ââImmediate position available. Housekeeper/nanny needed for two small children.ââ
Paris rattled off the phone number, then looked up. âThatâs you, right?â
Mac could only nod. âBut that ad just appeared in the paper this morningâ¦.â
âOh, good, then I am the first.â She seemed quite pleased with the notion. âWhere are the children?â
âIn the kitchen,â he mumbled, disgruntled. âEating breakfast.â He considered telling her to leave and come back when he was ready to see her, but if sheâd been into town, she already knew he was desperate.
âOh,â she said. With an apologetic grimace, her eyes flickered to her watch. âI guess it is early. I wasnât sure if youâd hired anyone else yet and if you hadnât, I wanted to be the first today.â
âBelieve me, you are,â he grumbled. âBut since youâre here, you might as well come in.â
MACKENZIEâMacâWeston felt as if heâd been picked up by a whirlwindâa five-and-a-half-foot tall one with curly strawberry-blond hair and big green eyes. A whirlwind with the unlikely name of Paris Katharine Barbour who had snatched him up at eight oâclock that morning and danced him merrily from one end of Cliff County to the other.
Heâd spent half an hour standing in this very spot trying to figure out exactly how it had happened. He hooked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and stared out at the darkness, then grunted in frustration when he felt the loose jeans begin to slide down his hips. He stuck his thumbs through the belt loops and jerked them back up again. He should have put on a belt. All his jeans were loose these days, had been for months, but he hadnât cared enough to do more than tighten his belt another notch and keep wearing them. He didnât want new ones, couldnât afford them. Anyway, heâd be horsewhipped before heâd go into Cliffside to buy them.
His jeans werenât his immediate problem, though. Ms. Paris Katharine was a more urgent dilemma right now.
Mac thought back carefully over the conversation heâd had with her when sheâd arrived at his door, suitcase in hand and bright smile on face.
He rubbed his jaw, unshaven for two days, and tried to pinpoint exactly where the whole situation had begun to go south on himâ¦.
âMr. Weston?â she asked, sidling through the front door as soon as heâd opened it. She grinned up at him, dazzling him with a set of beautiful white teeth and a bow-shaped smile. âIâm Paris Barbour. The new housekeeper and nanny.â She peeked past his shoulder. âWhy donât I just come right in?â
âThe newâ¦?â Staggered by the full wattage of that smile, he stood with the door open, gaping at her as her long skirt, brightly patterned in shades of red, purple and yellow, swirled through the door behind her.
Paris reached back, gently pried the door from his grip and shut it firmly as if to assert that she was in now and wouldnât be dislodged. Flashing him a supremely confident look, she set down her suitcase and her purse with a finality that had his stunned eyes narrowing suspiciously.
âParisâ¦?â
âBarbour,â she supplied, her gaze darting around the foyer, taking in the putty-colored native stone beneath their feet and the pale yellow walls. âParis Katharine Barbour. Fancy name, but one of my momâs favorite movies was Summertime with Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. The movie takes place in Venice, so Mom wanted to name me Venice KatharineâI think she identified with the idea of an older woman having a fling because she never really did anything outrageous in her life, my mom I mean, but my dad put his foot down and said heâd waited fifty years to have a child and no daughter of his was going to have such an unfeminine name, so they called me Paris instead.â She shrugged, then dazzled him with that smile once again. âI guess thatâs okay. Itâs better than being called Zurich or Detroit, wouldnât you say?â
Mac couldnât say anything. He was drowning in her torrent of words. It took him a few seconds to gasp his way to the surface. If he hadnât witnessed it, he never would have believed a person could pack so many words into a single breath. Finally, he said, âWhaâ¦why did you say youâre here?â