Page 14 of Arranged Wolf's Nanny
No, Eva. She is not going to be your mother.
“Any minute now,” he told his daughter now, resuming his pacing. “Have you finished your piano practice?”
“Yes!”
“And your homework?”
“All done!”
“And have you tidied your room?”
Eva nodded, her face bright and hopeful. He grunted in affirmation, “Well done. Then you may come down with me to meet her. There’s some business we have to sort out first, however. You may play with Daisy and Cassie until we’ve finished.”
Eva’s eyes lit up at the mention of her unofficial aunts. “Is Thea coming? Danny? Logan? Baby Gracie and Max?”
Rick cast his eyes upwards. The last thing he needed today was a riot of children getting underfoot. If Felix and Nicolas had any sense, they would leave their offspring at home. “No. But you’ll see them later at the…at the wedding.”
Eva nodded again, chewing her lip as she always did when she had something to say but couldn’t quite get the words out.
“What is it?” he asked, folding his hands behind his back.
She scuffed her foot back and forth. “Will she…do you think she’ll like me?”
Rick almost laughed. Everybody who ever met his daughter adored her. It seemed the only person who didn’t realize that was Eva herself. He wished she would. She was a Reinhardt. Intelligent, talented, charming, and beautiful. To be loved, to berespected,was in her blood.
“Yes, Eva. I think she’ll like you.”
His daughter nodded, a small smile creeping over her face.
“Go on now,” he ushered her towards the door. “Let’s wait downstairs for her.”
She skipped ahead of him, barely able to contain her excitement. Rick followed behind, stalking the corridors of his ancestral home, the paintings of his ancestors staring down at him with rather more judgment than he was used to.
A Reinhardt allowed himself to be trapped into marriage. Pathetic.
He bared his teeth.
He would find some way to turn this to his advantage. He always did.
As he descended the wide mahogany staircase into the foyer, Molly leapt to her feet from an armchair, rushing over with several manila folders clutched to her chest.
“Mr. Reinhardt! Everything’s in order, sir. We just need both of you to sign, and it’ll all be official!”
Eva glanced between the frumpy woman and him with a curious expression. “What will be all official?”
“Don’t you worry about that,” he said. “Why don’t you go through and wait for Daisy and Cassie in the formal drawing room?”
Eva’s nose wrinkled, but she obeyed, trotting dutifully away down the corridor.
Molly sighed. “She truly is a lovely little girl.”
“Indeed,” Rick replied, holding out his hand. “May I have a look over the contract?”
Molly swallowed, rifling through her papers before handing one over with a slight flourish, “Everything’s in there, just as requested. The shifter bylaw inclusions are in Section Five. We have an excellent paralegal who’s an expert in such matters—”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Rick said, ignoring Molly’s distraught expression.
Honestly, one would never know that she was a representative of the most popular shifter nanny agency in the country. He had half a mind to get in contact with the board and talk to them about the importance ofpresentation.
