Book Title: MARRYING THE NANNY
Character Name: Emma Wright
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
In a lot of ways, I had a very privileged upbringing. The northern tip of the South Island in New Zealand is a beautiful part of the world. My parents were professionals, so we had all the perks of upper-middle class—a sailboat and a membership at the club.
That wealth and status turned my brother into the biggest d!ckhead alive. He teased (bullied) me constantly and encouraged his wife to use me as unpaid daycare. I did all the running around for our parents, but I thought that was just part of being a family. Then I learned that my brother knew my husband was cheating on me and never told me.
I might have got over that eventually, but our parents were friends with my ex’s parents, so it turned into a whole thing at Christmas. I was the excluded from my brother’s ‘so it wouldn’t be awkward.’ That was the last straw. I sold everything and moved to Canada.
What was your greatest talent?
At the time? I was pretty good at selling houses, but I walked away from more than my ex when we divorced. I’m kind of broke now.
Significant other?
No way, never again (unless I fall in love and I’ve learned that most men are d!ckheads)
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Honestly? Sex. I mean, I can see now that my marriage was based on what was convenient for our families, not on real chemistry between me and my ex. He was never very enthusiastic no matter what I tried, which made me feel really useless in bed. But I wanted to have sex because I wanted to have a baby.
It was all pretty demoralizing and left me with a lot of hang-ups (and fertility issues.)
Where do you live?
When I ran away from home (kidding, but not really) I took the first job I could find—nanny to a couple living in Canada. Raven’s Cove is a fly-in fishing resort in BC’s central coast. It’s one of the only places along that stretch of coast to refuel a boat or pick up a few groceries. Otherwise, it’s pretty much wilderness.
The village is essentially a truck stop. The grocery store also serves as post office and liquor store. There’s a coffee shop with gifts and T-shirts, a pub—ask me the menu. I’ve memorized it—and a hardware store that fronts the marina. The harbor and marina service all the boats that come through. Most of them are fishermen, but I’m told that in the summer there are a lot of yachts and other fancy pleasure boats.
Do you have any enemies?
If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have said my brother.
But no, the bigger deal now is that my employers died. A few days ago, they left to get married in Vegas and their plane went down. That’s horrible, right? But it gets even more stressful. They left their five-month only baby, Storm, with me.
I love Storm. All I can think is that I want to be her mom, but I’m not a Canadian citizen. The government told me to bring her to Victoria where they’re going to give custody to one of her half-brothers: Reid, Logan, and Trystan Fraser.
You should see these mongrels! I mean, Reid’s a corporate consultant so he’s in a very sharp suit, but tenderness is not in his vocab. The other two are equally standoffish. They seem to barely tolerate each other, let alone a baby.
I can’t leave Storm with any of them!
Thankfully, they agree to keep me on while they figure things out, but it’s like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, except I’m the thing that is too hot while Reid, especially, is the thing that’s too cold.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
Raven’s Cove is not an easy place to live. Everything costs the earth, and everything has to come by boat or plane, but it’s incredibly beautiful in a very rugged, remote way.
I might have died of loneliness if I hadn’t met Sophie. She’s a mechanic at the marina and grew up here along with the Fraser boys. She gives me all the hot goss on them, (but refuses to talk about her childhood crush on middle-brother Logan! Something happened between them, though, because she hates him.)
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
I really want to adopt Storm. The more I get to know Reid and his brothers, the more they agree that I’m the best mom for her.
To be fair, after the initial shock wears off, the men start to bond with her. Any one of them would make a good father, but when I find out that Storm actually has an aunt on her mother’s side, we all start to stress that this stranger might show up and take Storm from us. That’s when Reid suggests we get married and adopt her together.
What do you do for a living?
For now, I’m Storm’s nanny. I’m on a temporary work visa, though. If I really want to become Storm’s mother, I have to go through the whole immigration process. I’m happy to do it. There’s nothing for me back in NZ. Not anymore.
Greatest disappointment?
Not being able to conceive. I’ve always wanted to be a mom. But, you know, if all of that had to happen to bring me to Canada for a chance at being Storm’s mom, I’m okay with it.
Greatest source of joy?
Storm. Hands down. She has her fussy moments. Show me a baby who doesn’t. But she is adorable, and I love her to bits.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention it was a delightful surprise to learn I do actually possess a libido. Reid really lights my fire and I gotta say, that’s pretty joyful, too.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Sophie is forever dragging me to whatever wine and draw they’re doing at the pub, but I’ve started going on hikes with Trystan, too. He’s the youngest brother and full of contradictions. He’s famous for his wilderness survival videos, so he spends a lot of time alone, but we take Storm and he’s very sweet with her. He feels like the brother I always wished I’d had.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
The signs were there that my husband was cheating. I didn’t want to see them. I guess the deeper issue is that I maybe didn’t think I deserved better.
It scares the heck out of me when I stand up for myself with these brothers, especially Reid, but I have to. And, full disclosure, I fall in love with Reid the day my brother shows up because Reid tells him I deserve better, too.
What keeps you awake at night?
I am so worried that Storm’s aunt is going to swoop in and take her before our adoption can go through.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Oh, mate, in those first days I was fulltime caregiver. I was fried. Then these three lunkheads showed up and yes, they had to organize the memorial and, honestly, Raven’s Cove is a mess. Renovations came to a standstill over finances even before the plane went down with the owner.
So I get that the Fraser brothers had a lot on their plate. But suddenly, I was cooking and cleaning for them, too, while they treated me and Storm like we were a huge inconvenience.
That all changed when Logan’s mom, Glenda showed up. She’s a riot and a half. She delivered some home truths to those men, which was a bittersweet pill for me to swallow. I want help, but I don’t want to give Storm up. It makes for awkward moments between me and Reid during midnight feedings, but also some heart-to-hearts.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
I really want to see my niece and nephew again. I’d like a better relationship with my family overall, but I think (hope?) that I’m finding a family with these estranged brothers. Despite all their bluster, Storm is gluing their fractured family back together and it’s really sweet to watch.
Raven's Cove
When infant Storm is orphaned, nanny Emma Wright, on a work visa and still reeling from a painful divorce, yearns to adopt her but must relinquish Storm to her three adult half-brothers. They remind her of a pack of wolves—protective, but not prepared to care for a baby. Alpha male Reid is especially aloof and intimidating.
Like his younger brothers, Reid Fraser left the Westcoast village of Raven’s Cove at eighteen and never looked back. Now a successful corporate consultant who rescues failing businesses—which is what this fly-in fishing resort has become, Reid must rally his brothers to save Storm’s inheritance, but he and his estranged brothers barely get along. They can’t deal with an infant, too. They need the nanny.
As Emma coaches Reid through midnight feedings and teething, they try to ignore the sexual pull between them. Then they learn Storm may have family who could take her from them. Reid proposes a marriage of convenience, but will it be enough to keep this fractured family together?
Romance Contemporary [Tule Publishing, On Sale: March 5, 2024, e-Book, ISBN: 9781961544994 / eISBN: 9781961544338]
Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author Dani Collins thrives on giving readers emotional, compelling, heart-soaring romance with laughter and heat thrown in, just like real life. While she is best known for writing contemporary romance for Harlequin Presents and Tule Publishing, she also writes historical and erotic romance. When she’s not writing—just kidding, she’s always writing. Dani lives in Southern BC, Canada with her high school sweetheart husband.
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