He winced. “Well—”
Looking suddenly stricken, she added quickly, “You’re not too old, though. Probably everyone’s like you in doctor school.”
“It’s okay,” he assured her with a laugh. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It’s sort of cool that we’re both going to school, isn’t it? And Mia’s a teacher, so we’ll all be at school every day.”
Reassured that she hadn’t said anything wrong, Alexis relaxed and took another big bite of her spaghetti. Connor concentrated on finishing his own meal. So far, he wasn’t exactly proving to be a natural at this. If he could barely carry on a mealtime conversation with the kid, how was he going to handle all the other millions of responsibilities that came with this job?
He thanked his lucky stars that he had Mia to help him.
Chapter Three
Mia helped Alexis unpack her bags after dinner while Connor studied in the living room. The child had brought a functional wardrobe of knits and jeans, plenty of new-looking underwear and socks and two nice dresses that still had price tags dangling. “Did your aunt take you shopping before you came?”
Alexis nodded. “She said I needed some new clothes. She bought me these sneakers, too. And the pretty black shoes for dress up.”
“That was nice of her.” Mia wondered if Patricia would miss her niece. If it had been at all difficult for her to give her up. It had been so hard to tell what the other woman was thinking.
Alexis unpacked the bag of toys, mostly dolls and accessories. She arranged them neatly on the shelves of the small bookcase, amusingly particular about their placement.
“You like dolls?”
Alexis nodded again. “I like to play school with them. I’m the teacher. That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Like you.”
“I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful teacher.”
The child yawned and rubbed her eyes. She’d had a very long day, Mia thought sympathetically. Quite an emotional upheaval as well, although she seemed to be handling it amazingly well. “You must be getting tired after your long day. Would you like to take a bath and put on your pajamas? I can read you a bedtime story, if you like.”
“My grandma always read to me.” Alexis unzipped her pink backpack and pulled out a handful of children’s books. “These are my favorites. We couldn’t bring them all because Aunt Tricia said there wasn’t room, but she let me bring these.”
Mia thought she’d have found a way to transport every one of the little girl’s personal possessions, but she kept the opinion to herself. She supposed Patricia had done the best she could for her niece. “Then we’ll read one of your favorites tonight.”
Half an hour later, Alexis was bathed and dressed in soft pink pajamas. She looked small and fragile with her little bare feet peeking out from beneath the hems of the slightly too-long pajama bottoms, her freshly washed-and-
dried, blond-streaked hair waving around her rosy face. Looking at the child, Mia was struck by another wave of self-doubt. She had waded into all this responsibility on a generous impulse. Had she really done the right thing? For Alexis? For herself?
She cleared her throat, reminding herself that it was too late to deal with those issues now. Alexis was here and Mia had volunteered to care for her. This was no time to change her mind.
“Let’s go say good night to your daddy,” she suggested, “and then I’ll read you a story and tuck you in.”
“Okay.” Clutching Pete in her other arm, Alexis slipped her hand into Mia’s.
Wrapping her fingers around the little girl’s, Mia led her out of the bedroom.
Connor was immersed in his books in a familiar pose, and Mia hoped he would be able to pull himself out of his studies long enough to say a coherent good night to his daughter. She cleared her throat rather loudly as they entered the room. “Alexis wants to tell you good night.”
His hair disheveled, his jaw covered with an evening shadow, his eyes a little unfocused, Connor looked up from his notes. Mia’s heart tripped as the pure masculine appeal of him hit her, and she chided herself silently for reacting that way. First Alexis and now Connor had elicited very strong responses from her within the last ten minutes. She needed to settle down and remind herself why she was here.
The nanny, Patricia had called her, and while the term wasn’t exactly accurate, it was close enough. She needed to think of herself that way—not a part of this little family, but someone here to help them out.
Connor made a visible effort to concentrate on something other than his studies. “Is there anything you need before you turn in, Alexis?”
“No, thank you. Mia’s going to read me a story.”
“Yeah? That’s nice of her.” He gave Mia a quick smile of gratitude before looking at his daughter again. “You let us know if there’s anything you need tonight, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good night, Alexis.”