Page 7 of An Unexpected Match
The house was nothing extraordinary, certainly not enough to leave her speechless. Two stories, with five bedrooms, four upstairs and one off the family room. He’d been specific with the bedrooms, knowing he’d eventually need live-in help.
“This is great. Light and airy.”
She dumped her box and walked into the living room with a suppleness that he enjoyed watching. Did she dance he wondered, as he placed the box he carried beside hers and followed her into the room. She moved as if she did, lithely and gracefully.
“Hi, I’m Arden,” she said, crossing to the wide sofa where two little girls sat side by side. Sinking onto the floor in front of them, she drew two small books from her voluminous shoulder bag.
“I brought you each a present to celebrate our first day together.”
She smiled and held out one book to the younger of the girls, whose brown hair was contained in two curly ponytails on either side of her head.
“This is a favorite of mine. Do you already have it?Green Eggs and Ham.”
She waited while the little girl looked at the book and then at her father.
Brendan nodded, surprised. He hadn’t expected Arden to bring the girls anything. He was oddly touched she’d thought of it.
“And this one is for you. It’s another favorite,Go, Dog, Go. Maybe we can have a big dog party one day.”
Arden held out the book to the older child. Her glossy brown hair hung down her back like silk. Pulled back from her face, it moved when she ducked her head bashfully.
Brendan nodded to Hailey, and she took the book, a shy smile for Arden.
“Thank you,” she said. “We don’t have a dog. How can we have a dog party?”
“We’ll have to work on that,” Arden said, smiling at the child.
Avery clutched her book to her chest, but hadn’t said a word.
“Avery, say thank you,” Brendan prompted.
“Thank you.”
Her voice was quiet. She was the child who reminded him the most of Lannie. He wished her mother had known her, had seen how precious she was. But Lannie had died giving birth to Avery.
“Arden, Hailey is five, and Avery is three. Say hi to Arden, girls. She’s come to take care of you,” Brendan said, squatting near Avery.
He felt his heart swell with love for his daughters.
“Are you our new mommy?” Hailey asked.
Arden shook her head. A pang blasted through her at the words, and she had to work to keep her smile in place. She’d never be anyone’s mommy.
“No, honey, I’m not,” she said gently. “I’m your new babysitter. I’m going to watch you and your sister when your daddy’s not home. We’ll have lots of fun together. What’s your favorite game?”
Arden tried to concentrate on the girls and ignore the male hunk beside her. He wasn’t wearing a suit today. Instead, the jeans that molded his legs looked old, worn and fit as if he’d been poured into them and certainly delineated the powerful muscles of his thighs better than the trousers had yesterday.
But it was what was revealed by the white T-shirt with the sleeves ripped out that had her catching her breath. The smooth skin of his upper arms moved as the muscles expanded and contracted. She longed to run her fingertips over those muscles, feel the heat and the strength. The very thought had her stomach in knots and her brain finding it difficult to think clearly.
She was here to watch his daughters, for heaven’s sake, not fantasize about their father.
Fantasize? No, it was an appreciation for an excellent example of human anatomy, that’s all.
Yeah, right.
“I thought I heard voices.”
Arden glanced over her shoulder to see a tall, striking woman enter the room. She had the same dark-colored hair as Brendan Ferguson and looked a bit like him around the mouth, but her eyes were a lighter gray and friendly.