Page 56 of A Nanny for the Reclusive Billionaire

“What the hell were you thinking?” Rhys barked once his assistant and son had left the room. Mallory winced, and for a moment he regretted his outburst. Then he remembered the panic that had gripped him when he’d read the note clutched in his hand. He crushed it into a ball and threw it down onto the hardwood floor.

“Strike that.” He rose, pacing from one side of the room to the other like a caged tiger. “You weren’t thinking if for one second you thought I’d let you take Oliver off the island.”

“Let me?” She dropped her bags on the floor behind the couch and folded her arms across her chest. “Last time I checked, entertaining your son was part of my job description. I didn’t realize I needed your blessing for every item on our daily agenda.”

“When it involves Oliver’s safety, you do.”

“His safety?” She gaped at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “We went to the movies. He never left my sight. And don’t worry, it was rated G.”

“You took him off the island,” he repeated, stressing each word so there was no way she could fail to understand what had upset him.

If Mallory was gaping at him before, now she was gawking like a fish, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. It took her a minute to speak. “Are you telling me Oliver’s never left Flamingo Key?”

“Not since we came here after his mother died.” Rhys stopped pacing and tossed back what remained of his scotch. His second—or was it third?—since discovering his son was missing. Okay, missing was an overstatement. More like AWOL. Which, in Rhys’s opinion, was just as bad.

“And you?”

“Only when necessary.”

Mallory shook her head incredulously. “He said he’d never been to the movies, but I didn’t realize he was a prisoner here.”

“He’s not a prisoner.” Rhys waved a hand at their surroundings. “Look around. This isn’t exactly Sing Sing.”

“A gilded cage is still a cage.” Mallory’s expression softened, an almost wistful look crossing her face. “It can’t compare with freedom. And you can’t keep him here forever.”

“I know that. But he’s only a child. It’s my job to keep him safe.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and rolled his shoulders. Christ, this was exhausting. It didn’t help that he’d been working day and night trying to lock down a contract with the Department of Defense. But if he sealed this deal, he could take it easy for a while. Spend more time with Oliver and Mallory. Family time, doing family things. Things he couldn’t imagine taking pleasure in again before Mallory came along and shook up his world with her mealtime ultimatums and picnic abductions and late-night visits to the previously impenetrable fortress of his bedroom.

Rhys was so lost in thought he didn’t notice she’d moved next to him until she laid a hand on his forearm, making him flinch. The hand tightened its grip, not letting him shake it off. When she spoke, her voice was gentle but firm. “Like you couldn’t do for Beth?”

Her words, her touch, took some of the fight out of him. As usual, she’d seen right through him. It amazed him how this woman he’d known for a matter of months could read him so easily.

Yes, he’d wanted to punch walls when he read her note. But he didn’t want to argue with her now. He wanted her to understand what he was doing and why.

He sank into the nearest seat, which turned out to be the sectional, and stared into his empty glass. “She wasn’t supposed to be downtown that morning.”

Mallory sat next to him, close but not touching, listening but not speaking.

“I left some paperwork at home,” he continued, still staring at the bottom of his glass. “She was bringing it to me at the office.”

Mallory turned toward him. “Life’s strange that way.”

“It was sheer dumb luck she didn’t have Oliver with her. He had a cold, so she left him with a neighbor.”

“None of that makes her death your fault.”

“Doesn’t it?” He slammed his glass down on the coffee table. “She wanted to leave New York. Begged me to move here full time. But I said no. Told her Argos needed me in the city. I put my damn job before my family.”

“You did what you thought was right. You had no way of knowing what was going to happen.”

“I did what I thought was right for me. What was easiest for me.” He shoved a hand through his already-disheveled hair. “I should have listened to her. She’d still be here if I had.”

“Again, you don’t know that. None of us know how much time we have on this planet. But that’s no reason to hold Oliver hostage.”

“You don’t get it. I promised to protect him. I’m doing that the best way I know how.”

“I get more than you think.” Mallory cleared her throat and fiddled with her necklace. “There’s something I need to tell you.”