when he came home, he was filled with the same sense of well-being he felt at the boatyard. Today dread clouded his thoughts as it had when he’d learned about Carolyn’s brain tumor. What if Heather had seriously injured herself? What if she had a concussion?

His boots sounded on the ceramic tile floor in the entrance foyer as he headed straight ahead for the great room. The fireplace, cathedral ceiling and skylights made it his favorite room in the house. He barely noticed any of that now as he hurried to the denim sofa where Verity was seated with Heather. His daughter was dressed in red overalls with a little white sweater underneath. Her cheeks were pink and tear-stained, and her eyes were wide, as she kept her head on Verity’s shoulder and stared up at him.

“Hello, baby,” he said as he went to take her into his arms. To his surprise she hung on to Verity.

Verity whispered to her, “Go with Daddy.”

But Heather shook her head, held on even tighter and mumbled around her thumb, “I wanna stay wif you.”

Leo felt a stab to his heart.

With understanding eyes, Verity looked up at him, and Leo saw her, really saw her, for the first time since she’d been hired. There was a quiet equanimity about her that had calmed him from the first moment he’d met her. She was young—twenty-two. Her major in college had been early childhood education, and in the short time she’d been with him, she handled Heather as if she knew exactly what she was doing. He had a feeling that had more to do with natural ability than any schooling. Her blue wire-rim glasses had always distracted him from looking at her eyes before now. They were a beautiful brown, the color of teak. Her hair, tied back in a low ponytail, looked silky and soft. Her face was a classic oval, and her nose turned up just a bit at the tip. Although here on the Gulf most residents were suntanned, he noticed Verity’s skin was creamy white.

“She’s still upset,” Verity said.

“Instead of the E.R., we’ll take her to the pediatrician. I called him on the drive here. He said to bring her right in.”

With utmost gentleness, Verity stroked Heather’s hair. “Do you want me to go along?”

“I don’t think I can pry her away from you,” he responded wryly, realizing how that bothered him. Apparently, Heather had connected with this nanny. He was grateful for that, yet—

“Let’s go,” he directed gruffly, and would have turned to leave, but then he realized he’d been doing everything in a hurry lately. He’d also been working long hours. How many nights had he put Heather to bed since Verity had arrived and started caring for her?

Apparently not enough.

“Let’s go with Daddy,” Verity murmured to the little girl.

Leo looked at Verity again and found himself thinking how pretty she was, even though she was sloppily dressed. He found himself liking the sound of her voice. He found himself…getting stirred up in a way a man shouldn’t around a nanny.

Their gazes connected and, in a flash, he saw the same man-woman awareness in her eyes that he was feeling. Then she glanced away, and he was glad. He certainly didn’t want to delve further into that.

In his SUV, driving toward the doctor’s office, an awkward silence surrounded them.

Leo headed north on Lonestar Way, Avon Lake’s main thoroughfare, leading toward the college side of town. The college housed about 10,000 students, and the town itself had a growing population of more than 7,000 now. But Leo knew Avon Lake would always keep that small-town flavor. At least, he hoped it would.

Heather’s pediatrician was located in one of the old houses near the college. Leo knew Verity took a course at the campus once a week, though he didn’t know much else about her, except what she’d given on her résumé. She’d attended college at the University of Texas and had been born and bred in Galveston.

Maybe because of his reaction to her for those few moments, maybe because her silence made him wonder what she was thinking, he asked her, “What course are you taking this semester?”

As she shifted in her seat, he felt her gaze fall upon him. “I’m not taking a class officially. When I accepted the position with you in November, I was too late to register for the term. But I’m auditing a class on children’s play techniques.”

“You’re working on your master’s?”

“Yes, I hope to. I have an advisor now. I’ll be meeting with him soon to choose courses for next term.”

“It’s hard to believe Christmas is less than a month away. Did you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving?”

They hadn’t talked since then, and Leo didn’t even know where she’d gone. She’d left early in the morning and come back late that evening after he and Heather had returned from dinner at Jolene’s.

Quiet for a few moments, Verity finally answered, “It was fine.”

Casting a sideways glance at her, his interest was piqued, maybe because of everything she wasn’t saying. “Did you spend it with family?”

“No. I went to Freeport for the day.”

“And met friends?”

Again, that little silence, and then she shook her head. “No, I had dinner, then I drove to the beach for a while.”

Now he was even more intrigued. Didn’t she have family? Why would she spend the holiday alone? If he asked those questions, he’d become more involved than he wanted to be.

Heather suddenly called from the back in her superfast baby voice. “Vewitee. Vewitee. I wanna feed duckee and go for ice cweam.”

Verity gave her full attention to Heather as she turned. “Not today, honey. We have to go to the doctor’s so he can look at your head.”

“No doctor. I wanna feed duckees.”

Peering into the rearview mirror to see his daughter, Leo caught sight of her lower lip pouting out. He hated to see her cry. “What if we go feed the ducks after the doctor looks at your head?”

After thinking about that for a few moments, she returned, “Ice cweam, too?”

“It’s going to be close to supper. Maybe we could stop at the Wagon Wheel and get that chicken you like so much. They have ice cream for dessert.”

“Chicken and ice cweam!” Heather said gleefully.

Verity laughed, a pure, free sound that entranced Leo, as she commented, “Ducks, chicken and ice cream all in one day. She’s going to hold you to every one of those.”

“Like an elephant never forgets?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Something like that. I can’t believe how her vocabulary is growing, just in the few weeks I’ve been here. Each day she’s becoming more coordinated, too. I’ve seen it before, of course, with the children I’ve worked with, but just caring for one child, and seeing her change almost daily, is absolutely amazing.”

“I know Jolene probably mentioned it, but I don’t remember how you heard about the position with me,” he prompted.

“I have a friend in the career counseling office at UT. She knew I was looking for a change, called me and told me about it.”

“A change from what you were doing or where you were living?”

“Both.”

That concise word was the end of the conversation unless Leo wanted to pursue it. He didn’t.

Sitting beside Verity, smelling the floral scent of her shampoo or lotion, very much liking the sound of her laughter, he felt as if he were awakening from a long sleep. It was disconcerting. He’d gotten used to his life, and although Jolene often told him he was in a rut, ruts were damned comfortable.

Activities in the town of Avon Lake often revolved around the small lake. After Leo unfastened Heather from her car seat and lifted her to the ground, she took Verity’s hand and ran toward the black and gray ducks on the grassy shoreline.

In a few quick strides, Leo caught up to them, the bag of crackers he’d bought at a convenience store in his hand. “Wait a minute. You forgot something. You can’t feed them if you don’t have the food.”

When Heather stopped short, let go of Verity’s hand and ran back to him, he crouched down. “Do you want me to open the bag or do you want to try it?”

“Me try.”

He handed it to her. But after jabs and pulls and a few squishes, she shook her head, curling tendrils along her cheek bobbing all over the place. “Can’t do it. You open, please.”

Leo knew his daughter’s face was as close to an angel’s as he’d ever see. Taking the bag between his two large hands, he pulled and a corner popped open. “There you go. Break up each one so they have lots of little pieces.”

After Heather nodded vigorously, she took the bag and ran for the lake.

“Wait,” he and Verity called at the same time and ran after her.

As he caught one of Heather’s hands, Verity held her elbow. “Don’t spill the crackers,” she warned with a smile.

The sun’s brilliance was fading into long shadows, though the air was warm and the day was still above 70. Standing by a tall pecan tree, Leo watched Verity as she and Heather sat on the grass and two ducks waddled closer. Heather crushed a cracker in her hand and opened her little fingers, waving her arm in the air. The crumbs blew this way and that. One of the ducks quacked and ran after a piece and she laughed like only a three-year-old could.

The doctor’s exam had gone smoothly and quickly, mostly thanks to Verity. She seemed to be able to read his daughter’s mind…seemed to know what to say to coax her into acquiescence. He didn’t have that knack. He was learning negotiation was the highest skill a parent could master.

As he watched his daughter, he felt removed and didn’t like it. After taking a few steps closer, he sat with Verity and Heather.

Heather offered him the bag. “You feed duckees, too.”

How long had it been since he’d taken time to do just that? Taking one of the crackers from the bag, he broke it into a few pieces and tossed them so Heather could watch the ducks waddle after them.

“I should bring her here more often,” he decided reflectively.

“You could use it as a treat so it doesn’t become old hat.”

Staring into Verity’s brown eyes, feeling that stirring again, he said, “You’re very good with her.”

“Thank you. I’ve been waiting for some kind of sign from you—” She stopped and looked embarrassed.

“Sign?”

“Yes. To know if I’m doing a good job…to know if I’m doing what you want me to do with Heather. She’s a wonderful little girl and I love being with her. But you’re her parent, and I want to make sure she’s learning what you want her to learn.”

What he wanted her to learn.

He knew Verity wasn’t talking about colors and numbers. “Jolene hired you and gave you a seal of approval, so I guess I thought that was enough. As she probably told you, I’ve tried nannies before. After two days, I know whether they’re going to last or not…whether they fit with Heather or not. I fired one because she just wanted to watch TV and read all day and left Heather on her own. Another quit because she said she didn’t have enough free time. You might decide that’s true for you, too.”

“I don’t need much free time.”

Curious, he asked, “Why not?”

“I’m new in town. I really don’t know anyone. So when I’m free, I study for the course I’m auditing, read or knit. I’m not very exciting,” she admitted, her cheeks pinkening a little.

The blush looked good on her. In fact, he was having trouble unlocking his gaze from hers. “You’ll have friends once you start taking more courses. That is, if you stay.”

“I’m exactly where I want to be right now,” she murmured softly, and he felt himself almost leaning toward her. He imagined she had slightly leaned toward him. The urge to reach out and run his thumb along her cheek was so strong he balled his hand into a fist. He didn’t know what was going on today, but he didn’t like it.

After he picked up the bag of crackers, he motioned to Heather. “Come on, let’s feed more ducks. Those over there didn’t get any yet.”

He was twelve years older than this young woman who’d begun to fascinate him. He’d never given a glance to younger women before. Not only was she younger, but he saw vulnerability and innocence in those eyes. He could be wrong, but he doubted it. No matter what her life story, it was safest for him to keep his distance.

That was exactly what he was going to do.

Each stroke of Verity Sumpter’s hairbrush through her hair was meant to be monotonous and soothing, but it wasn’t. All too easily she could imagine Mr. Montgomery’s hands stroking her hair. The thoughts were making her hot, bothered and agitated. From the moment she’d set eyes on Leo Montgomery her heart had tripped a little. If she had to admit it, her heart had tripped a lot. Today was the first he’d noticed her…really noticed her.

He’d probably have noticed her from day one if she’d applied makeup, highlighted her hair, spent the time on spiral curls and dolled herself up, as the casting agent had for that commercial she’d made.

That commercial.

Her twin brother, Sean, had encouraged her to do it and teased her saying, maybe if she did, she’d forget her tomboy days forever. Dear Sean.

When tears came to her eyes, she let them well up this time as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. He’d been gone for eleven months now, and the missing still overwhelmed her sometimes. She and Sean had been as close as any twins could have been. They’d shared secrets and jokes and sports and even attended the same college. He’d screened her dates and she’d always looked over the girls he’d brought home.

When a casting agent had approached her in the library on campus, he’d explained he was looking for college girls to make a series of commercials for a new soda—the company was targeting the college crowd. Verity hadn’t given much thought to the idea until Sean had heard about it. He’d teased, cajoled and coaxed, insisting the experience would be good for her.

Her straight-as-a-ruler hair had become a mass of curls. She’d traded her glasses for contact lenses, and makeup had made her eyes look huge and her lips much fuller. No one knew if the commercial would ever make it to the TV screen, and she hadn’t heard anything from the company other than receiving her payment for the hours she’d worked as a model.

After the shoot, Verity had decided curling her hair for an hour or more, applying makeup and dressing up was all simply too much trouble. The red highlights washed out of her hair, and eventually the curls straightened into looser waves and were caught up in a practical ponytail once more. When one of the soft contact lenses had torn, she’d gone back to using her glasses.

Then, last January, Sean had the skiing accident. When he’d died, her life had fallen apart. She’d gone through the motions to earn her diploma—

Noise in the hall startled Verity. Her bedroom, sitting area and bathroom were located at the opposite end of the house from the master suite and Heather’s bedroom, along with another guest bedroom. Mr. Montgomery took over Heather’s care on the rare nights he was home and, after he’d put Heather to bed, she usually didn’t hear another sound.

Now, however, she heard little feet slapping on the hardwood floor, Leo’s deep baritone calling, “Heather, you come back here,” and the little girl’s giggles as she came closer to Verity’s door.

Verity had crossed into the sitting area when the door burst open and Heather ran through the room, naked, the ends of her hair wet, soapsuds still on her shoulders. The bump on her head hadn’t slowed her down one iota.

Halfway across Verity’s sitting room, Leo stopped. “I shouldn’t have come in here without knocking.”

Verity laughed. “I think Heather took care of announcing you.”

Leo shook his head. “I’ll collect her if she doesn’t squiggle out of my arms again. She is so slippery when she’s wet—”

“And she hates to stand still while you dry her off. I know.”

Her gaze collided with his, and there was that shakingly, fascinating awareness again.

Breaking eye contact, he said, “Since I consider your room to be off-limits to me, do you want me to get her or do you want to do it?”

“I don’t mind if you do,” Verity murmured as she continued to stare at him. Leo was still wearing the black polo shirt and khakis he’d had on that afternoon. He was tanned, and his arm muscles were obvious under the shirtsleeves. His stomach was flat and she suspected hard. His hips were slim.

When he turned, she chastised herself for liking every bit of his backside, too. She couldn’t be attracted to her employer. Besides the fact that she was tired of men letting her down, she was much younger than Leo Montgomery. She’d seen the picture of Heather’s mother in the little girl’s room. Carolyn Montgomery had looked poised with her perfect makeup and blond pageboy. She was absolutely beautiful. Verity imagined any woman would have trouble living up to that. Jolene Connehy, Mr. Montgomery’s sister, had told her honestly that he wasn’t over his wife’s death, even though it had been two years. Verity could understand that. She knew she’d never get over losing Sean.

Leo stepped into Verity’s bedroom, and the very fact that he was so near her double bed disconcerted her. Maybe because ever since this afternoon pictures had been swimming in her head—pictures of Leo kissing her, pictures of her kissing him back.

His gaze had gone to the bed, too, with its white chenille spread, its maple bookcase headboard, where she’d lined up some of her favorite reads. But her mind wasn’t on her books as she said in almost a whisper, “She likes to play hide-and-seek under the bed.”

With a shake of his head, as if he couldn’t believe he was doing this, he got down on his knees and lifted the edge of the spread. His voice was filled with affectionate frustration as he called, “Hey, you. You’ve got to get out from under there and put on some pajamas.”

“I don’t wanna go nighty-night. Wanna play with Vewitee.”

Without hesitation Verity got down on the floor beside Leo. Her shoulder brushed his as she peered under the bed at her little charge. The touch of her shirt against his sent a jolt of adrenaline rushing through her. “If you come out and put on your pj’s, I’ll read you a story.”

“That’s bribery,” Leo murmured very close to her ear, his breath warm on her cheek. Verity shivered.

“Would you rather kneel here and cajole for the next half hour?” she asked him, half joking, half serious.

“I’m too big to fit under the bed, and cajoling isn’t my style.”

“That leaves bribery,” she decided, unable to suppress a grin.

His face was so very close to hers as they focused on Heather. When he turned his head to her, mere inches separated their lips. Leo’s scent was pure male, and his light-brown hair fell over his brow in a rakish way. But it was the gleam of raw hunger in his eyes that kept her immobilized.

Suddenly he cleared his throat, bent lower, and extended his arm under the bed. “Come on, you little hooligan. Verity will read you a story. But don’t think this is going to happen again. Next time I won’t let you out of the bathroom until you have your pj’s on.”

Quickly recovering from whatever had overcome her when she’d been so close to Leo, Verity teased, “You really shouldn’t tell her your strategy.”

“Good advice,” he admitted as Heather started wriggling toward them from under the bed.

“I’ll go get her pajamas. Try to keep her from hiding anyplace else until I get back.”

Verity laughed. “She likes me to brush her hair. I’ll do that.”

Less than five minutes later, Leo had returned with Heather’s pajamas and Verity had helped him get her into them. She watched him as he fastened two small buttons at the three-year-old’s neck, and his fingers fumbled with them. He was such a big man, but he was gentle with his daughter.