Unforgettable: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Linda Cajio Read Free Book Online Page A

retiring here, had been listening very closely.
    She followed him more sedately, but that didn’t stop her heart from pounding. As she stood on the portico, she told herself it was much too early for Battle Cry’s transport van to have arrived. She didn’t expect it until after noontime. But she stared up the long drive with growing anticipation.
    First a car came into view. She recognized it instantly as James’s Jaguar. Through the tinted windshield she could distinguish a silver-haired woman who looked like Lettice in the passenger seat. Following the car was a medium-size van with the legend ESCORT , QUALITY FURNITURE MOVERS on its side.
    “It better not be,” Anne muttered. Her grandmother had mentioned she planned to bring a few things when she came to stay. This was definitely
not
a few things!
    The car pulled up in front of the house. James emerged and waved at her, before going around to the passenger side. Anne smiled back, hoping to show only politeness, not the burst of electricity frizzing along her nerve endings. He looked sensational in his pleated jeans and leather flight jacket, and her lungs seemed to lose all air as she stared at him. Her own worn jeans, old blue sweater, and sheepskin coat seemed dowdy rather than sensible now.
    Fortunately, a more angry sizzle replaced the sensual one, as, sure enough, he helped Lettice out of the car. Lettice, nearly eighty now, had voluntarily retired herself from the roadways several years before. She had left Anne with the impression that she would hire a car when she was ready to come for her stay. She hadn’t been expected today, let alone with James.
    Wonderful, Anne thought. Now she had a Triple Crown winner and a grandmother to settle in at the same time. Not exactly her idea of a fun day.
    “It’s only Grandmother Lettice,” Philip said with disappointment, then called out, “I thought you were Battle Cry, Grandmother Lettice!”
    “You better not ever think I’m a horse, young man. I’ll write you out of my will.” She grinned at her great-grandson. “Now, come give me a kiss. I have a lot of things planned for us while I’m here.”
    Giggling, Philip ran down the steps and into her arms. Tibbs followed. The dog sat at Lettice’s feet and whined like an unhappy puppy, until she deigned to scratch his ears.
    “This is Mr. Tough Guy?” James asked as he joined Anne on the portico, jerking a thumb at the dog.
    Fiery sensations flooded Anne’s body at his closeness. She forced herself to ignore them, and scowled at the van instead. “Tibbs adores her. I have no idea why.”
    “I take it from Philip’s remark that Battle Cry hasn’t arrived yet?” James asked, the hope of a contradiction clear in his tone.
    “Not yet,” Anne said, grinning. “Why do I think that old saying about if wishes were horses is apt right now?”
    He laughed. “Very apt, Annie. If it were true, there’d be a thousand Battle Crys on your doorstep.”
    She grimaced at the name Annie, but let it go. “If there were, then we wouldn’t be this excited about one.”
    He chuckled, and Anne realized that their sharing a joke was as insidious to her control as him touching her. More. She could always excuse a physical response as just that. Nature’s attraction circuits did not discriminate at times. But she couldn’t dismiss emotional intimacy so easily. His generosity with her mare and his clear plan to keep the horse here through the breeding season confused her. He wasn’t behaving quite like the James she thought she knew. She felt as if an invisible barrier were slowly and steadily crumbling inside her, and she had no idea how to shore it up again. The thought was disturbing.
    She looked around for a distraction, and immediately found a second complication in her life to focus on. She had allowed her grandmother the time to greet Philip and Tibbs before confronting her over the van. It was more than enough timenow. Excusing herself, Anne strode down the steps