Free Unforgettable: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Linda Cajio

news relieved her anxieties. It irritated her too. She would have felt a certain pleasure in telling James
his
employee was not working out.
    But Mr. Perfect had done the perfect thing again. If only he hadn’t made her into the Witch of Makefield Meadows in the process. It hurt more than she cared to admit. More, perhaps, than it should.
    Probably she was holding on to her anger because he was around the farm so damn much these days. She couldn’t turn around without seeing him, and had taken to avoiding the stallion barn.
    As she entered the foaling stable, she wondered if she had somehow been getting her hopes up about James. Impossible, she decided. She had learned her lesson years before. All she needed to learn now was how to stay on a professional footing with him. Completely professional. No more wanting to be pulled into his arms, no more urges to be kissed breathless as she had when she’d been seventeen. Certainly no more desire …
    “You look about ready to foal yourself, Anne,” Jonas said.
    She mentally shook away her disturbing thoughts and smiled at the man in charge of bringing new life into the world. “It’s been a long day. How are my mares?”
    “All progressing nicely. No complications so far. Come along and see them.”
    She followed Jonas past several unoccupied stalls to the far end of the stables.
    “I’m keeping them down this end,” he said. “I have a feeling they’re going to deliver assembly-line style.”
    Anne leaned on a stall’s half door. The dark mare inside was lying down, a sure sign of advanced labor. The animal looked placid, though, as if a momentous occurrence was the last thing about to happen. Anne smiled in pleasure, her heart filling at the prospect of another spindly-legged baby romping in her pastures.
    Then she remembered the man outside the building. She wouldn’t be surprised if James were waiting for her to come out to resume the “discussion.”
    “Mind if I hang around for a while?” she asked Jonas.
    He chuckled. “You’re the boss.”
    “I like to think so,” she muttered, and turned back to the mare.
    James strode toward the house and his car, his teeth clenched with frustration.
    He visited Battle Cry every day, and he had tried to apologize every time he saw Anne. And every damn time she managed to prevent him from doing so. She must have taken lessons from her grandmother, he decided. Or else it was in the genes. Whatever, Anne had that regal eye and imperious tone of Lettice’s. Combined with her refusal to back down, she had been a stone wall that he hadn’t been able to chip. It was as if she didn’t want to hear an apology from him. He couldn’t understand her.
    One thing he understood, however, was his reaction to her. His own anger had combined with a more primitive urge, and every time he saw her he wanted to grab her and kiss her senseless. He couldn’t keep his mind on anything else lately. A part of him had been empty for so long. He hadn’t realized until he’d seen her at the polo match how he had walled his emotions over.
    Anne Kitteridge was driving him insane.
    He was passing a group of bushes near the mares’ stables when he saw Philip standing on the bottom rail of a fence, feeding carrots to several mares in the pasture. James thought to pass him with just a wave, then he heard an unhappy sniffling sound. Philip was crying. He hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the boy.
    “Hi,” he said, leaning against the fence.
    “Hi.”
    Philip ducked his head and surreptitiously swiped at his face. James hid a smile. The mares had moved away for an instant at the sight and smell of a stranger, but the lure of a treat brought them back. Their foals, more cautious with newborn instinct, hovered behind the mothers.
    “Can I have a carrot?” James asked.
    Philip passed one over, and he broke it into chunks and fed it to two of the mares.
    “I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he said. “It’s nice to just watch the