Nanny and the Beast

Sophia wanted to swear, but held her tongue. He was a client and she had to do her best to please him. Her mind raced. Did she even have anyone else willing to work for the man?

“We need to fix the problem I’ve been having with the nannies you’re sending me, Ms. Stanton, and we need to fix it now.”

A sigh of frustration gathered in Sophia’s chest, but she didn’t allow it to escape with any kind of real force. “Of course we do. And we will, I assure you.” Then she asked, “What did Lily do?”

“It’s what she didn’t do. She didn’t follow the rules. It’s not as if my needs are difficult to meet. But I do insist that any nanny working for me will follow the damn rules.”

The Damn Rules was an apt description, Sophia thought. Apparently, there were literally pages of them, and they covered every conceivable notion when it came to his daughter’s care. There was even a dress code for the nannies. It wasn’t enough that the young women she’d sent him were highly trained in childcare. Michael Taylor wanted them to look and dress and act a certain way. To better focus on the childcare, is what she’d heard. Demanding such a thing was his prerogative, she guessed. However, no woman wanted to be told she couldn’t wear nail polish or eye shadow or dangly earrings, or that her skirt had to hang below her knees, or that her hair had to be pulled back in a bun. A bun! Buns went out with pixie bobs, for goodness sake. What was he running? A Catholic grade school? It was ridiculous.

“First off,” he continued, “I take exception to the fact that the nannies you’re sending me are barely out of their teens. How can girls—” the emphasis he placed on the word made Sophia want to cringe “—with so little life experience make sound, common-sense judgments in day-to-day circumstances, let alone emergency situations? I’m supposed to trust them with my daughter?”

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Taylor.” Although she understood his fears—he was a new father—she felt she had to stand up for her employees. “Both of them—” Lily flashed into Sophia’s mind, and she instantly corrected herself. “All three of the nannies you’ve fired this month have been thoroughly trained. They have earned a childcare diploma from an accredited nanny school as well as a medical safety certificate. That’s the only way they qualify to register at The Nanny Place. I complete the background checks myself. Your daughter has been in capable hands—”

“I manage people for a living,” he interrupted. “I have seen, firsthand, that training isn’t always enough. A healthy dose of life experience goes a long way in helping people make sensible decisions when they’re faced with even the most mundane choices. I’ll take a forty-year-old with firm common sense over a green Gen-Xer any day of the week. The girls you’ve sent me need just that—a healthy dose of life experience. I don’t want them acquiring it at the sake of Hailey’s well-being.”

“But—”

“No,” he interrupted. “No buts. I want you to send me someone older. Someone wiser. Lily has worked for me for three days. She knows the daily schedule we keep. Yet she stepped into the shower just five minutes before I was supposed to leave for work. I want you to send me someone who can follow a simple schedule.”

Sophia silently groaned. Lily was going to get an earful from her.

“I want someone with professionalism,” he continued, “and experience. Someone who’s lived long enough to have gained some practical knowledge of what it takes to care for an infant. A motherly type. Better yet, a grandmotherly type.”

“Sounds like you want a Mrs. Doubtfire.” The joking sarcasm rolled off her tongue before she’d had a chance to stop it.

He went dead silent for a moment, staring at her. Then the harsh angles of his face softened and he chuckled. He actually laughed. The sexy, delicious rumble was completely unexpected. Some sort of strange electricity shot through her body, scrambling her thoughts. This was a side of The Beast she’d never experienced. She blinked a couple of times in quick succession, and then gathered her wits as quickly as she could. Fostering the lighthearted moment seemed a good idea.

“Um, Mr. Taylor, you do know that, although she was great with children, she was a middle-aged man in drag? A fictional character created by some Hollywood screenwriter.”

“Of course, I do.”

His amusement was gone as quickly as it had come. But the humming current he’d cause to flutter through her lingered with irritating tenacity.

“I think I’ve made my needs quite clear,” he told her. “If you’re unable to provide what I’m asking, then that can only mean that your business motto is a sham. I don’t mind telling you that I’m not happy, and I seriously think we ought to consider parting ways. I’ll have to find a nanny on my own.”

“Hold on just a second,” Sophia said. Her mind raced. “Backing out of our contract is a little extreme, isn’t it?”

She’d read that a satisfied customer might express his or her opinion about a company to approximately fifty friends, relatives and casual acquaintances, whereas a disgruntled one could be expected to complain to many times that.

“I don’t think so. You’ve had three chances to send a nanny that would meet my approval. You’ve failed three times.”

He sure didn’t have a problem speaking his mind, now, did he?

She hadn’t faced this kind of fiasco since opening the doors of The Nanny Place. No one had ever called her a failure before. To the contrary, Delaware Today magazine had awarded her business the title of “Best childcare in the city of Wilmington” for the last two years running.

“What you don’t seem to understand,” Sophia stressed, putting every effort into coming up with a swift recovery, “is that when women reach that ‘older, wiser’ stage you’ve described, they’re either ready to settle down and have children of their own—”

She shook her head, unable to believe the words tumbling out of her mouth. They had a jarring, sexist ring to them, but that couldn’t be helped. She needed an argument. Any argument.

“Or they’re ready to retire, do some traveling, take a cruise, enjoy their golden years. Or their own grandchildren. I only have two women over the age of twenty-five registered at The Nanny Place. Both are grandmothers in their mid-to-late fifties and they’re on long-term assignments with families in Wilmington.”

He glanced down at his sleeping daughter, and then leveled his gaze at Sophia. Calmly, he said, “So you’re telling me the bottom line is I’m going to remain an unsatisfied client?”

Discontent crackled in the air as he waited for her response and Sophia fought the urge to squirm. Damn it! The man wasn’t going to best her.

“I intend to make sure you are very satisfied, Mr. Taylor,” she blurted out. Heat suffused her face when she realized what she’d said and how those words could very easily be misconstrued. Ignoring the embarrassment she felt, she plowed full steam ahead. “Even if I’m the one who has to come do the job,” she heard herself say.

His brows arched the slightest bit and he absently smoothed his fingers down the short length of his daughter’s milky arm. “Now there’s a good idea.” He nodded slowly, evidently liking the notion more with each passing second.

Her comment had been merely meant to assure him she honestly intended to find him the perfect nanny, and she wouldn’t stop trying until she’d succeeded. Apparently, he hadn’t taken it that way. Not at all. A sense of panic washed over her. “Mr. Taylor—”

“You’re certainly older than twenty-five,” he mused, his fingers toying with the edge of the baby blanket.

She bristled. He made her sound downright matronly.

“And the fact that you’re running your own business tells me that you’ve got intellect and common sense. Two important characteristics for the person I want caring for my daughter.”

He was clearly warming up to this surprising turn of events. She opened her mouth to speak.

“If you spend a few weeks getting to know Hailey,” he said, not giving her a chance to restate what she’d actually intended, “getting to know me, getting to know our situation and our needs, you’d be better equipped to find the kind of nanny I’m looking for.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say “but…but,” to backpedal herself out of the tight space she’d inadvertently talked herself into. She couldn’t do this! She had a business to run. She wasn’t a nanny. She was the administrator.

Oh, she’d had all the proper training and she even took over childcare duties once in a while when the rare problem or an emergency cropped up, so she was fully capable of—

“I usually take dead silence to have negative meaning,” he said, studying her intently. “Should I assume you aren’t going to honor your guarantee? And that your motto of ‘no client left unsatisfied’ is simply a string of meaningless words?” He lifted a shoulder. “If that’s the case, then I have no choice but to cancel our contract as of this moment.”

“Wait. I’m not saying any of that,” she sputtered. “I’m also not saying I won’t do it. I’m just thinking things through. Working out the logistics.”

Her mind whirled; other than scheduling appointments with prospective clients and handling a few glitches that arose, there wasn’t a whole lot Sophia couldn’t take care of with her cell phone. And her assistant, Karen, had been asking—no, begging—to go full-time since coming to work for her, but up until now Sophia had only needed help in the office during the busy morning hours.

“I hope you’re thinking fast,” he persisted, “because I don’t have all day.” He tenderly shifted his daughter to his other arm and checked his watch. “In fact, I have to be at the office in forty-five minutes.”

Darn! He wasn’t going to give her an inch. She gritted her teeth. All he was worried about was himself. What about her business? What about the people depending on her?

But how else was she going to make Michael Taylor happy, at this point, other than to take over as his daughter’s nanny for the few weeks, as he was demanding?

Keeping him happy would mean keeping her pristine business reputation. That was very important to her. She prided herself on the fact that not one client, past or present, had a single grievance against her or The Nanny Place. Oh, there were small insignificant matters that surfaced from time to time between the nannies and their employers, but there hadn’t been even one instance where Sophia hadn’t been able to straighten everything out, and make everyone concerned content and happy. She refused to allow this man to mar her perfect record.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it. If you’ll let me sort a few things out here, I can be at your place in forty-five minutes.”

“Excellent. Less than forty-five minutes, actually. I’ll head home and wait for you.” He turned toward the door.

“Hold it,” she said, an idea popping into her head. “Why don’t you just leave Hailey with me now? I can use your carseat to get her back to your place. That way you won’t be late for work, and I can take my time getting things settled here.”

Seemed like a perfectly good plan to her, but evidently he didn’t think so.

“Won’t work.” His tone brooked no argument. “We still have to go over the rules and Hailey’s schedule. They’re at my place. Typed out in black and white. I’d also feel more comfortable if I had the chance to show you around. Make you acquainted with where things are.”