Cattle Baron: Nanny Needed by Margaret Way

shade of vanilla. One long arm shifted two of the silk cushions to one side. Shehadn’t the slightest desire to send him on his way. Instead, they fell back effortlessly into conversation…
    It was all pretty astonishing stuff.
    She had fully expected to cry herself to sleep that night. Instead, she found herself confiding to the Cattle Baron things she had never told anyone before.
    Ships that pass in the night? That theory had been advanced.
    He, in turn, didn’t appear to hesitate in filling her in on his own life. Like her, he was an only child. He rarely saw his mother. He said it without visible upset or apology. Clearly, he had never forgiven her for deserting him and his father. More so for his father’s sake, she thought. He spoke so glowingly of his father. It must have been a great relationship. That she could well understand. “I want him back,” he said.
    “Me, too. I want my dad back.”
    He had an uncle Eliot, his father’s much younger brother, a mid-life child who lived with him on the MacFarlane cattle station. She made a mental note to learn more about Jingala, a historic station, she seemed to remember.
    “Eliot lost his first wife, Caro, to breast cancer. It hit us all very hard. Caro was a lovely person, incredibly brave. And such a fighter. She should have won. We were afraid Eliot might do something…” He hesitated, his expression grim.
    “Might harm himself,” she gently supplied.
    “You read that right. Janis came along almost two years ago. She’s a few years older than I am. She’s very good-looking in a high-strung sort of way. Jan got pregnant almost at once. They have a baby boy, Marcus, named after my father. My dad and Eliot were very close, more like father and son than brothers. The age difference and the fact that my father was the strong one, the stuff of legend. I love my uncle but he certainly has his problems.”
    “They weren’t straightened out with his new wife and thebaby?” she asked. “I would have thought he’d be just so proud and happy.”
    “Well, of course he is proud and happy,” he returned a shade tersely. “None of us thought he would ever remarry.”
    “What’s worrying you?” she asked, studying his frowning face. Gosh, he was a handsome man! The more she looked at him, the more she was coming to develop a taste for the hardwired dynamic male.
    “Do I look worried?”
    “It wasn’t a match made in heaven?” she suggested soothingly.
    His expression turned ironic. “Aren’t matches made in heaven said to be like ghosts? One hears about them but never sees them. Jan is having a lot of difficulty bonding with little Marc.”
    “Well, now, that’s sad .” She was taken aback. “It’s possible she’s suffering post-natal depression. It’s not at all uncommon, but it can’t be allowed to go untreated. There is help.”
    He pushed an impatient hand through his thick dark hair, tousling the crisp waves. He should leave it like that, she thought. It looked great. “You don’t think we’ve had it? The problem is that Jan rejects help. Anyway, I’ve said enough about that.”
    “But isn’t there someone to persuade her—her own mother, a close friend? Surely they’d want to help?” It seemed very much as if her husband couldn’t. Neither could the Cattle Baron, but it was obvious that he didn’t want to interfere in his uncle’s marriage.
    “Jan and her mother aren’t close,” he said. “I think she stopped talking to her mother years ago. At any rate, she wasn’t invited to the wedding. Another problematic family. Jan’s mother and father divorced when she was around ten. Marriage break-ups always have repercussions.”
    She took a deep breath. “And you’re not looking for a wife? Don’t let—Brooke, wasn’t it—sideline you.”
    “Don’t let Sean sideline you ,” he retorted very smartly indeed.
    “Well, both of us have jobs to do.”
    “I can only hope you have yours on Monday,” he said. “Offending my