by Lori Foster
Melissa pushed her way past Max. “What,” she demanded in a shrill yet cultured voice, “is going on here?”
Guy, still shocked at seeing Max after so long, had just gotten to his feet. At the sight of Melissa, he dropped back down to the bed.
The enormity of what he’d planned, how idiotic it had been, slapped him upside his head.
He’d already decided he wouldn’t marry Melissa, but now he realized he had never really wanted her.
Certainly not in the uncontrollable way he wanted Annie.
She stood there in a calculated pose, her rose-colored sweater, trim skirt and knee high boots designed to look outdoorsy chic and ultimately feminine. Her hair, an enhanced blond, was twisted on top of her head in a becomingly loose swirl.
The sight of her left Guy cold.
His mind was filled with the image of Annie’s face as she’d stood before him in his enormous flannel shirt, wielding a spoon and ogling his body.
From that moment, when acceptance of their isolated circumstances had invaded his brain, he’d known he would make love to her. He’d fought it, but not hard enough.
Max sauntered the rest of the way into the room, ignoring Melissa—which made her fume—and concentrated on Guy.
Looking Guy over, Max took in every bruise and scrape and bandage. “Damn, what did you do to yourself?”
Daniel lounged in the doorway. “He tangled with a semi. And lost.” Then, his gaze directed at Melissa, he added, “Annie has been nursing him.”
Max straightened abruptly at that. “That’s what she was doing here? But I thought she’d just found us out.”
“No.” Daniel gave an unaffected shrug. “I told her.”
Melissa arched a brow. “She’s been alone here with Guy in this cabin?”
Daniel smiled. “Yep.”
Max, his eyes darkening to near black, asked, “Just what the hell is going on here, anyway?”
When no one answered him, Max looked at his smiling brother, then at Guy’s guilty expression. He whistled. “I see. Well, if Annie was here to take care of you, then why did she just hightail it out of here so fast?”
Guy shot off the bed, hobbling and limping and cursing. The others darted out of his way, but he made it only as far as the living room when he realized Annie was gone. And despite the crowd gathered behind him, the cabin was empty without her.
Through the front window, Guy could see the spot where Annie’s small car had been parked, now empty, the snow crushed in the wake of her departing tires.
Nearly numb with self-disgust, he stumbled, then allowed Daniel to help him to the couch.
Frustration exploded inside his pounding head. He could still feel her, her heated, brazen touch, and he could hear her scream when she came, her ragged panting breaths. He felt again the way she’d squeezed him during her climax.
Annie turned him on, made him laugh, delighted him and amused him and made him whole. He loved her so much—but not as a sister. There was nothing familial in his feelings.
“Damn it all,” he said, venting before he exploded, “you people have rotten timing!”
Melissa took umbrage at that. “You and I had some business to discuss, and then suddenly you left and no one—” here she glared at Daniel “—would tell me where you’d gone. What did you expect me to do? Just wait around for you to make a deal with someone else?”
Guy groaned. The very last thing he wanted to discuss with Melissa was business, of either a personal or professional nature. He wanted to go after Annie. He wanted to explain…what?
There was nothing to explain.
Nothing had changed.
He looked at Melissa, his eyes red. “What we have to talk about can wait.”
“Oh no you don’t. We either have a deal or we don’t.”
Daniel threw up his hands. “Marriage is not a damn business deal!”
“Who said anything about marriage?” she asked.
The men all quieted. Guy waved a hand at her, weary to his very bones, hurting all over, especially in his heart. “I was going to ask you to marry me. But I’ve changed my mind.”
Melissa looked astounded when he mentioned marriage, then insulted that he wouldn’t propose to her after all. “What do you mean you’ve changed your mind?”
The entire situation was so bizarre, Guy laughed. “Can you honestly say you wanted to marry me?”
She examined a nail, pursed her mouth, shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d have to think about it.”
Sizing up the situation in a heartbeat, Max said low, “It’d be a damn shame if you married him.”
Eyes wide, Melissa looked at the brother they all called a Lothario. He hadn’t gotten his reputation by mistake. “Why?”
Guy watched in fascination as Max transformed from weary traveler to man-on-the-make. His eyes grew darker, his smile taunting. He no longer looked tired, so much as fit and strong. And able.
“If you married Guy,” Max explained, “then you’d be unavailable.”
Equally amazing as Max’s mood switch, was the blush on Melissa’s face. It made her look younger, and far more vulnerable than Guy had ever witnessed. She actually dithered.
“I…well, I’m not marrying him, now am I?”
Max took a step closer to her. From every pore, he exuded raw masculinity and sexual appeal. Guy and Daniel shared a look of awe.
“Do you love him?”
Mute, Melissa shook her head.
“Do you particularly want to marry anyone?”
“Not for a long, long time.”
Max grinned. “Why don’t you go wait in my car for me? I’ll be right out.”
Melissa may have been susceptible to Max’s charm, but she was still a businesswoman. “Not so fast.” She rounded on Guy. “We discussed a joint venture that would benefit both our businesses. Is that still on?”
Guy closed his eyes and leaned his head back. Every ache he hadn’t felt last night now roared for attention. He felt like someone had used the semi to pound him into the ground. “We can discuss the particulars on Monday.”
Melissa brightened. “I’ll hold you to that.” She glanced at Max. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
After Melissa had left, Daniel shook his head at his brother. “You’re dangerous.”
Max shrugged. “I could see Guy needed some help. Poor beat-up bastard. She’d have made mincemeat of him.”
Guy didn’t bother to open his eyes. “True.”
“So.” Max carefully stepped over Guy’s injured leg and sat beside him. “You want to tell me what’s happening here?”
Guy had no intention of telling him a damn thing.
Unfortunately Daniel didn’t suffer the same reserve.
“Annie wants to seduce someone.”
Max shot to his feet again. “What?”
Guy groaned and covered his face. From bad to worse.
Without an ounce of sympathy, Daniel explained, “Annie told me she was going to have sex, and that was that. Lace was helping her.”
There was a long hesitation, then Max said, “Yeah. That’s the part I want to hear.”
Daniel slugged him in the arm. “Lace gave her all these damn idiotic books on sex. Annie was all revved up to give it a try and Goofus here was planning on asking Melissa to marry him, so I sent the two of them here together to work it all out.”
“Work it out, how?”
Guy dropped his arms. “I’m waiting with bated breath for this little explanation myself.”
With credible unconcern, Daniel lifted off his glasses, polished them on a sleeve, and admitted, “I thought maybe you’d have sex with her.”
Guy’s jaw should have dislocated, it dropped so hard and fast. Max nodded slowly, as if thinking it over—and deciding it made sense.
Not knowing if the look on his face would give him away, Guy wheezed, “You wanted me to…to…?”
Max plopped back down beside him. “Better you
than some other yo-yo. At least we like you, and we know you’re one of the good guys. Hell, I always kinda hoped you and Annie would tie the knot. Come to that, maybe this is a good step in that direction.”
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. “So how about it?”
Guy slowly sat upright. He felt defensive and hopeful and angry enough to take on both brothers, even with his body more battered than not. “How about what?”
“Did you and Annie—”
“That’s none of your damn business!”
Max and Daniel shared a look, then broke out in enormous grins. “They did,” Max guessed, and Daniel said, “Looks like.”
Guy started to jerk to his feet, but Max caught his arm. His smile was gone. “So what are you planning now, Guy?”
“I’m not planning a damn thing.” How could he make plans when Annie wanted to take what he’d shown her and apply it to some other nameless, faceless guy? The thought made him crazed. Was that why she’d lit out of the cabin the second someone else had shown up to take him home? Was she that anxious to try out her new knowledge?
His hands fisted until his arms trembled from the strain.
Max held up both hands. “Hey, don’t bludgeon me. It was a simple question. I mean, considering Annie was near tears when she left here—”
Guy grabbed him by his shirt collar. “Annie was crying?”
“Close enough.”
“Why?” Why would Annie run out on him and then get weepy over it? Or had Daniel yelled at her? But no, he hadn’t heard any yelling. Besides, Annie could hold her own against her brothers.
Daniel patted Guy’s shoulder. “Turn him loose, Guy. Or have you forgotten that Melissa’s waiting out in the car for him? If you mess him up, you’ll have to deal with her.”
Disgruntled, confused, Guy let Max go with a shake of his head. “I wasn’t going to hurt him.”
Max laughed. “Damn, but you remind me of Daniel when Lace was tormenting him.”
“She still torments me,” Daniel clarified, “I just like it more now than I did then.”
“You look haunted,” Max told Guy. “But Daniel survived this love business, so I suppose you will, too.”
This love business sucked, but Guy didn’t bother denying how he felt. He was too busy thinking about Annie crying, and it made his insides twist. “You know I love her?”
Max snorted. “What am I? Blind?”
“Lace hinted,” Daniel told him, “although she wouldn’t give me any names.”
“That’s why she sent all the condoms,” Guy said with sudden understanding, then wanted to bite his tongue off when both Max and Daniel scowled at him. “Uh, I mean…”
Daniel shoved his glasses back on. “I’m going to put that woman over my knee.”
Chuckling, Max asked, “Want any pointers?”
Guy decided he’d had enough. He pushed painfully to his feet and faced both brothers. “I want her to marry me.”
Daniel sighed in relief. “Good.”
Max nodded. “You better.”
“You’re okay with that?” Guy felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “I mean, you’ve always said how no one was good enough for Annie and—”
“We’ve said the same about you,” Daniel told him.
“You have?”
Max laughed and headed for the door. “You and Annie will be perfect together. Now if you’ll excuse me? I’m off to be the sacrificial lamb.”
It seemed Max’s departure galvanized Guy into action. He gimped his way into the bedroom to finish dressing, and regardless of how Daniel cajoled, he refused a pain pill. For what he had ahead of him, he needed his mind to be crystal clear.
He had to get to Annie.
Her days of experimenting were at an end.
But first he had to settle things with her father.
9
DAN SAWYERS, the founder and owner of the company that Guy ran, looked right at home behind the desk he seldom used anymore. At that moment, Guy wondered if he’d been an enabler, making it too easy for Dan to shy away from the world and live in self-imposed isolation with the memories of his wife’s death.
Since Guy was making such a huge change in his life by admitting his love for Annie, he decided to go for broke, and also force Dan to start taking a more active role in his own company, and with his family. Daniel couldn’t do it, because as Dan’s son, the hierarchy had already been decided. Max didn’t appear to care enough to try, and Annie was too kindhearted to force the issue.
Guy was the only one close enough, yet also detached enough, to see the situation from all angles.
“I have something serious to discuss with you, Dan.”
“Guy!” At Guy’s entrance, Dan laid aside his pen, closed a folder and came to his feet. After one good look at Guy, however, he drew up short.
“Good God! You look even worse than Daniel led me to believe. Shouldn’t you still be in bed or something?”
Guy felt worse than he looked. But he was also determined. Against the dragging weight of physical bruises, regret that he’d inadvertently hurt Annie and concern that Dan might not understand, Guy straightened his shoulders.
“I love Annie.”
Dan blinked at him. He circled his desk to lean one hip on the edge. With an undue amount of caution, he asked, “You do?”
“Yes.” In an even firmer tone, Guy added, “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
A slow smile spread over Dan’s face. He rubbed his hands together. “Was it Melissa showing up that did the trick? I worried about that, you know. If maybe I was sending her too early. But you understand, I couldn’t let you dither around about my daughter any longer.”
The words swirled around Guy, confusing him further before they started to make sense. “You knew I was in love with Annie?”
Dan started to clap him on the shoulder, saw the precarious way Guy balanced himself on his crutches, and changed his mind. “Are you kidding? You watch her the same way I used to watch her mother.” A familiar, accepted sadness invaded Dan’s eyes, and he shook his head. “That kind of love doesn’t come along every day.”
“But…you suggested I should marry Melissa.”
Dan snapped to attention, shedding his melancholy as if it hadn’t existed. “I did no such thing!” He went so far as to shudder. “She’s a nice woman and all, and very astute when it comes to business. However, I don’t think she’s right for you.”
Drowning in confusion once again, Guy asked, “When you were talking about marriage—”
“Why, I was talking about Annie, of course!”
Guy found it hard to believe he’d been so dense. But evidently everyone had known what he felt, in spite of his attempts to hide it.
Still… “There’s another problem.”
Dan smiled as he once again rested against the edge of the desk. “Besides getting Annie to say yes, you mean?”
Guy didn’t want to think of that. Annie had to say yes. He’d find a way to convince her. Drawing a deep breath, Guy blurted, “I’m not going to run the company anymore.”
Dan straightened. “But of course you are! You’ll marry Annie, the company will become yours, and that way it’ll stay in the family!”
Guy resolutely shook his head. “No. I’m already living in your house. I don’t regret that,” he added quickly, seeing Dan ready to interrupt again, “because now, Annie will live there, too.”
“If you convince her to marry you.”
Through his teeth, Guy said, “I’ll convince her.”
“All right, all right. I’ll take your word on it.”
“But there’s also the money I owe you….”
Like a fresh-baked pasty, Dan puffed up. “Now you can stop right there! You don’t owe me a thing, dammit!”
“You paid for my education.”
“And got a hell of a lot in return!” Dan’s face turned red with umbrage. “So don’t even start on that.”
Rubbing his aching head
, Guy said, “I can’t just let the money go. I want to pay it back.”
“Fine. Pay it back by staying on in the company.”
Surprised that Dan had misunderstood, Guy explained, “I wasn’t going to leave the company. But I don’t want to run it anymore, either. You should be running it. I saw you there behind the desk, and you can deny it all you want, Dan, but you were happy.”
“True. But I’ve been out of the loop too long, and if you think it’ll make me happy to step in full-time and blunder and possibly make us lose money, well you’re wrong.” He began pacing around the office. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll be partners, running it together.” He speared Guy with a look.
“You can’t deny that running the company makes you happy, too. You’re a natural.”
Guy shrugged. He loved the business and always had. “I won’t work sixty-hour weeks anymore.”
“Neither will I. We’ll split up the load. With the company growing, maybe there’s a chance I’ll even be able to talk Max into getting serious and joining us.”
Guy snorted at that. Max wasn’t settling down for anyone. Plenty of women had tried to get him to do just that. “We’ll see.”
Suddenly Dan looked at his watch. “Now that we’ve got all that settled—”
“Nothing is settled. I owe you—”
“Don’t argue with me!”
Guy raised a brow at that tone. He’d never heard it from Dan before. In a way, it was nice to see him being passionate about something besides his grief.
Dan was still scowling as he said, “You’re like a son to me. I care a great deal about you, and I owe you more than money could ever repay. So forget that nonsense.”
“You have it backwards.” Guy knew if anyone should be grateful, it was him. But when he started to say so, Dan interrupted him.
“If you want to catch Annie, you better be on your way.”
“Catch her? Isn’t she at the bookstore?”
“Nope.” With great relish, Dan said, “She came in to see Perry. I believe they’re in his office.”
Guy staggered back two steps. Damn, but she was moving fast! She’d only left the cabin that morning, and lunchtime had barely come and gone. If she was orchestrating a little office rendezvous already, Guy would…what? He had to tell her how he felt first, then see about the rest before he started doing the caveman routine.
