The Nanny Proposal. Joss Wood

Nearly every doll Savannah owned was in the pool with them and Kasey was helping Savannah to teach them to swim.

      Kasey, long-limbed and slim, flipped a chubby plastic doll onto its back to make it float. Savannah, sitting between Kasey’s legs, guided the doll through the water, her one hand on Kasey’s thigh. They were lost in their own conversation, oblivious to his presence.

      At one point in his life, while he’d still been at college, he’d dreamed of this: a big house, money in the bank, a hot wife and a cute kid. He’d been happy to play the field, but in the back of his mind he’d always been on the lookout for “the One.” His perfect match. Instant recognition of his soul mate. God, for a guy who’d always had nerves of steel when it came to finance, he’d been such a damn romantic.

      There was nothing romantic about being the direct cause of his parents’ car accident or having his fiancée run off with his client list six months after opening their investment firm together, nearly bankrupting him in the process. Kate had been six years older than him, sophisticated, and he’d hung on her every word. He’d believed her when she’d insisted he was bright enough to make it without completing his last semester of college, that he didn’t need his degree in finance and that he needed to concentrate on their business. So in love with her, he’d dropped out of college, breaking his parents’ hearts and ultimately causing their deaths.

      Afterward he’d flung himself into their business, working crazy hours to get their company off the ground, to distance himself from the grief. How had Kate repaid him? The month after he’d made his first five-million trade, she’d visited every one of their clients and told them that she was the one reading the markets, that she was concerned about his emotional health, his youth. His clients, scared to risk their money on such a young trader, had moved their portfolios to Kate. He’d been left with the three clients she hadn’t been brave enough to approach: his brother, Will Sanders and Megan. He’d taken his life savings, Megan’s and Jason’s modest investments and Will’s larger investment, and made them all a damned fortune. His former clients, who had lost money with Kate, had reached out to him, asking him to manage their money again.

      Because loyalty was everything to him, Aaron had refused. Besides, by that point—and thanks to Will’s word-of-mouth advertising—he had more, far richer, clients than he could handle.

      God, if only his parents had trusted his decision. If only they hadn’t freaked and jumped into that car ten minutes after he’d told them he was dropping out of school. If only they hadn’t driven through the night to confront him at Berkeley. If they had trusted him, just a little...

      His heart had splintered into a million pieces when his parents died and what was left had been decimated by Kate’s deceit. He would’ve given Kate everything. But she’d screwed him over, big-time, and, ten years later, his heart still wasn’t capable of giving or receiving love.

      Did Savannah sense that? Was that why she was so reserved around him? Did she subconsciously realize that he had nothing to give? God, he hoped not. If Jason—God...if his brother didn’t come back, could he love Savannah the way she deserved to be loved, the way a little girl needed to be loved? He wasn’t so sure...

       Dammit, Jay, you’d better be doing everything you can to get yourself back here! I can’t do this... Savvie needs you. She needs her dad.

       And, hell, I need my brother.

      He should be working, Aaron thought. There were markets to check, decisions to make. But he could take another five minutes to sit in the afternoon sun and soak up some rays. He tried to sit still but, feeling antsy, he reached for his cell and dialed Cole Sullivan’s number.

      The private investigator had assured him that he was doing everything he could to find Jason. But surely there was something Aaron could do, as well? Because, sure as hell, sitting around in the sun while his brother was missing wasn’t it. Guilt, acidic and bitter, burned his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

      “Sullivan.”

      Aaron asked whether Cole had any news.

      “Nothing concrete since the last time we spoke, Aaron.”

      Nothing concrete... Did that mean Cole had found something? “Do you have a hunch about what happened?”

      “I have nothing concrete, Aaron,” Cole repeated. “I make it a policy not to share my hunches or suppositions without anything to back them up.”

      Crap. Aaron gripped the bridge of his nose and ignored the burning in his eyes. “What can I do, Cole? Just tell me. I need to do something...the waiting is killing me.”

      “If there is anything, I’ll let you know. Hang tough, Aaron. I’m hoping to have some solid answers for you soon.”

      “Okay. Keep me updated.”

      “You will be the second person I call,” Cole promised him.

      Aaron wanted to protest but remembered that Cole was working for Will. He wasn’t calling the shots, wasn’t Cole’s client, and that burned him. He liked being in charge, but he was somewhat pacified by the knowledge that he was in the loop, that he’d get the information as soon as Will did. Besides, he instinctively trusted Cole. He knew he was doing everything he could to track down Jason.

      Aaron saw the tiny feet next to his size thirteens and slowly lifted his head to look into Savannah’s worried face. They shared the same green eyes, he thought, the Phillips chin.

      “Were you talking to someone about my daddy?” Savannah demanded, fear and worry in her eyes.

      Aaron felt like he was looking into his own soul. He thought about lying, then decided she deserved, and needed, the truth. “Yeah, Savvie, I was.”

      “Is he coming home soon?” Savannah asked, her bottom lip wobbling.

      Aaron took her hand in his and sat straighter. His gut clenched at the mixture of hope and fear he saw in her eyes. “I don’t know, honey. We’re trying to find him.”

      “Something’s wrong, Uncle Aaron. Daddy always calls me and it’s been so long.”

      Tears just made the green of her eyes more brilliant.

      Aaron reached up and touched her cheek with the back of his knuckle. “I know, honey. I’m worried, too.” He gestured to his phone, conscious of Kasey standing a few feet behind Savannah, her body stiff with tension. Did she think he should be more upbeat? That he should be more optimistic? Was this one of those times when he should be lying his ass off?

      He met her eyes and saw her concern for Savvie. She was clearly holding herself back, resisting the urge to sweep the little girl into her arms and soothe away her pain.

      Aaron was grateful for her reticence. This conversation, as hard as it was, was the first real conversation he’d had with Savannah since she’d moved in full-time.

      He picked up his phone and tossed it from one hand to another. “The man I was just talking to? His name is Mr. Sullivan, and his job is to find people who have gone missing.”

      “Will he find my daddy?”

      Aaron lifted his broad shoulders in a weary shrug. “He’s trying, honey. I just called him to ask him if I could help him, but there’s nothing I can do. I would if I could, but this is his job.”

      Savannah moved so that she was standing between his legs. Aaron slid his arm around her, being careful to keep his touch gentle. His eyes burned when she laid her head on his shoulder. “Your job is to look after me... I heard you saying that to Kasey.”

      “It is my job. Nobody is more important to your dad than you and he’d want me to make sure that you are safe.”

      Savannah pushed her face into his neck and he felt her warm breath on his skin. “I miss him, Uncle Aaron.”

      “I do, too, Savvie.” Aaron rested his cheek against her head and closed his eyes. God, Jay, where the hell are you?