Bronwyn Jameson - A Tempting Engagement

“Emily, say you’ll be a nanny to Joshua. The hours are flexible. You can double your previous pay.” Mitch paused. “Joshua misses you.”

Those three words widened the crack in Emily’s defenses.

“There’s no need to live in,” he said evenly. “If that’s what’s bothering you.”

Her heart lurched. Of course he wouldn’t want her in his house, not when she might do something inappropriate and embarrassing such as, say, climb into his bed. Again.

She had no choice but to refuse. “No, Mitch, I don’t want the job.”

He stared at her for what seemed like hours before speaking. “I won’t give up, Emily. Take a few days to think about it, to decide what it would take to engage your services. You know you can name your price.”

She didn’t need a few days to think, didn’t even need a few seconds. The answer vibrated through her body and centered in her heart, as sure and strong and passionate as always.

Your love, Mitch Goodwin. That’s all it would take.

Dear Reader,

Thanks so much for choosing Silhouette Desire—the destination for powerful, passionate and provocative love stories. Things start heating up this month with Katherine Garbera’s Sin City Wedding, the next installment of our DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS series. An affair, a secret child, a quickie Las Vegas wedding…and that’s just the beginning of this romantic tale.

Also this month we have the marvelous Dixie Browning with her steamy Driven to Distraction. Cathleen Galitz brings us another book in the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE STOLEN BABY series with Pretending with the Playboy. Susan Crosby’s BEHIND CLOSED DOORS miniseries continues with the superhot Private Indiscretions. And Bronwyn Jameson takes us to Australia in A Tempting Engagement.

Finally, welcome the fabulous Roxanne St. Claire to the Silhouette Desire family. We’re positive you’ll enjoy Like a Hurricane and will be wanting the other McGrath brothers’ stories. We’ll be bringing them to you in the months to come as well as stories from Beverly Barton, Ann Major and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson. So keep coming back for more from Silhouette Desire.

More passion to you!

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor

Silhouette Desire

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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spent much of her childhood with her head buried in a book. As a teenager, she discovered romance novels, and it was only a matter of time before she turned her love of reading them into a love of writing them. Bronwyn shares an idyllic piece of the Australian farming heartland with her husband and three sons, a thousand sheep, a dozen horses, assorted wildlife and one kelpie dog. She still chooses to spend her limited downtime with a good book. Bronwyn loves to hear from readers. Write to her at bronwyn@bronwynjameson.com.

For my good mates Lisa, Kim and Yvonne—

thanks for the brainstorming and for your friendship.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Emily—his Emily—was working in a bar?

Everything inside Mitch Goodwin tensed at his sister’s casually delivered piece of news. Chantal was kidding, right? Looking to get a rise out of big brother on his first night back in Plenty. Welcome home to Australia, Mitch. Now you’ve unpacked and enjoyed a nice neighborly dinner, here’s something to get your blood pumping.

And of all things guaranteed to get his blood pumping, his son’s former nanny topped the list. With careful control he slotted another plate into the dishwasher. “And you didn’t think you should mention this development when you rang me? When you said ‘Guess who’s moved back to Plenty?’ and I asked how she was doing?”

“How, not what,” Chantal corrected mildly.

“You said she was fine.”

“A change of occupation doesn’t necessarily mean a person’s not fine and/or dandy.”

Mitch gave up all pretence of calm and slammed the dishwasher door shut. “The back bar of the Lion is some kind of change.”

“Hey, it’s not so bad since Bob Foley took over. As a matter of fact, the last brawl—”

“I don’t give a damn if it’s the Ritz. She’s a trained nanny, for cripe’s sake, not a barmaid!”

His angry outburst stopped Chantal midstride. For several surprised seconds she stared at him, the coffee cups in her hands suspended midway between cupboard and bench. “I thought that information would interest you in a more positive way. As in, you moved back here to write, you need a good nanny.”

Precisely. And knowing that the best nanny was pulling beers in the town’s seediest pub added urgency to his objective as well as heat to his conscience. “Joshua can stay here with you and Quade for an hour or two?” he asked.

“Of course,” Chantal answered automatically before she saw him start for the door. Then she threw down a handful of teaspoons with a metallic clatter. “Wait there, just one minute.”

Hand on the doorknob, he started counting down the sixty seconds.

“You’ve been driving half the day, cleaning and unpacking for the rest of it. Go home and sleep. Introduce yourself to a razor and see Emily tomorrow when you’re not looking quite so primitive.” She paused, eyes narrowing as she studied him head to foot. “I assume you do want to engage her services?”

No, want didn’t really cover it. He needed Emily. He and Joshua both.

That steely determination must have shown in his expression because Chantal sighed and shook her head. “Go easy on her, Mitch. I know you’ve had a tough couple of years, but so has Emily.”

Mitch knew all about Emily Warner’s tough years, and the fifteen-minute drive into Plenty provided plenty of time for that knowledge to turn him inside out. His ex-wife dismissing her as Joshua’s nanny for no good reason. Her grandfather’s death and the subsequent battle over his estate. That injustice still boiled Mitch’s blood…although not half as much as his own error of judgment.

Error of judgment? He snorted with self-disgust. That didn’t even begin to describe how he’d abused his duty of care two months after reemploying her, how he’d taken advantage of her warm, compassionate nature and shattered her trust.

As Joshua’s nanny, she’d lived in his home, and the night he learned of Annabelle’s death… His hands tightened on the wheel reflexively. He remembered the gut-kick of intense, impotent anger and the numbness he sought at his local bar. Emily had fetched him home, Emily with her gentle brown eyes and her comforting arms and her soft words of sympathy.