The Royal Nanny Read online

  Leyah was ethereal. Not of this world, but only from heaven.

  Alastair glanced over at her, watching her discreetly as she filled out the application he’d handed to her. Leyah’s head was lowered as she completed the form, and Alastair felt his groin stir when she bit her lower lip. He was amazed that she was able to produce such a reaction in him without trying or even being aware of the effect she caused in his body.

  When she looked up at him, Alastair fixed his face into an emotionless expression. Until he learned more about her, he would do all he could to respect her and treat her as he did any other employee of the Crown. It wouldn’t be easy, she already produced such a visceral reaction inside of him, but Alastair was determined to maintain an implacable mask.

  “Do you have a question, Ms. Meer?” Alastair asked.

  Leyah inhaled and opened her mouth, her full lips gleaming from the lip gloss she’d obviously put on for this interview, but she shook her head, pressed her lips into a small smile and returned to the form in her lap. Alastair nodded and returned to his own work. Which was… dammit what was it he was supposed to be doing again?

  The intercom on his phone buzzed before he had more time to stare at his desk in confusion. Alastair pressed the button, flicking his eyes at Leyah once more, hoping the interruption wouldn’t call him away from her.

  “Yes, Persephone?” he answered.

  “Mexoria Źeylήia, Prince Algerone is on line one for you,” Persephone responded.

  Alastair nodded. After he and Algerone had found Dahni—who had been hiding in Alastair’s waiting room, beneath one of the chairs—they had taken all three of the young princesses upstairs and to the playroom, so Algerone could have an easier time watching them. Alastair had placed a bet with himself that it wouldn’t take Algerone more than an hour to call him, needing help. The man has seven children. Who needs that many? It’s just greedy and indulgent, Alastair thought as he lifted his phone to his ear and pushed on the appropriate button.

  “Iak, bruthrar?” Alastair asked.

  “Please, please tell me you found me a new nanny and they can start right now,” Algerone’s voice came over the phone line sounding exhausted.

  Alastair snorted. “I believe so. Not sure about the start date, but it’s highly recommended by someone we trust, and while I’m not sure when it starts, I think I can work something out as to the start date.” Alastair didn’t relish speaking in code to his brother, but with Leyah sitting right there in front of him, it was imperative.

  “Oh, thank God,” Algerone breathed. “Have I mentioned that my wife is a superhero? I don’t know how she did this.”

  Alastair shook his head. “First of all, Valerie was only raising five children, and she had help, first from the older boys, then her parents, her siblings, and her friends. You’re trying to take care of a toddler and two newborns, all on your own.”

  “Yes, you are, of course, correct in pointing that out. Thank you, Las,” Algerone responded with a sigh.

  Alastair jerked his head up when he heard Leyah snort in amusement. He frowned and wondered if there was a question on the application that sparked humor. He hadn’t thought there was, but perhaps her sense of humor was different from his.

  “Let me call you back when I finish this interview, Al,” Alastair stated, hanging up before his older brother had a chance to answer. He focused his attention on Leyah, tilting his head as he appraised her.

  “Was there a question that you found funny, Ms. Meer?” he asked her after a silent moment.

  Alastair’s heart pounded in his chest when Leyah lifted her head, placed her hands down on top of the tablet he’d given her to complete the application, and looked up at him, her brown eyes intensely watching him, though they were calm. She shrugged, and Alastair found his gaze moving over her slim shoulders, up her slender neck, to her full lips, his mind filling with images of what he would like to do to them.

  “Not necessarily amused, Mexoria Źeylήia, it’s just that, raising five children? Alone? Even with the help you have stated Her Royal Highness, Princess Valerie, received while she was in the States, they were not around all the time. And her older children could only help so much. I am certain that if your brother—and you, for that matter—were to talk to Her Highness about her days as a single parent of five, she would be better to enlighten you, but as someone who has often had the opportunity to watch numerous children at once, close in age as the princes and princesses are, I can tell you that it is difficult. And there’s nothing only about it,” Leyah stated with a hint of amusement, yet respect, in her tone. When she finished, her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth, as if she were just remembering that she was—in fact—interviewing for a job as the nanny, with him.

  Alastair quirked an eyebrow and smiled.

  “It’s nice that you are already so protective of the Princess. It’s an admirable trait to have. And yes,” he inclined his head. “you’re right. I have no idea what my sister-in-law went through while raising my nieces and nephews on her own. I’ll have to remind my brother to be thankful it’s only three and not five, and maybe he should purchase a thank you gift, now that he has more respect and a better understanding of what she endured?” he teased, with a lift of an eyebrow.

  Alastair was shocked when Leyah nodded her head. “I think that’s an excellent idea, Your Majesty. But, please forgive my impudence in speaking out of turn. It was not my intention to disrespect you or His Highness or his marriage to Princess Valerie, in any way. Nor do I question their parenting,” she started to babble and only stopped when Alastair raised a hand.

  “It is fine, Ms. Meer. I won’t share with them what you said, though I will say I find your honesty refreshing.” He gestured to the tablet in her lap. “Can I look over your application, so we can begin the interview?”

  Leyah hurriedly handed the tablet to him and Alastair smiled at her with a nod of acknowledgment. He barely skimmed the answers, before he sat it down on top of the desk.

  “So, Ms. Meer, tell me about yourself. What are your likes? Dislikes? Pet peeves? What’s your greatest strength and your biggest weakness?” Alastair asked her, peppering her with questions to see how she would respond. Besides, he found her immensely intriguing. Perhaps he would have to seduce the nanny after she got settled in.

  Alastair watched as she frowned at his questions, her sculpted eyebrows pulling low on her face. She nibbles her lower lip and he barely restrained the groan that wanted to erupt from his chest. He was almost certain she knew what she was doing to him. A woman as gorgeous as she had to know the power her beauty afforded her. However, from what he could gather in the short amount of time he’d spent in her presence, she didn’t use her looks for personal gain. Alastair liked that. A lot. He also appreciated the way she tried to make herself appear demure, but he could see the rebellion, the defiance, lurking in her eyes.

  “I am not sure I have ever been asked questions like this before, Mexoria Źeylήia. Please forgive me for taking time to answer,” she finally responded after a long moment of contemplation.

  Alastair waved his hand in an almost apathetic manner. “No worries, my lady. Take all the time you need. You are my final interview of the day,” he reassured her.

  His heart beat out a staccato rhythm when she smiled at him and inclined her head in an almost regal manner. She would make an exceptional queen, he thought to himself.

  “I find that I enjoy reading, gardening, cooking, dancing, and the occasional bout of hand-to-hand combat. I dislike knitting, shopping, dogs, and most reality television. I would have to say that my greatest strength is my honesty, my compassion for people, my love of children, my understanding of world events, and my faith in the gods. My greatest weakness?” Leyah sighed and Alastair found himself wanting to reach out and comfort her as a look of sadness passed over her face. “My greatest weakness is my need for justice, my mouth, and my baking,” she responded.

  Alastair raised his eyebrows at her answer. Ha
d she not included the bits about hand-to-hand combat, and her greatest weakness, he would have suspected her of giving answers she thought he wanted to hear. What an enigma she was. Both soft and yet with an internal steely hardness that made Alastair curious as to what secrets she held within, and just who she really was. He wanted to know more. He wanted to know why she felt the need for justice was a weakness. And as he stared at her mouth, he could admit that while she felt that it was a weakness—no doubt because of how she had a propensity for speaking out and being blunt when she was trying to present an image of demureness and gentility—Alastair could admit to her lips being his weakness because of his desire to nibble, suck, kiss, and lick on them until her taste was imprinted on his memory. He could just imagine her lips wrapped around his cock and with that image branded on his mind’s eye, Alastair adjusted in his chair.

  He had never been in this position before. Yes, there had been plenty of women he’d been attracted to, hell, even women he’d found himself going a little “cum-crazy” over, but those were all women he’d already slept with. He’d never even touched Leyah, and he could easily see that she would have a starring role in his dreams that evening. And what he felt went beyond mere physical curiosity. He needed to know more about her. And so, he did the only thing a man in his position could do.

  “You’re hired,” he told her and watched as her eyes widened.

  “Really?” She looked around the room in confusion. “But don’t you want to ask me some more questions?”

  Alastair smiled, an expression he was still quite unused to. “You come highly recommended by a trusted member of our security staff, Danorian, I planned on hiring you in any case, but I found myself intrigued and wanted to talk to you a bit myself. You know, to make sure you weren’t a complete psycho and didn’t have any ulterior motives,” he confessed.

  Leyah quirked an eyebrow at him and Alastair leaned back in his chair, allowing her gaze to drift over his face, his torso, and back. He was not accustomed to allowing others to apprise him or to judge him, he was a prince of Malvidence after all, but Alastair found that he quite enjoyed having Leyah’s eyes on him.

  He gave himself a mental shake. This was just not done. At least not by him. Lusting after a member of the staff, or a potential member. Besides his one slip-up with Persephone and Karianne—who didn’t work at the palace but did work at one of Alastair’s companies—Alastair had maintained a hard-won exterior and reputation for respectability and professionalism. And with nothing more than a few questions, a smile, and a walk, this woman before him, Leyah, had almost thrown all of that out of the window. He needed to get her out of his office and away from him as quickly as possible before he joined his brothers and added onto the royal family’s scandalous liaisons. Alastair was engaged in the taboo and the naughty on a regular basis, but it was always quiet and always anonymous or kept under wraps with a non-disclosure agreement.

  He rose from his chair and held out his hand.

  “It was extremely pleasant to meet you, Ms. Meer. I will have my assistant show you around and introduce you to the Crown Prince and Princess.”

  When Leyah’s hand slid against his own, Alastair felt a zing of awareness and desire shoot through his bloodstream, setting him ablaze. He inhaled deeply, and his gaze flew up to collide with Leyah’s own as he heard her gasp. He stood there, holding her hands and his eyes bewitched by her own, for long moments. Neither of them moved, and later Alastair would say he couldn’t remember even breathing as he found himself becoming alarmingly ensnared by the woman across the desk from him. Before he was aware he was even doing it, Alastair was leaning over the top of the desk, his hand tugging Leyah forward, his gaze never leaving hers. With their lips just centimeters away from each other, Alastair inhaled Leyah’s scent: Jasmine, blackberry, and... female arousal. Mmm, that last fragrance was one of his favorites.

  Just as he tilted his head to take her lips with his own, his office door swung open. Leyah jumped away as if scalded, jerking her hand from his grasp, and staring at the floor. Alastair growled low in his throat and turned his head to look at who had dared to interrupt him.

  At the sight of his younger brother, Alfie, standing just in the doorway, a smirk on his lips, Alastair knew it was best if he hurried Leyah out of his office before Alf said something particularly crude. Narrowing his eyes at his brother, Alastair gave a small shake of his head and cleared his throat.

  “Ms. Meer, this is my brother, Prince Alfie. He is not the one you will be nannying for, however, when he is not on duty in His Majesty’s military you will see him around.”

  “Mexoria Źeylήia,” Leyah said softly with a curtsy.

  Alastair frowned at her actions. While he understood it was protocol for her to curtsy before a member of the royal family, Alastair found that he neither liked the idea of her bowing and scraping before anyone but himself, and that the action did not seem to fit her. Leyah appeared as a woman to be bowed and curtsied to, not the other way around.

  “Please, stand. I am not my older brother here who stands on ceremony, laws, rules, and guidelines. I must commend you on your grasp of Malvidencian, from what I understand you immigrated here. Very well done,” Alfie said with a small chuckle.

  Leyah rose with a small smile. “Thank you, Mexoria Źeylήia,” she stated.

  Alastair clenched his hands at the soft look that appeared on her face as she looked at his younger brother. He and his brothers had their fair share of fights and bouts of sibling rivalry over the years, but never over a woman. And Alastair prides himself on never being a man given to jealousy. It was an emotion that made one feel completely out of control and in his life, there were very few areas in which he had that. Standing in his own office, besieged by an emotion, a feeling, that had him wanting to deck his own brother in the face while subsequently tossing Leyah over his shoulder-willingly or unwillingly-had Alastair particularly growly.

  “Is there something you needed, Prince Alfie?” Alastair snapped at his brother. He ignored his brother’s raised eyebrows at his tone and instead folded his arms across his chest.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact there is. I wanted to speak with you regarding the crowning, coronation ceremony for Princess Valerie,” Alfie responded.

  Alastair assessed his youngest brother carefully. There was really no need for the two of them to speak about the ball in Algerone and Valerie’s honor that would take place in a few short months. The details of the ball would be handled by the royal event organizer. The flowers would come from the garden, the food would be cooked and prepared by the royal kitchen staff well in advance of the actual event, and the list of guests and attendees would be comprised of the leaders, dignitaries, established and distinguished members of the kingdom, as well as leaders from around the world. So, what exactly could Alfie want to talk to him about?

  Realizing he would never get the answer to his questions if he remained standing in his office staring at his youngest brother, Alastair sent a barely perceptible nod at the younger man and turned to Leyah. He gave her what—to him—constituted as a smile, a mere twitching of his lips and swept his arm out towards the door. “Thank you so much for coming in today, Ms. Meer. Persephone will show you to your quarters, as well as introducing you to my brother and sister-in-law. They will be able to give you a better sense of what they want exactly from you and when from there,” he told her as he led her to the doorway.

  Alastair’s gut clenched as Leyah looked up at him through her eyelashes at the threshold of his office. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mexoria Źeylήia. I can promise that I will make the most of my time here at the palace and will do all I can to make sure I do my job well.” With another smile at him, she headed towards Persephone who stood next to her desk watching them closely.

  Alastair swallowed thickly, puzzling over not only his reaction to the young woman’s presence, but also her words. They sent a tingle down his spine, and he couldn’t be certain if it was one of desire and f
ascination or one of foreboding. With a small frown, Alastair watched Leyah speak to Persephone. He quickly cleared his face of all expression when Persephone looked in his direction and nodded his head at her unspoken question.

  “Persephone, please show Ms. Meer to the nanny’s quarters and take her to Prince Algerone and Princess Valerie to introduce her,” he directed the other woman.

  As they stood side-by-side, Alastair couldn’t help comparing the two of them. Persephone was a beautiful woman, it was true. Her attractiveness was one of the main reasons why he’d initially hired her. While it was distasteful, Alastair admitted—at least to himself—that having something nice to look at from his office, or when he first walked in, went a long way towards him actually wanting to get his job done and putting up with his kothrar’s subtle, and not-so-subtle, digs at his son’s perceived lack of professional ambition. Persephone’s dark brown hair, pale skin, slender form, with her small breasts, slender hips, pouty pink lips, and thin nose had done an excellent job of decorating his office and making it one that most of the men he knew came by to view.

  However, seeing Persephone standing side-by-side with Leyah, whose dark-bronze skin gleamed in the overhead lights from his waiting room, she barely registered on his radar. Leyah’s body was curvy—thick—the sight making his mouth water. Her dark brown eyes had shone with intelligence, fierceness, and subtle calculation which let him know that she had some secrets. Which was fine, he detected no malice on her part. Her lips were past the point of full, Alastair wondered if he bit on the lower one hard enough, if delicious, arousing juices would flood his mouth. Even Leyah’s hand with her slender fingers were tempting to him. He waved the two women away and turned back to Alfie who stood just inside his office, a smug grin on his face. Rolling his eyes, Alastair closed the door and led Alfie to a door hidden just within the wooden wall panel that his office plant sat in front of. Tapping on the bottom of the planter, Alastair did not speak to his brother until he’d lead him into the secret, inner room just beyond his office.