“As you can see, I’m busy.”
“Oh, we can take a break,” Jacyn said crisply.
Way to have my back,he telegraphed gratefully to his sister-in-law.
She gave him a sly grin and indicated with a wave of the hand for the other two to follow her, even as Naisha looked on in frustration.
Once they were alone, he shut the door.
She slipped around to the other side of the table, as if grateful to put something solid between them. “What do you want?”
He rested both hands on the back of a chair, measuring his words. “My daughter is quite taken with you.”
“She’s a sweetheart.” Her words were warm, but her face gave nothing away. She was cautious, on guard.
“She is insisting that nobody but you should be her next governess.”
“Well,” she drawled. “I hope you set her straight. I hope you made her understand that, with my morals and standards of behavior, I’m not suited to teach a future Countess. Maybe—”
“Naisha, I’m sorry about that. I should never have said anything like that. I should never have judged you.”
“But you did,” she said tautly.
He hung his head. “I know. I can be an ass sometimes. But please,” he lifted his head to face her again, “don’t let my daughter suffer for my mistake. I’m here to ask you to reconsider—”
She gasped. “You’re offering me the job? In France?”
“Yes. Willa insists.”
“And you let a child make decisions such as this? Isn’t it your call as a grownup? As a parent?”
He hated it when people looked at him as a bad parent. It sounded weak even to his own ears, but, “I’m doing the best I can. Willa’s life has been a rollercoaster, especially with her mom’s passing. I want her life to be calm and predictable moving forward.”
Naisha gave him a sympathetic face, and asked tentatively, “How is she dealing with it?”
William saw an opening and took advantage of it. “It’s highs and lows. Some days for her are better than others. Would you consider the job? At least until the summer?”
Naisha looked away, and Liam wondered if he was getting to her at last. In business, you have to know when to push and when to pause. He waited.
She moved swiftly around the table, taking the long way around to avoid him, and made for the door. “I can’t, William. I’m sorry—”
He caught her by the arm before she could make it through the door. She gave him a wide-eyed look that almost made him relent and let her go. But this was his last chance, and he was taking it.
“Naisha, please. Since her mother died, Willa hasn’t asked me for anything else apart from this. My mother is there with us at the château, and they spend a lot of time together. Jacyn is there a lot of the time too, but I think my daughter needs the full time influence of a younger woman in her life. I want it to be you.”
He could see angels and devils fighting inside her. Her expression shifted; he couldn’t be sure whether her answer would be yes or no, but he felt safe to release her.
She returned to the table, rummaged through her bag, withdrew a slip of paper and scribbled something down. “If I do this, this is the wage I expect.”
William looked at the figure, not even caring how much she wanted. A quick calculation told him she was asking a sum roughly twice what he’d paid Willa’s last, short-lived tutor. That was fine with him. He didn’t move a facial muscle, but nodded. “Fine with me.”
He enjoyed the look of surprise on her face, as if she’d expected him to either haggle or say no. “Are there any more requirements?”
Her expression told him she hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“We can discuss this when you’re done with your shoot for the day,” he said encouragingly. “Then I will have an agreement drawn up.” Experience at the negotiation table told him to strike quickly, before she had time to change her mind.
“You’ll need my references, I assume. Background checks.”