Unforgettable: A Loveswept Classic Romance Read Free Page A

other women volunteered.
    “Thanks, Buffy,” James said, “but it’s hectic back there. And very dirty. I wouldn’t want you to ruin that beautiful dress.”
    Buffy looked both shocked and grateful, and Anne hid a smile. She had made a sure bet with her trust fund. Buffy did look … enchanting. Anne forced away the urge to shred the Gibson Girl hat the woman was wearing. It was a silly thought. Anyway, Lettice would kill her if she did.
    It was then she realized all of the women were scowling at her as if she had deliberately forced the horse to ruin her dress and draw James’s attention from them. She arched her eyebrows and gazed at them in cool defiance.
    James took the horse to the stables, Buffy and crew electing to forgo that pleasure.
    “So much for your ideas about James, Grandmother,”Anne said in a low voice as the other women departed.
    “Nonsense. A little competition is good for the soul,” Lettice said. “James is an attractive boy. You certainty wouldn’t want someone who scratches himself every ten seconds, now, would you?”
    Anne eyed the other women sourly as they teetered away, their ridiculously high heels sinking into the ground. She also admitted her grandmother might have a point.
    “No comment,” she finally said.
    “Naturally, you wouldn’t,” Lettice said. “I better get over to the presentation. Then we’ll go home and change for the dance.”
    As her grandmother headed for the knot of officials on the playing field, Anne shook her head and began to pack up the remains of their picnic.
    “There is no way I will be at that damn dance tonight,” she muttered to herself. After her gaping schoolgirl reaction to James, she’d be stupid to expose herself again to his charm.
    Incredibly stupid.

Two
    Okay, so she was incredibly stupid.
    Anne grimaced as she watched the elegantly dressed men and women swirl around the dance floor. She stood almost directly behind a potted palm in the archway, as good a spot as any while she waited for her grandmother to finish “fussing” in the ladies’ room.
    She had tried to get out of the dance yet again, but arguing with her grandmother was like trying to stop a race horse from running. A useless gesture but one that sometimes had to be made. Lettice had promised, however, that she would never ask her to one of these things again—if she came tonight. Although Anne had her misgivings about this particular evening, it was a bargain she couldn’t pass up.
    Pulling at her gown’s bodice, she cursed herself yet again for not looking in her closet earlier. The gown she was wearing was a leftover from her California days. All her evening wear was. It hadseemed so tame then. But it could be worse, she thought. She could have worn the red.
    She spotted her cousin, Ellen Kitteridge-Carlini, on the dance floor with her new husband, Joe. Ellen had suffered through a bad marriage and the loss of a child. It was good to see her so radiant and happy now. Anne frowned. It was funny, but she’d always thought James and Ellen would have been perfect together. Yet seeing Ellen with Joe only proved how wrong her original perception was.
    She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She hadn’t seen James—yet. Maybe he wasn’t here tonight. Her reaction to him that afternoon had haunted her for the rest of the day. She had finally concluded that it had been seeing him with horses. What else could explain her gaping at him like a dizzy kid? She’d done that once before. Once was enough.
    Tonight she would be cool and calm. She’d put on a cloak of sophistication. She only hoped she had one somewhere.
    “Annie.”
    At the sound of a deep, all too familiar voice, Anne jumped … right into the palm tree. She grabbed for it as it started to tip over, the sharp fronds whipping around her in a frenzied attack. The palm came completely away from its heavy pot, the dirt surrounding the roots as dry as a desert. Hugging the tree to her, she focused