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  She waited a few seconds by the closed door to Theo’s room, then tapped gently. ‘The children want you to tuck them in,’ she said softly.

  There was no reply, but in a few moments he emerged, giving her a brief smile. ‘I’m finished for today. I’ll be down in ten,’ he said.

  In the kitchen, Lily looked around her thoughtfully. Was she expected to eat with Theo? Or should she just lay a place for him and then make herself scarce? She’d earlier made her own quick-recipe fish pie for the children, and a separate one for their father. It only needed to be heated through, and served with some green vegetables taken from the freezer. Deciding to err on the side of caution, she laid a single place, with a wine glass alongside—she’d noticed an opened bottle of white in the fridge, so Theo probably had some with his evening meal.

  She was just putting the steaming vegetables into a dish when he came into the kitchen. He glanced across at the table, then stared down at her for a second.

  ‘Aren’t you staying? D’you have to go now?’ he asked abruptly, and the way he said it, with his expressive eyebrows lifted just slightly, reminded Lily of the way Alex had looked at her countless times that day.

  She hesitated before answering him. ‘I wasn’t sure whether…’ she began uncertainly, and he came right over to stand beside her, his perceptive mind knowing exactly where she was coming from.

  ‘Lily,’ he said patiently, ‘you are already stepping into a massive breach for me in taking on my children—temporarily, of course—not to mention letting Bea off the hook in here…I want you to consider this your home. In so far as you feel able.’ He paused. ‘Please have your evening meal with me,’ he said. ‘I’d like you to…unless you’ve got other plans?’ he added quickly.

  Lily smiled up at him, grateful that the point had been cleared up and she knew where she stood. ‘I’d be happy to, Theo,’ she said. ‘I…I did make enough for two,’ she added shyly.

  Before she could do it, he had set another place at the table, and before she knew it they were sitting opposite each other, enjoying the fish pie.

  ‘This tastes wonderful,’ he said. He raised the bottle of wine and glanced at her. ‘Will you join me?’ he asked. She shook her head.

  ‘I usually only drink water, and I have to drive home, remember?’

  He nodded at that, but said no more, remembering her comment about not drinking alcohol often when they were in Rome. He grimaced inwardly as he remembered one of the nannies he’d employed emptying the gin bottle which she’d discovered in his drinks cabinet. He glanced at Lily covertly as she finished her meal. He liked this woman, he thought. He liked everything about her. He liked her appearance—well, she had a figure that any discerning male would approve of—she was beautiful, well turned-out, and, although she had a reasonably confident manner, there was an underlying vulnerability about her that he found attractive. He was almost thinking desirable—but stopped himself just in time. Desire had nothing to do with it—with anything.

  They cleared up together, then Theo put coffee on to percolate.

  ‘I really will have to go soon,’ Lily said. ‘But I’ll be back by nine in the morning.’

  He smiled without looking at her. ‘Go and sit down in the other room,’ he said. ‘I’ll bring this through in a few minutes.’

  Now Lily was beginning to feel tired—and warm and relaxed after the food, which had proved to be even more delicious than usual. She sat down thankfully on one of the sofas, resting her head back. For a first day it had all gone pretty well, she thought sleepily. There had not been one cross word from the children, and she’d only teasingly had to tell the boys that she was ‘counting up to three or else’ to get them out of the paddling pool. And Freya—Freya was a sweet child who loved fairy stories. And she had shown such a touching affection for Lily that it made her want to put her arms around the child and hug her. But she wasn’t going to do that. Didn’t want to get into too close a relationship with any of them. Because it wasn’t going to last. By Christmas they’d have forgotten what she looked like.

  A call on his mobile had kept Theo in the kitchen for a while, and when he went into the sitting room he saw that Lily was fast asleep, her head drooping gently onto one shoulder, her long eyelashes lying restfully on her cheeks, her hands clasped loosely in her lap. Silently he put the tray down and stood watching her for a few moments. His instinct was to try and make her more comfortable, to put a cushion under her head. But he didn’t touch her. Didn’t want to disturb her. The poor girl was worn out, he thought. Let her sleep for as long as she wanted to—he’d order a taxi to take her home if it got too late for her to drive herself.

  And in the vivid images of early sleep Lily didn’t see the children she’d been minding all day. All she saw were the strong, enigmatic features of Theodore Montague as he stared down at her in that rather special way he had. But he was standing at a safe distance away from her, so that it was only his dark, mesmeric eyes that could touch her. Lily shifted just slightly in her sleep, wishing that he would come nearer, just for a second, so that she could lace her fingers with his…

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BY THE time ten days had passed, Lily felt as if she’d been living with the family all her life. She had quickly established a routine that seemed to suit everyone, and was quite glad to be told that a cleaning person came in three times a week to sort out the laundry, dusting and polishing. For everything else, Theo seemed only too pleased to leave it all to Lily. Anyway, by her third day, he was leaving for work as soon as she arrived at nine, was seldom home again before seven—sometimes later. But Lily made sure that there was always a nutritious meal waiting—which she made a point of having with him, as he’d asked her to on that first day.

  One evening after supper, as they were clearing up their dishes, Lily said, ‘Would it be OK, Theo, for me to drive the children to the moors tomorrow? This lovely weather isn’t going to last—so the forecast says—and we’d like to go for a picnic.’ She shot him a quick glance, wondering whether he thought she might not be safe behind the wheel—or whether her car was reliable.

  ‘Why not?’ he said briefly. ‘They’ll love that—and there’s nothing like eating food in the open air.’

  ‘It’s just…I mean…my vehicle is hardly the sort they’re used to being driven in,’ she went on, spreading a teatowel to dry in front of the still-warm oven.

  He raised an eyebrow, feeling that he knew Lily well enough by now to be reassured that his children were in safe hands, whether in a car or not.

  ‘Oh, that won’t matter to them,’ he said easily. ‘Go and have a great time.’ He paused. ‘They’ll need booster seats, though.’

  ‘Yes. I’ve got two—which I used when I was looking after Bella and Rosie,’ Lily said. ‘But I’ll need a third one.’

  ‘I’ll make sure I take it out of my car in the morning,’ he said, following her into the sitting room.

  It had become the norm for Lily to stay for a while after supper—just long enough for her to recount the day’s happenings. Theo always wanted to hear what had gone on, and she couldn’t help observing that Freya was the one most on his mind. He wanted to know how Freya had acted, how Freya had behaved, whether Freya had enjoyed herself. Lily was always quick to defend the little girl, to reassure Theo that the child was perfectly amenable, and in fact was surprisingly mature for her age.

  ‘She loves to help with the boys—and with everything else,’ Lily had said, more than once, and Theo had nodded, clearly perplexed at the barrier his daughter seemed to have erected between them.

  Now, they sat for a while in silence, and then Theo got up and went across to the window. He turned to glance across at Lily. ‘I need to ask another favour, Lily—’ he began.

  ‘Ask away. I like doing favours,’ she said quickly. She realised, happily, just what a comfortable relationship had developed between herself and her employer. She no longer felt that she had to watch what she said all the time, or to treat him w
ith undue deference. It seemed to her now like a kind of friendship…unhassled and undemanding.

  ‘I have to be away for three nights for a conference. Would you mind staying over?’ He paused. ‘I would normally ask Bea to step in, but I spoke to her this morning, and she was telling me that Joe is due to have a series of tests this week at the hospital…’

  ‘Of course I’ll stay,’ Lily said quickly—privately thinking that not going home each night would be much more convenient anyway.’ She smiled. ‘It’s obviously not going to be another trip to Rome?’

  ‘Sadly not. The north of England this time,’ he said, looking at her thoughtfully for a moment. The memory of that short stay in Italy had remained with him for a surprisingly long time—and he knew why. This woman was the reason. He still couldn’t believe his good luck in finding her. She was the perfect solution to his nanny problem, and she’d come—literally—out of the blue. If he had the guts he’d try and persuade her to stay…to prolong her contract for at least six months or a year. But he knew he couldn’t be that selfish. Lily was searching for something far deeper than a job to get by on. She was searching for her future—trying to unwrap some deep-seated ambition, find something that would give her fulfilment. His expression darkened. He liked Lily enough to hope, to really hope, that she’d find what she was looking for.

  ‘That’s great,’ he said, coming back to sit down on the sofa opposite her. ‘I leave on Friday and I’ll be home Monday.’ He leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling for a second. ‘And the other thing which I completely forgot to mention was our holiday plans.’ He glanced across at Lily. ‘I’ve booked a couple of weeks at a hotel on the south coast—we’ve been there before, and it’s very child-friendly and supremely comfortable.’ He paused. ‘I feel it’s time you were spoiled for a change—you’re spoiling us all the time. I don’t want to wear you out!’

  She looked across at him blankly. ‘You mean…you want me to come as well?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course!’ he exclaimed. ‘I don’t know what the children would say if we left you behind. But only if you want to come, Lily. Maybe you’d rather be back home at your place—do your own thing and catch up on your own life for a bit?’

  Would she rather be back at her place? Not in a million years! She smiled across at him. ‘What girl in her right mind would turn down the chance to have a holiday by the seaside?’ she said. She bit her lip, already feeling excited at the prospect. ‘It’ll be a lovely…treat,’ she added, not caring if she sounded too willing to fall in with his wishes all the time. The fact was she loved agreeing with everything he wanted. She was living in his beautiful home, looking after his super children—and now she was going to be taken away on holiday for two whole weeks! And being paid to do it! Someone pinch me, she thought. I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming…

  The following day, after she’d got the children ready and put the booster seats in the car, they began to put the picnic together. Lily filled some small rolls with ham and cheese, and put Freya in charge of sorting out the orange squash they’d decided to take with them, while the boys were busy choosing crisps and snacks, and putting apples and bananas into one of the baskets.

  ‘Can we take chocolate biscuits as well, Lily?’ Alex asked, already opening the large tin which held all their special favourites.

  She turned to glance down at him. ‘I’m afraid they might melt in this heat, Alex,’ she said. ‘My car doesn’t have air-conditioning, like Daddy’s does.’

  ‘We don’t care about that,’ Freya said, screwing the top firmly onto one of the bottles. ‘We can have the windows open, can’t we, Lily? And anyway,’ she added, ‘we can take some sweets instead, and have the chocolate biscuits when we come home.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ Lily said, looking down at the three little heads, intent on their individual tasks. Looking after them wasn’t work, she thought, admitting that she’d not felt this happy in years.

  Presently, they set off for the moors, with the children sitting comfortably on the back seat. ‘I like this car,’ Freya announced. ‘I like it much better than Daddy’s.’

  Lily glanced at them in the rearview mirror. ‘One quick question,’ she said mildly. ‘Does anyone suffer from car-sickness?’ That was something which hadn’t crossed her mind—she hoped the answer would be in the negative! The small pouch of wipes she’d brought wouldn’t much help in a major crisis.

  ‘Tom-Tom does—’ Alex said cheerfully.

  ‘Not all the time,’ Freya cut in. ‘Only when we’ve been a long time in Daddy’s car.’ She paused. ‘Mummy used to say that it was a bit too comfortable.’

  ‘Well, that’s OK, then. It’s not likely to happen in my car,’ Lily said firmly. ‘Mine doesn’t have posh springing, and you can hardly call it too comfortable, can you?’

  ‘I like it when you jerk us about,’ Tom-Tom said, as the car hit a particularly bumpy bit of the road. ‘It’s fun.’

  Lily knew exactly where she was taking them, because it was a favourite spot she’d found as soon as she’d started living in the area. She pulled off the road and drove slowly along a little track to where she knew she could park, and the children could play safely.

  ‘Here we are. Go and explore,’ Lily said, and they all jumped out of the car. Well, they’d arrived OK, she thought, with no one complaining of feeling sick, hot, tired or bored. Spreading some rugs out on the dry, soft turf, she sat down and leaned back on her elbows, watching them. Freya was already in charge of proceedings, she noted, organising a game of hide and seek among the low bushes, and Lily thought again what a grown-up child she was. She knew exactly how to handle her brothers, and they responded with no argument at all to everything she was saying.

  It was a fantastically hot day, but the heaviness Lily was starting to feel across her temples made her realise—with sickening apprehension—that the thundery storms which had been forecast would mean she’d probably have a migraine before the end of the day. But she was fine at the moment, she reassured herself, and if her normal pattern was anything to go by she’d be able to get through most of the day without any problem—especially if she swallowed a couple of her preventative pills now.

  Opening her holdall, she searched for the precious bottle among all the stuff she’d brought with her—and with a lurch of horror realised that it was still in her other bag. The bag which at the last minute she’d decided she wouldn’t need…There had been so many other things she’d been thinking about! But that she could have forgotten her tablets…that was a first!

  Zipping up the bag firmly, Lily pushed all thoughts of herself well into the background—she’d brought Theo’s family here to enjoy themselves, and she was not going to waste time worrying about a headache which she didn’t have—yet. Getting up, she called out, ‘Shall we play with the ball for a bit before we have lunch?’

  There was no reply, and frowning, she looked around her quickly, pulling back some branches to see where the children were hiding. Even though she knew that they were somewhere very close, a tremor of panic ran through her. She’d only taken her eyes off them for a minute or two…

  She called out—louder this time. ‘Freya—Alex—Tom-Tom…’

  Suddenly, from right behind her, they all flung themselves at her so that she almost fell over. Screaming with laughter Freya hugged Lily around the waist.

  ‘We were hiding from you, Lily!’ Alex said.

  ‘We made you jump!’ Tom-Tom added.

  ‘You did make me jump, you little horrors,’ she teased, breathing a sigh of relief. What if she’d lost Theo’s precious children on their first outing?

  Everyone decided that it was too hot to play ball—and also that they were all getting hungry. So they set out the picnic and began eating. Watching them demolish everything put in front of them, Lily thought, Theo was right. There was nothing like enjoying food in the open air. She wondered what he was doing at this precise moment, whether his day was going well, and her mind automatically fl
icked to thoughts of the supper she’d prepared for that evening. She’d slow-cooked some braising steak in a wine-enriched gravy…all it needed was a crusty lid of pastry on the top and some nice vegetables…The children would have theirs at six, and the rest would be cooked and served for Theo and her to enjoy later. Last night, at home, she’d made a large jar of creamy fudge sauce. She knew the children would enjoy with ice-cream…

  When they’d eaten nearly everything they’d brought with them, Alex said, ‘What are we going to do now, Lily? Can we go for a walk?’

  ‘After you’ve had a little rest,’ Lily said, starting to put everything back into the baskets. ‘I’ve brought some books for us to look at…’

  ‘Please, Lily—tell us a story,’ Freya said, and Lily groaned inwardly. By now she was definitely not feeling good. Her own lunch had consisted of half a roll, a cherry tomato, and almost a full bottle of water. The last thing she needed was to start inventing stories.

  ‘I will later, Freya,’ she said.

  Tidying everything up, she stacked their belongings into the boot of the car, then sat back down beside the children. Reaching for her holdall, she pulled out her make-up and glanced at her reflection in her mirror—and shuddered. All the tell-tale signs were there…Her face had taken on an ashen shade, and her eyes seemed huge, with dark circles underneath.

  As he watched her touch her nose and mouth with a tissue, Alex said suddenly, ‘I like your face, Lily. You’re pretty.’

  Lily couldn’t help smiling. That was the last thing she’d have called herself just at this moment!

  ‘Well, thank you for that, Alex,’ she said. ‘And I like your face. I like all your faces.’

  They watched her solemnly as she brushed the lightest touch of blusher on to her cheeks in an effort not to look as bad as she was feeling. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was only two-thirty. They couldn’t leave to go home just yet, she thought. She’d have to stick it out for another hour or so.