The Mysterious Twin. Leona Karr

love to swim,” she said quickly. “And I bet Pamela could teach me some strokes.” Then she smiled at Benny. “And I would like very much to see your airplane collection.”

      As they walked up the steps into the house, Kyle kept up a running monologue, praising the kids and giving Pamela and Benny the impression that their new nanny was in awe of all their accomplishments.

      They entered a spacious foyer decorated in white-and-black marble, and Ashley scarcely had time to view numerous doors opening off of a wide hall before Kyle whisked them up a beautiful staircase to the second floor. A spacious sitting room furnished with lounge chairs and a large television was in an open area at the top of the stairs. Ashley could tell from the childish clutter that the two children spent a lot of time there. No doubt the downstairs living rooms were off-limits.

      Benny rushed over to a table, picked up a video game and held it out to Ashley. “Let’s play. It’s a neat airplane war game. You can have the Tomcats.” Then he added with all the dictatorship of an eight-year-old, “Pammy won’t play so you have to.”

      “She’s not playing that stupid game,” flared his sister. “Mother said she was supposed to keep me company in this horrid place.” Her blue eyes held the hint of tears. “Grandfather had no right to make us come here.”

      “You’re a baby…baby…baby.”

      “I am not.” Pamela clenched her fists.

      Ashley knew that if she wanted to get off on a good footing, it was important not to slight either Benny or Pamela, but at the moment she had no choice. Davie might be the smallest of the three, but his loud protests could no longer be ignored. She felt as if she were being pulled in all directions at once, and she sensed that Kyle was waiting to see what she was going to do.

      “We’ll play later, Benny,” she promised, and caught Pamela’s eyes with a reassuring smile. “I have to tend to the baby now, but there’ll be time later to do the things you want.”

      Neither of them responded to her promises. Both of the children were staring at her with their original belligerent frowns, and she knew that she had lost the first round by default.

      “The nursery is this way,” Kyle said, leading the way down the hall. Pamela and Benny didn’t follow but remained in the sitting room. “I hope you’ll be very comfortable here,” he said as they reached the nursery, with a connecting bedroom and bath. “We want to make certain that you have a very pleasant and entertaining summer.”

      Something in his tone didn’t quite match the look he was giving her. She’d seen the way he’d managed the children, and she wondered if somehow he was manipulating her in the same fashion. Right then and there, she decided that she’d warn Jill about him. Ashley’s intuitive sense had always stood her in good stead when dealing with people, and something about Kyle Stone did not ring true. There was a secret remoteness about him that wasn’t hidden by his pleasant smile or his accommodating manner.

      He set the carrier down in the nursery. “I think your little fellow’s tired of traveling. I’ll send Mrs. Borsch, the housekeeper, up to see if there’s anything you need. She told me that she thought the nursery was pretty complete, but I’m sure you’ll want everything to your own liking.”

      To my own liking?

      “I’m sure everything will be fine,” Ashley said, seeing diapers, a bottle warmer and other baby paraphernalia ready and waiting. Thank heavens, someone had anticipated the demands of caring for a baby twenty-four hours a day. If she could just get through the next few hours, things would surely smooth out.

      Kyle had seen her eyes narrow as he spoke, and he knew she’d picked up the edge of sarcasm in his tone. Even though her reputation as the rather spoiled wife of a notable sports figure had preceded her, he’d have to be more careful. He didn’t want to antagonize her. If Jill Gordon got her back up, she could cause a lot of trouble for everyone.

      “Well, then, I guess I’ll leave you. Mrs. Borsch will answer any questions you have about settling in. I’ll take Pamela and Benny downstairs and keep them busy in the library until dinnertime. I’ll see you then.”

      As he paused in the doorway and looked back at her, he was struck by the awkward way she was handling the crying baby. Instead of putting the infant over her shoulder and patting his bottom to soothe him, she held him so that he was lying on his back, kicking his feet and waving his arms.

      He sighed inwardly. Some nanny. It’s a good thing Pamela and Benny are old enough to manage most things themselves.

      As he herded Benny and Pamela downstairs, his thoughts centered on what he was going to tell Hugo when his boss called him that night.

      Nobody played Hugo Vandenburg for a fool and got away with it. All that illegal betting money was supposed to come home to him. All along, he’d used Budge to cover his behind-the-scenes involvement in the scam, but the basketball star had double-crossed him. Not only had Budge gotten away with Hugo’s money, but he had the information that could put the wealthy team owner behind bars. The missing Budge was a loaded cannon that could go off at any minute. Hugo needed to get to him before the law did, and the whole story came out.

      Thanks to a letter that Budge had written to Jill before he disappeared, Hugo was using Jill as bait to get Hugo. In the letter, Budge had declared his love for his wife and promised not to leave the country without her. Budge had given the letter to one of his player friends to deliver to Jill, but the friend had betrayed him and given the letter to Hugo instead.

      Hugo had offered the deserted Jill Gordon a nanny’s job in order to have her under surveillance. He’d put Kyle in charge of keeping close tabs on her. Kyle’s orders were to carefully monitor any contact that Budge might make with his wife so that any plans the couple made to leave the country together could be foiled.

      But relating to Jill Gordon was going to be a harder job than Kyle had thought. She was less than competent caring for her own baby and having her handling two more children was likely to result in a fiasco. Unfortunately, there was too much at stake to let her sink or swim on her own. Hugo had really hoodwinked her into thinking that he considered her another one of Budge’s victims and wanted to make it up to her out of the goodness of his heart.

      Chapter Two

      After she’d diapered Davie and heated the last bottle of formula, Ashley collapsed in a rocking chair with the baby in her arms. Fighting his little fists away from his mouth so she could stick in the bottle, she soothed him and breathed a sigh of relief when he finally recognized the rubber nipple. At first he almost choked on the flow of the warm liquid, but after a moment, he settled into a quiet nursing rhythm.

      As she sat there in the quiet room, the silence broken only by Davie’s contented slurping, some of the stiffness went out of her body. She leaned her head back against the chair. I can do this. It’s only for a few days. Jill had always been able to take life at a gallop. She’d probably thrive on all the commotion and excitement of living in a grand southern mansion.

      The baby was almost finished with his bottle when Ashley realized someone was standing in the doorway watching her.

      “May I come in?” the woman asked briskly.

      Ashley nodded. “Please, do.”

      “Mr. Stone told me you had arrived, Mrs. Gordon. I’m Ina Borsch, the housekeeper.” Her unsmiling eyes flickered over Ashley and the baby.

      “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Borsch,” Ashley said politely to the large-boned woman, obviously stiffly corseted under a plain navy blue dress. She recognized her voice; this was the woman who had answered the telephone.

      “I trust you have found everything to your satisfaction. Mr. Vandenburg left instructions that you were to be made comfortable. I have done my best to carry out his orders.”

      “Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Borsch,” Ashley responded in the same formal tone. The woman’s manner