The Perfect Proposal (14 page)

Annie had learned early on in her life that
crying either gave away a weakness, brought about a beating, or
resulted in some other unproductive or painful consequence.

So why did she feel the traitorous tears
slipping down her cheeks? The answer both frightened and humbled
her.

Because Mitch had
cared
. For one unguarded moment, she’d
allowed herself to look into his eyes and see it. The expression on
his face, the tone of his voice, left her no doubt. A calm so
utterly splendid had filled her and made her wish he’d crossed the
few feet between them and taken her into his arms. Which was
ridiculous, Annie thought. She didn’t even like him. Or she hadn’t
until now. She had to like him now because he actually gave a
damn.

Funny thing about tears, she marveled,
dabbing at the unwanted wetness staining her cheeks—they were easy
to control when no one cared, but virtually impossible to contain
when one did.

She still couldn’t believe she’d attacked
him. Annie giggled, remembering. His eyes had rounded in disbelief
when she’d jumped at him. Hell, how could he have known that she’d
take so much offense to someone going through her things? He hadn’t
a clue about her miserable past. Her life in the foster care
system, where clinging to a few personal possessions as her only
ties to the past had become essential to her emotional survival. He
couldn’t even begin to imagine. What he’d done was deplorable, but
definitely not a mortal sin and hadn’t deserved the wrestling match
she’d treated him to.

Oh, Lord, she thought again. How would she
ever face him? Well, Annie thought, mentally ticking off the other
embarrassing catastrophes Mitch had witnessed. Facing him now
shouldn’t even be an issue.

Oddly, though, it was. She frowned
thoughtfully. Before, Annie had been aware of the attraction
between them. But she hadn’t felt the evidence of that attraction
pressed intimately against her. Hadn’t had to bite her tongue to
keep from arching against him, seeking his weight to assuage a
desire so great it almost overwhelmed her with its intensity. Her
own need had struck her hard, sending frissons of tingly sensation
through and through her being. Even now, she felt the delicious
stirrings that Mitch’s touch evoked.

Amazing that they could be enemies and still
feel that all-consuming elemental pull. Perhaps that was the
attraction, Annie rationalized. Forbidden fruit and all that.
Didn’t she always want what she wasn’t supposed to have?

Annie took that excuse for her unusual
affinity for Mitch and ran with it. Lust was a simple, emotionally
uncomplicated explanation for what she felt for her handsome
adversary.

Another equally disturbing explanation lurked
in her subconscious, but Annie squelched it determinedly. There
wasn’t a future for them and the thought didn’t bear exploring.
Furthermore, the possibility of pain accompanied that observation
and she’d had enough of that to last her a lifetime. Wasn’t that
why she was there—to avoid more pain? No, regrettably, attraction
aside, Mitch was still the competition.

Besides, she had other pressing matters which
had to be attended to. Like landing the Winning Wiener campaign.
She bit her lip. Which meant she had to think of a campaign idea
first. Annie almost laughed at the absurdity of all of it. She’d
been so busy jumping through hoops for Les and trying to manage her
unreasonable attraction for Mitch that she hadn’t been able to
coming up with one great idea. And that’s all she needed. That and
time.

Unfortunately, time was in short supply.
Still, Annie could do it. She would have to. Her career depended on
it. The very thought of losing Hightower, her position, Will—all
that she held dear—terrified her. Unbidden, an image of Mitch
flashed through her mind and a thought occurred to her. Before
long, she’d be losing him as well.

Funny how that thought saddened her when she
should have been relieved.

“
Are you sure the weather’s
gonna hold?” Mitch asked Hank, the stable hand who’d helped them
tack and mount this morning. Mitch looked at the rapidly darkening
sky. He wasn’t worried about it for his own sake. Mitch had logged
enough hours in the saddle to handle a skittish mount. His gaze
swung to his riding partner. Annie, on the other hand, looked as
though she’d never been on a horse before in her life.

A frown puckering her brown and a look of
fierce determination on her face, she held the reins in a
white-knuckled grip that let him know she’d ride the horse or die
trying. At her initial hesitation this morning when they’d fist
arrived, Mitch had offered to let Annie ride with him. She’d flatly
refused. She’d also refused coffee, breakfast and anything else
he’d offered her. They were back to where they started. For some
reason Mitch didn’t care to explore, that saddened him beyond
reason.

“
Aw, yeah, it’ll hold,” Hank
said. “If not —” He handed Mitch a rough map and pointed to a small
square near the middle of it. “—then go here. This is one of the
supply cabins. The fencing crew uses it, so it’ll have everything
you need in the event of an emergency.”

Mitch nodded, but he still didn’t like
it.

“
Ready to go, Annie?” Mitch
asked.

She managed a bright, patently false grin.
“Sure.”

Mitch nudged his gray gelding in the flank
and trotted up beside Annie. Her mount sidestepped and she let
loose a little squeal that made Mitch smile. Grinning, he reached
over and pried the reins from her clenched fists. “Why don’t you
let me lead for a little while until you get used to how she
moves.”

Annie glanced up, ready to argue as always.
It was the first time she’d actually looked at him in the eye since
last night. He felt a pang of sympathy for her. Couldn’t she let
anyone do something for her without trying to find an ulterior
motive?

“
I think that would be
best,” she said at last, surprising him.

Pleased, Mitch grinned at her. He clicked his
tongue a couple of times, signaling the animals to move.

“
And they’re off,” Annie
muttered under her breath, sounding less than enthused.

“
Just let yourself roll with
her,” Mitch advised without looking back. “Relax. We’re horseback
riding, not heading to the gallows.”

Mitch maneuvered them through the gate and
took the trail Hank had indicated. Annie seemed reluctant to talk
and Mitch was content to let his thoughts drift and gaze at the
landscape.

Les’s property was indeed beautiful,
encompassing thousands of acres of pasture land, woods and ravines.
Surely his ranch hands must have to camp for days at a time just to
count cattle, Mitch mused, feeling humbled by the awesome sight
before him. He took in a deep breath and exhaled a contented
sigh.

“
How do you know I’m not
relaxed?” Annie asked a few minutes later, a frown in her voice.
Still, she seemed more intrigued than irritated.

“
Because your horse is
walking a little stiffly. She senses that you’re
uncomfortable.”

“
Oh,” Annie
remarked.

“
As you start to relax, she
will.” He turned and grinned at her unhappy expression. “Then you
might actually enjoy yourself.”

Annie snorted at that. “This beast outweighs
me about a thousand pounds. It’s not likely that I’ll relax any
time soon.”

Mitch chuckled at that.

“
Besides,” she said wryly,
“as soon as I do, Les’ll come up with another harebrained reason
for me to be tense. I won’t relax until this sill contest is over
and we’re back in Atlanta.”

“
Isn’t that the truth?”
Mitch said eagerly, glad that Annie’s volatile temper seemed to be
directed as someone besides himself for once. “I mean, look at us.
Here we are out riding the range instead of working on our
campaigns. It’s almost as if Les doesn’t want us to work on it.”
There. He’d finally announced the suspicions he’d had all
along.

Annie turned to look at him,
her gorgeous mouth perfect kissable
O
. “You’re right,” she breathed.
“You’re absolutely right, Mitch.”

Well, those were words he never expected to
hear from her lips.

She gave him an odd look. “I can’t believe
it, but I swear I think you’re right. Why else would Les have us
out here? Make us come to his reunion? Tell us we can’t work on
Sunday, then set an almost impossible deadline for a presentation?
He hasn’t even given us any input on what he has in mind.” Annie’s
forehead wrinkled in confusion. “It just doesn’t make sense. What
reason could he possibly have?”

Mitch forced a chuckle. “I would give you my
opinion, but I don’t think you want to hear it.” He looked up at
the sky as thunder rumbled ominously.

“
Try me,” Annie
said.

Mitch looked again at the grayish-black sky,
and the storm rolling in. “Annie —” he began. Suddenly a bolt of
lightning rent the heavens and the first fat drop of rain fell.

Annie’s horse whinnied and side stepped,
spooked by the sudden storm.

“
Mitch…” Annie’s eyes
rounded in fear. “I think she’s is getting upset. There, there,”
she crooned, awkwardly patting the frightened mare.

“
Damn,” Mitch cursed under
his breath, holding the reins tightly. He studied the sky once
more, looked back toward the house and knew they couldn’t make it
back before the heavens opened up. Mitch consulted the map and
realized they were closer to the supply cabin. Another lightning
bolt split the sky, causing Annie’s nervous mount to wheel again.
Annie jerked sideways and almost slid off her horse. And for once
in his life, Mitch felt genuinely afraid.

“
Mitch!” Annie squawked,
struggling to hold on. “Help me!”

Reacting quickly, Mitch hauled the nervous
mare around and quieted her. That done, his pulse stampeding
through his veins, he jumped from his own mount and helped a
trembling and terrified Annie to the ground. She threw her arms
around his neck and held on for dear life.

As much as Mitch would have enjoyed holding
her like that forever, the increasing rain prevented him from doing
so. The temperature had dropped considerably. Annie would likely
catch pneumonia if they didn’t hurry up and find that cabin.

With supreme effort, Mitch made himself move
away from Annie’s tender softness. “We have to get to the supply
cabin Hank mentioned.”

“
I-I’m n-not getting back on
th-that h-horse,” Annie stuttered, her teeth chattering
already.

Grinning, Mitch cupped her chin to still its
trembling and wiped the moisture from her face. “You can ride with
me.”

Seemingly relieved, Annie nodded jerkily. Her
sodden curls drooped in heavy spirals, hanging about her face in a
way that shouldn’t have been appealing, but was.

Mitch helped her into the saddle, then
climbed in behind her. He secured an arm around her tiny waist and
felt her sigh and settle trustingly against him.

Above the roar of the storm,
his hammering heart—everything—Mitch felt another faint
click
. This time he didn’t
question what that meant. Suddenly, he knew.

Feeling Mitch’s chest rise and fall at her
back had the most disconcerting and arousing effect, Annie thought.
Disconcerting because it felt so right, and arousing
because…because all Mitch had to do was breathe and he turned her
on. His powerful thigh hugged hers and made an intimate cradle in
which she felt safe, cherished, and oddly whole. His hand, large
and warm, held her waist possessively, sending a sensual heat
swirling deep within. The swaying motion of the horse and his close
embrace warmed Annie through and through, despite her cold and wet
clothes.

The rain beat down harder and thunder boomed
overhead. Occasionally the mare would whinny in protest, but
Mitch’s horse seemed to realize that he was in charge and hadn’t
attempted any of the circus tricks her unfortunate mount had tried.
Annie longed to peek at him and decided the only drawback to his
delightful position was not being able to gaze at his handsome
face. She owed him a word of thanks. In truth, she owed him more
than that.

“
Mitch, thank you for
letting me ride with you.”

“
No thanks
needed.”

Was it her imagination, or did his voice
sound strained?

“
No, really. I appreciate
it. If I’d told Les the truth last night he might not have made us
come out here. It’s all my fault.” She paused. “I’ve never ridden a
horse,” she confessed.

Mitch chuckled near her ear, resulting in a
wave of gooseflesh. “Trust me, Annie,” Mitch remarked confidently.
“I’m sure he knew that.”

Annie started to argue with him, but didn’t.
It was a moot point. Besides, she needed to tell him something else
before she lost her courage. She’d never been good at tendering
apologies, but she owed Mitch one for last night.

“
There’s something else,
Mitch. I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have attacked you
like that.” She shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know what came over
me.”

Mitch sigh rumbled through her. “No need to
apologize, Annie. I think I understand. I didn’t at first, but I do
now.”

“
But you couldn’t,” Annie
argued, touched that he’d try to make it easy on her when she was
the one ultimately at fault. “That’s what made what I did so awful.
I —”

“
Annie,” Mitch interrupted,
regret and something else she couldn’t readily identify sharing his
deep baritone. His grip on her waist tightened imperceptibly, as
though he were hugging her to him. “If I’d been raised as you were,
I’d be a little territorial about my things as well.”