Page 14 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

Neil shrugged. ‘You asked. I like her better than the one with two Masters Degrees. That one might know the theories of child development but I’m not sure she’d cope with a carsick kid.’

Jake thought of that eye-opening car trip through the Alps when he discovered Ariane didn’t travel well.

‘You have a point.’ He shoved his chair back. ‘I’ll leave you to finish up. I’m going to check on this would-be nanny.’

Jake was at the door when Neil spoke. ‘There was one other thing I noticed about Ms Rivage.’ He turned and caught the gleam in his secretary’s eyes. ‘She has spectacular legs.’

Those legs were on display when Jake reached Ariane’s playroom. Rugs lined the floor and padded window seats held bright cushions and dolls. But it wasn’t Ariane or her room that snared his attention. It was Caro Rivage standing on a small stool, arms raised above her head as she reached for something on a high shelf.

Neil was right. She had spectacular legs. Fabulous legs.

She’d taken off her shoes and stood on tiptoe, the stance accentuating the fine curve of her calf. She’d removed her jacket. Jake saw it draped over the back of a nearby chair. Her white blouse strained over her breasts.

Something dug into his belly, grabbing tight. His nostrils flared on a quick inhale. His gaze tracked down to her toes and up over the loosely fitted skirt to a lithe torso revealed by that taut blouse. Then up the long, feminine arch of her tilted neck to her bundled-up hair.

Jake’s breath expelled in a rush that left him almost light-headed.

Stripped of her conservative shoes and unflattering jacket, Caro Rivage was slim, svelte, feminine and intriguing. A different sort of intriguing from the way he’d viewed her earlier.

Except Jake knew that was a lie. Despite her prim pose and drab clothes, he’d been aware from the first of this woman’s magnetism. It was a sly thing. Not overt like Fiona’s blonde beauty and overtly sexy curves.

Even as he’d catalogued and dismissed Caro Rivage’s expertise, at another level, that of primitive male, he’d been aware of the attractive woman behind the pursed lips and downcast eyes.

Heat drilled down from his temples to his gut, boring straight to his groin.

Did this explain his resistance? Was it why he didn’t want to employ her? Because he responded to her as a man to a woman, not a boss to a governess?

He sucked air into tight lungs. Business and pleasure didn’t mix. He had no intention of beginning anything personal with a staff member.

After Fiona he’d found it easy to avoid the charms of the opposite sex. Except, to his horrified fascination, he realised sex was the operative word here.

Caro Rivage bit her lip, shifted her hips in a way that shouldn’t be in the least provocative yet turned up his inner thermostat from hot to scorching. The tug of desire dragging at his groin told its own story. It wasn’t one he wanted to hear.

But Jake prided himself on facing facts.

She wasn’t gorgeous like the women he dated. She wasn’t his type. He hadn’t decided if he could trust her, yet he was attracted.

Urgentlyattracted.

Worse, he felt compelled to give her a chance despite his better judgement because his niece showed every sign of bonding with her. That rankled. Jake made a point of being the one to dictate terms. He didn’t take kindly to being forced into decisions. But little Ariane had held herself aloof from everyone except her teddy since the accident that killed her parents. Seeing her shy excitement with Caro Rivage was a profound relief. It was the first time she’d smiled properly in a month.

What option did he have but to give this nanny a chance?

She expelled an exasperated breath that puffed up the strands of brown hair drifting free of her brutally neat bun. She looked ruffled and pink-cheeked and Jake knew a growing curiosity to see her flushed and rumpled for other reasons.

‘Can I help with that, Ms Rivage?’ His voice hit a resonant baritone note that betrayed the trend of his thoughts. He could only hope she wasn’t as adept at reading men as she was little kids.

His deep voice came out of nowhere, lassoing her around the middle and drawing her off balance. Caro teetered on her toes, arms windmilling, then warmth enveloped her. Hard warmth that wound around her and held her steady.

She registered a broad palm and long fingers splayed across her hip bone. A solid body, all heat against hers, and near her breasts a head of tousled dark hair.

She hauled in a shocked breath and wished she hadn’t. This close she could smell Jake Maynard’s skin, warm and scented with bergamot and citrus. Her eyes sneaked shut for a self-indulgent moment, enjoying that fresh, masculine tang.

He was Ariane’s uncle. A potential employer. An obstacle to be overcome. She couldn’t think of him as a desirable man.

She hadn’t considered any man in that way for years. Not since she’d been blindsided by Mike’s smiling attentiveness, then gutted by his betrayal.

Reluctantly she looked down to Jake Maynard standing with his head a whisper away from her breasts. Dark brows contracted over brilliant grey eyes that no longer looked icy. Instead they reminded her of the heat haze she’d seen rising over boiling geothermal pools in Iceland. Heat drenched her skin and sank into her bones.

---