The Diamond Bride

Although Rufus’s next comment warned her that, for her at least, it was far from over...!

‘Carry on and have coffee without me,’ he told his family as he easily swung Jessica back up into his arms. ‘Once we have Jessica settled for the night, I intend talking to Annie for a while.’

It wasn’t the easy dismissal of her own coffee that bothered her, nor even Rufus’s casual grouping of the two of them, but that innocuous-sounding mention of ‘talking to Annie for a while’...

What did Rufus want to talk to her about? The fact that she was the new nanny to his daughter? Or something else...?

CHAPTER THREE

‘THESE are excellent references.’ Rufus put the two letters he had just read down on the desk in front of him, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘They must have been sorry to lose you at the kindergarten.’

It was a statement, not a question, Annie knew that—because Brenda Thompson, the person in charge of the kindergarten, had clearly said so in her letter of reference.

They were in Rufus Diamond’s study, a spacious room furnished with heavy mahogany furniture; it was next to the library, and Annie hadn’t even known it was here, let alone entered it before. Not that this particularly surprised her. Clifftop House was an enormous place, with two completely self-contained wings at either end of it. One housed the servants who lived in, the other appeared to be unused, and there were dozens of rooms that Annie had never been into.

Rufus had kissed his daughter goodnight once they were upstairs, leaving Annie to prepare the little girl for bed and informing her that he would see her downstairs in his study as soon as she had finished what she was doing. Annie had had to ask Jessica for directions to her father’s study.

As she sat across the desk from him now, it was as if those moments of humour between them earlier had never happened. She felt like one of the children at the home, hauled before Mrs James for some misdemeanour or other! Not that she ever had been. Keep your head down and stay out of trouble—that had been her motto. It had seemed to work quite well—

‘Excellent references,’ Rufus repeated slowly, the removal of his jacket and loosening of his bow-tie not making him look any more approachable. ‘But they actually tell me very little about you. Who are you? Where are your family? Are you likely to leave at a moment’s notice. too?’ he added grimly, obviously thinking of the absent Margaret. ‘I think I have a right to ask these questions; after all, you are in charge of my daughter on a day-to-day basis.’

Annie agreed with him, knew she would be the same if her own daughter’s welfare were at stake. And yet, from Rufus Diamond, these questions seemed an intrusion. It was totally illogical, but she found she didn’t want to tell him any more about herself than she had to.

‘I’m Annie Fletcher. And I’m your typical Orphan Annie,’ she added self-derisively. ‘I have no family that I’m aware of. And I wouldn’t leave here, or Jessica, without giving you a good reason—and time enough to find a replacement!’

His mouth twisted. ‘I believe Margaret told me the same thing.’

She shrugged. ‘You’ll have to take that up with Margaret; I never met her.’ Jessica had been without a nanny for almost a week when Annie had arrived two months ago. ‘All I can say is that I won’t do the same thing.’

‘Take it or leave it, hmm?’ Rufus said shrewdly.

‘I didn’t mean that at all,’ Annie defended quietly, hot colour in her cheeks. ‘Of course you don’t have to take it or leave it; you’re my employer, and you’re perfectly within your rights to want certain assurances. I seriously doubt I would ever choose to leave Jessica.’ Her expression softened as she spoke of the child.

Dark eyes assessed her questioningly. ‘You’re fond of my daughter?’

‘Very.’ She didn’t take offence at the question—not this one—although she felt sure there were plenty of others Rufus Diamond could and would ask that would be very offensive indeed!

‘And just how fond of my brother are you?’

That was one of them! It wasn’t altogether unexpected, though; she had known since the three of them met in the hallway earlier that Rufus would have to make some reference to it. She wasn’t disappointed!

‘I like all the family,’ she said evasively.

Rufus’s mouth thinned. ‘Even Celia?’ he queried. The other woman could be extremely haughty, and Annie knew now she considered her a servant. But at least Celia was honest about it, made no pretence of it being otherwise, and for the main part she had treated Annie fairly, if not exactly warmly.

‘Even Celia,’ she confirmed firmly.

Rufus gave a humourless grin. ‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much,’ he said smoothly.

‘Not at all,’ Annie protested indignantly. ‘Mrs Diamond has been very kind in her own way.’ She regretted adding the last comment almost as soon as she had said it, knowing she had given Rufus an opening she hadn’t meant to. She didn’t have to wait long!

“‘In her own way”,’ Rufus retorted. ‘I’ve known Celia since I was two years old—and I’ve never seen her be kind to anyone. Not without a damn good reason!’ He added cynically, ‘And nannies to my daughter do not come under that category.’

Annie wasn’t particularly interested in his scathing comments concerning Celia, had no intention of getting into any sort of in-depth conversation concerning the other woman. What did interest her was Rufus’s reference to knowing Celia since he was two years old... Of course, most children didn’t begin to learn things about their parents until they were a few years old, but in this case she didn’t think that was what was meant...

Rufus was watching her closely, well aware of her puzzlement, she was sure. The man seemed to miss nothing!

‘You really don’t know too much about this family, do you?’ he said slowly.

She knew she loved Jessica, that Celia lived her role as lady of the manor to perfection—and that Anthony was trapped in an engagement he shouldn’t be in! What else did she need to know?

‘Perhaps I should get back to my original question.’ Rufus spoke purposefully now, dark eyes watchful. ‘How well do you know Anthony?’

Not well enough, obviously. Because until this last weekend she hadn’t even realised he had a fiancée. He had been down for several weekend visits on his own, which was when Annie had found herself becoming attracted to his charm and good looks. It had been a shock—and a disappointment—when he had arrived on Saturday with Davina, to stay for a week. Then he had kissed her on Sunday... Now she was just confused about the whole thing.

‘I don’t,’ she answered honestly. Did you have to know a person well to be attracted to them?

Rufus was still watching her with those shrewdly assessing eyes. ‘In that case,’ he finally said harshly, ‘my advice to you is stay well away from him!’

She remained outwardly calm, but flinched inwardly at the force behind Rufus’s words. It had been obvious from the first that there was little love lost between the two brothers, and that the dislike was mutual. But once more Rufus Diamond was talking to her as if she were no older than Jessica. Maybe falling for the charm of a man who had turned out to be engaged to marry another woman wasn’t the most sensible thing she had ever done in her life, but, as Jessica had pointed out earlier, she was much older than her young charge—old enough to make her own mistakes, or otherwise!

‘Fatherly advice, Mr Diamond?’ she returned smartly.

His mouth tightened as her barb hit home. ‘I was only joking with Jessica earlier when I made that remark about your age.’ He easily guessed which comment of his she had taken exception to. ‘I also take back what I said down on the beach, about your being young and impressionable,’ he added at her bemused expression. ‘Young you may be, but you’re nobody’s fool.’

Annie drew in a sharp breath; she wasn’t so sure about that!

The fact remained that she hadn’t known about Anthony’s fiancée until Saturday, but even when she had found out she had still allowed him to kiss her. Wasn’t that foolish in the extreme, even if she did feel so deeply attracted to him?

‘Thank you,’ she accepted huskily, not quite able to meet the deep blue of Rufus’s gaze.

‘And whether my advice just now was fatherly or not,’ he continued briskly, ‘you would do well to take it!’

She bristled indignantly. Rufus had arrived here only a few short hours ago, and yet he seemed to have done nothing in that time but issue orders and upset people—mostly her! And, while she accepted he had a right to tell her what he required of her as far as Jessica was concerned, she did not welcome his interference in what she considered to be her private life!

Nevertheless, she chose her next words carefully. ‘You’re very kind, Mr Diamond—’

‘I’m no more kind than Celia,’ he cut in scathingly. ‘Anthony either, for that matter. In fact, we aren’t a very kind family,’ he concluded.

‘In that case, I’m surprised you leave—’ She broke off abruptly, warned by the sudden dark anger in his face that she would be overstepping the line with the observation she was about to make concerning Jessica. She looked up at him with wide, apprehensive eyes as he stood up forcefully, his size seeming to fill the room.

‘Not young and impressionable at all,’ he said with deliberation. ‘And for God’s sake take that scared-rabbit look off your face,’ he told her disgustedly, moving around the desk to perch on it in front of her. ‘I may not be kind, Annie, but by the same token I’ve never struck a woman in my life. And I don’t intend to start with you. Even if you do say the damnedest things,’ he added gratingly. ‘I leave Jessica here because there is nowhere else for her to go. Her mother is dead.’ It was a flat statement of fact, revealing none of his inner feelings concerning the loss. ‘And I can hardly take her with me when I go on an assignment!’

Annie could see the sense of that; she also knew that Jessica fared so much better than she had herself. Her own mother had died shortly after giving birth to her, and she had never even known who her father was, only the circumstances of her birth. Whereas Jessica obviously adored her father, for all his long absences.

Annie moistened her lips. ‘I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to criticise—’

‘Yes, you did,’ he said without rancour. ‘And I probably deserve it.’ He reached out to put his hand beneath her chin and gently raise her face so that she had no choice but to look directly into his. He didn’t look angry any more, his mouth curving into a smile. ‘You’ll do, Annie Fletcher,’ he told her huskily. ‘You love my daughter, that’s all the reference you need.’ He easily dismissed the two letters she had provided.