Jules Bennett – What the Prince Wants (страница 1)
Before he could say anything, she added, “Children need room to grow, to flourish. Yes, they need schedules, but they also need to learn to be flexible.”
Colin met and held her stare. There was no way this nanny was going to come in here and wreck everything just for the sake of making memories.
“I’ll take her up for her nap,” he told Darcy, picking up little Iris and heading to the nursery, Darcy following. With her little arms around his neck, his daughter still clutched the new doll Darcy had given her. Iris had taken to Darcy exactly how Colin wished his little girl would take to a new nanny.
Yet everything about Darcy hadn’t measured up to anything he thought he’d be getting into.
Colin stepped into the pale green and pink nursery. A room fit for a princess … or duchess as the case might be.
He glanced at beautiful Darcy. The woman had no idea who he was …
And yet the pull between them was undeniable. Somehow he’d have to resist his sexy new nanny.
What the Prince Wants
is part of Mills & Boon® Desire™’s No.1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men … wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.
What the Prince Wants
Jules Bennett
Award-winning author JULES BENNETT is no stranger to romance—she met her husband when she was only fourteen. After dating through high school, the two married. He encouraged her to chase her dream of becoming an author. Jules has now published nearly thirty novels. She and her husband are living their own happily-ever-after while raising two girls. Jules loves to hear from readers through her website, www.julesbennett.com, her Facebook fan page or on Twitter.
To the Gems for Jules Street Team!
Thank you for the encouragement, advice and most of all for the support.
I love you all!
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
The curves, the expressive green eyes, rich brown hair the color of his favorite scotch—all made for a punch of primal lust Mikos Colin Alexander hadn’t experienced in years. This sure as hell was not the woman he’d expected to see on his doorstep.
Woman? No, she couldn’t be more than twenty years old. She looked as if she’d just stepped out of a photo shoot for some popular American teen magazine. With her pink T-shirt, body-hugging jeans and little white sandals, this was not the image he’d had in mind when he’d gone online seeking a nanny.
Iris’s angry cry drew his attention back to the point of this meeting. The lady at his door immediately shifted her gaze from him to the child on his hip.
“Aww, it’s okay, sweetheart.” Her voice, so soft, so gentle, got Iris’s attention. “What’s a beautiful princess like you crying about?”
His wish to be free from his royal heritage had carried him through life, but the urge had never been stronger than after the accident that nearly took his life. Between that, his failed marriage, Karina’s death and his being a widowed prince, the media was all over him. There wasn’t a moment’s peace back home and he needed to get away, to regroup...and maybe to never return.
Now more than ever he wanted independence—for him and his daughter.
“I’m sorry.” Extending her hand, the lady offered him a wide, radiant smile. “I’m Darcy Cooper. You must be Mr. Alexander.”
Darcy. The woman he’d emailed, the woman he’d spoken to on the phone. The woman he’d all but hired sight unseen to be his live-in nanny because of her impressive references and the number of years the agency had been in business.
What happened to the short, round, bun-wearing grandmother type he’d seen pictured on the website? He’d been assured the woman coming to care for his daughter was the owner. No way could this curvaceous beauty be in charge of Loving Hands Childcare Agency. Perhaps they’d sent someone else at the last minute.
Colin shifted his irate daughter to his good hip. Damn accident still had him fighting to get back to normal...whatever normal was after nearly dying and then losing your wife. “You’re not what I expected.”
Quirking a brow, she tipped her head as a smile spread across her face. Her eyes ran over him, no doubt taking in his running shorts, T-shirt and bedhead.
“That would make two of us.”
Her sparkling eyes held his. Was she mocking him? Of course she was. She had no idea who she was speaking to...not that anybody here knew of his royal status, but still. Nobody mocked him except his brother.
Iris’s piercing wails grew louder, more shrill in his ear. Between lack of sleep and the constant pain in his back and hip, he was done trying to be Father of the Year. The fact that he’d had no choice but to find assistance still angered him. Iris was the only reason he was giving in. Her needs had to come before his pride—which is why he now found himself staring down at the petite, yet very shapely, nanny.
This is what he’d wanted, right? To be free from all the servants, the media, the people ready to step in and practically raise his child for him while thrusting her into the limelight? Hell, he’d even been running his own vacuum here. Among other domestic tasks like dusting and putting the trash out at the end of the driveway. His brother would die laughing if he saw Mikos wielding a dust mop.
Colin. He had to keep thinking of himself as Colin now that he was in the United States. His middle name would help him blend in so much better. He was here to see who he was as a man, not a prince. To rediscover a piece of himself he was afraid he’d lost.
He just wanted these next six months to be free of all things involving his royal status. He was tired of being home where pity shrouded the faces of everyone he came in contact with. Yes, he was a widower, but so many people didn’t know he and his wife had been separated for months before her death. They’d had to keep putting up a good front for the sake of their reputations.
Pretenses. That word pretty much summed him up. He wanted this freedom, wanted to see how he and Iris could live without being waited on hand and foot. He’d promised his brother, King Stefan, that he would only be in the United States for six months, the maximum time a member of the royal family could be away from the island for personal reasons. Then Colin would have to decide whether to renounce his title of Prince Mikos Colin Alexander of Galini Isle or return to the island and resume his royal duties.
Colin was first in line to take over the throne if something ever happened to his brother. If he gave up his position, the crown would be passed to their oldest cousin, who’d rather chase skirts and make scandalous headlines than run a country. That fact had guilt coursing through Colin every time he thought about the situation.
He’d temporarily lost his title when he’d married Karina because she had been divorced once. Their land had archaic rules, but that was one he hadn’t been about to fight.