A Highland Summer: The Billionaire's Nanny (A BWWM Billionaire Contemporary Romance) by Imani King

"I'll take care of you tonight, Jennifer Robinson."
    Spending time with the Laird - and with Cameron - during that early summer was strange. It was strange mostly because it didn't feel strange, it felt ideal in so many ways I hadn't expected. One of my friends back home was dating a man with two children and I'd caught myself thinking about it a few times, certain it would never be right for me. But Cameron wasn't a hindrance and I didn't resent her her father's attentions. For his part Darach just seemed happy to see Cameron so confident and secure with me. Those lazy Scottish afternoons lulled all three of us into thinking that because we felt like a family, we were a family.
    But we weren't. I caught myself fantasizing a few times, pretending Diane wasn't in the picture and I was more than just the nanny and the summer fling but it was too painful to let those daydreams spin out too far. When Darach told me he had to fly to Switzerland for business I half-expected it to be good-bye, but he followed it up by telling me it was only for two weeks.
    "What did you think, Jennifer? That I was just going to fly off to Europe and never see you again?"
    Well, yeah, I kinda did think that.
    I was very conscious of not wanting to pressure Darach, though, and not just for the old-fashioned reasons my grandmother had told me about never letting a man see you cling. He had too much stress in his life already - I wanted our time together to be happy for both of us, a respite from misery, not a cause of it.

Chapter 11
     
    Darach left in the helicopter on a foggy Sunday morning. I tried to hide my emotions at his departure but he could see I was upset.
    "Jennifer. Chin up. You're beautiful. I can't wait to see you again and it's only two weeks."
    He gave me one of his slow kisses and then got into the copter, waving and smiling at me as it took off. I managed to smile back, only allowing myself a small teary-eyed moment when he was out of sight. When I went back inside for some breakfast Mrs. Clyde gave me a hug. She was a kind woman, of that there was no doubt, but she wasn't given to hugging and it surprised me a little.
    "Och, don't worry Jenny. He'll be back soon. He's always flying off to Switzerland or Dubai or Sydney, it's normal. Chin up."
    It was the same phrase - chin up - that Darach had used.
    "He likes you, Jenny. I can see it when he's with you. You've got nothing to worry about, lassie."
    By that point, in spite of what I'd been telling myself over and over again about it being the summer only, about seizing days and living in the moment and all of that Oprah stuff, I had already fallen for Darach completely. I tried not to think about it, but it was always there in the back of my mind.
    Any moroseness over Darach's absence took a back seat that night, though, when Cameron came back from London and her weekly visit to the dreaded Diane. I met her on the helipad and as soon as I felt the stiffness in her small body when I went to give her a hug I knew something was wrong. She'd never been that way with me before and it made me wonder if her mother had said something to scare her. Cameron was four years old, she wasn't old enough to be wily yet and I was fairly certain she'd mentioned me to her mother. Given what I knew of Diane, it seemed fair to assume she'd said something back.
    I didn't ask Cameron anything specific, though - I wanted to give her time to ask me herself if she had any questions or wanted to mention something that may have been bothering her. Looking back, it may not have been the best idea. When we walked back into Castle McLanald I noticed one of the part-time groundsmen coming down the main staircase. That was a little odd. The only rooms up there were Darach's and a series of guest bedrooms that only needed dusting and vacuuming every week or so - something the maids took care of. Our eyes met briefly but he just gave me a curt nod and kept going.
    "Cameron! How was London, my wee lassie?" Mrs. Clyde