The Perfect Proposal (13 page)

Well, now this was a side of Les Peters Annie
had never seen. Undoubtedly this was the personality he’d used to
make his fortune. Annie didn’t think she’d ever been more
intimidated by anyone so, well so…small. From the other end of the
table, wearing a secretive little grin, Cora beamed at her
husband.

At last, Annie nodded. “Of course, Les,” she
croaked. “After all, we’re here to make you happy.”

Mitch finally found his voice as well.
“Certainly. I don’t have a problem with that.”

“
Great!” Les thundered. “Now
that all that’s settled, let’s enjoy our lunch. By the way, either
one of you ever ride a horse?”

Annie nodded an affirmative response. She
figured the pony she rode at the county fair one year as a child
counted as a horse. Since then, she hadn’t been on one of the
horrendous animals. But it didn’t matter. If Les wanted her to ride
a horse to get this campaign, she’d ride one. Annie vaguely heard
Mitch’s response.

“
Actually, I love to ride.
Even have a few horses of my own that I show and ride.”

“
Is that right? Les asked,
clearly pleased with Mitch’s equestrian skills. “What kind you
got?”

“
Peruvians,” Mitch told him,
pride evident in his voice.

“
Oh, those are some fine
animals,” Les concurred knowingly.

That was all Mitch needed to launch into his
spiel about learning the value of good horseflesh.

Annie finished her dinner and, despite her
curiosity, attempted to tune out the rest of the conversation. It
figured that he’d know how to ride. Really. Was there anything the
man couldn’t do well? Annie wondered churlishly. Unable to help
herself, she peeked at him beneath lowered lashes. Instantly, she
thought of something else she instinctively knew he would do very
well indeed. Something, that, given her sudden shortness of breath,
she wanted much more than she let on.

When Mitch had suggested “getting it out
their systems” last night, Annie had been stunned to realize that
her fist inclination was to agree whole heartedly, then drag him to
the bedroom. A warm tingle worked its way through at the thought.
Agreeing with him had seemed like an excellent idea. Thank God
she’d stopped herself.

Annie couldn’t deny that she was fiercely
attracted to Mitch. In fact, she’d never been more attracted to a
man in her life. Mitch had a way of looking at her that made her
feel like the most beautiful and desirable woman in the world. And
just looking at Mitch could turn her on. And why not? she thought,
taking another veiled peek at him.

Mitch was utterly handsome. His build rivaled
that of a Greed god; his face was all clean angles and smooth
planes. And that chin cleft, she thought, almost mesmerized. Annie
had the almost overwhelming urge to kiss it.

But his most arresting feature had to be his
eyes. Annie simply couldn’t get over them. Honestly, it was
downright sinful for a man to have eyes that beautiful.

Then there was his mouth. It
was simply…
carnal
.
And the things she just somehow knew that he could do with those
talented lips made her toes curl, and her skin hot and tingly. Made
her want him with an intensity that frightened her. Annie exhaled a
shuddering breath.

Too bad they hadn’t met under different
circumstances, she thought, surprising herself. Though she’d always
been incredibly selective with her partners, she had to admit she
would have liked to explore this remarkable chemistry between them.
Who knew what might have happened? As it was, they would never find
out. An unwarranted sadness crept through her on the heels of that
thought, resulting in an empty feeling somewhere around the
vicinity of her heart.

Self-preservation kicked in. Annie refused to
acknowledge it.

The ride back to the cottage passed in
silence. Now, seated on the sofa, Annie still hadn’t uttered a
word, charitable or otherwise. Mitch would have rather had Annie
ranting at him than deal with the disappointment that seemed to
have subdued her since Les’s proclamation regarding their
respective campaigns. He couldn’t help but feel indirectly
responsible somehow. Who knew? Perhaps if he hadn’t gone with him
this morning, Les wouldn’t have given them so little time to pull
together their proposals.

Or made the other equally unreasonable
demands, Mitch thought, feeling his temper flare. Hell. Mandatory
attendance at his family reunion? Horseback riding? Truthfully,
Mitch was looking forward to that. He hadn’t been on a horse in a
couple of months and Les’s beautiful land would be a sight to see
from a saddle. As for the no-labor-on-Sunday rule, though Mitch
could have definitely used the time to work, he rather admired Les
and his convictions. There were so few businessmen who had them
anymore.

Admittedly, the man was an odd little
personality. Mitch almost snorted. Hell, one look at his unique
wardrobe confirmed that observation. But whatever he lacked in
taste, he certainly made up for in character. Despite his previous
impression of Les, Mitch had grown to like and respect the little
cowboy with the big heart.

“
I hardly think that you’ve
got anything to smile about,” Annie remarked dryly, interrupting
Mitch’s thoughts. “Did Les happen to impart any pearls of wisdom on
your little jaunt this morning that might benefit me as well?” she
asked. “Or did you simply join him for selfish reasons?”

Mitch sighed guiltily. “I think you know the
answer to that.”

Annie expelled a weary breath and sagged into
a chair. “I guess I do. So what did you do?” she asked. “Sneak into
my room and cut off my alarm clock?”

The flat tone of her voice combined with the
underhanded picture her words created made Mitch feel like heel.
Then he got mad. As if she hadn’t done anything to him, he thought,
giving in to a wave of righteous indignation. What about that “I’ve
got an idea” crap she’d pulled to torment him? Granted, it wasn’t s
crafty has his trickery, but she’d still been a little devious.
Suddenly, Mitch was very angry. Not just at Annie, but at his
uncle, at Les, at the whole damned situation.

“
Well, you’re hardly
innocent,” Mitch remarked heatedly.

Annie shot him a look. “What’s that supposed
to mean?”

“
Irritate
Mitch
,” he said mockingly, quoting the
words he’d found in her notebook, anger fuelling more indignation.
“Talk about childish, Annie.” He snorted, warming to his topic. “At
least my tactics are adult.”

Annie gasped and sat up from her chair. “You
went through my purse!” she accused, her eyes widening with
outrage. And something else, some other emotion Mitch couldn’t
readily identify and didn’t want to. He was on a roll.

“
Well, what did you expect
after your little performance? That I wouldn’t be
curious?”

“
I didn’t expect you to
investigate my personal things! My things!” Annie yelled
unreasonably. “Oh, that’s low. That’s lower than sneaking into my
room like some sort of pervert and sabotaging my alarm
clock.”

Mitch’s nostrils flared. This was the second
time she’d accused him of being some sort of sexual deviant, Mitch
thought furiously. Why if she weren’t a girl, he’d—

“
How would you like it if I
took the liberty of going through your wallet?” she asked hotly.
Suddenly her eyes glittered with something much more dangerous than
anger. Unease settled in Mitch’s gut. “Tell ya what. Let’s just
find out.” With that, and with an animal-like wail, Annie lunged
from the chair and tackled him around the waist.

Caught totally off guard, the breath whooshed
from Mitch’s lungs as Annie’s shoulder connected solidly with his
solar plexus. Knocked off-balance at the surprise attack, he
toppled sideways, hit the coffee table and plunged to the floor.
Like a barnacle and with surprising strength, his small assailant
clung to him as though her life depended on it.

Annoyed, Mitch half-heartedly attempted to
wrestle her off him. After all, it wasn’t as though she could
actually hurt him. “What…are…you doing?” he asked, trying to wrench
her hand from his back pocket.

“
Getting…your…wallet,” she
bit out between spurts of furious exertion. “Let’s see how you like
it.”

“
Ow!” Mitch yelped,
astonished. “You pinched me!”

“
And I’m gonna pull your
hair, too, you no-good thieving jerk!”

And she did. Mitch’s head
snapped backward as Annie’s fingers curled into his hair and yanked
hard. “
Nobody
goes
through my things!” she shouted.

Supremely aggravated, Mitch was just about to
call and end to this little wrestling match, when a note of
irrational desperation he’d heard in Annie’s last statement
surfaced in his spinning thoughts. He frowned. What was going on
here?

“
You got it?” she demanded,
her hand once again diving for his wallet.

“
Annie, calm down,” Mitch
told her, attempting once again to capture her wayward
hands.

She didn’t. She struggled, her sweet breath
hot against his neck as she made another concerted effort to pry
his wallet from his slacks. Then, against his mindful protests,
Mitch became uncomfortably aware of her other body parts.

Particularly her breasts.

They rubbed enticingly against his chest,
making him react in a way that considerably lessened the room in
his slacks. Her legs wound around his and Mitch longed to anchor
them at his hips and roll her over…

Just like that, his groin shot to
attention.

“
Annie,” he tried again.
Sweat beaded on his upper lip.

“
What?” she asked, seemingly
exasperated, still wriggling against him.

Clenching his teeth, Mitch willed his wayward
libido to calm. “You have got to stop that.”

“
Oh, yeah?” she retorted
belligerently. “Make me.”

Okay. That was it. Effortlessly, Mitch
flipped her over, manacled her wrists and pinned them above her
head. His throbbing arousal settled between her thighs s though
that intimate cradle had been designed expressly for him. Annie’s
chest heaved, then all but stalled her heavy-lidded gaze met his.
So he finally had her attention. It was about time. Another minute
and he might have exploded. Still might, for that matter.

It took every ounce of willpower he could
muster to speak calmly. “I apologize for sneaking out with Les and
for going through your purse. It was wrong. If you would like to go
through the contents of my wallet, I’d be happy to give it to you.”
He grinned then. “In case you haven’t noticed, your Amazon tactics
aren’t frightening me. But they are having another …effect. Do you
understand?”

With helpless fascination, Mitch watched the
play of emotions in Annie’s deliciously flushed face. He saw anger,
indignation, resignation, and finally, desire. A hot flame licked
at his insides and continued a slow burn. God, how he wanted this
woman.

At last, Annie nodded.

He loosened his hold. “I’m going to let you
up now.”

He expected a flippant remark, but all she
did was nod her head. Reluctantly, Mitch eased himself from Annie’s
softness. Undoubtedly, it had to be one of the hardest things he’d
ever done. As soon as Mitch was out of her way, Annie hauled
herself to her feet and stood with her arms crossed protectively
over her heaving chest. He noticed her hands were shaking.

Mitch pulled his wallet from his pocket and
offered it to her. She looked at it, but didn’t take it.

His eyes searched hers questioningly. “What
just happened here, Annie?” he asked softly. “What was that all
about?”

Annie shrugged, then took a halting step
toward the bedroom. “You wouldn’t understand if I told you,” she
said woodenly. “I’m sorry, Mitch. I don’t know what came over me.
I-I haven’t acted that way since…” she trailed off. “I just need
some time to myself.” She turned then to start out of the room.

Mitch had the almost
overwhelming urge to wrap Annie in his arms and comfort her. She
looked so uncharacteristically fragile at that moment, he almost
did. Then, just as quickly, the fragile woman disappeared and the
regular self-assured Annie took her place. Mitch silently wondered
how many other times Annie’d had to pull herself together like
that. How many times had she
had
to? And how many times could she do it without
falling apart?

“
Annie?”

Her spine rigid, she stopped, but didn’t turn
around. Those wild curled tumbled down her back, covering her
slender shoulders that seemingly carried the weight of the world.
“Yes?”

“
Why is this so important to
you?” he murmured. “Why is Hightower Advertising so important to
you?”

She offered him a small sad smile over her
shoulder. Her eyes were unusually bright. Mitch felt as though he’d
been pole-axed. “Again, Mitch, you wouldn’t understand.” With that,
she turned and walked to her room.

“
You’re right, Annie,” he
whispered to himself long after she’d left the room. “I don’t
understand. But I want to.”

Humiliation burning her cheeks, Annie calmly
walked to her room, then promptly fell apart. She’d attacked him.
Physically attacked him. What on earth had come over her? Hands
trembling, she shoved handful of her hair behind her ear and sagged
into the wingback chair in her room. A heavy, despair-ridden sigh
escaped her, and she resolutely squashed the overwhelming urge to
cry. After all, crying wouldn’t do her any good. It never
had.