The Dragon’s Brave Nanny (Mysteries of Dragon’s Island #4)

Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

***KEITH***

T he sun had been up for almost an hour, breakfast was in the oven, the smell of coffee filled the cabin, and Keith was having a big fight with the backpack Stella had insisted they buy. There were too many straps, and he was sure of it. He turned it one way and then the other, trying to figure out how it was supposed to work, then finally gave up and flung it on the couch.

“Stupid contraption,” he growled, then turned when he heard laughter behind him. “Why is everything to do with kids so complicated?”

“Backpack one, Keith zero,” Stella teased, walking over to the couch and picking it up. “Turn around. I’ll show you how it works.”

She helped him slip his arms in. " See, that wasn’t so hard,” she said, grinning at him as she buckled the straps around his waist. Now we just need the kid to put in it.”

“He’s still asleep. I guess we wore him out yesterday,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”

“I must have, I don’t remember going to bed,” she said, looking down at her rumpled clothes. “I didn’t even change my clothes.”

“You fell asleep on the couch,” he said. “I carried you to bed, but you didn’t wake up. I figured you might protest if I undressed you, so I just tucked you in and turned off the light.”

An attractive blush spread across her cheeks, “You should have woken me up,” she said. “I never sleep that soundly, especially after a nap.”

He reached out and pulled Stella into his arms. “You had a big day yesterday, too,” he said. “You needed the rest last night, but today, we’re going to have some fun.”

“You’re not going to work?” she asked. “What about the project?”

“It will still be there tomorrow,” he said. “Today, we’re all going hiking, and then we’re going swimming; if we can’t keep Jordan out of the water, he’d better learn to swim and soon.”

“Oh, Keith, that sounds wonderful,” she said. “I’m sure Jordan is going to love it.”

“What about you?” he asked. “Do you want to spend the day with me?”

“I can’t think of anything I’d like better,” Stella said, but he detected a hesitation in her voice. “We’ll have so much fun.”

He studied her for a second, remembering that she was going to tell him something before Jordan woke up the night before. “Stella, last night…well, I think there was something you were going to tell me before Jordan woke up,” he said. “I was just wondering what it was.”

He saw a brief flash of panic in her eyes, but it was gone the next second. “It was nothing, well, I mean, it was something,” Stella stammered. “Now isn’t really the right time. It’s a long story… ”

Just then, Jordan began to fuss in the other room, “Oh, it sounds like the baby is awake,” she said, slipping out of his arms and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “It’s my turn, I’ll be right back.”

He watched her walk away, a little spark of anger taking root. He’d exposed all his secrets to her. The least he could expect in return was a few of hers. It worried him that she wouldn’t tell him. He wondered what she could be hiding, and his mind filled with a lot of answers he didn’t like. When she came out of the bedroom with the baby a few minutes later, carrying on a conversation with Jordan as if everything was perfectly normal, the anger grew just a little bit more.

By the time they finished breakfast, it was clear that whatever Stella’s secret was, she wasn’t going to share it with him, so when he stepped outside and saw dark clouds beginning to block out the sun, he was almost relieved. He wasn’t in the mood to go hiking, he wasn’t in the mood to take the baby swimming, he just wanted to get some space from the woman who was driving him crazy. He’d opened himself up to her, taking a risk, and it felt like she’d thrown it in his face.

Stella looked at him warily when he came back inside, clearly picking up on the distance he’d put between them now that he knew how one-sided their relationship had become. “Looks like it’s going to rain. We’re going to have to cancel our plans,” he said. “I think I’ll head over to Max’s and see if we can get a little work done instead.”

“But I thought you were taking the day off,” Stella said, her face filled with disappointment. “Jordan was so excited.”

“He’ll get over it,” he said. “I can’t sit around here doing nothing all day. The rain just reminded of that. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

He stomped out of the kitchen, grabbed a stack of papers off the desk, not even sure what he was grabbing, then slammed out of the cabin. His little fit of temper didn’t make him feel any better, it only made him feel worse, and he wished he’d never met Stella as he stomped toward Max’s cabin, not even noticing the rain that pelted his head.

Drenched by the time he reached the cabin and in no better mood, he stormed inside when his friend opened the door. “I don’t know why I even thought about breaking my rule,” he said, standing in the entryway, dripping onto the floor. “Women are nothing but trouble.”

“Oh, no, what happened?” Max asked. “No, wait. Don’t tell me yet. Let me get you a towel before you ruin my floor. I have a feeling this is going to take a while.”

***Stella***

Stella got up from the couch and went to the window, hoping to see a break in the clouds, but nothing had changed since she’d looked fifteen minutes earlier. Two days of rain had put a damper on the thrill of being on the island, and she was beginning to feel the effects of being cooped up. It didn’t help that she’d spent most of the day alone. Keith’s declaration that he was taking the baby with him to Max’s that morning had really thrown her, and she’d even worried for a second that he was going to fire her.

Annoyed at herself for not telling him when she had the chance and at Keith for making such a big deal about it, she paced around the cabin feeling like a caged animal. She needed something to distract her, but the cabin was neat as a pin, dinner for that night was already simmering on the stove, and she’d read everything she’d brought with her. Starting to feel desperate, she looked over at the desk, wondering if Keith had left anything interesting behind.

A few quick steps brought her to the desk and it was easy from there. “Let’s see what you’ve been up to,” she said, sifting through the plans on the desk. “This is interesting, but it would never work.”

It wasn’t long before she’d gathered up all of Keith’s rejected plans and spread them out around the room, completely lost in the creative process. Walking around the room, she studied the pages, pulling the best of Keith’s ideas out of them, then curled up on the couch with a sketch pad. Outside the rain fell, but she was unaware of anything but the sketch slowly emerging on the page, completely lost in the process of creating the most unique design of her career.

When she finally came back to reality, the rain was still coming down, the sun was slowly sinking in the sky, and she was filled with the thrill of creativity. Tearing the sheet off of the pad, she laid it down where she’d been sitting, then stood back to look at it, deciding that she was a genius. Letting out a sigh, she wondered what Keith would say if she showed it to him, but that reminded her that he was mad at her, making a wave of guilt wash over her.

She wasn’t exactly sure why she was being so stubborn. There was no doubt in her mind that she could trust Keith; he’d already saved her life once. Something was holding her back, and she was afraid to look too deeply to find out what it was. Even though deep down she knew the answer, she wasn’t ready to give in. She didn’t trust her emotions, didn’t trust her judgement, and didn’t want to make a huge mistake just because she was feeling vulnerable.

A clap of thunder shocked her out of her thoughts, making her jump. She looked out the window, her heart beginning to pound when she saw Keith running down the path with Jordan in his arms. Looking around the living room, sure that he was going to catch her with the plans spread everywhere and ask a bunch of questions she couldn’t answer, she started gathering everything up.

When she had it all stacked up, she put the pile on the desk, then messed it up, hoping Keith wouldn’t be able to tell she’d been snooping, then ran into the kitchen and started making a pot of coffee. Keith came barreling in only a few seconds later and stood dripping onto the floor, Jordan fussing unhappily in his arms.

“I guess you’ve never heard of an umbrella,” she said, taking the baby. I’ll go get him into some dry clothes. Dinner is ready any time you want to eat.”

She started to walk away, but Keith grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry about the silent treatment,” he said. “It was immature and wrong. If you’re not ready to share your secrets with me, that’s okay. I’ll be waiting right here when you are.”

Shocked beyond words, she looked up at him. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” she said. “I'm not supposed to; you’re really better off not knowing, I promise you.”

“Stella, are you in some kind of trouble?” he asked, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I promised myself I wouldn’t push you. Just know that I’m here for you no matter what it is.”

Her heart melted a little bit, and she stretched up on her toes and gave him a kiss. “Thank you, Keith,” she said. “You make me feel safe. I know nothing will happen to me if I’m with you.”

“You can count on that,” he said. “Now go get Jordan into some dry clothes before you have to change too. I’m going to hop in the shower.”

She watched him walk away, then with a wistful sigh, took Jordan into the bedroom to change him, but all she could think about was Keith naked in the shower. Frustrated with herself, she tried to focus on something else besides the tantalizing idea that she could just give up, tell Keith everything and hope that he understood. But as she carried Jordan out to the living room, a new thought popped into her head: if Keith knew someone was out to kill her, he might not be wild about the idea of her being around Jordan .

It was something that had never occurred to her before, and once implanted in her brain, she couldn’t let it go. There was no way she could tell him now. There was no way she could risk him sending her back; she needed to stay hidden on the island, at least until the man who was after her was caught. It wasn’t the way she wanted things to be; she didn’t want secrets between them, but she also wanted to stay alive.