Though not normally a fan of romances with children in them, I was intrigued by the premise of Love Inspired’s new Rocky Mountain Heirs series, so I decided to give The Nanny’s Homecoming a chance. I ended up being very glad I did as Linda Goodnight’s writing style flows beautifully and I really enjoyed the story.

The series of which this is Book One centers on the various heirs of George Clayton, an irascible lawyer who owned most of the little town of Clayton, Colorado. Over the years, all but one of the Clayton grandchildren left town and, judging by the terms of the will, this did not please Mr. Clayton. The will requires that the six heirs must all return to Clayton and live there for one year or else none of them will inherit, and Mr. Clayton’s estate will go to the descendants of his brother. There has been a longstanding feud between the two branches of the Clayton family and the estate is also quite generous, so the six heirs in this case have reason to come home.

This book centers on the youngest of the heirs, Brooke Clayton, a recent college graduate who is searching for some direction in her life. Brooke had planned to marry a missionary and set out for the mission field right after school, and when her engagement ended, she really had no plan B. Lost and confused, Brooke returns to Clayton after her grandfather’s death and hopes that she can figure out what she wants to do with her life. Though her parents died some time ago, their family home remains and Brooke moves back in. Upon returning, she learns that she now has a new neighbor, businessman Gabe Wesson.

Gabe Wesson has purchased a mine in Clayton and plans to get it running again. However, as a widower, he also needs child care for his two year old son A.J. In a town as small as Clayton, a responsible nanny has proven hard to come by, so when Gabe meets Brooke, sees her interacting with A.J., and inquires about her in the town, he decides to hire her. However, there’s a snag. While it is clear that Brooke loves children and that she gets along very well with A.J., she makes it clear that she does not want a job with children. It’s obvious that some secret in Brooke’s past causes her to have something approaching a phobia of being responsible for small children.

The relationship that develops felt believable under the circumstances. The tension around Brooke’s fear of responsibility for children as well as her obvious rapport with A.J. made sense and was well-handled within the story. Brooke’s characterization as a slightly insecure recent graduate in search of a purpose in life also felt very real. In addition, the issue of Gabe being 33 while Brooke is about 22 or 23 with much less life experience gets addressed within the story. Sometimes I thought a little too much was made of the age difference, but I did appreciate the author tackling the issue rather than pretending it wasn’t there. The movement from neighbors to friends to romance with Gabe and Brooke felt natural as well, and I could believe in them having these genuine feelings for one another. Within the story, there are hints of family members not wanting Brooke and the other heirs to succeed in meeting the terms of her grandfather’s will and Gabe’s protectiveness seemed quite believable as a response. The author manages the hard task of making Gabe seem like a reliable protector without making him over-the-top alpha.

While I did sometimes feel as though Brooke’s youth was harped upon a little too much, my real quibble with the story came from the handling of Gabe’s first marriage. We learn early on that Gabe is a widower, but the unflattering remarks made about his first wife seemed a little much. In addition, his feelings about her supposed shallowness and irresponsiblity felt immediate enough to make me wonder as a reader whether he had really gotten over this woman yet or whether she was going to continue to be an issue between him and Brooke.

Even so, this quiet and gentle romance was a very pleasant read. Seeing Brooke and Gabe move toward becoming a couple and building a family together was a pleasant journey, and I enjoyed the few hours that I spent buried in this book. I’m also very curious to see what happens with that will, so I suspect that I will be reading about the rest of the Claytons as well.