Renee Ryan - Claiming the Doctor's Heart

This seemed too good to be true.

He opened his mouth to respond, but Olivia smiled at him again, a big toothy grin that gave him pause. Having her in his home every day might not be wise.

He shoved his fingers through his hair and carefully stripped his voice of emotion. “Let’s say I agree to your offer. When would you be available to start work?”

Her earnest gaze met his. “Immediately.”

“What’s the rush?”

“No rush.”

He stared at her.

She never blinked, not once. But he got the sense she wasn’t being completely candid with him.

“What’s in it for you?”

Now she blinked. Twice. Her hesitation was obvious. But then she looked at him again, smiled and said, “Let me take care of your daughters for you, Connor.”

She grabbed his hand and a new kind of alertness took hold of him. “I promise to do right by them,” she whispered, releasing his hand. “And you.”

He didn’t doubt her sincerity. But what did a bank exec know about kids?

As if reading his mind, Olivia continued.

“Back in high school I earned enough money babysitting to buy my first car. I love kids. Always have, especially girls around your daughters’ age. I—” She cut herself off and blinked slowly, as if the words were painful to say. “I really do love kids.”

Her voice held a strange mix of sincerity and reserve, with a hint of hope underneath. Connor knew the feeling. He felt poised on the brink of something new himself, something life-altering.

Some of the knots in his gut unraveled. Then he remembered that watching his daughters was only part of the job description. “You’ll have to take on Samson, too.”

This seemed to amuse her. “How bad can one tiny puppy be?”

“Bad enough to put my housekeeper in the hospital.”

Olivia’s expression sobered. “Right.”

Reaching out to him, she laid her hand on his arm. Something inside him shifted under her gentle touch.

“Don’t worry, Connor.” She chuckled. “I know my way around dogs just as well as I do little girls.”

The selfish part of him wanted to hire her on the spot. The wiser part of him whispered a warning to hold off making a final decision. She might have babysat in high school, but that was a decade ago.

Even if she’d been a professional nanny all her adult life, something about Olivia Scott dug past the efficient facade he relied on to get him through the day. If he hired her, Connor could very well lose the fragile balance he’d carefully put in place.

But he couldn’t deny the fact that his daughters liked Olivia. They’d made that perfectly clear after their time with her in the park yesterday. All things considered, her offer might be the perfect solution to his child-care problems.

Still, Connor hesitated.

“What if we do this on a trial basis?” she asked.

“How would that work?”

“I’ll watch the girls for a few days. At the end of that time we’ll reevaluate the situation.” She placed her hands on her hips. “If any of us aren’t happy with the arrangement, and that includes your daughters, then I’ll walk away.”

He couldn’t say why the idea of her walking away bothered him, so he did a mental dance around the thought and focused on the matter at hand. “That could work.”

“If our arrangement doesn’t suit either of us, then I’ll help you find my replacement.”

“Before I agree to this trial run...” Was he really considering this? “I have a stipulation.”

“Only one?”

His lips twitched at her response. When was the last time he’d laughed? Really laughed? Yesterday, he realized, in Hawkins Park when Olivia Scott had saved an out-of-control puppy from possible drowning and made his daughters smile.

“You mentioned a stipulation?” she asked.

“Ethan has to agree.”

“What? Why?” Her eyes narrowed. “My brother has no say in what I can or cannot do.”

Maybe not. But as the oldest in a family of five siblings, and the only male, Connor knew firsthand the mind-set of a protective older brother. If their roles were reversed, and the other doctor was having this conversation with one of Connor’s sisters, he’d have a few reservations.

“Ethan is my business partner and friend. He needs to be okay with this. Talk to him. If he has no objections, then we’ll give it a try.”

She expelled an audible breath. “All right. I’ll speak to him, but only because you asked. I would never want to cause problems for you at work.”

With a determined gleam in her eye, she moved past him. “This won’t take long.”

Knowing how protective Ethan was of his one and only sister, Connor doubted that.

* * *

A rush of impatience surged through Olivia. What should have been a brief conversation was taking twice as long as it should. Waiting for her unusually long-winded brother to wind down, she slid a covert glance around his office. Nice. Masculine, tasteful, well organized.

Very efficient. Very Ethan.

Her gaze landed on a picture of him in full military gear, his arm slung over a woman’s shoulders. Even dressed in battle fatigues, she was a pretty girl, her smile nearly model-perfect. The two looked happy. They looked together.

Where was the other soldier now? And why had Ethan never mentioned her?

Observant to a fault, he caught her looking at the photo. With a swipe of his hand, he turned the picture facedown on the desk. The lines around his eyes seemed to cut deeper when he looked back at Olivia.

“You’re a banker, Liv, not a nanny.”

Oh, joy, they were back to that. “I babysat almost every night back in high school,” she reminded him a third—or was it a fourth?—time. She could tell him about all the time she’d spent with Kenzie when it had been Warner’s weekend with his daughter. How she’d loved and taken care of the girl as if she were her own.

“That was years ago, Liv. And besides—” He crossed his arms over his chest “—I thought you were only home for a short visit until the job at the bank in Denver opens up again.”

That had been true when she’d set out from Florida. She’d had every intention of taking a banking position similar to the one she’d left. But Olivia had experienced a change of heart on the cross-country drive. How did she tell Ethan she believed the Lord had given her a new passion to replace the old? One that would require considerable planning and a very large leap of faith?

Remembering her father’s long-ago advice, Olivia shifted to offense now that her defense was running weak. “It’s my Christian duty to help out a friend in need.”

“Connor isn’t your friend. He’s mine.”

“Same difference.” She snapped her shoulders back. “If we’re finished here I should get back—”

He pointed a finger at her. “You’re hiding something.”

“You’re paranoid.”

“Now you’re deflecting the conversation back on me.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “What’s going on, Olivia?”

Why did he have to care so much, see so much, when all she wanted to do was focus on the future, not the devastating events of the past that had brought her home in the first place?

As much as she wanted to run from this conversation, to pretend she wasn’t still raw from all the losses she’d suffered, she knew she couldn’t keep putting her brother off.

“I’m not sure I want to continue in my chosen profession.” There. She’d said it. The truth was out at last. “In fact, I want to take some time to think through my options. All my options.”

“Are you telling me you quit your job in Jacksonville before you—”

“I was downsized,” she admitted.

“Olivia.” Tenderness filled his gaze, a look that spoke of genuine affection and brotherly concern. “Why didn’t you tell Ryder and me when you first came home? Why didn’t you just—”