The Prince's Nanny Read Online Free Page A

the gardeners and the rest of the staff wrapped around their little fingers.  Nonetheless, curtsies were preferable to tantrums which was what they’d thrown when he told them about boarding school.  They had made it quite clear they didn’t want another nanny, nor did they want to go to boarding school.  They wanted to be free of all authority.
    “This school is Aurora’s idea, isn’t it?” Caterina had demanded with her hands on her hips that morning.  Sometimes she looked so much like her mother, all attitude and flashing eyes, Vittorio was afraid the spirit of his wife Maddelena had come back to haunt them all, including Caterina.
    After what she’d heard, Sabrina West must be surprised to see how well they were behaving, as was he.  She could not be unaware of how the girls had treated the other applicants.  Tormenting nannies with creeping, crawling creatures was only the beginning.  They moved on to more devious tricks then taught them inappropriate phrases in Italian the girls had learned from one of the gardeners.  To put it mildly, they had made all the nannies who followed Nanny Chisholm feel unwelcome.
      How would Ms West fare when pitted against his offspring during her stay?  Would she last beyond a week?  Or even a day?  It would be a true test to see how her impressive self-confidence stood up to a double-barreled attack of who one nanny called the ‘little monsters.’ She talked a good game, but the verdict was out as to how well she’d do in actual practice.
    “I have hired Ms West to help prepare you for the Academy,” he said firmly to let them know it was a done deal and no amount of complaining would get him to change his mind.  “You know the interviews are next week.”
    Caterina and Gianna exchanged glances.  Something passed between them, the kind of silent communication he imagined was only possible with twins.  Thankfully they had each other, because he readily admitted he hadn’t been much of a father these past years.  He’d buried himself in his work.  He’d opened his heart once in his life, when he fell in love with their mother and that ended disastrously. Since then he’d been described by friends and colleagues as a loner.  The tumultuous events in the international banking business were now forcing him to take an active role and end his loner status.  And to find a solution to the twins’ problem.
    “Yes, Papa,” Caterina said.
    “Thank you, Papa,” Gianna said.
    Surprised at this benign reaction, he glanced at Sabrina.  She didn’t look surprised.  Hadn’t she read the reports on the girls?
     Since there was no way to please them, except by letting them run wild, and they desperately needed discipline, he had decided in the last half hour to hire the nanny who sat across the table from him and send them away to school also.  He had no faith in a positive outcome to these decisions, but to his surprise, the reaction of his daughters was so far a positive one.
    Ms West was right about the girls being too young to make important decisions.  She had confidence, he could see that.  Soon he would see if it was misplaced or not.  Other nannies had had confidence.  She’d need more than that to cope with Gianna and Caterina.  Even for a week.
    Sabrina West had caught his eye even before she’d arrived.  While gazing at the ferry as it passed the villa, he observed the passengers through the field glasses his grandfather had used in World War Two.  He was sure Grandfather had never seen a sight like the woman at the railing with her skirt blown above her knees exposing long legs.
    From the terrace Vittorio hadn’t seen her eyes were the dark blue color of the lake in a storm.  But somehow he’d known she was the nanny.  It wasn’t her looks, it was her manner. So many nannies had come and gone he couldn’t remember any physical trait of a single one.  Maybe his noticing the color of this woman’s eyes or the shape of her legs were a