Nanny Behaving Badly by Judy Jarvie

Two weary and distrustful souls in need of each other. But the past is hard to overcome. Not only do they work together, but there is a child involved. If he hires her to take care of his son but their attraction flares up, then she will become the Nanny Behaving Badly.

Maddie Adams doesn’t mean to make the worst impression possible with her new boss. Nor does she intend to work as his temp Christmas nanny—especially when Lyle Sutherland inspires spicy flirtation and full-on naughty thoughts.
Maddie Adams is determined to find a secure future and avoid tangled relationships. She hopes for a smooth ride in her new barista job in Edinburgh’s festive Winter market to ensure a good reference. When Maddie walked out of her prior job the person she hurt most was herself. Secrets don’t sit well with a woman who faced harsh truths in her teens. So she doesn’t mean to make the worst impression possible with the handsome café owner…or for her heartbeat to hitch and speed when he’s near. Lyle Sutherland’s suggestion that she becomes his son’s nanny shocks them both—but it’s temptingly timely.
Hot, coffee king Lyle is wary of impulsive women but intent on special care for his son. Maddie’s a sure-fire hit with Josh and attraction is on fast-track living at close quarters. But Lyle’s intense business aims bring painful reminders of Maddie’s father and his high-handed ways. At heart Maddie is desperate to shed her misfit failure childhood fears. Lyle’s hormones are in a spin around his sassy, smart super nanny. A wild ex-wife lacking in restraint should have taught Lyle emotional caution. But when attraction and passion are unleashed between boss and nanny, Lyle’s secrets challenge old wounds. Can fledgling love survive corroded trust?

Maddie Adams has serious trust issues. She grew up the daughter of a man consumed with his legal career and neglecting his family. Along the way, she finds her father with her old nanny (turns out her mother knew about his extra activities and accepted them). When she was eighteen, her mother, dieing of cancer, tells her she was adopted. This breaks any family feelings and trust she had. She left college and came to Scotland to live with her uncle and start over. Recently, she found out her boyfriend, who was her boss, was having an affair with another co-worker and everyone else knew but didn’t tell her. Talk about breaking trust all around (boyfriend, co-workers, and other women). So she walked out on that job!

Now Maddie has to find and keep a job if she hopes to get enough money and a reference to land the loan to buy her apartment. Her friend owns/runs a placement agency and lands her the job with Lyle’s Ice Café. But things are rocky from the start. And the attraction between them doesn’t help, because she is NOT going to date her boss again.

Lyle Sutherland use to be a rally driver (European Race Cars) and a champion at that. While he loved racing, he wasn’t into the famous lifestyle. His ex-wife, Becca, however, was all about the glamour and parties. They married because she got pregnant, but she never could choose between their son and her own enjoyment. In the end she had died on the way to a party, and Lyle was grateful that his son, Josh, was not in the car at the time. He has giving up racing completely since it is not safe enough for an only parent. His Ice Café coffee house is popular and he is looking to expand soon. But running a growing business and raising a son on his own takes focus and all his time. He can’t deal with wild and impulsive workers, especially women who remind him in a bad way of Becca.

Lyle and Maddie may be off to a bad start, but things quickly turn around. Maddie is not as impulsive as Lyle first thinks. And she does have good ideas and draws in customers. Then Josh’s au pair (nanny) has to leave due to a family emergency. Maddie’s previous training and past jobs with children comes into play while she watches Josh for the afternoon. Seeing how well Josh takes to Maddie, Lyle offers her the job of temp Nanny at twice her normal pay while he finds a new au pair. Maddie needs the money to buy her apartment and accepts. This puts them closer together and their mutual attraction harder to fight. After one fantastic kiss, Maddie lays down the rules, explaining about not wanting to loose another job over relationship issues nor being reminded or her father.

However, they are drawn too much to each other to fight the attraction forever. When Josh goes to spend the holiday week with relatives, they end up together. But what happens when the week is over? Of when Maddie goes back to the Café? And when Maddie finds out a secret Lyle kept as a surprise for her, she sees it in a different light and thinks he can’t be trusted. Now will they even be able to work together? Lyle has fallen for her, but she can’t get past her trust issues…

Personal Note again—the cover has absolutely nothing to do with this story (and there is no tie-ing up going on). So we really can’t judge a book by its cover here (or get excited about it either).

Nanny Behaving Badly really isn’t! Okay, maybe she does since she gets together with the single dad, but the title and cover make it sound kinky when this is a love story. Maddie has some serious issues and I feel she still has some growing up to do. Not everyone is as bad as your dad if you will pick a better man, which the last boyfriend was really just another version of her dad (over-working and cheating). It is really sad that Maddie feels so bad/wrong about being adopted. My mother was and her parents told her when her was eleven that they want a child so much they did everything they could to get her (can’t recall exact words, but she has never had an issue about this). I understand Maddie’s trust/secret issues, but even that she takes to an extreme. The poor girl needs theory. And as Lyle learns, you can judge all women by your ex. Assuming things about someone just because the look a certain way is a big no-no. But then again, this is a man in major need of a little wildness in his life; there is such a thing as too much structure. If they can let go of the past, these two will be perfect for each other.

Nanny Behaving Badly is fact paced. I would have like to see a little more of Josh (Lyle’s son), but then again that might have felt odd for this spicy romance. There are some great scenes that will stay with you, but I hope no one EVER mentions putting soap or bubble bath in a Jacuzzi to my nieces or nephews! And I must say, the ending is just precious.