Page 15 of One Night With The Nanny

“Stop it,” Reid ordered, pointing severely. “We want her to assume that, but it’s not. I’m going to tell her we’re friends because that’s…close enough to the truth. And I do find Max to be a very likable person.”

Gavin hummed and murmured “Likable, indeed,” then flipped a page.

Reid ignored him and smiled at Dash. “I’m just there to have dinner with a friend and to allow his daughter to peek and poke, thus allowing me to get to know her and see what’s going on at home.”

“Perfect,” Dash said as his gaze grew distant. “You’ll have this figured out in no time and then you and Max can invite us to his chalet for a big family ski trip!”

“Stop it.” Reid opened his laptop and a spreadsheet so he had something to stare at. “I am not interested in Max like that,” he stated slowly and clearly. “I’m only helping him because I believe that he loves his daughters and will do whatever it takes to fix their relationship.”

“Certainly,” Gavin replied in his serious rumble. “And what were you helping him fix on Saturday night?” he asked, with an innocent lift of his brows.

Reid sniffed indignantly, refusing to take the bait. “Half the city knows you two already had sex this morning, but don’t you have something better to do?”

“Not really,” Dash said while Gavin mimicked Reid behind his paper.

The Max from the Baccarat no longer existed. He was an entirely different person and it was necessary for Reid to view the Max who had arrived after brunch on Sunday at almost precisely 12:00 p.m. with fresh eyes and for them to make a fresh start from that moment. Max might have used his real name, but they were both different men on Saturday night.

There was just one problem: the new Max was even hotter than the previous Max from their fling at the Baccarat.

He had the same relaxed, prowling grace and flawless manners but the new Max was even sexier. He was considerate and vulnerable and while he was clearly accustomed to privilege, Max understood that there was nothing dignified about treating others like they were beneath him.

Reid had texted Agnes—he was not talking to her for at least the rest of the week—to get as much background information as possible on Max, his daughters, and his relationship with their mother. He wasn’t at all surprised to learn that Max’s upbringing in Austria and England was very strict and formal. But according to Agnes, Max had always been a gentle and overly patient man with his ex-wife and daughters. She believed that that was the root of Max’s problem with his daughters and Reid had a feeling she was onto something.

She had explained that Max preferred to be referred to as Mr. von Hessen and had passed on most of the privileges and responsibilities as Margrave to his cousin and heir, Leo, after the divorce, moving to New York full-time with his daughters. He was a lot like Walker, in that Max was very good at managing money and investing, and was a wealthy man without the title and the attached estate. Max still attended important events alongside his cousin or in Leo’s place when needed, but Agnes said his girls had always been his priority.

Agnes also confided that the oldest, Sophia, had been unhappy long before her mother had left. Ella von Hessen’s antics had always alienated their daughters, but particularly Sophia.

Apparently, Max’s ex-wife had been a handful at the best of times and aspired to have her own reality series or to be courted for one of the Real Housewives shows. She had flaunted her title, young boyfriends, and wild lifestyle all over social media after the divorce. Ella quickly gained a dubious reputation and the gossip and mockery had been brutal so Sophia had taken refuge in exclusive boarding schools.

Thankfully, Ella calmed down by the time Mia had started junior high but Max’s youngest seemed to resent him for reasons that mystified Agnes. She shared that Max and Mia had often stayed with Agnes at her “cottage” in Sagaponack and that he was a doting father. Mia was intelligent and outgoing, albeit slightly spoiled because she had such a doting father, but had pulled away from him as she became a teenager.

Deciding a parent is your adversary is extremely typical teenage behavior and what Reid would expect from a child in Mia’s situation. With only one parent in the home to test and push back against, it wouldn’t take much to create tension and nearly anything could be tinder for an argument with even the smallest spark.

Reid was keen to meet Mia and get a sense of what was causing the tension between them because as far as he could tell, Max would bend over backwards to please her. That didn’t mean that Max wasn’t a different person at home or with his daughters, but Reid was pretty good at judging when something was off in a home and when he was talking to a child. And he knew when a parent was putting on an act for company.

He had warned Max that he had seen everything over the years and that he wasn’t going to be distracted or intimidated by a fancy title or money. Reid wouldn’t sugarcoat the truth if Max was the problem and needed to take his ass straight to therapy and give his daughters their space. And Reid wasn’t going to waste his valuable time fixing Max if it turned out he was secretly a broken, abusive jerk at home.

That’s what therapists were for and Reid’s degrees were in childhood education, not psychology, because he didn’t want to be just like his parents. Plus, all the psychology professors Reid had met grew wary and standoffish whenever they discovered that he was related to those Marshalls. He always suspected that it affected the way his tests and papers were graded and it was awkward when one of the questions was about one of his parents’ books or cited their research.

Most people weren’t experts on their parents or had memorized all their work, because that would be strange unless your father was someone like Ian Fleming, so Reid had swerved and gone with his other passion: educating children. His psychology pedigree had come in handy when he was building the Marshall Agency but rehabilitating rich assholes wasn’t one of the services he provided.

“I don’t think he heard me,” Dash said loudly and waved a hand in front of Reid’s face.

Reid swatted it away. “I’m doing everything I can not to.” He gave the trackpad a few swipes to suggest he was reading.

“Penny said that Agnes thinks you’re perfect for each other. You’re bossy and Max likes being told what to do.”

“What?” Reid asked flatly. He wasn’t sure what Dash was getting at, but he didn’t want Agnes putting those ideas in his head.

Dash had an apple and rubbed it on the sleeve of his hoodie before taking a large bite and chewing. “She helps Max when he has to plan things like dinner parties and galas or decorate a new office or if he needs a date to something important. She said you have excellent taste and that Max likes being managed.”

“I’m not bossy.” Reid ignored Gavin’s snicker. “I do have excellent taste but I don’t know why she’d assume I would be interested in any of that. Or have the time,” he added, earning a puzzled frown from Dash.

“Haven’t you two planned a few weddings together? And weren’t you the one who told Agnes it would be okay to give June her own library for a bedroom, but to make it extra soft and dreamy like a cloud so it wasn’t intimidating or overwhelming like a real library?”

“A walk,” Reid said, turning in his seat and smiling sweetly at Gavin. “When was the last time the two of you went for a walk? Get some coffee and take Dash to the park,” he suggested and Gavin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Are you absolutely sure you don’t have time or need a man to manage? Because you seem bored lately, and like you might have a little too much time on your hands these days.”

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