Professor and the Nanny (Silhouette Romance) by Phyllis Halldorson Page B

they’re not your responsibility, they’re mine. I should have kept better track of Nate. He was more important than that damn meeting—”
    “Stop beating yourself up over something you can’t fix,” she scolded affectionately. “Nate knows he has these memory lapses, and he remembered that you’d told him not to leave the room by himself. He has to share the blame for what happened. You know he wouldn’t want it any other way.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” She heard the merriment in Ethan’s tone even though it was too dark to see his expression. “Any chance you could clear time to give me lessons on child care as well as home nursing?”
    “No way,” she said sternly. “The only thing you have to learn is not to lose your patience.”
    They both laughed at the unintended double entendre, but the chuckle quickly died as he lowered his head to meet herupturned face. Their mouths met and melded, and she snuggled against him as his tongue prodded her lips apart to gain entry.
    Brittany felt as if she were floating into a cloud of ethereal sensations almost too exquisite to bear. She couldn’t get enough of the way he nibbled on her lower lip and suckled on her throat, setting her blood on fire.
    She wasn’t prepared when he suddenly grasped her arms and stood her away from him. “Brittany, no, we mustn’t do this!” he moaned, then turned from her and opened the car door. “Be careful driving home, and don’t worry about getting here on time tomorrow. I’ll wait for you.”
    Ethan watched until the car was out of sight, then went back in the house and put the pan and two mugs they’d used for the hot chocolate in the dishwasher. His hands shook so that he almost broke the mugs when they involuntarily banged together while he was holding them.
    This couldn’t go on! It was an impossible situation. It was bad enough that he lusted after Brittany so strongly, but knowing that she returned the feelings and, worse, thought those feelings were love made the whole predicament inconceivable.
    He couldn’t take advantage of those tender emotions! If she were older, more experienced, they could admit they were in the throes of passion and enjoy it while it lasted, but his starry-eyed young Cinderella expected a fairy godmother to bring her a Prince Charming who would love her forever.
    Unfortunately he wasn’t that man. He was a college professor with a small son and a sick dad, both of whom needed to be taken care of. It was foolish of him to have hired Brittany knowing about the magnetism between them, and now it was purely selfish of him to keep her on.
    He’d break her heart if he did, and he’d break his own if he was forced to let her go.
    He switched off the kitchen light and headed for the stairway.The most important thing he’d learned tonight was that he really needed a live-in nanny like Hannah had employed ever since Danny was born. He would prefer an older woman. One who had already raised her own children and didn’t like living alone. A person like that would fit right in with his little family. She would help him raise Danny and also be a companion for Nate.
    Actually, all his dad needed was someone to remind him to take his pills and his shots. He could give them to himself.
    Ethan started up the stairs. But where was he going to find this paragon? Hannah never seemed to have much trouble finding help. Keeping it, yes. She was as difficult to work for as she was to be married to, but when one nanny left, Hannah always found another one without delay.
    So why was he having such a time finding a permanent caregiver for his small son? Was he really searching as hard as he could?
    Of course he was. It’s true he’d had a few applicants to his want ad in the campus paper and turned them all down as unsuitable. After all, he couldn’t leave his little boy with just anybody, although Nate was always here to make sure Danny was properly cared for. Still, “adequately cared for” wasn’t enough.