Deb Kastner - The Nanny's Twin Blessings

One last chance

Unemployed and with no place to live, Stephanie Cartwright answers an online classified ad. The nanny job in small-town Serendipity, Texas, will give her a chance to start over. And she’ll be helping out teacher Drew Spencer, who desperately needs someone to watch his three-year-old twin boys. He knows better than anyone that his boys can be a handful—so he makes the offer on a short-term basis. Soon this big-city girl is charming both troublesome twins—and their handsome country dad. But can this temporary bond turn into a permanent promise?

“Nice to have a woman in the house,” Drew’s father commented, loud enough for the neighbors in the next county to hear.

Drew cringed. Did the old man even think about how Stephanie might feel when he put her on the spot that way?

She didn’t seem to have a problem with it. She chuckled and flipped the last pancake onto a plate. “I’m certainly outnumbered here, girls to boys,” she said, setting the platter of pancakes in the middle of the circular oak table and tickling Matty on the ear.

The boy squealed and wiggled.

“Me, too,” Jamey insisted.

Stephanie moved around the table and leaned around Drew so she could tickle both boys at once. “It’s a good thing I have two hands.”

Drew closed his eyes, trying not to breathe, because if he did, the oriental scent of her perfume was going to get to him. He was sure of it. He’d always been a sucker for orchids and jasmine…and now, beautiful Stephanie, whom his boys liked as much as he did.

DEB KASTNER

lives and writes in colorful Colorado with the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains for inspiration. She loves writing for Love Inspired Books, where she can write about her two favorite things—faith and love. Her characters range from upbeat and humorous to (her favorite) dark and broody heroes. Her plots fall anywhere in between, from a playful romp to the deeply emotional. Deb’s books have been twice nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Book of the Year for Love Inspired. Deb and her husband share their home with their two youngest daughters. Deb is thrilled about the newest member of the family—her first granddaughter, Isabella. What fun to be a granny! Deb loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her by email at Debwrtr@aol.com, or on her MySpace or Facebook pages.

The Nanny’s Twin Blessings

Deb Kastner

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

—Jeremiah 29:11

As always, to my family—

Joe, Annie, Kimberly, Katie, Isabella and Anthony. Without your support, there wouldn’t be a book.

Contents

Prologue Prologue PARENTS OF PRESCHOOLERS ONLINE COMMUNITY CLASSIFIED ADS WANTED: Nanny for three-year-old twin boys. Two-month temporary live-in position includes stipend, room and board. Assistance in relocation to Serendipity, Texas, provided. Mandatory two years’ experience with references. Please respond with resume and salary requirements.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Prologue

PARENTS OF PRESCHOOLERS ONLINE COMMUNITY

CLASSIFIED ADS

WANTED: Nanny for three-year-old twin boys. Two-month temporary live-in position includes stipend, room and board. Assistance in relocation to Serendipity, Texas, provided. Mandatory two years’ experience with references. Please respond with resume and salary requirements.

Chapter One

Stephanie Cartwright would have described the Texas prairie in early spring in two words: dry and barren. Endless miles of dirt, rolling hills of dry grass and dark, skeletal weeds, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

The land was a mirror of her heart. Or maybe it was her frame of mind that was coloring the landscape in dreary shades of gray. As if that wasn’t enough, she exited her subcompact rental car to find her nostrils angrily assaulted by a strange, pungent odor—no doubt the scent of cows or horses or other livestock.

Did it smell like this all the time? She hoped it was just the direction of the wind adding to the eye-watering stench in the air, because for better or for worse, Serendipity, Texas, was where she’d be living for the next couple of months. As far away from the east coast—and her ex-boyfriend—as she could get. Hidden from the world in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

And way, way out of her comfort zone.

But it wasn’t as if she could turn around and go back home. There was no home to go back to. Trying not to breathe too deeply, she clenched her fists and fought for control as her feelings once again vacillated between devastation and anger. At any given moment since she’d boarded the plane for Texas, she had struggled with one of those emotions, sometimes both at the same time.

Her eyes widened as a large, square-headed and very intimidating dog wandered up and situated himself on the wood-planked porch steps to the house where her new employer, Drew Spencer, presumably waited.

Peachy. Another obstacle. Just what she needed… .

Stephanie was a nanny. She’d expected to be greeted by children, not canines. She had little experience with animals and had never even owned a pet.

The dog shook his head and licked his chops. He appeared to be welcoming her, though she couldn’t be certain. For all she knew he was putting her on the menu.

“Hello there, big guy,” Stephanie crooned, speaking in the same soft, gentle tone of voice she used to calm small children. She prayed it would work. “Nice puppy.”

The dog’s ears pricked. His mouth curved up naturally, as if he was smiling at her, and he wagged his tail with unreserved enthusiasm. Was that a good sign?

“Don’t worry. He’s harmless.” Warm laughter emanated from behind the screen door, startling her.

If she wasn’t a twenty-three-year-old woman in perfect health, she probably would have thought she was experiencing a heart attack. Every nerve ending in her body crackled with an unexpected jolt of electricity. She hadn’t realized someone was watching her, and her face flamed in embarrassment.

A man who quickly introduced himself as Drew Spencer opened the screen and stepped out onto the porch. “Sorry about that. The four-legged Welcome Wagon that greeted you is Quincy, the over-enthusiastic pit bull. I should have put him in the house.”

“He’s very…friendly.” Stephanie straightened her shoulders and curled her lips into what she hoped was an inviting smile.

“Very,” Drew agreed, chuckling. “He may look like a tough old watchdog, but Quincy is as harmless as they come. If you were a robber he’d invite you into the house and show you where the silver was.”

“I’m more interested in your gold,” she teased as her gaze locked with Drew’s intelligent but darkly shadowed green eyes.