Ava’s slightly early arrival all her plans had changed.
Tomorrow, she decided, she would go through the nursery and check if there was anything needed and then she’d call the hospital. And then she’d cram in as much sightseeing as possible. Before she could do that, though, she had to buy a coat.
It was on that thought that she fell asleep and then awoke, Naomi had no idea how much time later, to the unsettling feeling she generally had during her first couple of days in a new home.
There was an eerie silence.
Soon she would wake knowing where she was and recognising the shadows on the walls, Naomi told herself as she lay there, but for now it was all unfamiliar.
One feeling she did recognise, though, was the fact that she was starving.
Usually she would have emergency supplies for nights such as this, but there was nothing in her luggage, and anyway a snack wasn’t going to fix this hunger.
Naomi pulled on her robe and drew back the drapes, then understood the odd silence for there was a blanket of snow outside and it was still falling heavily.
Even though the house was warm, the sight made her shiver and she did up the ties on her robe.
It was coming up for midnight and, Naomi decided, there was just one thing she wanted more than anything in the world on her first night in New York.
Pizza.
A big pepperoni pizza, but she wondered if they’d deliver.
No problem!
Naomi ordered online and just fifteen minutes later tracked her pizza working its way along Fifth Avenue!
She padded down the stairs and was just about to sort the alarm when she startled as the front doors opened. A dark-coated man walked through them, bringing with him a blast of cold air and, to Naomi, the warmest of glows.
Perhaps he floated through them, Naomi thought, for he was almost too beautiful to be mortal.
He was more.
It was the only word she could come up with as she stood in the grand entrance, yet it was an apt one.
He was a smidge taller than Ethan and his jet-black hair was worn a touch longer, and was currently flecked with snow. And he was more sullen in appearance than his brother had been, with almost accusing black eyes narrowing as they met hers.
And he was, to Naomi, a whole lot sexier.
Yes, he was more.
He made her heart quicken and she was suddenly terribly aware of her night attire and tangle of hair, because he was just so groomed and glossy and more beautiful than anyone she had ever seen.
‘I thought not,’ Naomi said by way of greeting.
And Abe frowned because not only did he have no idea what she meant, he also had no idea who this voluptuous dark-haired beauty, dressed in her nightwear, was.
Then she walked past him and he watched as she took delivery of a large pizza box and now he better understood her odd greeting.
No, Abe Devereux was definitely not the pizza delivery man!
‘I’M NAOMI,’ SHE offered by way of introduction as she closed the front door. ‘Merida’s friend and the baby’s nanny.’
‘Abe,’ he said, but didn’t elaborate. It was his father’s home after all and he was also in no mood to engage in small talk.
But she persisted.
‘Have you seen her?’ Naomi asked. ‘The baby.’
‘Yes.’
He said no more than that. Abe Devereux did not offer his thoughts or his opinions. There was no ‘Yes, isn’t she gorgeous!’ No ‘I can’t believe I’m an uncle,’ and it was clear to Naomi that he did not want to speak.
It didn’t offend her.
Naomi was very used to being the paid staff.
He removed an elegant grey woollen coat and beneath that was a suit, cut to perfection, enhancing his tall, lean frame.
Abe glanced briefly around, no doubt, Naomi thought, expecting someone to come and take his coat, but when no one appeared, neither did Naomi hold out her hand. With that lack of a gesture she drew a very important line. She might be staff, but she was Ava’s nanny, and not his maid.
He tossed the coat over an occasional chair as Naomi opened the lid of her pizza box and peered into it. ‘I’ll say goodnight...’ She was momentarily distracted from his utter, imposing beauty by the sight that greeted her. ‘Just how big is this thing?’ Naomi asked.
The pizza was massive.
Seriously so.
It smelt utterly divine.
And, she remembered, she was not just the nanny but Merida’s friend, and so she persisted with the conversation when perhaps usually she would not.
‘Would you like some?’ she offered, but Abe didn’t even bother to reply so she took her cue and headed up the stairs.
There were pictures lining the walls of the stunning Devereux family over the years. The two brothers, as babies and then children. Their stunning mother who, Naomi knew, was dead. She wondered if they missed her on a day like today.
Yes, Naomi often wondered about things like this, especially with not having a family of her own.
And then she heard his voice.
‘I would.’
She turned on the stairs, a little unsure what he meant. Did Abe Devereux actually want to share in her midnight feast, or had she got things completely wrong and he was about to tell her he would like staff to refrain from wandering at night, or something?
But, no, she hadn’t got things wrong.
‘A slice of pizza sounds good,’ Abe confirmed.
He himself was surprised that he had taken her up on her offer. And it wasn’t the normality of it that had had him say yes, for it was far from normal—Abe didn’t do pizza. And, more pointedly, a woman in pale pink pyjamas with a big robe on top wasn’t the norm either. Silk or skin was the usual sight that greeted him at this time of night.
He had just come from the hospital, though not the maternity section for he had visited his brother and wife earlier in the day.
Instead, he had spent the evening and half the night with his father.
Jobe had put everything into staying alive for the baby’s birth and visiting the little family today, and Abe had this terrible, awful feeling that now it was done he’d just fade.
He had sat there, watching his father sleep and the snow floating past the window, and though warm in the hospital room he had felt chilled to the bone.
They might not be particularly close but Abe admired his father more than anyone in the world.
Ethan had grown up never knowing what a cruel woman their mother had been.
Four years older than his brother, Abe had known.
Elizabeth Devereux’s death when he was nine had come as a shock, but all these years later Abe already grieved for his father.
Not that he showed it.
Abe had long since closed off his heart and far from hiding his emotions, he chose not to feel them.
Yet choice had been unavailable to him tonight.
‘Why couldn’t you come to me, Abe?’ his father had asked, when his medication had been given for the night.
‘It