Free Wild and Wonderful by Janet Dailey

her father. Throughout the evening she wavered between a certainty that Jett would agree and a cold fear that he would not.
    She slept restlessly, waking with the first glint of dawn. After lying in bed for nearly an hour trying to go back to sleep, Glenna climbed out of bed and dressed in a pair of dark blue slacks and a cream white velour sweater. It was half-past five when she ventured into the corridor to take the elevator downstairs.
    In the hotel lobby Glenna skirted the restaurant with its aroma of fresh-perked coffee in favor of the invigorating crispness of the early morning air, seeking its quiet serenity to soothe her troubled mind. She wandered through the dew-wet grounds with no particular destination in mind, yet aware her steps were taking her in the general direction of the stables.
    For a while it seemed she had it all to herself, sharing the yellow morning only with the twittering birds in the trees, until she noticed a man strolling alongside an inn road. She recognized Jett immediately, her pulses quickening. Her meandering path intersected the road, and she turned onto it to walk toward him, neither hurrying her pace nor slowing it.
    As she drew closer, she saw that he was dressed in his evening clothes—or had been. The tie was unknotted and hanging loosely around his neck, the top buttons of his white shirt unfastened. His suit jacket was slung over one shoulder, held by the hook of his finger, and his sharply creased slacks looked wrinkled. There was even a dusty film dulling the polished sheen of his black shoes.
    "If you are just coming in, it must have been some party," Glenna remarked when Jett was within hearing. "What happened? Did you decide to go horseback riding at midnight and get thrown?"
    "No, I haven't been riding. Only walking," he corrected dryly, both stopping when only two feet separated them. "You're an early bird this morning."
    "I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up." Her gray green eyes inspected the weary lines in his face and the rumpled blackness of his thick hair. "Haven't you been to bed?"
    "No. After dinner I went over some business with Don. It was around two A.M. before he left the suite. I went for a walk out in the hills to do some thinking, and stayed around to watch the sun come up." His features took on a faraway look when he partially glanced over his shoulder in the general direction he'd just come from.
    Glenna leaned toward him, reading something in his expression that gripped her throat. "Have you decided about the merger?" she asked tightly.
    His gaze glided to her face, moving over it for an instant, the line of his mouth slanting. "I'll give your father my answer this afternoon." He deftly avoided the question.
    "Are you still considering it?" A breeze came whirling out of the trees to blow across her face, briefly lifting the chestnut hair away from her neck before it danced away.
    Jett rested a heavy hand atop her shoulder. "There is a lot to consider, Glenna."
    "I'm sure there is," she agreed on a subdued note, lowering her gaze to the front of his shirt. "It's just the waiting to find out that's so hard."
    "All decisions are hard. Life is hard." His voice was gentle, but the grip of his hand applied pressure to her shoulder bone, drawing her half a step closer. He swung his jacket behind her in order to lock both his hands behind her neck. "It would have been easy if you had been the one to suggest a merger with me." The seductive pitch of his voice made it plain that he had something much more intimate in mind than a business liaison. "You present a very attractive package."
    Glenna was conscious that he had bent his head toward her, but she didn't lift her gaze. If he was trying to divert her thoughts from her father, he was succeeding with his closeness. The flattery wasn't necessary.
    "You didn't have to say that. I don't need to be sweet-talked out of asking questions about your decision. I can accept the fact that you haven't made up your mind," she