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Jake. Surely she couldn’t have made a mistake?” This last was said quietly, as if she was thinking out loud.
    Joshua Cole heard the doubt in her voice, and he really didn’t know whether to be delighted by it or insulted.
    “A mistake?” he said smoothly. “Of course not. I said I’d make arrangements for you and the children’s accommodations immediately.”
    Rather than looking properly appreciative, Miss Pringy was getting that formidable look on her face again.
    “Mr. Cole,” she said sternly, “I’m afraid that won’t do.”
    Joshua Cole lived in a world where he called the shots. “Won’t do?” he repeated, incredulous.
    “No,” she said firmly. “Packing the children off to a hotel in Whistler will not do. That’s no kind of a vacation for a child or a baby.”
    “Well, what is a vacation for them?” he asked. Inwardly he thought, anything . If she wanted tickets to Disneyworld, he’d get them. If they wanted to meet a pop star, he’d arrange it. If they wanted to swim with dolphins, he’d find out how to make that happen. No cost was too high, no effort too great.
    “They just want to be around people who love them,” she said softly. “In a place where they feel safe and cared about. That is what Melanie thought they were coming to or she would never have sent them.”
    Or gone herself, he thought, and suddenly, unwillingly, he remembered his sister’s tired face. No cost was too high? How about the cost of putting himself out?
    Had he led Melanie to believe he was finally going to spend some quality time with her kids? He didn’t think so. She hadn’t really asked for details, and he hadn’t provided any. He wasn’t responsible for her assumptions.
    But Joshua was suddenly very aware that a man could be one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, moving in a world of power and wealth, controlling an empire, but still feel like a kid around his older sister, still want her approval in some secret part of himself.
    Or maybe what he wanted was to be worthy of her trust. Something in him whispered, Be the better man.
    Out loud he heard himself saying, without one ounce of enthusiasm, “I guess they could come stay with me.”
    Danielle Springer looked, understandably, skeptical of his commitment.
    Too late he realized the full ramifications of his invitation.
    Miss Pringy, the formidable nanny with the sensual lips and mysterious eyes would be coming to stay with him, too.
    And if that wasn’t bad enough, he was opening himself up to a world that might have been his, had he hung on instead of letting go of a different baby boy in a lifetime he had left behind himself.
    His son.
    He wanted to be a better man, worthy of his sister’s trust, but who was he kidding? He’d lost faith in himself, in his ability to do the right thing, a long time ago. His sister didn’t even know about the college pregnancy of his girlfriend.
    He found himself holding his breath, hoping Dannie Springer would not be foolish enough to say yes to his impulsive invitation, wishing he could take it back, before it drew him into places he did not want to go.
    “Obviously, we have to stay somewhere for now,” she said, her enthusiasm, or lack thereof, matching his exactly. “I’m not subjecting the children to any more travel or uncertainty today.”
    But his whole world suddenly had a quality of theuncertain about it. And Joshua Cole did not like it when things in his well-ordered world shifted out of his control. He didn’t like it one little bit.

CHAPTER TWO

    D ANNIE sat in the back seat of the cab, fuming. The next time I see Melanie, I’m going to kill her, she decided.
    Thinking such a thought felt like a terrible defeat for a woman who prided herself on her steady nature and unflappable calm, at least professionally. To think it toward Melanie showed how truly rattled Dannie was. Melanie, in just a few short months, had become so much more than an employer.
    But the truth was that a steady