AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Heather waited a few minutes, but Daisy showed no signs of moving or talking. Her breathing was too shallow for her to be asleep, but Heather knew she was stubborn enough to pretend all the way until morning.
Time to try a different approach.
Getting quietly to her feet, as if she really did believe Daisy was sleeping and didn’t want to wake her, Heather motioned to Ryan to follow her back through the linked bathroom to his room. Once the connecting doors were closed behind them, Heather smiled and spoke at a more normal volume.
‘Come on, let’s get you tucked in again, too.’
It was the first time she’d been alone with Ryan, she realised—without Daisy’s glares and nudges to control his reactions. She planned to take advantage of it.
‘Does she often have nightmares?’ Heather asked as she shook out his duvet.
Ryan nodded sleepily. ‘Most nights. But she doesn’t always scream. Sometimes she just whimpers, and then she calms down again when I go in and lie down with her.’
These poor children. Stuck in this castle, grieving for their parents, and now their uncle wants to send them away to boarding school.
Cal was concerned that their academic learning should be up to the standard required at Derryford Academy. Heather was far more worried about ensuring that their mental and emotional well-being was up to living there.
And right now she wasn’t at all sure it was.
‘Do you have nightmares, too?’ Heather asked softly.
Ryan’s eyes were already drifting closed again, proving more than his words that this really was an everyday occurrence for him.
‘Sometimes,’ he murmured, his voice heavy with sleep. ‘But not like Daisy.’
His breathing evened out and Heather knew he was asleep again. She’d have to save her questions for another time.
In the meantime... I need to do more reading. Learn about grieving children...how to help them.
But one thing she already knew. Whatever these children had been through, they needed the same thing all children needed. Love, understanding and someone to listen. They needed to feel secure and safe.
And, judging by Daisy’s nightmares—not to mention the mud incident and the flying rubber duck—they didn’t.
Heather knew what it was like to grow up without one parent. She couldn’t imagine how she’d have coped if she’d lost her father as well as her mother. But she could identify a little with Daisy and Ryan.
The children were playing defence—attacking anyone who came near before they could be attacked. Heather wasn’t sure what form they expected that attack to come in, but they were definitely expecting it.
She needed to find a way to show them that they were safe and loved. But she was only staying until September. She wasn’t a long-term solution here.
But she knew a man who was.
These children needed family. And right now that family consisted of their uncle Cal—a man who planned to ship them off to boarding school so he didn’t have to deal with them.
Not if she could help it.
Tucking Ryan in one last time, she left the children sleeping to head back to her own room, already planning how best to approach Cal with her ideas.
She shut the bedroom door quietly, turned—and screamed.
CHAPTER FIVE
CAL CLAPPED A hand over Heather’s mouth to stop her screaming. The last thing they needed after all this was Daisy waking up and starting to shriek again. There was only so much night-time noise his ears could take.
‘It’s me. Cal. Not a ghost, or whatever.’
He’d never even seen a hint of the damn thing, but every other nanny seemed convinced that the castle was haunted, so why would Heather be any different. Of course she’d screamed.
He’d automatically pulled her into his arms, he realised belatedly, and the soft curves under her pyjamas were pressed up against his bare chest and boxers. Not the most professional start to their working relationship. But, God, it felt good.
The strange feeling that had made him stare at her earlier that evening swept over him again—half-amazement, half-disbelief that she was even real.
One thing was definitely real, though, and that was the way she felt in his arms. If this were any other woman he’d definitely be thinking about kissing her right now. About keeping her this close the whole night long...
