Tessa couldn’t take her eyes off his face. She could picture him as just about anything apart from a father. He had too much personality to be a father! Then she thought what a ridiculous idea that was.
‘Are you following a word I’m saying?’
Tessa blinked. ‘I just find it a bit difficult to comprehend…how old is…Anna?’
‘Fourteen.’
‘Fourteen. But you never talk about her…have pictures…’ Was he ashamed of being a father? Was that why she was at boarding-school? Because she cramped his eligible-bachelor lifestyle?
‘I have pictures in my wallet. Care to see them just to verify that I’m telling the truth and that she looks like a normal kid, no nasty side effects from my being her father?’ He raised his eyebrows and Tessa blushed.
‘No, of course not!’
‘Can I ask you something?’
She nodded, still furiously examining the scenario that had unfolded in front of her.
‘Did my mother know that you had raised a kid sister virtually on your own?’
‘Completely on my own,’ Tessa absent-mindedly amended. ‘Yes. Why?’
“‘A most suitable woman for the job.”’ He quoted his mother with a grin. ‘Not only did you come with a sackful of references, but you were single, with a sensible head on sensible shoulders, and you had firsthand experience of communicating with a teenager. No wonder she failed to mention the little technicality of my daughter. You were so ideal for the job that she probably didn’t want to jeopardise the chances of your accepting the offer.’
‘I feel manipulated.’
‘You’ll have to mention that to my darling mother the next time you see her.’ He pulled out slowly from the kerb, leaving her to her riotous thoughts for a while.
‘But what exactly am I supposed to do with your daughter?’ Tessa eventually ventured. If she had just one drop of his volatile blood in her, then she would be more than a handful cooped up in an office when she would rather be hanging out with teenagers. Tessa shuddered at the prospect lurking ahead of her.
‘Supervise her. Give her little jobs to do. I’ll be around for most of the week. When I’m not…’
‘She can’t possibly stay with me…!’
‘Her old babysitter will take over. Don’t worry. I have every faith in your abilities…’
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