The Nanny Trap. Cat Schield

lit up. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.”

      “Glad why?”

      “Victoria ended her relationship with Gregory.” His stepsister’s animated expression warned Blake she was in full interference mode.

      He’d heard something to that effect. “I suspect that had something to do with the fact that her play closed after two weeks?” Blake made no effort to hide his cynicism.

      “That’s not it at all,” Jeanne insisted. “She never stopped loving you.”

      “She loves her career more.”

      It had been a bitter blow when he’d discovered how she’d fooled him into believing having a family was her first priority when her true passion was show business.

      “That’s not true,” Jeanne insisted.

      While Blake admired Jeanne’s loyalty to her best friend, he was in no mood to forgive his ex-wife. “I know you want to defend her, but you’re wasting your breath trying to convince me to take her back. She put her career before her family.”

      “I know it’s something she’d never do again.”

      Despite her conviction, his stepsister’s argument failed to shift Blake’s opinion of Vicky’s desires. “She left me. She left Drew.” And it was the latter that prevented him from trusting her ever again.

      “She knows she made a mistake.”

      “A mistake?” Past and present betrayals tangled in Blake’s chest. “She chose her career over our family. That’s more than just a mistake.”

      “You are not an easy man to please, Blake,” Jeanne said, her tone firm. A second later, she put her hand on his arm. “She was overwhelmed at suddenly becoming a mother and retreated into something that was comfortable and familiar to her. She knows she didn’t make the best choice.”

      “But she made it.” He set aside his past disappointments and turned his gaze once more to the future. “And I made mine.” Seeing that they weren’t ever going to agree, Blake bent down and kissed his stepsister’s cheek. “Drew needs a mother.”

      “And Vicky is ready to be that.”

      Blake shook his head. “She’s not, and I need to put Drew’s needs first.”

      “What does that mean?”

      “I got married the first time because I fell in love, and it left my son without a mother. This time I’m going to do it differently.”