The Diamond Bride

The man looked at her consideringly now, seeming to take in everything about her appearance in that one sweeping glance: her short, curling red hair, which framed her gamine face, a face dominated by deep brown eyes; her small and snub nose, her wide and smiling mouth—usually, when she wasn’t accosted by complete strangers!—a chin that was small and pointed, her figure boyish in her jacket, blue cropped top and fitted black denims.

‘You don’t look like Anthony’s usual type,’ the man finally drawled insultingly. ‘But then, as he gets older, perhaps young and impressionable is easier to deal with!’

Easier to impress, his dismissive tone implied!

Well, at thirty-six, she didn’t consider Anthony old, and she wasn’t that young either; at twenty-two she could quite easily be married with small children.

She eyed the man coolly. ‘Anthony Diamond, as you have already mentioned, already has a fiancée.’ Some of her fear was fading now, to be replaced by anger; not only was this man trespassing on the Diamond estate, he was also insulting the family—well, one of them—as well now!

‘Davina,’ the man acknowledged. ‘I’m sure their engagement is of mutual benefit to both of them,’ he went on, ‘but it hasn’t stopped Anthony’s roving eye. You must be new to the village,’ he added tauntingly. ‘Last I heard, Anthony had already gone through all the available females there. Unless, of course, you’re one of the married ones?’

It had quickly become obvious to her that this man thought she was one of the girls from the local village two miles away. Which meant he must be new to the area himself, otherwise he would have known she was nanny to the youngest member of the Diamond family. Admittedly, she had only been working here for two months, but he seemed to know so much else about the Diamonds...

‘I’m not married, but I’m not an “available female”, either,’ Annie told him tartly. ‘And I would appreciate it if you didn’t continue to insult members of the Diamond family!’

‘But I’m only insulting Anthony,’ he replied knowingly. ‘And he makes it so easy to insult him,’ he added scathingly, glancing at the plain gold watch on his wrist. ‘It doesn’t look as if he’s coming now; I was watching you for at least ten minutes before I spoke to you,’ he informed her softly.

She shrank back defensively, uncomfortable with the knowledge that she had been watched when she hadn’t been aware of it. Her emotions had been in turmoil when she’d come down here, her thoughts troubled, and she was sure that must have been obvious from her expression when he’d first caught sight of her. Which was probably why he had made that assumption about suicide! Admittedly, her life did feel a bit complicated at the moment, but certainly not that desperate!

‘Perhaps it’s as well that he didn’t. For your sake,’ she snapped as he raised questioning brows. ‘You’re trespassing,’ she pointed out irritably as he still looked unimpressed.

He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘So are you. And although Anthony may not mind your being here, what about the rest of the family?’ he challenged. ‘Rufus, for example?’

‘Rufus isn’t here,’ she told him impatiently, tired of this constant baiting.

Rufus Diamond, the male head of the family and her small charge’s father, was away at the moment, and had been for the last three months. As an investigative reporter of some repute, he had been away in some wartorn country or other since before Annie had come to work with his daughter. His mother, Celia, the matriarch of the Diamond family, had been the one to employ her when the previous nanny had left without notice.

The man looked at her assessingly. ‘I thought you said all of the family were in residence?’ He tauntingly echoed her words of earlier.

‘They are.’ She frowned at him. ‘But Mr Diamond senior—’

‘You mean Rufus?’ Amusement darkened his eyes even more; his teeth were white and even as he gave a wolfish grin. ‘I’ve never heard him referred to as that before; you make him sound ancient!’

‘I have no idea how old Mr Diamond—Mr Rufus Diamond—is,’ Annie told him in a flustered voice. ‘But I do know he’s older than Anthony.’

‘By three years.’ The man nodded. ‘And, believe me, I feel every one of them,’ he added, watching her as he waited for her reaction to his announcement.

And he wasn’t disappointed, Annie felt sure!

This was Rufus Diamond? This man, with his shaggily long dark hair, piercing eyes, hard-hewn face, tall and leanly powerful body? This was Rufus Diamond?

She didn’t know what she had been expecting from the brief mentions of him that had been made by the rest of the family, or from the absolute adoration with which Jessica spoke of her father, but it certainly hadn’t been this dangerously good-looking man with his assured air of power!

Perhaps it was that he was such a complete contrast to his brother, Anthony was tall and blond, extremely handsome, with eyes as blue as the sky on a summer’s day, always immaculately dressed in his tailored, designer clothes. The two men were complete opposites, and she would never have guessed they were brothers.

She hadn’t!

She drew in a controlling breath, doing her best to gather her scattered wits back together. ‘It’s good to meet you at last, Mr Diamond.’ She held out her hand in formal greeting.

He didn’t move, watching her through narrowed lids. ‘Is it?’ he returned guardedly.

She swallowed hard, her arm falling back to her side, her hands feeling slightly warm and damp, despite the cold clamminess of the fog that still surrounded them. ‘I’m Jessica’s new nanny, Mr Diamond—’

‘Are you indeed?’ he cut in grimly, all humour gone from those hard dark eyes now. ‘What about Margaret?’

She moistened her dry lips once more, some of her earlier fear returning; this man was a power to be reckoned with when he was angry. As he was now. ‘I believe she left—’

‘I’ve already gathered that,’ he rasped icily.

‘Yes, well.’ Annie looked confused. ‘Mrs Diamond contacted the employment agency—’

‘Why?’ His grimness was increasing with each passing second.

Annie frowned. ‘I just told you, Margaret left, and Jessica needed—’

‘I meant, why did Margaret leave?’ he bit out coldly.

‘I have no idea.’ She shook her head a little dazedly. ‘You would have to ask Mrs Diamond that—’

‘Don’t worry, that’s exactly what I’m here to do!’ he replied harshly, turning on his heel and striding off down the jetty in the direction of the cliffs and the house. He paused before the fog swallowed him up completely, turning slightly. ‘And I would advise you to get back to your young charge instead of mooning about down here waiting for my wastrel of a brother!’ He disappeared into the swirling clouds, and everything suddenly became eerily quiet again.

As if he had never been there at all...

But Annie knew that he had, was still shaking from the encounter. She almost wished now that he had been a trespasser; that would have been far preferable to knowing he was actually her employer!

How quickly his mocking humour had vanished once he’d realised exactly who she was. He was obviously very angry at the departure of Jessica’s previous nanny. And certainly not impressed with her replacement!

Rochester, indeed! She had read the classic story at a young, impressionable age, had found herself, probably because of her own parentless circumstances, relating to Jane Eyre, although her own time as an orphan in care had been a relatively happy one. But Rufus Diamond certainly wasn’t Mr Rochester. Any more than she was Jane Eyre...!

Would she have behaved any differently if she had known who he was from the first? Probably, but only slightly, she conceded. After all, he had been the one, without knowing a thing about her, who’d been so insulting about her supposed relationship with his brother...

Her thoughts were even more troubled now than they had been when she’d come down onto the beach an hour ago! She had been so excited about the chance of this job on the east coast of England, had come here full of enthusiasm, glad to be out of London, the place she had lived all her life. And being out here, surrounded by rural countryside, had suited her perfectly. She loved the wide open spaces, the friendliness of the locals—she had certainly never been on a first-name basis with a milkman before! In London she hadn’t even had a milkman; she had bought all her food supplies, including milk, from a convenience store around the corner from the flat she’d shared with three other girls.

Moving here had offered her a completely different way of life from the one she had always known. Her early years had been spent in care, and the college course to qualify as a children’s nanny had seemed the obvious choice of career after years of helping look after younger children at the home where she had been placed. As had deciding to share a flat with three of the other girls from the children’s home when the time had come to move out.

She had taken employment at a local kindergarten once she was qualified, but helping in the day-care of forty young children who went home to their own families at the end of each day hadn’t given her any more roots than she had found at the children’s home, and so she had signed on at an employment agency with the intention of working in a family environment. Jessica Diamond was her first individual charge. And Annie had quickly learnt to love her.

Aged eight, Jessica was a lovely child, tall for her age, with long, curling dark hair and eyes as blue as cornflowers, and a lively intelligence that Annie found enchanting. And with only Jessica’s grandmother in residence most of the time, her uncle Anthony a regular visitor at weekends, it had been easy to become fond of the little girl who greeted her so eagerly at the end of each schoolday. Their weekends had been spent exploring the beach and horse-riding; even wet days had been fun as they’d played with the numerous toys Jessica had up in her bedroom.

But now Jessica’s father had returned.

And he didn’t seem at all happy about the fact that his daughter had a new nanny...

The future suddenly looked even bleaker than it had an hour ago. Even more so because once Rufus Diamond got up to the house he was going to discover that Jessica had fallen from her horse over the weekend and was resting in bed with a badly sprained ankle. So much for being in the care of her newly hired nanny!

Admittedly, there had been nothing Annie—a mere novice when it came to riding a horse—could have done to prevent Jessica’s accident. But she very much doubted that Rufus Diamond would see it quite that way, especially as he already seemed so displeased at Jessica having a replacement nanny in the first place!

Annie felt the prick of tears in her eyes. She had loved Jessica on sight, their better acquaintance only deepening that emotion as she’d discovered just how hungry for affection Jessica was too. Perhaps she shouldn’t have let Jessica become that fond of her, but when the young child was effectively as parentless as Annie had been herself, it was impossible to push the young girl aside.