The Nannying

Joanette had never been one for horse riding. Out of all her preferred activities, being on top of an animal wasn't it. First of all, her inner thighs would be in tremendous pain after a particularly long ride and so would her back. Second of all, horses were temperamental beasts.

Cressida DiBiancci was not only an adept equestrian, she had her own personal stable which housed twelve purebred horses, her favourite of which was an Andalusian named Euro.

"You can ride Gaia if you'd like. She's tame and likes everyone." The small girl pat a stout akhal-teke on the nose with a small smile on her face. The glasses on her nose were slipping down the bulb of the upturned tip and she pushed them back up to her eyes with the back of her hand. <i>"Niccolò, sella Gaia per la signorina Erica per favore." </i>

The stable attendant immediately rushed off to do as she had said, coming back shortly with a heavy looking saddle and some woollen blankets. Joanette took a step back to allow him to do what he had to with the horse, saddling her up for an easy ride as Cressida, ever the dutiful little bee, took care of her own beast.

They were mounted in no time, gently leading the animals out through the back and to a clearing at the back of the house. Despite not liking horse riding, Joanette did know how. It was kind of imperative for her as a field agent to know how to do everything that could ever come to hand, because if there wasn't a sleek McLaren for her to floor during a high speed chase, a horse would have to do.

She remembered the first time she'd had to take off on a quadruped. It hadn't been her most brilliant moment and Joanette had been sure she was about to fall off at least twice mid-gallop.

Now, they strolled along at a leisurely pace, taking in the fresh morning air and the greenery surrounding them. The DiBiancci property was gorgeous, surrounded by greenery, twittering birds and the distant smell of sea breeze. She would have to come outside more often to enjoy the peace, preferably alone and without her nannying charge with her, though Cressida wasn't necessarily bad company.

"Who are you, really?" The girl asked out of the blue, startling Joanette into nearly toppling off the damned horse. Cressida was watching her silently, those dark eyes of hers boring into her skull like she could pick apart every layer of the agent's body and discover the secrets beneath her skin with just a glance.

"What do you mean?" She laughed drily. "I'm just your nanny, sweetheart."

"I mean what's your real identity?" She asked again, turning her gaze back to the path in front of them. Out here, like this, it was just them two side by side. The property was certainly heavily guarded, Joanette was sure of that if Cressida was being allowed to ride with her without Kenton or some other bodyguard tagging along as well, then there were more than one security measures set in place.

"My real identity?" She decided to play dumb with the child, and that cost her a frosty glare.

"I'm not dumb. I know you're not just a nanny."

The child was incredibly perceptive, Joanette realised. She didn't know how the girl figured it out, or if she had simply overheard their conversation with her parents. Either way, she knew more than she should've.

Did the boy know those things as well? She doubted it. He was four, he couldn't be aware of much more than what was immediately in front of him.

So, would she come clean and tell the girl the truth or would she lie?

"My name is Joanette Bordeaux, I'm a special field agent posing as a nanny to guard you."

"You're the model?" Her eyes went wide. "I knew it, I knew you were like <i>zia</i> Claudette."

Joanette grimaced. To be compared to her cousin's wife was to compare a star to a galaxy. Claudette Monterre wasn't just a field agent the same way she wasn't just a model. Ever since she had become involved with Katarina Montenegro both her and Jean-Louis had ascended to a level in The Agency where nearly no one could touch them.

Katarina couldn't subsist in such a flawless manner without their help, and thanks to that help, she paid the French HQ exuberant amounts of money. It was the perfect circle of cash and power. That way, with The Agency so involved in the criminal underworld, there were always field agents contracted to body guarding jobs, guard jobs and even, intelligence jobs. Everything from the specialised cook to the analyst was getting swept out of the agency and into the care of a professional crime lord.

Alistair's perfect plan to collect information. The more they tangled themselves with the criminal underworld, the more they knew about it, the more the could control things and remain untouchable. The Agency had done the same thing to the civilian governments. It was a pattern.

"So why are you protecting me?" Cressida led her horse down a path and Joanette followed after her, the two of them plunging lazily into the thick of the trees. "What are you guarding me from?"

Now that was a question Joanette wasn't sure if she was able to answer. Revealing half the truth to the girl was one thing, but all of it?

Hey kid, you have a psycho uncle who's kind-of-not-really your actual uncle and he wants to kill you, your entire family, then take over your inheritance.

Yeah, that didn't seem like something to go spewing to a child, of all people, even one so strange and unique as Cressida.

"Someone's trying to kill me, aren't they?"

She had asked the question so silently that Joanette wasn't even sure if she'd heard her ask it or if she had imagined the entire thing herself. Cressida seemed the epitome of calm as she turned her head back to her.

"Will they hurt my brother, too?"

And then came the strangeness. The girl clearly knew who she was and what she was set to inherit. She knew the kind of world she lived in, but it seemed like her parents were trying to shelter her from the complete reality of it. Either way, she had a job to do, and if things went right the way Marco was estimating, she wouldn't be in Sicily for long.

"No. They won't. That's what I'm here to make sure of."