The #1 Bestsellers Collection 2011

by Catherine Mann

  Was he as crazy as Sal? Possibly. On the other hand, Adam had always been able to look at a situation, see it from every angle and then make the moves necessary for him to come out on top. Why should this be any different?

  It wasn’t as if he was going into the deal with an idea to cheat Sal. The old man had come up with this bizarre plan all on his own. And Gina?

  Well, hell. His gaze swept her up and down in a heartbeat of time. He took in her bright, golden eyes, her full mouth tipped into a smile, her lush breasts pressing against the faded fabric of a denim shirt and her rounded hips and long legs encased in worn jeans. She was enough to make any man’s mouth water. And the fact that she was getting to him was enough to have him considering Sal’s proposal.

  “You look surprised,” he said when he realized that seconds of silence were ticking past.

  “Well, I am.” She brushed her palms against her thighs but it was clearly more about nerves than cleaning her hands off. “I haven’t even spoken to you in the last five years, Adam.”

  True. He’d never been a social type, like his brothers were. And in the last few years, he’d cut himself off even further from his neighbors. “I’ve been busy.”

  She laughed and somehow the rollicking music of it seemed to slice through him, cutting him so deep his breath caught in his chest. What was this? Lust he could deal with. Use to his own advantage. But he wasn’t looking to be intrigued or captivated by her.

  Yet he wanted her. And after years of feeling nothing, this rush of lust felt damn good. All he had to do was remind himself why he was considering this. The land. Marry Gina, enjoy himself, and when he was finished with her, they’d divorce and then this lust would be over with and he would have the land he required.

  “You’ve been busy.” Nodding, she shot him a smile. “For five years.”

  He shrugged. “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “What’ve you been up to?”

  Her eyebrows lifted and she tipped her head to one side to look at him. “Five years of news is going to take a little while to tell.”

  “So, do it at dinner.”

  “First a question.”

  “Of course.” Women always had questions.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why ask me to dinner?” She pushed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, arching her back a little, making her breasts push against the fabric of her shirt. “Why now all of a sudden?”

  Adam frowned a little. Figured she’d make him work for this. “Look, it’s no big deal. I saw you, we talked, I asked. If you don’t want to go, just say so.”

  She stared at him for a long moment or two, but Adam knew she wasn’t going to turn him down. She was intrigued. She was interested. And more than that, she was feeling the same sort of physical buzz he was. He could see it in her eyes.

  “I didn’t say that,” she said a moment later, proving that he could still read people pretty well. “I was just curious.”

  He gave her a casual shrug. “We both have to eat. Why not do it together?”

  “Okay … where are you taking me?”

  He offered the first place that came to him. It wasn’t as if he’d planned this all out. He’d come to the Torino spread looking to make a deal. Now, it appeared that he was going to make that deal after all—just not the one he’d counted on.

  Gina’s insides were doing a happy skip and dance. She couldn’t believe that Adam King had finally noticed her. And for a few minutes, that was the only thought she concentrated on. But finally, dumb ol’ reality crashed in. Why now? She had to ask herself the question. She’d known Adam all her life and up until five minutes ago, he’d never acknowledged her existence beyond the occasional “hi.”

  Since the death of his family five years before, Adam had pretty much been a recluse. He’d shut himself away from everything but his ranch and his brothers. So why all of a sudden was he Mr. Charm? A tiny nugget of suspicion settled in the pit of her stomach, but it didn’t do a thing to ease the thumping of her heart.

  “What about Serenity?”

  Ah. The almost impossible to get into place on the coast. He really was pulling out all the stops.

  “Sounds good,” she said, even though what she really meant was, sounds fabulous, can’t wait, what took you so long?

  “Tomorrow night? Seven?”

  “Okay. Seven.” The moment she agreed, she saw satisfaction glitter in his dark-chocolate eyes and the suspicion crowding her jumped up in her brain and started waving hands, trying to get her attention. Well, it worked. “Though I really would like to know what actually prompted this out-of-nowhere invitation.”

  His features tightened briefly, but a moment later, he gave her a small smile again. “If you’re not interested, Gina, all you have to do is say no.”

  “I didn’t say that.” She pulled her hands from her pockets and folded her arms across her chest.

  “Glad to hear it,” he said and reached for one of her hands, holding it in his, smoothing his thumb gently across her skin. He looked into her eyes, gave her a small smile and said, “So, I’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow? You can tell me all about what you’ve been up to for the last five years.”

  When he let go of her hand, Gina could have sworn she could actually smell her skin sizzling from the heat he’d generated. Oh, she was sliding into some seriously deep waters here.

  Adam was charming. Friendly. Smiley. Flirty.

  Something was definitely going on here. Something he wasn’t telling her. And still, she wouldn’t turn down this invitation for anything.

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “See you then.” With one last smile, he turned around and walked with determined steps across the yard to the SUV he’d left parked near the house.

  Gina stood stock-still to enjoy the view. His excellent butt looked great in the dark blue jeans. His long legs moved with a deceptively lazy stride and the sun hit his dark brown hair and gleamed in its depths.

  Her heart actually fluttered in her chest. Weird sensation. And not a good sign. “Oh, Gina,” she whispered, “you are in very deep trouble, here.”

  Just being that close to Adam, having him focusing his attention on her, had been enough to stir up all of the old fantasies and dreams. She felt shaky, like the time she’d had three espresso drinks in an hour. Only Adam King was a way bigger buzz than too much caffeine.

  Her breath left her in a rush as Adam steered his car down the driveway and away from the ranch. She rubbed the spot on her hand where Adam had touched her. When the cloud of dust behind his car had settled back down onto the driveway, Gina thoughtfully turned her gaze on the house behind her. Adam might not be willing to tell her what was going on, but she had a bone-deep feeling that her father had the answers she needed.

  “I can’t believe it,” Gina muttered, stalking around the perimeter of the great room. She must have made thirty circuits in the last twenty minutes. Ever since her father had confessed what his meeting with Adam King had really been about. Gina’s temper spiked anew every time she thought about it. She couldn’t seem to sit down. Couldn’t keep still.

  At every other clomp of her boots against the wood floor, she shot her father a look that should have frizzed his hair. When she thought she could speak without screaming, she asked, “You tried to sell me?”

  “You make too much of this, Gina.” Sal sat on the sofa, but his comfy, relaxed position was belied by the glitter of guilt and caution in his eyes.

  “Too much?” She threw her hands high and let them slap to her thighs again. “What am I, a princess in a tower? Are you some feudal lord, Papa? God, this is like one of the historical romance novels I read.” She stopped dead and stabbed her index finger at him. “Only difference is, this is the twenty-first century!”

  “Women are too emotional,” Sal muttered. “This is why men run the world.”

  “This is what you think?” Teresa Torino reached over
and slapped her husband’s upper arm. “Men run the world because women allow it.”

  Normally Gina would have smiled at that, but at the moment, she was just too furious to see the humor in anything about this situation. Oh, man, she wanted to open up a big, yawning hole in the earth and fall into it. What must Adam have been thinking when her father faced him with this “plan”?

  God. Everything in her cringed away from that image. Could a person die of embarrassment?

  “You said yourself Gina should get married and have babies,” Sal told his wife.

  “Yes, but not like this. Not with him.”

  “What’s wrong with Adam?” Sal wanted to know.

  Nothing, as far as Gina was concerned, but she wasn’t about to say that.

  “There is … something,” Teresa said with a sniff.

  Gina nearly groaned.

  “You don’t know Adam well enough to think there’s something wrong with him,” Sal told his wife.

  “Ah,” Teresa argued. “But you know him well enough to barter your daughter’s future with him?”

  And the argument was off and running. Gina only half listened. In her family, yelling was as much a part of life as the constant hugs and laughter. Italians, her mother liked to say, lived life to the fullest. Of course, Gina’s father liked to say that his wife lived life to the loudest, but basically, it was the same thing.

  She and her brothers had grown up with laughter, shouts, hugs, more shouts and the knowledge that they were all loved unconditionally.

  Today, though … she could have cheerfully strangled the father she loved so much. Gina’s gaze shifted around the room, picking out the framed family photos sprinkled across every flat surface. There were dozens of her brothers and their families. There were old, sepia prints of grandparents and great-grandparents, too. There were photos of children in Italy, cousins she’d never met. And there were pictures of Gina. With her first horse. As the winning pitcher on her high school softball team. Getting ready for her prom. Her graduation. And in all of the pictures of Gina, she was alone. There was no husband. No kids.

  Just good ol’ Aunt Gina.

  Old maid.

  The Torino clan was big on family. And she was no exception to that rule.

  Gina had always wanted a family of her own. Had always expected that she would be a mother, once the time was right. But in the last couple of years, as she’d watched her brothers’ families grow while she remained alone and single, she’d begun to accept that maybe her life wouldn’t turn out the way she’d always hoped.

  And on that depressing thought, she stopped walking crazily around the room, closed down her racing brain and focused her gaze on the slant of sunlight beaming in through the wide front windows and the dust motes dancing in the still air. The scent of her mother’s sauce spilled from the kitchen and wrapped itself around Gina like a warm hug.

  Sal scowled at his wife, shot his daughter a cautious look and said, “Besides, all of this is wasted effort. You’re angry for nothing, Gina. Adam turned me down.”

  “He did?”

  “Of course he did,” Teresa said, reaching out to give her husband another smack.

  “Hey!” Sal complained.

  “Adam King is not a man to be trifled with this way,” Teresa said, lifting one hand to wag a warning finger. “There is a darkness there….”

  Sal rolled his eyes and even Gina had to stifle a snort. Any man who didn’t like pasta wasn’t to be trusted in Teresa Torino’s world.

  “There’s nothing wrong with Adam,” Sal argued. “He’s a good businessman. He’s steady. He’s wealthy so we don’t need to worry about a man marrying Gina for her money—”

  “Oh,” Gina snapped, feeling the insult jab its way home, “thanks very much for that!”

  “And,” Sal continued before either his wife or his daughter could interrupt again, “he needs a wife.”

  “He had a wife,” Teresa pointed out.

  “She’s dead,” Sal argued.

  “So you sign me up as a pinch hitter?” Gina demanded.

  “It’s not good to be alone,” her father said.

  “God.” Gina slumped onto the arm of the closest sofa and stared at her father. “Did you and Mom rehearse that little ditty? Maybe we should put it to music!”

  “There’s no reason to be smart,” Teresa said.

  “No reason?” Gina slid her gaze to her mother in astonishment. Typical. A minute ago, Teresa had been furious with her husband. But the moment she felt he was the underdog, she jumped onto his side of the debate.

  “Mom, I know Papa meant well, but this is … is …” She stopped and shook her head. “I don’t even have a word for what this is. Beyond the usual. You know … humiliating. Embarrassing. Demeaning.”

  Teresa blew out a breath. “So dramatic.”

  Gina just goggled at her. How did a person argue with parents like this? And why was she still living on this ranch?

  Oh, she wanted to scream. How mortifying was this? She was so pitiful, so unwanted that her father had to try to buy her a husband?

  Her head was pounding and her chest felt tight. Vaguely she heard her mother’s whispered mutterings as she continued her tirade. But Gina couldn’t even think about her parents at the moment.

  What must Adam have thought? Oh, God, she didn’t want to know. Way better to just push that little question right out of her mind. How would she ever face him again? How would she be able to keep that dinner date with him tomorrow night?

  And with that thought, everything inside her stopped.

  He’d turned her father down.

  He wasn’t willing to marry her for the land he wanted so badly. So why, then, had he stepped outside and asked her to dinner? Was this a pity date? Poor little Gina will never get married, why not toss her a bowl of soup and a nice night out?

  No.

  Adam wasn’t the doing-good-deeds kind of guy. She didn’t agree with her mother about the darkness in him, but he also wasn’t the kind of guy who went out of his way for people.

  So what did all of this mean?

  Her headache erupted into migraine territory.

  “So what?” Sal asked. “How long am I going to be in trouble?”

  Gina glared at her father.

  “Long time, I guess,” he muttered.

  “You want me to call and talk to Adam? Explain?” Teresa asked.

  “Good God, no!” Gina hopped up off the arm of the couch. “What am I? In third grade?”

  “Only to help,” her mother soothed. “To tell him that your papa is crazy.”

  “I’m not crazy,” Sal argued.

  “Matter of debate,” Gina said wryly and her father had the grace to flush.

  “I meant no harm,” Sal told her.

  Gina’s heart melted a little. No matter how furious he made her, she’d loved him too long to stay mad forever. “I know that, Papa. But please stay out of my love life.”

  “Yes, yes,” he said.

  When her parents started arguing again, Gina left them to it. She was just too tired to hold up her end of the battle. Walking across the ranch yard, she went straight to her own small house and stepped inside. It was quiet. Empty. She didn’t even have a pet. Since she spent so much time with her horses, it seemed silly to have another animal around.

  She stopped just inside the living room. Her gaze swept quickly around the familiar space but it was as if she were seeing it with new eyes.

  Here, too, just like up at the main house, there were framed photos. Pictures of her nieces and nephews. Laughing kids with gap-toothed smiles. Snapshots of days spent at amusement parks, on the Gypsy horses, eating at her kitchen table. There were drawings taped to the wall, too, each signed by the young artist.

  And there were toys. Some scattered across her coffee table, others in a chest she kept under her front window. Baby dolls and fire trucks. GameBoys and coloring books.

  In a blink, Gina knew that this was the pattern of her life. As i
t was. As it would always be. She would forever be the favorite aunt. The children she loved would never be her own. And she would no doubt end up an old woman, alone, with a houseful of cats.

  Tears stung the backs of her eyes as she imagined it, the years spilling out in front of her so clearly, it made her head spin. Her house wasn’t a home. It was a place where she slept. It was a place that children visited and never stayed. It was a place that would forever be haunted by the ghosts of the children she might have had.

  Unless she did something outrageous.

  Something no one would expect.

  Least of all Adam King.

  Four

  A dinner date with Adam King—especially this one—required nothing less than a new dress.

  Turning in front of her mirror, Gina took a long, critical look and decided she looked pretty good. The black dress hit just above her knee and the full skirt swirled out when she turned. The bodice dipped low enough to give a peek at what was hidden beneath the silky fabric, and the sleeveless straps over her shoulders were narrow, delicate.

  Her hair hung in a cascade of curls down her back and her new high-heeled sandals gave her an extra three inches of height.

  “Okay,” she said, smiling at the woman in the glass. “I can do this. Everything’s gonna be great. I am sooooo ready.”

  Her reflection was not convinced. Frowning a little, Gina jolted at the knock on her front door. “Oh, yeah. You’re ready.”

  Shaking her head, she snapped up her black clutch bag and headed for the front of the little house. When she opened the door, though, she found not Adam, but her brother Tony standing on the porch.

  Hands on his hips, he said, “I just talked to Mom and thought I’d better come see you.”

  “No time,” she said, looking past him at the driveway to the road.

  “Why not?”

  “I have a date.” She waved one hand at him in a “shooing” motion. “Me. Going out. Thanks for stopping by. Bye now.”