Professor and the Nanny (Silhouette Romance) by Phyllis Halldorson

I just want you to know how good love can make you feel.”
    “And what makes you think that the feelings we’re stirring up in each other is love?” he asked. “It could as easily be lust or gratitude. I know all about both of them. Don’t forget, I was married for many years, and while my wife and I didn’t like each other much we both had healthy libidos and no desire to play around. Our relationship was the same as any other married couple’s. The only difference was that for us it was just having sex, not making love.”
    Brittany was uncomfortable discussing Ethan’s intimate relationship with his ex-wife, but since he seemed to be willing there were some questions she’d like to ask.
    “If you were so unhappy, why didn’t you get divorced sooner?” she blurted, then felt the flush of embarrassment that rushed through her. “That is…I mean…”
    “It’s okay,” he said as he rained kisses in her hair. “If I’m going to come on to you, you have a right to ask personal questions. For the first four or five years we really did try tomake it work. Neither of us wanted to admit we’d been wrong. Also, Hannah’s mother, Gerda, was devoutly religious and unalterably opposed to divorce. We were afraid she’d be devastated if we split up, and since she was in frail health, Hannah was reluctant to subject her to that.
    “Finally, though, things got so bad between Hannah and me that we decided we could no longer live our lives to please another person. We filed for divorce but didn’t tell Gerda, thinking she might not find out since she lived seventy-five miles away in Louisville and had little contact with the outside world.”
    “Unfortunately, we might as well have announced it in the newspapers.” His tone was heavily sarcastic. “A so-called friend of Gerda’s who lives here in Lexington and works at the courthouse saw the petition and mentioned it to her. Three days later my mother-in-law had a stroke from which she never recovered, although she lived for several more years.”
    “But that’s not your fault,” Brittany protested. “Especially if her health was bad, anyway.”
    “I know that, but I couldn’t convince Hannah,” he said. “She was so guilt-ridden that she insisted the petition for divorce be dropped and that her mother be brought to our house where we could look after her.
    “Not that I minded taking care of her,” he hastened to assure Brittany. “I was glad we were in a position to do so, but there was no more hope of divorce.”
    Brittany sighed. “It seems as if some people are just born to lead complicated lives. You lost your mother at an early age, then had an unhappy marriage as well as two unwell parents to care for—”
    “No, Brittany,” Ethan interrupted. “I’ve never thought of either Gerda or Nate as a burden. And don’t forget, I have one blessing that blots out all the heartache. I have Danny. I wouldn’t have had him if we’d divorced early in our marriage.”
    Something bothered her, and she decided that since he was sharing his story with her she’d ask him about it. “Ethan, do you mind if I ask just one more question?”
    He smiled at her and tipped up her chin with his fingers. “I told you, you’re entitled. What do you want to know?”
    “Well, you told me once that you’d been divorced for two years,” she said hesitantly, “but Danny is one and a half. If my arithmetic is right that means he was born six months or so after the divorce.”
    He nodded. “Your arithmetic is just fine, darlin’. We filed for divorce again almost immediately after Gerda died and didn’t find out for a couple of months that Hannah was pregnant. She’d never wanted a family and it didn’t make that much difference to me one way or the other, so Danny came as a real shock.”
    “I can imagine,” Brittany murmured.
    “Canceling the divorce again was out of the question,” he continued. “We’d waited too long already to get on with our