Free Wildest Hearts by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

“I suppose it won't hurt.”
     
    “It will shore up the image.” He reached across the desk and took her hand in one of his. Her fingers were light, graceful, utterly feminine. He felt a small tremor go through her at his touch. Raw possessiveness flashed through him. He had not been wrong about her. She did want him.
     
    She was his, Oliver thought triumphantly. Almost.
     
    Oliver slid the gold band firmly back into place on her finger. When it was in position, she instantly started to tug her hand free of his grip. He searched for an excuse to hold onto her.
     
    “Come with me.” Oliver stood up, still grasping her hand firmly in his and walked around the edge of the desk.
     
    “Where are we going?” She looked up at him with a mixture of sensual awareness and uncertainty in her huge eyes. She was still trying to pretend this was a business arrangement.
     
    Oliver realized that for all her charming impulsiveness and her bold schemes to save her brother's company, Annie was not completely sure of herself tonight. The knowledge amused him and made him feel curiously indulgent. He would be patient with her, he promised himself.
     
    “I want to show you something on the roof,” Oliver said gently.
     
    He tugged her to her feet and started for the door. He was ruefully aware of his semiaroused body. He was getting hard in spite of his best efforts at self-control. He would simply have to suffer the torments of the unsatisfied tonight, he told himself. It was too soon, much too soon, to seduce Annie.
     
    “Are we going to look at the city lights?” Annie asked a little too brightly as he led her up the steps to the roof door.
     
    “No.”
     
    He kept her hand tightly clasped in his, curious to see how she would react to the greenhouse. Something told him she would like it. He had never wanted to show off his private jungle to anyone else before, but now he wanted to see how Annie would look standing amid his ferns.
     
    “Oliver, I don't want you to feel that just because we're sort of married you have to entertain me,” Annie said earnestly as she hurried along beside him. “I really don't want to interfere with your normal evening routine.”
     
    He ignored her comment as he opened the door onto the roof. The huge greenhouse loomed in the shadows, its glass walls reflecting the rain-swept lights of the city.
     
    “What's this?” Annie asked. Curiosity abruptly replaced the incipient nervousness in her voice.
     
    “My private world.” Oliver paused at the control panel to turn on the lights. Then he opened the door of the greenhouse. The primal scents of moist earth and growing plants enveloped them.
     
    “Wow!” Annie took a deep breath as she stepped into the humid atmosphere and surveyed the lush, vibrant green foliage that surrounded her. “This is fantastic, Oliver. I've never seen such spectacular ferns. It looks like a slice of a rain forest.”
     
    “I thought you'd like it.” He released her and stood back to watch as she walked slowly down the nearest fern-choked aisle.
     
    He had been right. She looked perfect here among the lush, primitive greenery of his private world. Annie was as natural and real as the ferns were.
     
    “Beautiful.” Annie paused to admire a magnificent maidenhair. “Absolutely beautiful.” She moved on to examine a tray of young plants.
     
    “Do you like ferns?”
     
    “Yes, indeed,” Annie said. “I've killed dozens of them in my time. I don't have what you'd call a green thumb, but I keep trying. How long have you been interested in them?”
     
    “Since my college days.” Oliver hesitated. “There was a time when I planned to make a career in botany.”
     
    Annie looked at him from between the fronds of a pretty little holly fern, her eyes sharp with perception. “Not business?”
     
    “No. Not business. The last thing I ever wanted to be was a businessman.”
     
    Her eyes widened. “What made you change your mind and pursue your