The Nanny's Temporary Triplets by Noelle Marchand

Author:Noelle Marchand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

How Caroline ended up seated alongside David McKay in a buggy headed to some little town called Oakalla was still something of a mystery to her. It had all started two days ago when David had mentioned the idea of trying to find a home for the triplets to his mother. Ida had gasped and proclaimed the idea heaven-sent. The notion of David going about the task alone hadn’t sat nearly as well with her. A woman’s opinion on the prospective adoptive family was indispensable. None of that had seemed suspicious, but then Ida declared that a woman her age could hardly be expected to go traipsing about the countryside, so the duty must fall to Caroline.

Caroline had protested, citing her responsibility to the triplets. Ida had insisted. David had shrugged and rented a buggy. And so here she was, clinging to the right side of the buggy as it made every attempt to throw her against David’s side. Was the seat tilted? How else could it be possible that she kept sliding toward him no matter how much distance she tried to maintain between them? Was he the one moving? Surely not. The fabric of her traveling skirt was too slippery; that was all.

“Best get comfortable,” David said over the rhythmic clop of the horse’s hooves. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

“How much longer, do you think?”

“An hour and half to two hours depending on the conditions of the road.”

Her fingers tightened on the buggy’s padded arm. “And how long has it been so far?”

“About five minutes.”

“Oh.” He was right. She should get comfortable. Seated as she was, she’d likely tumble from the buggy at the first sizable bump. Besides, this wouldn’t be much different from sitting next to David at mealtime. Except that meals were relatively short and there were always five other people at the table. It didn’t help that Ida had packed them a picnic lunch. It made the business of finding a home for the triplets seem more like...well, like they were courting, which they weren’t, even though she had been spending an awful lot of time with him on that porch swing in the evenings.

“Caroline.”

She snapped back to attention. “Yes?”

He caught her gaze as amusement filled his. “Relax. It’s a beautiful day. Let’s enjoy it.”

“Right.” She offered a wan smile and gave it a valiant effort. Releasing her death grip on the buggy’s armrest, she braced her boots on the floor to see if that would keep her from sliding. It did. Companionable silence settled over them as little by little she relaxed.

She pulled in a deep breath, smelled the sharp scent of grass, rich leather and the spicy woods. Streaks of wildflowers painted the tall grasses alongside the pale dirt road. The branches of oak, willow and cypress trees intertwined, almost but not quite forming an arch overhead. A ribbon of cloudy blue skies danced between their branches. She gasped as a blue jay darted across their path into the woods, where its mate chirped a welcome.

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