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Pensively, the lawyer taps his goateed chin. “That’s my point. Not exactly the best person to keep the family secrets with.”
I roll my eyes. “She signed an NDA, and she’s the first nanny all of us could agree on. That’s good enough for me.”
I don’t tell him why I believe all of us agree on her, even subconsciously. Her resemblance to Alexandra is still daunting to me.
He grins at me, his veneers freaking me out slightly. His quest to look twenty years younger than his sixty years unnerves me somehow. The glow of his golden, over-tanned skin bouncing off the ivory of his fake teeth puts me at odds with my mortality.
I’m literally half his age.
“If I were you, I’d make some contingency plans in case this one doesn’t work out. Dumping this much stress of a long-term commitment on the new girl might send her running for the hills.”
I cringe inwardly, but his suggestion is noted.
He rises from his spot and extends a hand. “I’ll get the ball rolling on the adoption paperwork.”
“Wait on that.” I want to give Aspen some time to really think this through. She needs to be committed. “Give it a day and wait for my call.”
“Suit yourself,” he agrees, straightening his blazer as he retreats for the office doors. “But don’t forget, time is of the essence here. The longer you wait, the more exposed Lily becomes.”
As if I can forget that. Lily’s well-being is constantly at the forefront of my mind, even above that of my brother or my mother.
* * *
A catastrophe is growing in New York. That sounds worse than it is—there’s always a problem somewhere with one building or standing buildings. But this issue is monopolizing more of my time than I’d prefer.
I’ll have to fly out again tonight, and I spend the day poring over last-minute prep at the home office, fully intent on speaking with Aspen before I go.
But as the afternoon sun sinks lower over the blue-pink Georgian skies, I lose track of everything but my business affairs, the numbers and emails flooding my desktop computer, the phone ringing endlessly.
The den is pitch black except for the eerie glow of the computer screen, and a tentative knock on the office door alerts me to the fact that I’m sitting in pure darkness.
Rubbing my eyes, I flop back against the high back of the chair and call out, “Come in!”
My stomach growls slightly, reminding me I haven’t eaten a bite since breakfast, but I’ll eat on the jet.
To my astonishment, Aspen stands at the threshold, holding a small, silver tray with a matching dome on top. The crotch around my pants tightens to see her shoulder-length waves let loose now, her daytime outfit switched for a more casual evening tracksuit. Even in the dress down, she looks amazing.
“Zoe asked me to bring this in for you.” She raises the tray in her hands. “But I don’t think I can even see you. Are there no lights in here?”
Chuckling dryly, I also stand and flip on one of the table lamps. A hazy, romantic glow illuminates the room.
“And why are you doing Zoe’s job?” I ask, accepting the tray from her.
“I was coming in here, anyway,” Aspen says quickly. “Don’t blame Zoe.”
A smile quirks the edges of my lips, her loyalty filed at the back of my mind.
I set the untouched food down on the edge of the coffee table and perch on the edge of my desk, crossing my arms over my chest. “What are you coming to see me about?”
“Really?” she snickers mirthlessly. “You don’t know?”
“Oh, you’re ready to discuss that now.”
I brace myself, not because of the money I’m sure she’s going to ask me for, but because I’m going to get a full picture of exactly the woman I’m dealing with. I’ve seen her interact with Lily, the way our small charge has taken to her. But Julian was right; none of us know her beyond the background check and what we read in her file from the agency.
But nothing the agency could do would account for the character of this too beautiful and impossibly uncomfortable woman standing before me now.
“How much?” I finally ask, determined to regain the upper hand as she stares at me with those guileless brown eyes. They shadow in the already dim room.
