Wildest Hearts

you feel if someone said that to you?”

    “I wouldn't tolerate it,” Oliver admitted. “But that's beside the point. You came to me in the first place because you wanted help saving Lyncroft. We made a bargain, you and I. It's true that neither of us could foresee how complicated things would get, but our deal still stands. I handle matters involving Lyncroft.”

    “This marriage is more than a bargain,” Annie argued.

    Oliver didn't dispute that. Instead he tried a different tack. “Annie, we've got a difficult situation here. One with a lot of unknowns in it. I don't want you taking any more of the kind of risks you took this afternoon.”

    She flushed. “I didn't take a risk. I just followed up on a clue.”

    Oliver set his teeth against his rising temper. “You took a risk. We don't even know yet how dangerous that risk was. I don't want you finding out the hard way.”

    “You can't keep me out of this. I'm in the middle of it, whether you like it or not.”

    She was right. But Oliver knew he would do anything within his power to keep her as safe as possible. He had no scruples when it came to protecting Annie. “I don't intend to argue with you.”

    “Good.” She gave him a warm, approving smile. “You know something, Oliver, you really are making progress. In the old days I'll bet you would have just laid down the law and the hell with my feelings on the subject. But now we're actually talking like equals.”

    “I'm glad you approve of the new Oliver Rain.” Oliver got up and walked around the desk.

    “I like him very much.” Annie eyed him with a trace of wariness as he came toward her. “What are you doing?”

    He stopped in front of her, put his hands on her shoulders, and kissed her full on the mouth. He deliberately deepened the kiss until she sagged warmly against him. Then he lifted his mouth from hers. “I'll give you one guess.”

    “What about dinner?”

    “Dinner can wait twenty minutes. I can't.” He eased her back against the desk and moved between her legs. He pushed her skirt up above her knees with one hand and lowered his zipper with the other.

    “Only twenty minutes, Oliver?” Annie's eyes were full of loving laughter.

    “Fifteen at the rate I'm going.”

    “Go for twenty,” she advised in a husky whisper. “I don't want to have to borrow Arthur's book on the problem of premature ejaculation.”

18

    The following evening Annie stood with Valerie in the central gallery of the Eckert Museum. She surveyed the crowd that had turned out for the museum's preview. “You must be thrilled, Val. The exhibition is obviously a hit.”

    “Gold has a way of capturing the imagination,” Valerie said modestly.

    “You've done a fantastic job.” Annie admired a collection of ancient gold jewelry in a nearby display case. The images of strange deities and animals had been rendered with astounding artistry on a variety of arm bands, necklaces, and earrings. “There's an exciting feel to the way you've arranged the pieces. People will love it.”

    Valerie glanced down at the case. Her eyes glowed with pride. “Thanks, but it would have been tough to ruin this collection. As you said the other day, there's a wonderfully savage sophistication about Pre-Columbian art.”

    Annie moved on to study a ferocious feline figure carved in gold. “Another jaguar?”

    “Yes, it was a common motif. That particular piece is Diquis.”

    “It would look great in Oliver's study,” Annie observed.

    Carson appeared at Valerie's elbow. “I've never seen his study, but I agree it would probably fit right in. There's a certain resemblance between Rain and that big cat.”

    They all glanced across the crowded gallery to where Oliver stood talking with a small group of people.

    “You can say that again,” Valerie murmured. “Annie, I can't believe the effect you're having on my brother. He's a changed man these days.”

    “Do you think so?” Annie asked wistfully.

    “Are you kidding?” Valerie laughed. “Oliver is actually mingling tonight. I can hardly believe my eyes. In the past he almost never attended this kind of thing, let alone tried to socialize.”

    Annie watched Oliver covertly for a moment. All right, he was mingling, but it was still rather like watching a large leopard trying to appear innocent while standing amid a herd of antelope. There was no getting around the fact that he would never be one of the crowd.

    Oliver was not actually doing much