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Accidental Nanny
Outback Cattle Station - Father and Daughter in Need of Love
How could Chessie prove to Raefe Stevenson that she wasn't spoiled? The handsome Outback cattle rancher needed a nanny for his small daughter, Jess, and suddenly Chessie saw her chance... It was a daring thing to do, but Jess soon accepted Chessie as her new nanny, and Raefe had no choice but to keep Chessie on. In fact, she fitted so perfectly that Raefe suggested she become his wife!
How could Chessie prove to Raefe Stevenson that she wasn't spoiled? The handsome Outback cattle rancher needed a nanny for his small daughter, Jess, and suddenly Chessie saw her chance... It was a daring thing to do, but Jess soon accepted Chessie as her new nanny, and Raefe had no choice but to keep Chessie on. In fact, she fitted so perfectly that Raefe suggested she become his wife!
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
6 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
318 books91 followersGillian Smith (alias Lindsay Armstrong) was born in South Africa. She grew up with three ambitions: to become a writer, to travel the world, and to be a game ranger. She didn't achieve the last one, but her fascination for wildlife and that special something about Africa and its big game still remains with her. When she went to work it was in travel, at an agency and an airline, and this started her on the road to seeing the world.
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 18, 2019
Re Accidental Nanny - Lindsay Armstrong tips her hat to the old skool rich girl h having to rough it trope in the tenth book of the Nanny Wanted series
The h is 23 and an heiress who has a bit of an imperious air about her that she gets from her equally imperious and long widowed mostly skeezy father. The h is trying to return from her survey of her father's latest purchase of a remote Australian cattle station when she meets the H.
The wet season is on the way and the h wants to get back to the big city before everything gets flooded. She goes to the only local airport within a thousand miles and then gets a mite snippy when the single owner makes her wait a long while to even talk about a flight.
The h gets tired of being ignored and decides to throw her father's name around. This sets off the owner, who despises the cutthroat tactics of the h's father and has nothing nice to say about the h and her gossip column appearances either.
The h has a bad habit of losing her temper and then regretting it, but she manages to ward off the H's attempts at tart shaming and useless socialite disparaging pretty brilliantly.
During her long wait to discuss a flight, she learned that the H needs a nanny/housekeeper at his own huge cattle station, as various members of his staff and his sister are either off on leave or have fallen prey to injury.
The H does wind up arranging the h's flight out, after a punishing roofie kiss or three. But the h is still irked that the H believes every thing he reads in the tabloids and she has a burning desire to prove she is more than a useless ornament or an object to disseminate some lust upon.
So the h arranges to get hired as the H's new nanny. She does have a teaching degree and she has worked with special needs kids before, plus she can cook and sew and run a house. The nanny agency and the H's sister, who is injured, are very delighted to meet her.
(Due to her mother's untimely demise when she was young and her father's flamboyant womanizing, he dumped the h in a boarding school and the h's headmistress was the teaching young ladies to survive in all circumstances type. So the h has the skillz to cope with having to earn a living and practical skills for being more than just a clothes ornament.)
The h is on the H's cattle station ten days and has won his plot moppet daughter and his sister over. When the H and h meet on the H's beach in the early morning sunlight, he is NOT happy to see her.
But the h is very competent and his sister has to go sort out her marriage, his other staff member has broken his leg and is rushed to hospital, so there is no one else to watch the H's daughter.
The tension and the lurve force mojo between the H and h is palpable. After a series of verbal challenges from the H over the h's manner and morals, the h proves herself a worthy adversary and she manages to smack the H down every time he tries to belittle or tart shame her.
Eventually we learn that the h has had a feeling of being outside of human connections all her life, so the little plot moppet, who has some trauma of her own, finds it easy to relate to her. The H gradually learns that the h is a genuinely good and competent person and the H's roofie kisses have got the h half-way in love with him.
Until the h learns that the H was widowed 18 months earlier and is still carrying a huge torch for his wife. The H's wife died in a car wreck and the little plot moppet was in the car with her.
The poor mite was very traumatized by the incident, she was only 5 and the H and his sister were obliged to remove all the pictures of the wife and refrain from talking about her, because the plot moppet would have really bad nightmares and panic attacks.
When the little girl learns that the h's mother died when she was young too, it gives them another bridge and a big breakthrough, cause finally the little girl is able to talk about her mother without devolving into trauma.
Everyone credits the h with the big breakthrough and after a huge cyclone brushes the edges of the station and the h was worried about surviving, the H finally lets loose the purple passion. When the H figures out that he just revoked the h's unicorn grooming license, he tells her he will marry her.
But the h isn't about to use her former chaste status as a bargaining chip to be the second best wife to a man who is angry that another woman made him physically respond in the absence of his wife. So when his sister and her reconciled husband return from reuniting after two years apart, the h decides to leave.
The h's escape is facilitated by her father calling her up and asking for a reconciliation of his own. He recently met a career lady closer to him age and has gotten her up the duff, so they are getting married and he wants the h at the wedding.
LA wraps things up pretty quickly after that. She has the h and her father stage a little reunion and the h is resigned to her father making an effort for his new bride to create a family, when he couldn't be bothered to stop his womanizing and business dealings to be a father to her.
The father decides that he has to further distance the h from his life, so when the H shows up and wants to marry the h, he is quick to push her off to him. The H shows up at the father's wedding and pretty much absconds with the h, then roofie kisses her into agreeing to marry him.
He does a decent "I love you" speech and the h is totally in love with him back. Since the h loves the plot moppet too, she decides being second best is good enough in return for getting a family and the H and h elope for the big HEA.
The first part of this was excellent, but the last part was a downer, LA put in all her usual 'h is sloppy second' touches.
I wasn't feeling that the H was all that in love, more that the h was suitable, his daughter adored her and she was pretty hot in bed. LA has him express all the right words, but it was mostly a let down on the big romantic true love forever front - even tho the h can certainly hold her own against him, I felt she deserved better.
Then there was the h's last minute reunion with her dad, that smacked of a big time 'pimp the h out to get her out of the way for my new family' more than any type of true remorse for being a skeezy dad.
The h also has pretty bewildering spine dissolution after the big purple lurve club event. She goes right into innocent, but now awakened LA heroine dithery mode and I kinda felt a bit let down by that.
LA can write tho and the first part of this book is truly entertaining. If you have a Captain Consult or three and turn the rosy glasses up on hi beam, this isn't too bad for an HPlandia outing.
The h is 23 and an heiress who has a bit of an imperious air about her that she gets from her equally imperious and long widowed mostly skeezy father. The h is trying to return from her survey of her father's latest purchase of a remote Australian cattle station when she meets the H.
The wet season is on the way and the h wants to get back to the big city before everything gets flooded. She goes to the only local airport within a thousand miles and then gets a mite snippy when the single owner makes her wait a long while to even talk about a flight.
The h gets tired of being ignored and decides to throw her father's name around. This sets off the owner, who despises the cutthroat tactics of the h's father and has nothing nice to say about the h and her gossip column appearances either.
The h has a bad habit of losing her temper and then regretting it, but she manages to ward off the H's attempts at tart shaming and useless socialite disparaging pretty brilliantly.
During her long wait to discuss a flight, she learned that the H needs a nanny/housekeeper at his own huge cattle station, as various members of his staff and his sister are either off on leave or have fallen prey to injury.
The H does wind up arranging the h's flight out, after a punishing roofie kiss or three. But the h is still irked that the H believes every thing he reads in the tabloids and she has a burning desire to prove she is more than a useless ornament or an object to disseminate some lust upon.
So the h arranges to get hired as the H's new nanny. She does have a teaching degree and she has worked with special needs kids before, plus she can cook and sew and run a house. The nanny agency and the H's sister, who is injured, are very delighted to meet her.
(Due to her mother's untimely demise when she was young and her father's flamboyant womanizing, he dumped the h in a boarding school and the h's headmistress was the teaching young ladies to survive in all circumstances type. So the h has the skillz to cope with having to earn a living and practical skills for being more than just a clothes ornament.)
The h is on the H's cattle station ten days and has won his plot moppet daughter and his sister over. When the H and h meet on the H's beach in the early morning sunlight, he is NOT happy to see her.
But the h is very competent and his sister has to go sort out her marriage, his other staff member has broken his leg and is rushed to hospital, so there is no one else to watch the H's daughter.
The tension and the lurve force mojo between the H and h is palpable. After a series of verbal challenges from the H over the h's manner and morals, the h proves herself a worthy adversary and she manages to smack the H down every time he tries to belittle or tart shame her.
Eventually we learn that the h has had a feeling of being outside of human connections all her life, so the little plot moppet, who has some trauma of her own, finds it easy to relate to her. The H gradually learns that the h is a genuinely good and competent person and the H's roofie kisses have got the h half-way in love with him.
Until the h learns that the H was widowed 18 months earlier and is still carrying a huge torch for his wife. The H's wife died in a car wreck and the little plot moppet was in the car with her.
The poor mite was very traumatized by the incident, she was only 5 and the H and his sister were obliged to remove all the pictures of the wife and refrain from talking about her, because the plot moppet would have really bad nightmares and panic attacks.
When the little girl learns that the h's mother died when she was young too, it gives them another bridge and a big breakthrough, cause finally the little girl is able to talk about her mother without devolving into trauma.
Everyone credits the h with the big breakthrough and after a huge cyclone brushes the edges of the station and the h was worried about surviving, the H finally lets loose the purple passion. When the H figures out that he just revoked the h's unicorn grooming license, he tells her he will marry her.
But the h isn't about to use her former chaste status as a bargaining chip to be the second best wife to a man who is angry that another woman made him physically respond in the absence of his wife. So when his sister and her reconciled husband return from reuniting after two years apart, the h decides to leave.
The h's escape is facilitated by her father calling her up and asking for a reconciliation of his own. He recently met a career lady closer to him age and has gotten her up the duff, so they are getting married and he wants the h at the wedding.
LA wraps things up pretty quickly after that. She has the h and her father stage a little reunion and the h is resigned to her father making an effort for his new bride to create a family, when he couldn't be bothered to stop his womanizing and business dealings to be a father to her.
The father decides that he has to further distance the h from his life, so when the H shows up and wants to marry the h, he is quick to push her off to him. The H shows up at the father's wedding and pretty much absconds with the h, then roofie kisses her into agreeing to marry him.
He does a decent "I love you" speech and the h is totally in love with him back. Since the h loves the plot moppet too, she decides being second best is good enough in return for getting a family and the H and h elope for the big HEA.
The first part of this was excellent, but the last part was a downer, LA put in all her usual 'h is sloppy second' touches.
I wasn't feeling that the H was all that in love, more that the h was suitable, his daughter adored her and she was pretty hot in bed. LA has him express all the right words, but it was mostly a let down on the big romantic true love forever front - even tho the h can certainly hold her own against him, I felt she deserved better.
Then there was the h's last minute reunion with her dad, that smacked of a big time 'pimp the h out to get her out of the way for my new family' more than any type of true remorse for being a skeezy dad.
The h also has pretty bewildering spine dissolution after the big purple lurve club event. She goes right into innocent, but now awakened LA heroine dithery mode and I kinda felt a bit let down by that.
LA can write tho and the first part of this book is truly entertaining. If you have a Captain Consult or three and turn the rosy glasses up on hi beam, this isn't too bad for an HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2019
Poor little rich girl heroine is angry hero kept her waiting at his Outback airline, so she is rude to him. Hero brings up her unsavory past and kisses her. In retaliation heroine signs up to be nanny to his daughter.
Hi-jinks ensue.
This is a cute story. I really liked the heroine and the descriptions of the remote Outback territory. Heroine was surprisingly competent and hero had the grace to gradually change his mind about the heroine. I didn’t get the sense that heroine was second best to the hero’s dead wife. He didn't dwell on the past, anyway. He had a lot to do and the heroine challenged and flummoxed him. There was no room for dead wife in his mind.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
Outback checklist:
Vast distances traveled by plane, helicopter and vehicle
Cyclone!
Flooding
snake/crocodiles
Heat
School of the air
80 year-old homestead house
Barbeque with neighbors
Hi-jinks ensue.
This is a cute story. I really liked the heroine and the descriptions of the remote Outback territory. Heroine was surprisingly competent and hero had the grace to gradually change his mind about the heroine. I didn’t get the sense that heroine was second best to the hero’s dead wife. He didn't dwell on the past, anyway. He had a lot to do and the heroine challenged and flummoxed him. There was no room for dead wife in his mind.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
Outback checklist:
Vast distances traveled by plane, helicopter and vehicle
Cyclone!
Flooding
snake/crocodiles
Heat
School of the air
80 year-old homestead house
Barbeque with neighbors
April 19, 2023
For some reason I really enjoyed this low scoring romance. It leans a bit too heavily on her surrendered virginity as evidence to him that she was worthy of his love - didn't they all, back then in the dim and distant...er 1997(?!) but nevertheless I rather liked the two of them. Francesca Valentine, only daughter of widowed wealthy Oz magnate Frank, gets off on the haughty wrong foot with widowed cattle/air baron Raefe (sp?) and seeks to disprove his arrogant assumptions about her own uselessness by getting hired as nanny to his little girl, Jess. The child is an easy delight (ofc) and no mention is made of the absent mother. The h and H acknowledge a physical attraction and their mutual determination not to act on it. I quite liked the development and misunderstanding, the battles within both of them as they come to terms with the damage of their pasts and finally embrace the possibilities of a joint future. Anyway, for me there was a lot to like.
August 2, 2019
I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't been fighting a cracking headache at the same time. The repartee between the H and the h may have amused me at other times but in this instance it was to witty for me to appreciate.
April 3, 2025
A little too much h-think to be 4 stars and we never see exactly why she wants to prove something to a guy she met once.
Reread, same thoughts. Not too sure H loves h for herself or as a convenient second best.
Reread, same thoughts. Not too sure H loves h for herself or as a convenient second best.
November 30, 2019
Loved it so much.
February 21, 2023
though very well written did not think H was in love with h at all , she was the most convinient person he could rely uponfor all his needs thats the feeling i got while reading the novel.
May 11, 2011
Accidental Nanny is Lindsay Armstrong’s 40th romance novel. Raefe Stevenson thinks that Francesca Valentine is a spoiled and promiscuous little rich girl, and lets her know this in no uncertain terms when he encounters her in his airfield in remote north Queensland. Chessie is determined to show him just how wrong he is: when she hears he is in need of a nanny for his daughter, Jess, on their property, Bramble Station, she applies for the job as Fran Moorehouse. By the time Raefe returns to the station, she has made friends with his daughter and sister: sparks fly as these two feisty characters clash. Another great Aussie romance from Lindsay Armstrong.
June 9, 2011
I'm not much a fan of romance novels and after reading this, I remember why. Expect a lot of flirtatious and hauty exchanges but nothing of substance. There weren't any believable sparks, not that you would expect to find through the binding of two people in a spiraling journey toward the discovery of love.
October 7, 2013
Same typical plot. Quick beach read.
December 23, 2013
re cursi la historia pero tuvo su picante
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews