Page 93 of The Billionaire’s Nanny

Grace let go, picked her bag up, and got onto the stool with the pad. She set the pad down in front of her and put both hands in her lap, then looked at her aunt. Carrington came around the island.

"I said I'd tell you in the morning either way," Carrington said.

Grace waited.

"Lucy was here all night and she isn't going back into town today." Carrington’s voice sounded slightly raw. "I can’t promise you anything beyond that, and I won’t lie to you.”

Grace picked the pen up. She wrote and turned the pad around without looking up.

How long is she staying?

"I don't know."

You said that yesterday.

"I did. It was true then, and it's true now."

Lucy put her hand on the counter about a foot from Grace's arm and left it there. Grace hooked two fingers over her thumb and held on. She kept her eyes on Carrington.

"There's one more thing, and I said I'd do it with you here." Carrington took her hands off the marble and pushed them into her pockets. "I love her. I said it to her last night, and I'm saying it in front of you."

Grace looked at Lucy. Then she looked back at her aunt. Her mouth came open and shut again. She took the pen, wrote fast, and turned the pad around.

Does that mean she lives here now?

"It doesn't mean anything other than we love each other," Lucy said.

Grace wrote one more line, low down on the page, pressing hard.

Okay.

"Get your backpack."

Grace slid off the stool, picked up the bag, and got as far as the courtyard door. Then she came back for the pad, put it in with her homework folder, and walked over to where Bettina had the car running.

Lucy watched the tail lights disappear between the hedges. Carrington came and stood at the window with her and didn't say anything. Then Carrington rinsed her cup and turned around against the sink.

"That went as well as it could have," Carrington said.

"It went badly, but she took it well." Lucy came away from the window. "She asked you how long I would be here, and you couldn’t give her a real answer. She'll think about that all day at school."

"Then should I have just guessed and given her a concrete number?"

"No."

"All right."

"I'm not being hard on you."

Carrington folded her arms. "I have an appointment at Ashgrove at nine. There's something I'd like to ask you before I go."

"What is it?"

She didn't move from the sink. "Come back and be Grace’s nanny again. Same terms, better money, and the trust will pay it instead of me. Diane can have the papers ready by Tuesday."

Lucy set her cup down harder than she meant to. "No."

"But why not?"