Wildest Hearts

sessions in his study.

    “It's obviously going to take some time to come up with just the right additional element for this room,” Rain said with one last glance at the elephant. “But I'm a patient man. I'm certain we'll find something sooner or later.”

    “I doubt it,” Annie said. Her eyes swept the austere, elegant room. “Your taste obviously doesn't run to the kind of stuff I sell. My philosophy is that every room needs a jarring note. A beautiful interior needs a colorful touch of ugliness. A serene interior needs an object that clashes. A cluttered interior needs an element of order.”

    Rain didn't smile, which was hardly surprising, but a subtle change in his mist-colored eyes told her he was amused. She had only spent a few afternoons with him, but she was getting quite good at reading the small signals that indicated his moods. He was not an unemotional man, she realized, but somewhere along the line he had learned to exert an astounding degree of control over his emotions.

    “I'm not concerned about the differences in our taste when it comes to elephants and carousels,” Rain said softly. He fell silent, sipping his tea with a reflective air.

    Silences were common around Oliver Rain. They did not appear to bother him, but Annie found them unnerving. She herself was rarely given to long silences in the middle of a conversation.

    She swallowed tea and wondered if this was the moment to bring up the topic she wanted to discuss. Perhaps she should wait another week or so, but she was afraid she could not put it off much longer. Time was running out. If she could not get Rain to go along with her wild plan to save Lyncroft Unlimited, she would have to regroup and come up with another idea.

    Unfortunately she didn't think there were any other ideas. She was at the end of the line.

    Annie's stomach tightened as she steeled herself. Very carefully she replaced her teacup on its black and gold saucer. “Mr. Rain…”

    “Oliver. Please. I want you to think of me as a friend of the family.”

    “Oliver.” Annie took a deep breath. “A month ago, right after my brother disappeared, you said something about giving us, Joanna and me, that is, a hand.”

    “I assume there is still no word on your brother's fate?”

    “No,” Annie admitted. The search-and-rescue operation had been called off three days after Daniel's plane had vanished. There had been no sign of either the wreckage or of her brother's body to date. The official verdict was that Daniel had been lost at sea.

    “And now, at last, you're beginning to understand the difficulties you'll face if you continue to try to run Lyncroft Unlimited on your own,” Oliver said calmly.

    Annie met his cool gaze. “It's going to be impossible, isn't it?”

    “Yes.”

    “You knew that all along, didn't you?”

    Oliver shrugged slightly. “It was inevitable that there would be serious problems. Your brother was the driving force behind Lyncroft Unlimited. Everyone knows that. With him gone, the investors were bound to get restless.”

    Annie gripped the arm of the black lacquer chair. “The other investors and creditors invited me to a meeting two days ago. They gave me an ultimatum. If I don't agree to sell or merge Lyncroft with a major firm very soon, they're going to call in the outstanding debt.”

    “I'm aware of the meeting.”

    Annie wrinkled her nose. “I'm not surprised.” She paused. “You weren't at it, though.”

    “No.”

    “Does that mean you don't think I should agree to a buyout or a merger?” Annie held her breath waiting for the answer.

    “I didn't say that. A buyout may be for the best. It will keep the company alive so that it will have a chance to get your brother's new wireless technology to market. When that happens, everyone involved will recover his initial investment along with a considerable profit.”

    Daniel's inventions were in the hot new area of electronics that was revolutionizing everything from computerized inventory control systems to medical procedures. Daniel had often told Annie the office of the future would be “wireless.” The electrical cords that currently chained machines to a wall outlet or a power source would vanish.

    “I can't sell Daniel's firm.” Annie curled her hands into small determined fists. “He's worked too hard to get it started. He's invested everything he has in it, not just his money but his sweat and his genius. The future in electronics is in this