Page 13 of Accidental Irish Daddy

“No,” I reply with a light laugh. “I’m only twenty-three. If she were mine, that means I would have had to have her when I was barely out of my training bra.”

He raises an eyebrow and my face flushes even more.

“She’s my sister, actually.”

“Your sister. I see.” He pauses for a second, mulling over my answer, then asks, “Do you always bring your sister with you to job interviews?”

“N-no.” I’m quick to shake my head. “No, of course not. Couldn’t find a babysitter, that’s all. This isn’t a common occurrence. I just…well, the call to come in was kind of short notice.”

He nods, but his expression is closed off. “That’s fair. I do apologize for that, but you see, I’ll need someone to start straight away. As soon as possible, actually. My mother has just been diagnosed with cancer. Stage four. She’ll be your patient.”

I frown. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

He waves my apology off, but there is a crack in his rather inscrutable expression. “Nothing to be done for it. She’ll have bad days and good days…as time goes on, she’ll need help more than ever.”

“I understand,” I say. “So, she’s doing fairly well now?”

He nods. “So far, nothing but good days. The doctors say it can change at any point in time, though. That is where I will need the help of a palliative care nurse the most. Also…eventually, she will need to be on a regimen of pain medication. You’ll be expected to monitor and administer those.”

“Not a problem.”

“And I will be doing a background check on you before hiring you. You should know that this is a dry house. Drugs or alcohol are not permitted on the premises. If you come in drunk or high at any time, you will be fired. Absolutely no exceptions. Are we clear on that?” His cold eyes bore into me, hard and unyielding.

I nod. I should be offended that he thinks I would do such a thing, but I don’t blame him. Maybe he’s had some bad experiences with other nurses.

“No problem,” I tell him. “Personally, I can’t imagine doing this job after a few drinks. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen if you ask me.”

He grunts, “I’ll expect you to be here by ten a.m. every morning until I come home from the office, which is usually around seven.”

“Ten to seven. That’s manageable.”

“I may work late some nights, but I will compensate you well for any time that you have to stay over.”

I nod and smile tightly. Overtime. That’s good…and it’s also not so good…provided Liam brings his ass home from wherever he is.

“Now,” he says. “Right now, my mother is down for her nap, but she should be awake in about a half hour. I’d like it very much for you to meet her.”

“Sure,” I agree.

He stands up, and I stand with him. “Good. Let me show you around the estate in the meantime.”

We start walking through the halls. “How was your drive in, by the way?”

“Easy,” I respond. “Normally, it’s right manky out this time of year. But lately, it’s been so hot. You’d think we were living in the tropics.”

He nods and I think there’s a little bit of a smile. “It’s been oddly warm, yes. Martha, she’s my neighbor. She says that we should take advantage of this weather, get to feel the warm sun on our brows since it’s not likely to come back round. Next year, we’ll be back to manky weather.”

He pauses as we walk along, showing me the study and the parlor briefly.

Every room looks like it’s straight out of a museum. Full of antiques and old books.

He must have been living here a million years.

“So, what do you do for your job?”

“I work for a private security firm,” he says, casually. “We serve the elite all across Ireland and most of the U.K. and at least four other countries.”

“Wow, you must really rake it in.” I gasp and put my hand over my mouth. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

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