Wildest Hearts

tell you, Oliver, that we all consider the fact that Annie has left you extremely bad news. If you've got half the intelligence we've always credited you with, you'll do whatever you have to do to get her back.”

    “I owe you, Oliver.”

    “Forget it.”

    “No, I won't forget it.” Daniel sat at his desk and watched Oliver prowl the office. “I don't know how to thank you for what you did.”

    “Thank Annie,” Oliver muttered. “She's the one who came up with the idea of marrying me to save Lyncroft.”

    Daniel smiled. “I get the feeling that she didn't marry you just to save the company.”

    “The hell she didn't. She left me within hours after you showed up safe and sound. What does that tell you?”

    “That you managed to piss her off.”

    Oliver swore under his breath. “It tells you that she thinks she doesn't need me any more. It's obvious she just married me to save Lyncroft. She used me. That's what she did. She used me.”

    “You're really working yourself up into a lather of self-pity over this, aren't you? I'm surprised. That's not like you, Oliver. You're usually the ice man, remember?”

    “I've never been in this situation before.”

    “You mean you haven't met too many people who don't jump when you lay down the law. Annie's different.”

    “She's different all right.”

    “Look, I know Annie a lot better than you do,” Daniel said. “She might have engineered the marriage purely for business reasons—although I doubt it. But she sure as hell didn't sleep with you for business reasons.” Daniel cocked a brow. “Uh, she is sleeping with you, isn't she?”

    Oliver scowled at him. “Not any more. She walked out.”

    “Come on, Oliver. You know that she would never have gone to bed with you if she hadn't thought she was in love with you. You're just too pissed off yourself right now to admit it.”

    He was right, but Oliver refused to acknowledge it aloud. That would be the first step down a very slippery slope that would end with his surrender. “Your sister used me.”

    “You keep saying that.”

    “It's true.”

    “You, of course, did not use her,” Daniel said with suspicious blandness.

    “Hell, no. You know I didn't need Lyncroft badly enough to marry her for it.”

    “That doesn't mean you didn't use her.”

    “What would I use her for?” Oliver demanded roughly.

    “You told me the night of my engagement party that you had decided it was time that you got married, too. Remember?”

    “I remember,” Oliver said grimly.

    “You said that you had liquidated most of your holdings and cleared the decks so that you'd be free to concentrate on marriage and a family. The next thing I know you're married to my sister. What am I supposed to conclude except that you decided my sister was the woman you wanted?”

    “I told you, she's the one who proposed to me.”

    “Damn it, don't try to con me, Rain. I know you too well. We both know you would never have married Annie just to do her a favor. You'd already set your sights on her before she came to you with her offer, hadn't you?”

    Oliver shrugged, refusing to respond to the goad.

    “And with your usual luck, she fell right into your hands. Hell, you didn't even have to shake the branches of the tree she was sitting in, did you? You didn't have to go through the nuisance of a courtship. Talk about convenient.”

    Oliver gazed stolidly out the window. “Let me tell you something, Lyncroft. Your sister is the most inconvenient woman I've ever met. All I've had from Annie is trouble.”

    “You've had a lot more than that,” Daniel said coolly.

    “So? I'm married to her. Hell, I married her before I went to bed with her. How much more can you ask of a man?”

    “Tell me something, if Annie is such a difficult female, why do you want her back?”

    “That's my business.”

    Daniel pondered that for a long moment. He picked up a pen and tapped it absently on the surface of the desk. “Oliver, you've got to look at this from Annie's point of view. As far as she's concerned, she gave you her heart. What did you give her?”

    Oliver's stomach muscles clenched. “I gave her everything I have to give. I told her that. If it's not enough, that's too damn bad.”

    “In other words, you can't or won't tell her that you love her.”

    Oliver spun around. “She's trying to manipulate me into saying it, and I'll be damned if I'll let her manage me any more than she already has. You don't