Page 45 of Substitute Bride

Unless James had miraculously changed his mind, then she would have to act like normal, like nothing had happened between them.

She wasn’t going to humiliate herself with a man again by begging for something she couldn’t have.

The girls were crabby when Rose got them up later that morning. They’d evidently stayed up too late last night, so they were tired and didn’t want to get up. When she finally got them out of bed and dressed, Julie complained about everything while Jill sat there with an unhappy frown.

Rose talked to them lightly and ignored the bad temper, but she couldn’t improve their moods the way she normally could. She was having a discussion about the quality of the orange juice when James walked in fully dressed in a business suit as normal.

Rose could feel his presence intensely, but she didn’t turn around to look at him. “It’s the same juice as usual,” she said to Julie, hoping her voice sounded natural.

“It has those lumps in it.”

Rose showed the girl the bottle. “There isn’t any pulp. I poured it right from here. That’s our normal bottle, isn’t it?”

Julie nodded glumly. “Why are there lumps?”

Rose reached over and took a swig of the girl’s juice, then made an exaggerated sound of satisfaction. “No lumps. I’ll drink it if you don’t want it.”

Julie peered at her glass suspiciously and deigned to take a little sip.

James had been getting his coffee, and Rose had no choice but smile and tell him good morning since he came to stand beside her on the kitchen side of the granite island.

It felt like he was watching her, so she made sure to keep her face relaxed. If he wanted last night to be forgotten—the way he’d wanted the kissing to be—then Rose could deal with it. She’d never let him see that it crushed her. She wasn’t going to strip herself emotionally naked with a man again, not like she had with Richard, not when he’d offered her no reason to expect differently.

She would only do that once in her life. She might not always be smart, but at least she could learn from her mistakes.

“Are you not talking this morning?” James asked Jill, who was glowering down at her cereal bowl.

“My head hurts.”

Rose prayed the girl wasn’t getting sick. When one of them got sick, both of them got sick. The worst was when they threw up. She always dealt with it without complaining, but cleaning up vomit was Rose’s least favorite part of being a nanny.

“Where does it hurt?” she asked, walking around the island to where Jill was sitting.

“I don’t know.”

Rose put a gentle finger on her forehead. “Here?”

Jill shook her head.

Rose moved her fingers to her cheekbones. “Here?”

“That’s my cheek, not my head.”

“Sometimes people have headaches there if they have sinus issues. Does it hurt there?”

“No.”

Rose moved her hands to the sides of the girl’s head, making a light circle of her scalp. “Here?”

“No.”

“Then where does it hurt.”

Jill raised one hand and pointed to the very top of her skull. “Right here.”

Rose glanced over and met James’s eyes, and they clearly understood each other. While it was possible that Jill hurt right there, it wasn’t a normal spot for a headache, so it was more likely that the girl was faking.

Rose went and poured out a glass of cold water. “Here you go. Water is good for headaches. Drink all of this, and then we’ll see how you feel later. Be sure to let us know if it gets worse.”