Page 40 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
“That’s because I thought her mom…couldn’t look after her. But maybe she can. She’s talking with Nicolas now, I’m sure he’ll explain to us when he’s ready.”
“Does this mean we have to leave?”
“I don’t know.”
“But I don’t want to leave!”
Daisy didn’t reply. She couldn’t. She didn’t have the words. How was she possibly supposed to tell her daughter that she couldn’t bear to leave, either? Not after what had happened between them. Not after they had spent the night together.
It was like the universe was playing some sort of cruel trick on her.
“Maybe she’s lying,” Thea said, her young voice full of hope, “maybe she’s only pretending to be Gracie’s mommy!Maybe she’s actually an imposter and she wants to steal all of Nicolas’s money. Like in Cinderella!”
“I’m not sure that’s quite how that movie went,” Daisy said, pulling Thea into her lap for a cuddle.
“Yeah, it is! Because the evil stepmother married Cinderella’s dad for his money, and then he died and Cinderella had to work for her, and maybe Francesca is the evil stepmother!” Thea’s little brow creased as she worked through her own logic. “But then that would mean Gracie is Cinderella, and she’s not Cinderella. You’re Cinderella!”
“I don’t think anyone is Cinderella.”
“No, it’s you,” replied Thea with a confidence only a little girl could have, “because you’ve got the same hair.”
Daisy couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips, even as her heart crumpled inside her chest. She hugged her squirming daughter even tighter against her, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall.
This was so stupid. Why was she so upset? It wasn’t like Nicolas was in love with Francesca. By all accounts, he had never been in love with Francesca. This woman had turned up out of the blue, and for all she knew, Nicolas would turn her out on her ear.
But somehow, deep down, Daisy knew that that wouldn’t happen. Women like Francesca, tall and gorgeous and ice cold, never acted without the complete certainty that their plan would succeed. Whatever she wanted, she was going to get it. And Daisy was willing to bet anything that she wanted Nicolas.
Why wouldn’t she? Why wouldn’t any woman?
And despite what Thea seemed to think, Gracie was Francesca’s biological daughter. Nicolas couldn’t deny that. Whowas Daisy to try and get in the way of a mother and her daughter? If anyone tried to take Thea from her, she would do anything to get her back. Anything at all.
Everything was about to change. She knew that with all the certainty of the incoming tide. And she could do nothing to stop it.
That was why her heart was breaking. She had gotten a taste of true happiness. True contentment. Just a tiny bite, but it was enough that she was hooked.
And now, one way or another, it would be taken from her.
After all, how could she hope to compete with a woman like Francesca?
Francesca was everything she wasn’t. Sophisticated. Elegant. Confident.
Beautiful.
Why would Nicolas choose her, when some shining silvery goddess had turned up on his doorstep? And the mother of his beloved daughter, no less.
For one brief, fleeting moment she considered confessing the truth to him. Telling him that Thea was his daughter. That she was mother to one of his children. Perhaps then she would have a fighting chance…
But no. The idea crumbled to ash in her mind as quickly as it had formed. She couldn’t tell him. Even if he believed her, there was every chance that his fury at her for lying to him would doom any chance of a relationship between them. Nicolas was a mercurial man at best, and she had experienced the sharp end of his derision first hand.
She wouldn’t be able to handle it if he turned on her. Not after she’d fallen in love with him all over again.
That left only one option. To wipe the slate clean. To do what she came here to do, and wipe away any hope for more.
She was here to be Gracie’s nanny. Nothing more, nothing less.
She would make her peace with that. And forget all about Nicolas.
Even if it meant living with the heartbreak of losing him all over again.
