Free That Carolina Summer (North Carolina) by Janet Dailey Page B

suits standing patiently beside him, while the restaurant hostess hovered close by to show them to their table.
    Before that moment she hadn't been aware anyone was with him. It staggered her to discover she could be so unobservant, but Josh's presence had a way of blinding her to everything else. There was a murmur of acceptance from the two men as they moved away to follow the hostess.
    With a graceful turn, Annette included her family in her meeting with Josh. Courteously her father stood up as she began the introductions, beginning with him.
    “Dad, I'd like you to meet Joshua Lord.” Then she reversed it. “Mr. Lord, this is my father, Jordan Long."
    The two men shook hands, exchanging polite phrases. Her father was unusually reserved, his gray eyes sharp in their inspection of Josh, measuring him without revealing his ultimate conclusion. That in itself warned Annette that her father was not favorably impressed with Josh. It made her a little uneasy.
    She continued the round of introductions, progressing from Kathleen to Marsha and concluding with Robby. It was her little brother who introduced, in his ingenuous way, the information she wanted Josh to learn.
    “Are you here for Annette's birthday party?” Robby wanted to know. “Did you bring her a present?” He didn't wait for an answer. “Show him what I made you, Annette."
    The line of Josh's mouth was half-curved in a smile when his dark gaze met hers. It slid to the table and the abandoned gift wrappings at her place setting.
    “You did mention you had a birthday coming up,” Josh remembered. “I didn't realize it was today. When you're young, it's a cause for celebration. Happy birthday, Annette."
    “Thank you.” Inwardly she raged at his reference to her being young, but she concealed it, except for a brief silvery flare of temper in her eyes.
    “Show him what I gave you,” Robbie repeated his request, paying no attention to Kathleen's attempts to hush him.
    “Robby drew me a picture.” Annette reached across the table to pick up the drawing, motivated by her own self-interest to keep the subject of her birthday alive.
    “It's very good.” Josh obligingly admired it.
    “She's going to hang it on her wall when we get home,” Robby informed him proudly.
    “Robby, can you tell Mr. Lord how old I am today?” Annette asked, and slid a complacently mocking glance at Josh.
    “She's twenty years old,” her little brother readily supplied the information. Josh studied her with a sharply narrowed look. “I can count to twenty,” Robby declared. “Do you want me to count it for you?"
    Annette held Josh's gaze, partially screening it with her lashes. “Out of the mouths of babes,” she murmured for his ears alone.
    While Marsha was convincing Robby that it wasn't necessary for him to count all the way to twenty, a mixture of reactions ran across Josh's features—skepticism, shock, irritation and a glittering kind of amusement that promised to get even.
    “So you're twenty years old,” Josh murmured.
    “It's hard to believe, isn't it?” she smoothly taunted him.
    His mouth twisted dryly. “I guess daddy's little girl has grown up."
    “In some people's eyes, we always remain little girls.” Annette was subtly asking whether Josh still regarded her in that light.
    Her father inserted an agreement with that opinion, simultaneously confirming her age. “Ten or twenty, Annette will always be my little girl."
    “Since I'm not in your position,” Josh told her father, indirectly responding to Annette's subtle question, “it makes a difference."
    Her father's gaze narrowed in veiled suspicion, sensing some silent message had been passed. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Lord, but we shouldn't keep you from your guests any longer."
    It was easy for Annette to read between the lines of her father's polite words. Josh was being invited to leave. She didn't offer any objections, her purpose achieved. Josh appeared to take the dismissal well,