The Billionaire's Christmas Cinderella. Carol Marinelli

one day it would be time for me to leave.’

      Her blue eyes were serious, and there was no trace of tears, which told him this was no revelation, she had known this about herself for a very long while.

      Naomi twisted his heart in a way no one else could, and a hell of a lot had tried.

      She twisted a heart that Abe hadn’t even known he had.

      He wanted to reach for her.

      It was as instinctive as that.

      And he wanted to chase her loneliness away in the only way he knew how.

      Abe looked down at her full lips, all shiny from the food they had shared, and he wondered about her pepperoni kisses and just laying her down and taking her by the fire.

      He wouldn’t.

      Not just because he had a conscience.

      Abe had long thought his conscience had been severed along with the umbilical cord.

      No, he wouldn’t make a move because there was something so rare about tonight.

      Something he didn’t want to jeopardise.

      And there was nothing he wanted her to regret.

      Naomi felt the burn of his gaze and she felt the shift in the atmosphere.

      The way he first held her eyes and then the lowering of them as they took in her mouth had her body prickling with sudden awareness.

      Naomi had never encountered a moment such as this.

      Just for a second, when rational thought was suspended, she wanted to know the feel of his mouth, and there was a sense of certainty that if he leant forward a fraction, then so too would she.

      There was silence, save for the hiss and occasional spit from the fire and the tick of a clock on the mantel, yet she could hear the roar of blood in her ears and she almost closed her eyes in anticipation of bliss.

      But Abe did not move forward. Instead, she watched as he looked away and reached for his drink, and so inexperienced was she that Naomi was certain she’d misread things.

      Jet lag, cognac, and an absolute dearth of knowledge about men told Naomi that she’d been imagining things, and had come very close to looking a fool. She blushed as she pictured herself sitting, eyes closed, and waiting for a kiss that would never come. Embarrassed, she told herself that if she was having fantasies about a playboy wanting her, then it really was time for bed.

      ‘I ought to get some sleep,’ Naomi said. ‘I’ve got a load of sightseeing planned for tomorrow.’

      She stood and re-fastened the tie on her robe then reached for the box. ‘Leave it,’ he said, because if she bent down to retrieve it, he might just pull her in.

      ‘’Night, Abe.’

      ‘’Night.’

      She made her way up the staircase and found her door, holding it together until in she was in the bedroom. But once there she sat on the bed and, head in hands, Naomi moaned.

      Not because she’d foolishly thought he’d been about to kiss her. She could easily talk herself down from that—he was surely one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, and there was no way he’d be interested in her.

      No, it was because of how she felt.

      In the space of an hour Naomi knew she had developed a king-sized crush on Abe and that was something she didn’t want or need. Not just because she was here to work and nothing must get in the way of that, but because she was scared of being hurt.

      Naomi guarded her heart with the same ferocity that she guarded her tiny charges.

      There had been no dates, no romance in her life.

      Her career took care of that, and she was grateful for it, especially on a night such as this.

      She simply refused to open herself up to potential hurt.

       CHAPTER THREE

      ABE.

      Naomi knew exactly where she was the very second that she awoke, and her first thought was about last night.

      It was as if, in the hours since they had said goodnight, Abe Devereux had not left her mind.

      Of course, she had surely left his.

      She had overslept and it was after nine. No doubt he was at work now and not even thinking of their lazy fireside conversation on her very first night in New York.

      Naomi was, though.

      She’d heard of the Devereuxes before Merida had met Ethan. She had worked with a prominent family in London who’d had dealings with them. Now that she thought on it, Abe’s name had been bandied about at the time. And not fondly. He was the gatekeeper to the Devereuxes. The one you had to get past if you wanted a deal to go through.

      And when it came to women, his reputation had been equally formidable.

      That was all she knew.

      When she’d been trying to work out the dynamics of family, in order to best help her friend, Naomi had tended to skim past the articles on Abe.

      Still, she recalled enough to know that that it wasn’t just a case of lock up your daughters when Abe Devereux was around.

      Lock up your wife too.

      And possibly the nanny!

      He had no scruples, that much she knew.

      Determined not to dwell on him, Naomi reached for her phone and looked at the weather forecast.

      Snow, with more snow to come.

      It would have been so much easier to lie under the covers for a while longer but Naomi was very used to forcing herself out of bed and did so today. Her hair she left down and didn’t worry about make-up. She rarely did. There wasn’t much point when working with babies. She decided on black jeans and a huge silver-grey jumper as well as black boots, which she pulled on while sitting on her bed. Naomi topped it all off with her less-than-substantial jacket. Before heading out she would add a woolly hat along with her scarf, but for now she carried them down the stairs and headed into the kitchen.

      And then nearly dropped them when she saw Abe sitting on a breakfast stool, drinking coffee and reading on his tablet.

      ‘Morning.’ Barb smiled. ‘How did you sleep?’

      ‘Very well,’ Naomi said. ‘In fact, I overslept.’

      ‘You’re not the only one,’ Barb said, and she glanced over at Abe, who didn’t look up. ‘You got a pizza in the night, I see. You could have called me for something to eat if you were hungry. Come and sit down and have some breakfast...’ And then she must have remembered that Naomi was actually a guest. ‘Or take a seat in the dining room and—’