Marcus studied the photos in the small viewing screen of his camera. "I don't know why you're wasting your time cleaning up spittle," he said. "You should be on the runway in Milan, not running a day-care center."

"I like working with kids," Jacqui said defensively as she hunted down juice boxes in her backpack for the kids' midafternoon snack.

"That's not the point, love," Marcus said, coming over to squeeze her waist and give her a kiss on the cheek. "You're better than this," he added in a whisper as Jackson, Logan, and Violet approached from their perch under the shady tree to partake of the snack.

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Jacqui smiled to hide her annoyance. Who was he to tell her what to do with her life? She'd done a damn good job taking care of those Perry kids for three years, although no one ever gave her any credit for it. Madison was now a well-balanced teen at a normal weight, William was far from the hyperactive little boy he used to be, Zoe had finally learned to read, and Cody was toilet-trained. And that was a serious feat.

"C'mon, everyone, how about we go on a hayride?" she proposed as she passed out the juice boxes, trying to muster up enthusiasm. She was met by five blank faces.

"A hayride?" Logan wrinkled his nose. "You mean an hour spent sitting on itchy bales of hay while driving around a brown, muddy field?"

Looking around at the children's unhappy faces, Jacqui was unsure what to do. The more trouble she had with the Finnemores, the more she began to doubt herself and her abilities. Maybe her work with the Perrys had just been a fluke?

"If it's all right with you, babe, I'm taking off. I'll meet you later," Marcus said, stowing away his camera and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, leaving her to deal with five grumpy children on her own.

Maybe Marcus is right, Jacqui thought as she proceeded to practically drag the children ov

er to the area where eager kids were boarding large red trucks filled with hay. Covered in baby drool, with a sulky pre-teen, two bored seven-year-olds, and a five-year-old who wouldn't sit still, she wasn't exactly super-nanny.

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"Where's Mara?" Jackson asked plaintively, not for the first time that day.

"She'll be back tomorrow," Jacqui promised, feeling a little hurt.

"I want her noooowwww!!!" he suddenly screamed.

Maybe it was indeed time to throw in the burp cloth and put on the stilettos.

197

DAVID PLAYS DUNNE TO MARA'S DIDION

THE AUGUST SUN FELT WARM AND PRICKLY ON HER

skin and Mara turned onto her stomach lazily, feeling genuinely relaxed for the first time in ages. "You're slacking on lotion duties," she teasingly told David, pushing the St. Barth's tanning oil she'd found in the bathroom toward him.

She put her head in her hands and glanced out toward the water. From their vantage point, she could keep an eye on the kids playing by the shore. Violet was completely engrossed in the latest issue of the New Yorker. Logan and Jackson were fascinatedly using a metal detector. Wyatt was building sand castles. Cassidy was dozing in his stroller underneath the Bugaboo sunshade. The children were all as they should be--occupied.

When Mara woke up for work that day, Jacqui was nowhere to be found--as usual. It was a whole week since she'd taken the kids to the farm, and she had been missing from the mansion since then. Apparently, now that she was officially a model for Vogue, Jacqui wasn't going to bother to show up for work anymore.

198

Taking care of five children entirely on her own was becoming exhausting, so Mara was thankful when David called and proposed a day at the beach. There were only two weeks of summer left, and she wanted to squeeze at least a little fun out of them.

David inched toward her and began rubbing the buttery lotion into her shoulders, giving her a little massage as he did. Mara sighed. It was heavenly having him back in town. He was amazing with the kids. He was the one who'd brought the metal detector for Jackson and Logan, he'd shown Wyatt how to build a sand castle, and he'd gotten the baby to say his first word, "Dah." He'd even had a heart-to-heart with Violet, whom he'd confided in that he'd been a gangly smart kid in high school. Violet seemed really happy to know that introverted kids could turn out cool, and she'd even whispered to Mara that David was "really cute."

Mara sighed in pleasure as his strong hands worked their way down her back, tugging playfully at her bikini strings.

"So ... I had a chance to look up your blog the other day," David said, removing one hand from her back to dab a little sunblock on his nose.

"And?" Mara asked, holding her breath. She'd told him about the blog and how she was thinking of maybe turning it into some kind of novel one day. But that was a week ago and he hadn't mentioned it, so Mara had assumed he hated it or thought it was trivial.

"It's hilarious. I particularly enjoyed all the death wishes for your slacker boyfriend 'D.,'" he added with a grin.

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Tags: Melissa de la Cruz The Au Pairs Romance
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