This Old House Love Comes Home

By Lavada Dee

Katherine goes from single and sharing an apartment with two roommates to being a mother to her orphaned niece. With no other family, it's just her and Jodi. Short of money, and knowing the night job she holds will put additional trauma on her niece, Katherine seeks a live-in domestic position.

Ross Huntington has just finished with the last of a series of unsatisfactory baby sitters. He's raising his two boys by himself, and while he has family support, he hates having to depend entirely on his parents to provide child care.

Katherine and Ross need each other, and what they can offer each other seems ideal except these two people attract attention. They're young, beautiful and no one in Ross's home town is going to believe Katherine is just the nanny. Solution: Marriage. Rules: In name only.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lavada Dee
• Release date: Jun 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224625345

Lavada Dee

Lavada Dee writes Contemporary and Romantic Suspense. She loves to read and gained a love of the romance genre from sneaking her Mother’s True Confessions from under the bed. That was many many many years ago and she has since advanced into reading just about every genre out there. From a love of reading she naturally evolved into writing.She lives in the Pacific Northwest where they encourage friends to drop in. While's it's impossible for all of us to physically drop in to chat we can do it via cyburspace. She loves to get better acquainted with you and invites you to subsribe to her Blog/News on her website.

Book preview

Chapter One

Katherine pulled the last box across the floor, adding it to the others filled with Joanne and Diven’s clothes and household items. She wiped her eyes and groped for another tissue, but the box was empty. She had already shed so many tears. Packing up personal items that belonged to her late sister and brother-in-law was really hard, especially since there was no one to help her.

The shrill ring of the phone pierced the silent house, interrupting her thoughts. Darn! She’d just gotten Jodi down for her nap. Katherine gave the box of clothes a final shove and dove for the phone. Hello, she panted into the receiver.

The voice at the other end was a deep bass, and if the man was a bit taken aback at the exuberance with which the call was answered, it didn’t show. Hello, this is Rossiter Huntington and I’m returning a call from Ms. Alexander.

Katherine took a deep breath. This is she. Please excuse me. I was moving boxes and I’m a little out of breath. I called you about a possible position for a live-in housekeeper and nanny.

For a moment there was silence, then the deep sexy voice asked, Who did you get my name from?

His abrupt question caught Katherine unaware. He didn’t sound very friendly, but it was best to be cautious. These days one couldn’t be too careful. Of course the man would ask how she knew he was looking for someone to take care of his kids. She hadn’t thought to ask her neighbor if it would be all right to give her grandson’s name, but it was too late now. My neighbor’s grandson, Charles Bragin, gave me your number. I understand he’s your co-pilot.

Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to slow down. My sister and her husband were recently killed in an accident, and I’m trying to find employment and a place to live for my niece and myself. It will be better for Jodi if I can find a job where I can stay at home with her. Katherine paused to catch a breath before adding, At least for a while.

The line went silent for a few seconds before he replied. I’ve been looking for someone to care for my boys, but I’m really not interested in employing someone short-term. It rather seems most women find homemaking stifling. The boys had three different women taking care of them this past year. I’m sure you can understand how hard this can be on small children.

Katherine heard the dismissal in his voice. Yes, I agree Mr. Huntington. A short-term arrangement wouldn’t be good for Jodi either. I’ll be more than willing to commit to a time frame that will work for both of us.

Katherine felt completely out of her element. She was used to being in

control. Feeling vulnerable, she silently bit her lower lip and decided to be completely honest. You’re the first person who hasn’t immediately rejected me because I have a child and I desperately need a job.

* * * *

Ross felt the woman’s desperation as he listened to her. She had a rich, soft voice. It wasn’t hard to imagine her reading stories to his boys. The light from the lamp would shine down on them as they cuddled up on the sofa.

Shifting the phone, he held it casually between his chin and shoulder while he finished tucking a plaid shirt into the unbuttoned waist of his jeans. In spite of himself, he felt a glimmer of hope. After all, he mused, Charlie wouldn’t have given this woman my number if there weren’t at least a possibility of working something out.

Ross formed an image of what Katherine would look like. He guessed her to be around forty and a bit on the hefty side. Why, he didn’t know, except there was a certain amount of security in the image. The last thing he needed was someone close to his age. Someone who might get the wrong idea of exactly what he wanted, which was only a nanny. He certainly didn’t need the complication of a live-in romance. It was better to keep that part of his life out of the small town he lived in.

Ross had no trouble attracting the opposite sex. Of course, the pilot’s uniform didn’t hurt. Dating was one thing, a permanent relationship another. Not that he wanted one. His first marriage had ended in disaster.

Maybe Mom is right. I probably don’t look in the right places. But then he wasn’t the only one. You only had to look in the paper at the number of divorces filed to see that a lot of other guys weren’t making the right choices either. Oh yeah, he thought, fat and forty might be just the ticket.

Getting a little cynical in your old age, aren’t you? he mumbled before catching himself. Hopefully she hadn’t heard him.

Doug, one of the other pilots, passed through their crash pad and gave him the thumbs up sign. Probably thinks I’m lining up a hot date. Boy, would he be surprised, Ross thought.

With all his musings, he suddenly realized the line had been silent for a while. Afraid she might have hung up, he cleared his throat. You still there?

He gave a sigh of relief when he heard her reply. Yes, Mr. Huntington, I’m still here.

Okay, Ms. Alexander, I’m just finishing up a flight assignment and have a few days off. Would you like to come out to the airport for an interview? I don’t know if Charlie mentioned it to you or not, but I don’t live in Spokane. I live about a three hour drive south of here in the small town of Silverton.

After a slight hesitation she answered. I don’t have anyone to watch my niece for me. I don’t want to bring her with me because her parents were killed in a plane crash and I don’t think being at an airport so soon would be good for her.

At her words, Ross remembered Charlie telling him about the accident.

She continued, her voice soft and low enough he had to listen to hear her. I hate to ask a favor like this, but maybe you could come over to the apartment. I’m in the middle of moving, and it’s a real mess, but it would give you a chance to meet Jodi.

The pain in her voice told Ross she was having a hard time. No doubt about it. What the heck? It wasn’t that far out of his way.

Chapter Two

Slowly Katherine replaced the receiver.

Oh my God, what have I done? She looked around, seeing the apartment as the man behind the voice would see it. The old chrome table in the kitchen was literally on its last legs, its surface so scratched up it looked dirty. No amount of elbow grease would help it. Even in the best of times the apartment was dreary. Now with boxes and trash strewn all over, it was downright depressing. I knew I should have been cleaning it at least a little as I moved, she muttered.

It had gone against her grain, but Katherine had made the decision not to bother with cleaning. Within a week, her sister’s apartment and anything left in it would be bulldozed under with the rest of the complex. She knew it would have been futile to clean.

To make matters worse, the apartment was horribly hot and stuffy. Spokane in August was no place to be without air-conditioning. The old window air conditioner didn’t put out much cold air even when it worked, which was only about half the time.

Katherine wiped the sweat off her face. She’d probably left dirty streaks across it. Packing wasn’t the cleanest of jobs. She was going to have to hurry to get cleaned up. It would probably take the man less than a half-hour to get from the airport to the apartment. She prayed for heavy traffic.

Galvanized into action, she tore into the bathroom, pulling her tee shirt off as she went. The cool shower felt good, but she gave herself only a minute under the refreshing spray. Pulling the khaki colored blouse and pant outfit over her damp body, she hoped she would look cooler than she felt.

Thankfully she didn’t need much makeup. A touch of coral lipstick, a dash of her favorite Cier perfume, and she was ready.

Well, except for her hair. She bit on her lower lip, trying to decide what to do with it. She’d put it in a ponytail that morning and hadn’t bothered to do anything since. With a sigh, she gave up and pulled it up into a soft knot on top of her head. A few strands escaped almost immediately and floated around her face.

As Katherine went by, she took a quick peek into Jodi’s room. The little five-year-old lay sprawled out on her back with her arms above her head. Her blond curly hair, wet with sweat, stuck to the side of her face. She was barely more than a baby.

Poor little lamb, Katherine whispered.

Since losing her parents, Jodi didn’t sleep well when it got dark. She spent most of her nights catnapping. Then, when daylight came, exhaustion overtook her and she slept most of the day a way.

Katherine swallowed the lump in her throat and whispered softly to the sleeping child. Sweet baby, it will get better for us. We’ll make a home. I promise.

* * * *

Traffic was light driving across town to the address Ross got from Katherine Alexander. He turned up the CD and let the music drift through the Bronco. Life was good. Now if he could just get the boys settled in with someone he trusted, he could continue working at what he loved. This was certainly worth a shot.

Too bad marriage wasn’t an option. Maybe he was a cynic where marriage in particular and women in general were concerned. One thing was for certain, if his ex-wife left him nothing else, she left him with a great deal of experience in the marriage game. Ross gripped the steering wheel as tension rippled through his arms. Thinking about his marriage always did this to him. Slowly he took his left hand off the wheel and flexed it open and closed.

As he remembered it, it really hadn’t been much of a marriage. Miriam had set out to use him from the first. She only wanted someone to take care of her. He could blame her, but in truth he was as much at fault as she was. He had naively believed her when she told him she was taking care of the birth control. What a fool! He always figured double protection was the only way to go. So why had he been so careless? Even though he hadn’t planned on marriage, he was ready to settle down. They were living in New York, and he’d tried to convince her to move to Silverton or even Spokane. He argued that they could buy a home, a really nice one. Miriam had been adamant in her refusal to leave New York.

The months before Dougie, their oldest boy, was born weren’t all that bad. Their sex life was good, and even pregnancy didn’t change that. She liked a good time and most nights they went out.

When the baby was born, however, things got bad really fast. He hired a nanny. That didn’t seem to help. He tried again to get Miriam to move from New York and apartment living, reasoning that if they had a house and yard, things might be easier. No way!

He knew when she’d started running with the other guy. He still thanked his lucky stars for the nanny.

Even with everything like it was, he was still surprised the day he came home to find Miriam had moved out. Hell, what kind of woman could just up and leave her baby? He loved his two little boys. The second one, Timmie, was literally left on his doorstep eight months after Miriam left him. He hadn’t even known she was pregnant. She left a note, and the following day he got a call from a lawyer. Miriam had signed all parental rights away to both boys.

He couldn’t forgive or forget what he termed the ultimate in betrayal. He knew he wasn’t easy to live with, but leaving the boys was something he would never understand, and he didn’t plan to put himself or them in that position again.

Glancing at the directions he’d written out, Ross made a mental effort to pull himself back to the present. Enough of dragging up old memories. This was a new day, and he wasn’t going to ruin it by dredging up all the old baggage.

He slowed the car, noting that the area wasn’t much of a residential one. There were a number of large office complexes with some still under construction. The entire neighborhood seemed to be undergoing a change from residential to commercial.

As Ross pulled up to the apartments, he could see that at one time this had been a middle-class housing district. In its heyday, the old apartment building would have been a pretty nice place to live. The apartments were painted white with red shutters, but now the paint was peeling and a lot of the front shutters were missing. The concrete walks were cracked, and uneven portions of cement posed a real danger to anyone not paying attention to where they were walking. It wasn’t hard to see why they were being torn down. Even with renovation they wouldn’t fit in with the current infrastructure.

Skirting around a pile of junk, Ross went up to the apartment address Katherine had given him. He looked around for the doorbell. Giving up, he pulled open the screen door wondering why they had left the darn thing on. It was disintegrating with rust. What a worthless mess.

He knocked. The door opened. His fleeting vision of fat and forty winged off into oblivion. Cripes, how far off could I get? Ross’s body leaped in instant reaction. If this was nanny material, he was ready to go back to childhood. With a sinking feeling, he knew no one in his small hometown was going to believe she was only the nanny. The woman standing at the door was a perfect fit for his six-foot frame. He’d seen a lot of beautiful women. The airport had its share flying in and out, not to mention the flight attendants, but this one was exceptional. Her clear skin was tanned to a light golden perfection. Blond hair a couple of shades lighter than his own, curled softly where it escaped the knot she’d pulled it into. Only her chin,