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Spencer seemed content with the task, biting his lip as he tried to force pieces where they couldn’t possibly fit.
    Annie knew how that felt. She’d been living a giant jigsaw puzzle for the past year. Not fitting no matter how much she tried to shove the pieces in.
    Like this job.
    First, she was less than good in her nanny undercover role. She’d probably screw the kid up before she finished the assignment.
    And second, she had no leads on the perpetrator. Zip. Zero. Nada.
    This afternoon had scared her. Putting her in as the nanny hadn’t been fair to Spencer. Prime example—alligators. Why hadn’t she explained to him how dangerous alligators were? Or the truth about animals with sharp teeth? Why hadn’t she gone over rules with him about where he could go at the old mansion, and who he could go with? She should have briefed him on what to expect at Beau Soleil.
    But she hadn’t. She’d been too tired. Wanted a shower. And had been more than happy to hand the child over to his mother.
    She’d have never done something so sloppy when she’d been with the Bureau. Of course, she’d never been in charge of a kid.
    Never had to go undercover. But it had proven to her yet again she wasn’t cut out for raising children. She didn’t have the knack.
    Her failed almost-marriage to a man with a daughter had proven as much. She and Mallory had been oil and water.
    Spencer looked up at her and smiled. Her heart unwillingly swelled in her chest.
    Damn.
    Okay, so she could see the attraction of kids. They were a pain in the butt, but when they smiled like that, or lay their little heads so trustingly on your shoulder, well, all bets were off on the old ticker. Spencer’s smile did funny things to her.
    She smiled back.
    He went back to work on the puzzle, and his mother turned toward her. “I hope you’re planning on doing a better job of keeping up with my son, Amy. We fired the last nanny, you know.”
    Annie shoved her magazine onto the table crowded with knickknacks as irritation gnawed at her. She needed to grab hold of some coolness. The last nanny had been fired for sexting with her boyfriend while hiding out in the pool cabana during Spencer’s fifth-birthday party over a month ago. It had been an awkward discovery especially since her boyfriend sat right next to her, naked and at attention. Annie really didn’t see sexting in her future.
    Spencer looked up. “Mom, her name is Annie.”
    Tawny wrinkled her nose. “Funny birdie, you remember everything.”
    “Taw—Mrs. Keene, my aim is to take care of Spencer every moment he’s in my care.” She wanted to point out he’d not been in her care when he disappeared. He’d been in his mother’s. Instead she silently counted to ten.
    “He was with you when he went missing, Tawny,” Picou interrupted, licking her thumb and turning the page of her Southern Living magazine.
    Tawny frowned. “Well, she was on duty. Her day ends when Spencer’s does.”
    “But you told her to leave him with you,” Picou persisted, her eyes on the magazine, but her intent clear. “That sends mixed messages. Either he’s with you or he’s with her.”
    Tawny didn’t say anything more. Her silence was almost petulant. She picked up the magazine and her lips started moving as she read silently.
    “Are you ready for bed, Spencer?” Annie asked, hoping to shift the tension in the room. It was tough being on the Keenes’
    payroll even though technically she wasn’t. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold her tongue over Tawny’s unreasonable expectations.

    “No,” Spencer said, shaking his head emphatically.
    Tawny dropped her hand onto his head and rubbed his silky brown hair. Her message was unmistakable. Spencer wasn’t going to bed until the actress was ready. For some reason Tawny was hostile to Annie. She’d yet to figure out why the normally bouncy actress went all snake eyes on her.
    Annie shifted in the comfortable armchair and glanced about the