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wasn’t watching where I was going. I ran into him and he steadied me. I probably banged his toe or something. But even so, I think you owe your father an apology.”
    Jeremy thrust his chin forward and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. “I’m getting Grandpa! He won’t let Dad get rid of you. Not like the other tutors.” 
    With dinosaur in hand, the boy pounded past them, then flew up the staircase leading to his grandpa’s suite on the second floor of the mansion.
    Hannah slowly turned and gave Tanner a tremulous smile. All right, so Mr. Rich Man was not happy.
    He stood with feet apart, a stern reprimand settling across his tanned face. Golden brown hair gleamed against the sunlight fingering through the front windows. Crow’s feet were etched at the corner of his eyes, making him appear more approachable.
    But that mesmerizing smile that had turned her knees to jelly weeks ago had disappeared completely.
    “You must be wondering what I’m doing here,” she said with a false bravado.
    He said nothing, and the chill between them seemed to grow.
    The lines in his mouth tightened. Oh, he remembered her.
    Inwardly, she winced. The look in his eyes told her he had called the phone number she had given him. She doubted that getting the police on the phone for a dinner date was not something that happened regularly to this handsome millionaire.
    She sneezed, breaking the silence.
    She had been fooling herself. She needed this job until Reach Medicals came through. Her part-time position at the library just didn’t pay the bills. Even though this tutoring job wasn’t permanent, her mother depended on her now, and so did Jeremy.
    However, she had decided a long time ago that no man would have control over her again. Pride was something she would always have to work on, but she definitely was not going to start changing for Tanner Clearbrook and beg him for the job.
    She pasted a bright smile on her face. “Your father hired me as your son’s tutor this summer.” 
    Frosty silver eyes clung to hers. He seemed to be waiting for her reaction. “Hannah Elliot,” she muttered hastily, shoving her hand out to him as a sign of both greeting and peace.
    When his powerful hand swallowed hers, her heart stopped. Of course he knew who she was.  
    “Miss Elliot.” The coldness in his voice made her cringe. Okay, so he had called the police.  
    She cleared her throat, trying not to be affected by his compelling presence. “Mr. Clearbrook.” She jerked her hand from his, her cheeks warming at the tenseness flickering in his eyes.
    He took a step back and folded his arms across his chest, looking more like a mighty lord glaring at a lowly serf than an employer scowling at his son’s tutor. He was a descendant of some duke, wasn’t he?
    “So, my father hired you, did he?” 
    Hannah stood stock still. Fritz must have had his reasons, she thought. She shouldn’t  jump to conclusions. But indignation soon replaced her fear as Tanner dropped his gaze to inspect her painted nails.
    I need this job , she kept telling herself. I need it!   
    “Fritz hired me weeks ago,” she said, recovering slightly and meeting his hardened glare with one of her own. “You were away on business.”
    Her feet were planted firmly on the floor now, but even at her height of five feet eight, the man towered over her by a good number of inches. “He knows my mother, and well, one thing led to another and here I am.”
    The man pursed his lips in a sardonic manner. “And here you are. Teaching my son about painting toenails, no doubt. I wonder where my father finds such intellectual tutors. I take it you gave him your correct phone number in case he needed to get in touch with you.” 
    Hannah could hardly blame him. He had helped her, been her knight in a sort of contemporary way, and she had been a chicken, scared spitless. But that didn’t give him the right to expect her to have a date with him. Still, she should have just