Wildest Hearts

talking as far as she could see, but at least he was with a group. He wasn't holding himself entirely aloof from those around him the way he had that night at Daniel's engagement party.

    But she was not certain just how changed Oliver really was. True, there were signs that he was making a serious effort to be more sensitive in his dealings with the members of his family. And he had declared a truce with Paul Shore. But as far as Annie was concerned, he was not making vast progress communicating with her except in bed.

    He had not yet told her that he loved her.

    She was determined to remain optimistic, however. Sooner or later she knew she would hear the words from him. She was certain he was falling in love with her.

    Richard and Nathan, looking like younger versions of Oliver in their formal attire, wandered over to join Annie, Valerie, and Carson.

    “Great job, Val.” Richard nodded toward the nearest display case. “Bet the museum shelled out a bundle for this stuff, huh?”

    “Some of it's on loan from a couple of local private collections. But Eckert owns a fair amount. Many were acquired years ago before it was considered extremely valuable and before the various governments involved clamped down on exports.”

    Nathan swept the room with a single glance and frowned. “What's with Mom tonight? I thought she was planning to be here.”

    “Sybil said she was going to be a little late,” Valerie explained. “I think she's planning a small surprise.”

    “What sort of surprise?” Nathan asked.

    Richard raised his brows in a manner that was startlingly reminiscent of Oliver. “I'll bet she's going to bring Jonathan Grace with her.”

    Nathan glanced at him. “Yeah? She's going to stop trying to hide him from big brother?”

    “I got that impression,” Richard said. He grinned. “And I've got five bucks that says big brother probably already knows about him, anyway. No one in this family can keep a secret from Oliver.”

    “That,” Nathan intoned in a sepulchral voice, “is because big brother sees all and knows all.”

    “As a matter of fact,” Heather said as she joined the group, “I talked to Sybil this afternoon. She said she definitely planned to bring Grace tonight so that she could introduce him to Oliver. She seemed very upbeat about the idea.”

    “Oliver must have given his approval in advance,” Nathan remarked.

    Valerie smiled. “Probably because of Annie.”

    Heather looked at Annie. “I think we've got a white witch in the family. You've cast some sort of spell on Oliver, Annie.”

    Annie shook her head quickly. “No one could change Oliver. Not unless he wanted to be changed. There's no spell on him. It's just that he's been practicing interpersonal communication skills, that's all.”

    “Oliver's been working on his interpersonal communication skills?” Richard laughed. “Hey, that's great. Like they say in Hollywood, what a concept.”

    Heather frowned thoughtfully. “He wasn't so bad about communicating some things. Remember how he used to make us all join him in his study after dinner every night?”

    “Don't remind me.” Richard grimaced good-naturedly. “He made us do our homework there with him while he went over business papers. We spent every evening in my brother's study while the rest of our friends were watching TV and playing video games.”

    “It didn't hurt us one bit,” Heather said stoutly. “Taught us good study habits for one thing.”

    “And it gave you time with Oliver, for another,” Annie observed softly.

    “Yeah, I guess so. But I don't think you get the picture, Annie.” Richard grinned. “The biggest lesson we learned there in Oliver's study was that if one of us screwed up in school, it was a reflection on the whole family. No one dared embarrass the family by getting a failing grade because no one wanted to explain the failure to Oliver.”

    “Oliver was better at intimidation than interpersonal communication,” Nathan said. But he sounded remarkably cheerful about it.

    Heather smiled her serious smile. “My brother does seem different lately. If I had to put my finger on what has changed about him, I would say that he seems happier. And that must be because of you, Annie. Nothing else has occurred that could account for the transformation.”

    “I appreciate the positive feedback,” Annie said, “but let's not get carried away. There hasn't been a huge transformation, just some minor