Wildest Hearts

me.”

    “You've already said enough, Annie.”

    “I know you are not like your father, do you hear me? I know enough about your father and enough about myself to know that I could never have loved a man like him.”

    Oliver went absolutely still, his hand motionless on the doorknob.

    It seemed to Annie that everything in the entire universe had ceased moving except her heart. It was pounding.

    Oliver broke the spell, turning toward her very slowly. There was a fierce storm of emotion gathering in his eyes. “What are you saying, Annie?”

    Annie's mouth was suddenly very dry. Her pulse was racing so fast she was dizzy. She wished she had time to think. But there was no time. “I'm saying that I love you.”

    “You love me.” Oliver repeated the words carefully as if testing each one for flaws or weaknesses.

    “Yes.” Annie smiled tremulously. “For goodness sake, don't tell me you didn't know.”

    “How would I have known?” He searched her face. “You never told me.”

    “I thought it must have been obvious.”

    Oliver walked slowly back along the hall until he stood in front of her. “The only thing that was obvious was that I could make you want me. And that you needed me to save Lyncroft.”

    “Let me be perfectly blunt about this, Oliver. I would never have proposed a marriage of convenience to any of Daniel's other creditors or investors.”

    “No?”

    “Absolutely not. I think I started falling in love with you that night at Daniel and Joanna's engagement party. In fact, to be honest, I think the only reason I came up with the idea of a marriage between us to save the company was because I was already in love with you.”

    “Annie.” Oliver's voice was rough with some unidentified emotion. He framed her face carefully with his powerful hands. He bent his head slowly and took her lips.

    The familiar excitement flowed through Annie when she felt Oliver's calloused palms against her skin. She twined her arms around his neck as his mouth moved urgently, demandingly on hers.

    “Annie,” he said again.

    “Yes,” she whispered.

    There were no more words as Oliver picked her up in his arms and carried her into the darkened bedroom. But Annie told herself the words would come eventually. Oliver was in love with her. He had to be in love with her.

    Surely he could not touch her like this, the way he touched his ferns, if he was not in love with her.

    A long time later Annie stirred beside Oliver. “There's something I've been wondering about.”

    “What's that?”

    “Did you ever find your father? I know you must have gone looking for him eventually. I can't see you not wanting to track him down.”

    “I found him.” Oliver's voice was toneless. “Or rather I found his grave. He died in a sailing accident in the Caribbean about three months before I finally got a lead on him. He'd covered his tracks well.”

    “Did you ever find out why he left?”

    Oliver's jaw tightened. “The people who knew him down there in the islands said he'd talked a lot about wanting to be free. Rich and free. I guess the responsibilities and the debts he'd accumulated got to be too much for him.”

    “But you never had a chance to confront him.”

    “No. Maybe it's just as well.” Oliver's hand moved on her arm. “I'm not sure what I would have said or done.”

    “What did you tell your family?”

    “The truth. There are times when you can't protect them.”

    Annie touched his face with gentle fingertips. “I think you've done a very fine job of protecting your family from all the perils that could have destroyed them, Oliver. You're the true head of the Rain family, not your father. You didn't buckle under the weight of the responsibilities you had to assume.”

    He pulled her close and held her to him for a long time before they both fell asleep.

    The one thing I never wanted to be: a man like my father. Oliver's painful admission was still haunting Annie the following afternoon as she worked with a designer who had brought his client with him to Wildest Dreams.

    “Something with an amusing, somewhat gaudy edge to it, Annie.” Stanford J. Littlewood, owner and sole proprietor of Stanford J. Littlewood Designs, scanned the contents of Annie's shop with a coldly critical eye. He turned to his client with a condescending smile. “As you can see, Annie specializes in the whimsical look. Some of her pieces have a certain charm when used with discretion.”

    Annie set