His-And-Hers Family by Bonnie K. Winn

it, I’m glad. You might have noticed that the boys are headstrong.”
    She pursed her lips as her eyes widened a fraction. “I guess you could say that.”
    “You thinking I’m the master of understatement?” he asked, unable to repress a grin.
    A smile tugged at her full lips, and she tossed her head back, allowing the candlelight to warm the burnished wheat of her hair. “So you’re not convinced that your children are perfect?”
    “Far from it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have needed you.”
    Another silent moment lumbered between them. He hadn’t meant to phrase the words quite that way. Need was a powerful emotion, one he hadn’t allowed himself for a long time.
    “My children are glad you needed a nanny. The city’s like another world to them,” she answered softly.
    “What about you, Cassie? Is it another world to you, as well?”
    She played with the glass again, circling the beads of water with her fingers. “It is different. I used to think about exploring new places.”
    “Why’d you stop?”
    Her face tightened, driving away the softness. “I grew up,” she replied shortly in a brisk voice. She rose in a sudden movement. “I need to get this cleared away.”
    “That’s Maria’s job.”
    “Where I come from, everyone pitches in. I don’t expect anyone to do what I won’t.”
    Puzzled, he wondered at the change in her. All the softness was gone. Yet she still looked different. Too different for comfort.
    “But I’m spending most of my time with the kids,” she continued. “They’re not lacking for attention. It’s just that I can’t stand leaving a mess for Maria.” She held out a hand to stop an expected protest. “And, yes, I know it’s her job, but that’s just how I am. You probably know that by now, though. And I can’t change my spots or—”
    “I give in,” he managed to squeeze in. “Didn’t mean to start another speech.”
    She flushed, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m rattling on again, aren’t I?”
    He shrugged. “I wouldn’t want to go after those spots of yours.”
    Cassie wished she possessed just a shred of decorum. But around him, she seemed to lose what little she had. Deliberately, she made herself be brief. “Right.”
    The back door opened suddenly, surprising them, since the kids were all in the house. Cassie watched as a tall, beautiful woman swept inside, heading directly for Blake. In an instant, she crossed the room and launched herself into his arms.
    Cassie felt every inch the country hick as the elegant, stylish woman attached herself to Blake, kissing his cheek as a silvery laugh erupted from sensuous lips. “Oh, darling. This European jaunt’s taken its toll on you. You seem positively domestic .”
    Blake gently disengaged himself. “I wasn’t expecting you, Daphne.”
    She raised dark, skillfully arched brows. “Of course not, it’s one of my talents—delivering the unexpected.” Her dark gaze flickered toward Cassie and rested on her briefly, the quick look assessing, then dismissing.
    Feeling light-years away in sophistication, Cassie wished she could fade quietly into the background. But Blake brought her forward instead.
    “Daphne, this is the boys’ new nanny, Cassie Hawkins.”
    Cassie automatically stretched out her hand.
    “Cassie, this is my sister-in-law, Daphne Kerara.”
    Daphne didn’t completely ignore Cassie’s outstretched hand, but instead of taking it, she offered a limp semiwave. Cassie lowered her hand, trying to disguise her awkwardness with an overly bright smile. “Glad to meet you, Mrs. Kerara.”
    “Ms.,” Daphne replied. “No attachment implied or taken, right, Blake?”
    “She’s between divorces,” Blake offered, for Cassie’s benefit. “But I imagine she’s got her eyes set on some poor, unsuspecting slob.”
    Looking between them, it took only a few seconds for Cassie to guess just who that unsuspecting slob was. She managed to smile, in spite of the unreasonable pain that discovery caused,