And the Winner--Weds!

by Robin Wells

  To Frannie’s relief, Mr. Billings’s secretary whispered something in his ear, causing him to change the focus of his attention. Smiling broadly, he raised his hands to quiet the crowd. “I’ve just learned that the Mayor of Whitehorn plans to present an award to Frannie and Mr. Parker tomorrow, and that a TV camera crew will be in town to film it for a segment of the show ‘Celebrity Spotlight.’”

  Another round of applause greeted Frannie. Frannie felt her face burn.

  “What do you think of that, Frannie?” Mr. Billings asked.

  “I’m not a celebrity,” she muttered.

  “You are now.” Mr. Billings beamed and patted her on the back.

  Everyone else seemed to want to pat her on the back, too, or to shake her hand or to offer congratulations. It seemed to take forever for the crowd to disperse. When it finally did, she saw Austin seated in a chair in front of her desk, grinning at her. She would have thought she’d exhausted all of her emotion reserves, but her heart gave a wild, erratic little jump at the sight of him.

  Trying hard not to let him see the effect he had on her, she walked to her desk, sank into her chair and gave him what she hoped was a calm smile. “How did you get in here without being carried on the shoulders of your adoring fans?”

  “They were too preoccupied with you.” And it was no wonder, Austin thought. She was adorable with her cheeks all rosy, her eyes as wide and bashful as a deer’s. She was so different from the women he routinely met. Most of them were attracted to his fame. If it ever disappeared, so would they.

  Not so with Frannie. She was shy and retiring and seemed to actively dislike the spotlight. He couldn’t help but notice how pale she’d grown when Mr. Billings had asked her to say a few words. She wasn’t ego-driven or self-involved, he reflected. She was low-key and warm and caring, and those were among the things he loved about her.

  Loved? The thought alarmed him. No, that was the wrong word. He meant liked. Her unassuming demeanor was one of the things he liked about her, along with her soft shiny hair and gray-green eyes and that slim, shapely body she kept covered up like a race car under a tarp.

  “It’s ridiculous, all the fuss everyone is making,” she was saying.

  “Well, when a story involves the wife and child of a newspaper editor, it tends to get blown out of proportion.” He eased himself out of the chair and perched on the edge of her desk. “Which is why I came by.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Seems the camera crew that Mr. Billings just mentioned wants to tape more than just the mayor’s award. They want to do a whole segment of their show about us.”

  “Us?”

  Austin nodded. “My chief sponsor, SeaBreeze Detergent, is thrilled about all the publicity our rescue is getting. They contacted the show and urged them to do a story. Under the terms of my contract, I’m supposed to cooperate.”

  “Well, fine, but leave me out of it.”

  “Hey, I’m not going on the air and taking all the credit. I won’t do it without you.”

  “No.” Frannie shook her head. “No way. I hate public speaking.”

  He reached across the desk and placed his hand over hers. “It won’t be that bad.”

  “I—I can’t speak in front of a crowd. I—I freeze.”

  “There won’t be a crowd. It won’t be like making a speech. It’ll just be talking to a reporter, just like you’re talking to me now.” He lifted her hand from the desk. “Please, Frannie?”

  He could see her reluctance, see the difficulty she had saying yes. He turned her hand over and stroked her palm. “Please?”

  She sighed. “They’re not going to ask me to stage a reenactment, are they?”

  He laughed, an irrational sense of delight sweeping through him at the thought that she was doing this for him, despite her misgivings. “You won’t have to get in the pond. I promise.”

  “Well…” She pushed a swath of hair behind her ear and sighed. “You’re very hard to say no to, do you know that?” Her lips curved up in a small smile that he found incredibly seductive.

  “Glad to hear that.” He squeezed her hand and returned her grin. “Since I’m on roll, I might as well go ahead and ask you for another favor.”

  “What?”

  “Well, I have a new computer, and I don’t know anything about setting it up. I’m wanting to get it up and running before I leave town, but I don’t know anyone who’s computer literate besides you.” He gave her his most pleading gaze. “Would you come out to the ranch and help me get it set up on Saturday?”

  Frannie sighed. “It seems to be my day for saying yes to you.”

  Austin smiled wolfishly. “Then maybe I should keep asking questions until I get to some really interesting ones.”

  Frannie grinned. “Maybe you should get the heck out of here and let me catch up on my work.”

  “All right. My agent arranged for the camera crew to come to my ranch early in the morning. I’ll bring them here afterward—if you think that’ll be all right with Mr. Billings, that is.”

  “Are you kidding? If it’ll give the bank any publicity, it’ll put Mr. Billings in seventh heaven.”

  “Well, then, I’ll see you tomorrow. And on Saturday.” He reluctantly turned loose of her hand as he rose from her desk. “And to pay you back for helping me out, I’ll treat you to a horseback ride and a steak dinner.”

  He left the bank before she could voice an objection, pleased that his ploy had worked. He’d figured she’d have a hard time turning down a plea for help. Now all he had to do was buy a computer.

  Frannie squinted against the afternoon sun as the female reporter angled the microphone toward her face. “How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Parker?”

  Frannie shot Austin a look that reminded him of a horse about to rear and run. “He’s a…a friend. And a client of the bank where I work.”

  “Is that all?”

  Austin stepped up, putting his arm around Frannie. “Our personal relationship is just that. Personal. And we intend to keep it that way.”

  The reporter’s bright red lips curved in a knowing smile. She turned her attention back to Frannie. “I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Austin was just voted the sexiest man in racing by female race fans. What do you have to say about that?”

  Austin held his breath. He cared a lot more about Frannie’s opinion than the public’s.

  He was relieved to see her smile. “Well, his fans obviously have excellent taste.”

  The reporter laughed, and the field producer signaled for the cameraman to turn off the camera.

  “Good,” the producer said. “We’ll shoot the mayor’s award, and then we’ll be finished.”

  About time, Austin thought. It had been a long day. The TV crew had arrived at his ranch at seven that morning and had shot footage of his race car, his horses and home. Next they’d gone to the bank. As Frannie had predicted, her boss had been overjoyed at the publicity. The next stop had been the scene of the rescue, where the woman they’d saved, her child and her husband had all effusively thanked Austin and Frannie on camera. And now they were waiting outside city hall, where a large crowd had gathered in front of a portable stage.

  “Here comes the mayor now,” the producer said, raising his voice to be heard over the loud patriotic music of the Whitehorn High School band.

  Mayor Ellis Montgomery, a tall, portly man with a self-important attitude, strode toward them. After a round of greetings and introductions, the producer asked, “What’s the agenda for the ceremony?”

  “Well, I’ll make a few remarks, then I’ll present the awards. After that, we’ll ask Mr. Parker and Miss Hannon to each say a few words.”

  Frannie shook her head. “Oh, no. I can’t.”

  “Oh, sure you can,” the mayor said.

  “No. You don’t understand. I can’t. Really. I—I freeze up in front of a crowd, and…”

  “Oh, nonsense. You only have to say a few words.”

  A
ustin had never seen Frannie so pale. He put an arm around her and felt her tremble, and felt a surge of anger at the mayor’s insensitivity. It took an effort to keep his voice even when he spoke. “You know, I don’t much feel like talking, either, Mayor. Why don’t you handle all the speaking duties, and Frannie and I will just come up and accept the paperwork.”

  The mayor immediately backed down. “Well, of course, if that’s the way you want it. I just thought, with the cameras and all…”

  “That’s how we want it.”

  “Well, of course,” the mayor sputtered.

  Austin looked at Frannie and a surge of protectiveness shot through him, a fierce protectiveness he’d never felt before in his life. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks colorless, and her teeth were practically chattering. She looked scared to death—scared beyond mere bashfulness or stage fright. It was the look of a driver getting back into a car after a painful crash, the look of someone who’d had first-hand experience with terror.

  Something in her past had hurt her, and hurt her deeply. He didn’t know what it was, but he intended to find out. For reasons he didn’t understand, it was important that she tell him, that she trust him, that she need him, because…

  Because what? Oh, no, he was going soft in the head, having such mushy thoughts about a woman. He’d never needed anybody, and he’d sure as heck never wanted anybody to need him. He liked Frannie and he wanted to help her, that was all. The only reason he thought about her day and night was that he had a raging case of the hots for her. It was a perfectly normal, perfectly natural case of hormones. He was making a big deal out of nothing.

  The mayor mopped his brow. “Well, if you two are ready, I guess we’ll get things underway.”

  Austin glanced down at Frannie and was hit by a fresh wave of emotion, warm and unexpectedly sweet. It socked him right in the midsection and felt suspiciously like tenderness.

  It wasn’t, of course. He didn’t feel things like that. He didn’t allow himself to. It was attraction—plain, pure, physical attraction, that was all.

  “You ready?”

  Her eyes were still wide and terrified, but she smiled bravely. “I am if you are.”

  “I’ve been ready for quite a while.” And he wasn’t just talking about the awards presentation, he thought grimly. He was more than ready to do something about this insane, obsessive attraction he felt for Frannie. It was unnatural, wanting someone so much and not being able to satisfy the craving. Playing the gentleman for this length of time had left him so addled he scarcely knew himself anymore.

  He’d always been able to separate his emotions from his physical needs, and he was certain he’d be able to again. Once his relationship with Frannie progressed to the physical level, his emotions would surely settle down and he’d once again be able to think about some thing besides Frannie’s smile, Frannie’s scent, Frannie’s voice, Frannie’s touch and Frannie’s sweet, sweet taste.

  Eleven

  Jasmine held up two padded satin hangers. “Which is better, the yellow dress or the green one?”

  Frannie studied the dresses, her head propped on her hands as she sprawled on Jasmine’s bed. It was Thursday evening, and she was trying to help her cousin decide what to wear to a wedding in Billings that weekend. “I don’t know. Why don’t you try them on?”

  Jasmine had started to do just that when the phone rang.

  “I wonder which of your many admirers this is,” Frannie teased.

  “It’s just as likely to be one of yours,” Jasmine replied from some where under the green dress. “You’ve had several men ask you out since the dance, but you’ve turned them all down.” Jasmine’s head reappeared at the neckhole. “Not that I blame you. No one can compare to Austin. Maybe that’s him now.”

  Frannie’s heart pounded at the thought. She reached for the telephone and lifted the receiver. “Hello?”

  “Well, hi there, kiddo. How are you?”

  “David!” Frannie sat up, startled to hear the unmistakable voice of her older brother. She swung her feet off the bed, her mouth pulling into a wide smile. “Long time, no hear! I’m great. How are you?”

  “Proud as punch to have a hero for a little sister.”

  Frannie felt her face heat. “You saw that photo, I take it.” Over the past few days Frannie had received phone calls from her parents and several distant friends who’d seen the picture of her and Austin in their local newspapers.

  “Yep. In the Atlanta Constitution. Could have knocked me over with a feather. How the heck did you get involved with the likes of Austin Parker?”

  A wave of apprehension shot through Frannie. “We’re not involved.”

  “Uh-huh. Right.” David’s tone was more than a little dubious.

  “And what do you mean, ‘the likes of’?”

  “Well, he’s not the average, run-of-the-mill guy I expect to be dating my sister. But for the record, you have my complete approval.”

  “You know Austin?”

  “Not personally, but I’ve heard about him. And after I saw that picture of you with him in the paper, I ran a little background check on him.”

  “A background check? You’re kidding.”

  “Hey, you’re the only little sister I’ve got. Anyway, he seems like a straight-up kind of guy. Everyone I talked to says he’s as nice as they come. Runs a clean race, never tries any funny stuff with his car, pays his taxes, doesn’t have any kind of a criminal record. Far as I can tell, the guy has never even gotten a traffic violation.”

  Frannie remembered how carefully Austin drove his pickup and smiled. “I’m not surprised.”

  “Yeah, well, he gets my seal of approval.”

  “He’s just a friend.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “He is!”

  “Uh-huh. Hey, kiddo, what’s with all the deaths on the casino construction site? I’ve been following the case about Raven, and I saw an article in the paper the other day that another body had been found at the construction site.”

  “Yes. They don’t think the two deaths are related, though. They think the second one was an accident or suicide.”

  “Hmm. Pretty strange coincidence. Is Uncle Jeremiah still a prime suspect in Raven’s death?”

  “Yes. A couple of the pistols at the old house could be the murder weapon. They’re running tests on them now.”

  “So how’s Aunt Celeste taking all this?”

  Frannie sighed. “Not too well. She’s been ques tioned several times, but she can’t seem to remember anything. She draws a blank about the night Raven disappeared. The detective in charge of the case thinks she might have blocked something out of her mind.”

  “Hmm. This is even more intriguing than I thought. Look, Frannie, I have some vacation time coming in soon. I thought I’d use it to come visit and take the opportunity to look into this whole situation while I’m there.”

  “It would be wonderful to see you.”

  “Well, you’ll have that privilege in just a few weeks.”

  “Great!”

  “Well, I just wanted to call and tell you I’m glad your lifesaving training didn’t go to waste.”

  Frannie grinned at the phone.

  “I’m proud of you, kiddo.”

  Frannie coiled the cord around her finger. “It wasn’t that big a deal. The lady was just yards from the shore.”

  “Yeah, but if you can’t swim, a yard is the same as a mile. Especially in an old quarry.”

  “Well, I’m glad I could help. But I didn’t do anything that special. Anyone would have done the same thing in that situation.”

  “You’re overestimating the human species. In my line of work, I see plenty of people who wouldn’t have lifted a finger. Anyway, I’m awfully proud of you, sis.”

  Frannie felt her throat thicken with emotion. “Thanks.”

  “And not that it makes any difference, but Austin gets a thumbs-up from me.”

  “We’re just friends,” Frannie said.

&n
bsp; “Right. Whatever you say.” She could practically see his sardonic smile. “See you soon, sis.”

  “Okay. I’ll look forward to your visit.”

  “David’s coming for a visit?” Jasmine asked as Frannie hung up the phone.

  Frannie nodded. “He’s intrigued by all the news reports about a mystery in his hometown.”

  “Good. Your folks will be thrilled to see him, and Mom will, too. Maybe he can help get her mind off ghosts and nightmares and murders.”

  “Maybe.” Frannie watched Jasmine as she looked at herself in the mirror. “I’m hoping this wedding in Billings will do the same thing. I’m glad you’re going with her.”

  “Oh, I love weddings. You can meet the cutest men at them. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? Mom said her friend invited all of us.”

  “I can’t. I’ve got plans.”

  “With Austin?” Jasmine fixed her with a keen gaze.

  Frannie shrugged and looked away. “He needs some help setting up a new computer.”

  Jasmine’s eyes twinkled. “A likely story.”

  Frannie threw up her hands. “Why does no one believe there’s nothing going on with Austin and me?”

  “Because it’s obvious that something is. Anyone who’s seen the two of you together can feel it in the air.”

  “He asked for help, and I told him I’d help. That’s all there is to it.”

  Jasmine smiled at her. “Well, if your help requires you to stay overnight, you won’t have to answer to me or to Mom. We’re spending the night in Billings, and Mom is putting the No Vacancy sign on the door of the bed-and-breakfast for the weekend.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Jasmine. Things aren’t like that with Austin.”

  Jasmine’s eyes narrowed as her lips curled into a knowing, catlike smile. “Maybe not yet. But I can’t wait to get an update on Sunday.”

  Saturday dawned bright and clear, a perfect day for an outing. The bed-and-breakfast’s three guests checked out early, and Celeste turned the sign on the front door to Closed as soon as Tommy and the elderly couple’s cars left the driveway.