Several rings later, Les retrieved the small black phone from one of his hip pockets, and flipped it open. “Hullo.” He grinned. “We’re on our way back now, sugar. Umm-hmm. Naw, we didn’t get anything. Didn’t even see one. Ain’t that somethin’? Hell, I’m startin’ to think there aren’t any deer in these woods.” His brow puckered. “Oh, he did, did he? I didn’t know that.” He covered the mouthpiece and looked at Mitch. “Remind me to fire my foreman when I get back,” he whispered. Les started. “Uh-huh, sweetie-pie, I’m still here. Oh, she is?” Les looked at Mitch and smiled mysteriously. A definite twinkle lit his raisin-like eyes. Is that right? How long has she been up there?” Les chuckled maddeningly, even as dread curdled in Mitch’s stomach. “Oh, she does? Okay.” Les handed Mitch the phone. “Annie wants to talk to you.”
Mitch cleared his throat and took the phone. “Yeah.”
“Mitch?” Annie said sweetly. So sweetly that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. “You realize of course that this means war?”
Mitch nodded mutely, then feeling like a moron, realized she couldn’t see his gesture. “Uh, now Annie —”
“Don’t ‘now Annie me, Mitch Hightower,” Annie hissed angrily, obviously trying to keep her voice down, but failing nonetheless. In his mind’s eye, he could see her cheeks hot with temper, that curly hair bouncing with each angry jerk as she ranted at him. To his eternal chagrin, his blood heated. “I can’t believe you’d sink to such a level. As of now, the gloves are off. Do you understand me?” she demanded.
“Uh,” Mitch replied dumbly. He shot Les an awkward glance and noted the man’s pleased expression with a flash of irritation. Embarrassed, Mitch turned away from Les’s prying eyes and made an attempt to smooth Annie’s ruffled feathers.
“Look, Annie, I think you’re getting all worked up for nothing.”
She humphed in his ear.
Mitch show another look at Les, then smiled uncomfortably. “Women,” he told the little cowboy.
Annie sucked in an outraged gasp. “What did you say?”
Mitch directed his attention back to the angry female at the end of the line. “Uh, nothing.” Mitch frowned and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Could we talk about this when I get back?”
“Oh, you can bet on it,” Annie told him in a poisonously sugary voice.
Mitch ended the call, handed the phone back to Les and heaved a beleaguered sigh. That certainly hadn’t gone well.
“I take it your little woman is upset,” Les remarked, his lined face wreathed in a commiserating smile.
“She’s not my —” Mitch started. Aw, hell, why bother. He nodded. “You could say that.”
Les stuffed the phone into his pocket and resumed their trek through the woods. “Well, me and the missus been married thirty-two years and if I’ve learned anything, it’s you’d better have an apology ready.”
“But I didn’t —”
Les smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “You don’t know much about women, do you, boy?” Mitch scowled at the untruth, but Les forged ahead. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t do anything wrong, just apologize,” he said with authority. “They like that. Then apologize again. And it wouldn’t hurt if you got her a little gift.” Les blazed through the woods as though the hounds of hell were on his heels. Mitch struggled to keep up, both physically and conversationally.
“A gift?”
“Yeah, something shiny. Diamonds will do.”
Mitch’s mind reeled. Hell, he’d shut off her alarm clock, not had an affair. Wait, he and Annie weren’t even dating, much less engaged. Damn. Les had him so turned around he didn’t know which way was up. Trying to talk to the man was like playing leap-frog blind.
“And, of course, after that comes the best part.” Les smiled slyly. The estate grounds were in sight and Les kicked up the pace another notch. “Hmmm. Wonder what Cookie made for lunch?” he mused aloud.
Mitch was more confused than ever. “What’s the best part?”
Les stopped so abruptly Mitch almost broadsided him. The tiny meat magnate smiled as though Mitch were slow-witted. “Why, the makin’ up part, of course!”
Les tsked under his breath, then continued his fast-paced hike to the house. “I see we’ve got our work cut out for us. You’re nowhere near the ladies’ man the papers made you out to be.”
Mitch barely heard that parting statement—visions of making up with Annie had blocked out all other sensory perceptions. Soft arms and long legs, rumpled sheets, that curly mane of hair spread over a pillow. Over his chest. Mitch pulled in a ragged breath and expelled it with a whoosh. Maybe Les was on to something after all.
Chapter Nine
By the time Mitch and Les made it the house, Annie had hit a full boil. She’s simmered for the past two hours while she awaited their return. Frankly, she’d wanted to blast him face to face, but she hadn’t been able to resist blowing off a little steam over the phone. To Annie’s embarrassment, Cora had found the exchange particularly amusing.
“Oh, I can remember when Les and I used to have our little spats,” she’d confided with a conspiratorial wink. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Really,” Annie’d told her, her stomach tensing at the insinuation that she and Mitch were a couple. “It’s not a spat. Just a little professional misunderstanding.”
Cora gave her another knowing grin. “Misunderstanding, lover’s quarrel…whatever.” She waved a small bejeweled hand, dismissing Annie’s protests. “It’s all the same.”
When Annie’d opened her mouth to refute that as well, Cora had quickly cut her off with, “Have another bite of fried okra, dear. Isn’t it delicious?”
Actually, it was and Annie’d munched on it until she doubted she would have room for lunch. She’d been so infuriated with Mitch’s disappearing act this morning that she hadn’t taken the time to eat breakfast. Annie narrowed her eyes as another wave of fury crashed over her. She’d missed her quiet time and her breakfast.
Mitch would pay, she thought ominously.
If the coward ever showed his face. Annie harrumphed angrily. As soon as the great hunters had returned, Mitch—without even a glance in her direction—had beat a hasty path to the guest bedroom to change back into his clothes. Les, garbed like a midget Rambo, had followed less enthusiastically—until he’d gotten a whiff of lunch.
A fond smile curved Annie’s lips. If she’d factored out being here against her will, living with Mitch, and battling for her career, she would truthfully say Les and Cora were delightful. A little eccentric, yes, but still entertaining hosts. She could even grow fond of the twins—who, thank heavens, had gone to town with some relatives visiting for the reunion this afternoon—given the chance.
Under normal circumstances, Annie had begun to think that she would have actually enjoyed her stay here. Perhaps Will had been right when he’d suggested she needed a vacation. It had been years since she’d taken one.
At last, Mitch slunk guiltily into the dining room. Well, actually he sauntered in that confident way of his that drove her nuts, but Annie preferred to think that he slunk. Made him sound more like the no-good sneak that he was. The coward still hadn’t met her gaze. She fumed, hoping he’d look up so at last one of the daggers shooting from her eyes could score a direct hit. Between his eyes. The other imaginary darts had landed…elsewhere.
“Well, Mitch,” Cora remarked, smiling warmly. “I hope you enjoyed yourself this morning. Les rarely has anyone to go hunting with him. I’m sure he enjoyed your company.”
Mitch’s lips quirked as though savoring a private joke. “Yes, ma’am. The property is beautiful. I enjoyed it.”
“Woulda enjoyed it more had we got ourselves a deer,” Les boomed, his eyes trained expectantly on the doorway of the kitchen. Eagerly awaiting lunch, no doubt. “Still, Mitch and I had quite an interesting talk.” Les’s gaze swung meaningfully to Annie and she felt herself blush.
She glared at Mitch, doing her best to t
elepathically transmit her anger to him. It seemed to work, because he finally looked up at her and grinned hesitantly.
Annie’s breath stalled in her lungs. A weaker woman would have softened when met with that clear blue gaze, she thought unwillingly. A weaker woman’s knees would have probably knocked. Annie ignored her own galloping heart and told herself she absolutely wasn’t smitten with his overconfident Adonis, just intrigued by the unusual color of his eyes. That had to be why she couldn’t quit staring into them.
Suddenly, Cookie entered the room, breaking the disconcerting spell. Annie dragged her gaze from Mitch’s and attempted to summon her previous anger. For some reason, she had the odd impression that Mitch had somehow made it melt away. Which was ridiculous, she realized. He couldn’t do that.
“I say, Cookie,” Les exclaimed happily, checking out the feast being laid out before them. “You have outdone yourself today.”
His eyes sparkled with delight as he stared at the splendid array of food. Roast beef and new potatoes, tender baby carrots, snap green beans, and homemade rolls. Cookie, a big burly man who looked more like an ex-con than a professional chef, nodded gruffly at the compliment, then shuffled silently from the room.
At the head of the table, Les quickly said the blessing, then dug in with gusto. From the corner of her eye, Annie watched Cora Peters gaze lovingly at her husband. Inexplicably, a pang of longing struck Annie. Would she ever look at anyone like that? she wondered. Frankly, other than the occasional passing thought, she hadn’t given much thought to finding her own fabled Mr. Right. She’d always been too busy surviving, then making her way at Hightower.
Now, as she sat at the table with Les and Cora and could practically feel their mutual love radiating around them, Annie couldn’t help but think she might be missing something incredibly important in her life. The thought saddened her beyond reason.
“Well, dumplin’, did you and Annie have a nice hen party while Mitch and I were out this mornin’?”
Cora dimpled. “We certainly did. And from the comfort of the sitting room,” she added drolly. “Not traipsing around the woods like Daniel Boone. Honestly, Les, I don’t understand what you men get outta that.”
Les chuckled. “You know how I love to hunt. Did Uncle Jarvis and Aunt May-Lilly get in yet?” he asked.
Smiling, Cora shook her head. “No, they’ll be in this afternoon. Everyone else will be here on Friday.”
“Good, good,” Les crowed around a mouthful of potatoes. He looked at Mitch and Annie. “Y’all will come to the reunion, of course.”
“But —” Annie and Mitch started simultaneously.
“No buts,” Les interrupted them in what had to be his boardroom tone. It brooked no argument. “I insist. It’ll be quite a shindig. We’re gonna have a band, dancin’, all the steak you can eat. Y’all will love it.” He smiled reassuringly, then looked at Mitch. “Now let’s get down to why you came with me to the woods this mornin’.”
Mitch looked properly confused.
Les smiled knowingly. “Aw, come on now boy. I know you didn’t follow me into those woods this mornin’ cause you had a hankerin’ to hunt. You were wonderin’ about when you’re gonna pitch that campaign y’all are competin’ over.”
Annie smacked her palms on the table. “I knew it!”
Les looked at Annie, a shrewd gleam in his eye. “Of course you did. You’re smart.” He smiled. “And you’re mad because you think he beat you to the punch. Given the opportunity, you’d have done the same thing.”
Annie started to protest, but a warning look in Les’s twinkling eyes made her think better of it.
“So, I’m gonna put y’all out of your misery.” He speared a baby carrot with his fork. “You’ll give your complete presentations next Wednesday after lunch. I want art boards, marketing plans, the whole nine yards.”
Wednesday? Annie thought wildly. That was another five days. Too long to live with Mitch, but barely long enough to pull together a polished presentation of this magnitude. She’d thought Les would want to hear ideas before either of them planned a full-fledged campaign. She’d had to work double time on this—
“This is what I’ll require of you until then,” Les said, back in his boardroom voice. “Tomorrow, I expect you to inspect the entire operation located here at the Triple P. On horseback.”
Annie smothered a gasp. A covert peak at Mitch proved he was every bit as taken aback as she was.
“Friday night, you’ll come to the kick-off meal here at the house and meet everyone. Cora and I have a wonderful family. I’m sure you’ll want to meet them.” Les paused, seemingly daring either of them to refute his statement. When neither did, he resumed his meal. “Saturday we’ve already discussed. You’ll come to the reunion. Sunday, you can have a free day to do with what you please. However, since nobody’s allowed to work here on the Lord’s day, you’ll have to find another way to occupy yourselves, other than working on your campaigns.” Les grinned again, clearly pleased with himself. “Naturally, I expect you to heed my wishes. I’d hate to take my business elsewhere. Agreed?” he asked finally.
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 th
ere 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?”
The Perfect Proposal Page 9