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

to Lettice.
    “Grandmother, this is more than your necessities,” she said when she reached her.
    “I would prefer a kiss of hello for a greeting,” Lettice said, all too clearly ready for a fight.
    “Of course.” Anne kissed her on the cheek, then laid down the law. “The men will unload only your clothes, your toiletries, your jewelry, and three things you absolutely
cannot
live without. The rest goes back to your place.”
    “Now, just one minute,” Lettice began.
    Anne cut her off. “I will be checking before the van leaves, and if you try to sneak in anything other than what I have just listed, it will be put back on the van. If you defy me and have everything moved in, I will have my people move everything back out, and they will be instructed to dump it on your front lawn. You are my guest, and as such I will treat you with gracious hospitality. I only ask the same of you, Madame.”
    Lettice stared regally at her. Nobody moved, nobody breathed in the stunned silence. All of them waited for the mega-ton explosion that was sure to come.
    “Six things,” Lettice finally said.
    “Four,” Anne countered.
    “Five.”
    Anne smiled. “Four, and that’s it. It was a nice try, Grandmother. Now cut your losses.”
    Lettice harrumphed, then turned to the moving men. “You heard my granddaughter, gentlemen.”
    “I warned you that you wouldn’t get away with it,” James said to Lettice as the men opened the back of the van.
    “Don’t be an ‘I told you so,’ James,” she snappedbefore going around to the back of the van to pick her four things.
    Anne sighed with relief.
    “Wow!” Philip exclaimed. “Nobody tells Grandmother Lettice what to do, Mom.”
    James grinned at her. “Nice shootin’, Anne. You got her right in her good manners.”
    She grinned back. “I do feel like I just lived through the O.K. Corral.”
    Her gaze had been focused on his eyes. Now it began to wander, and she found it fixing on his mouth. She wondered what it would be like to feel his lips on hers again. Would they take her to a glorious paradise? Or would they fill her with a scorching heat? It had been so long since that one kiss between them. Part of her was terrified that she was even wondering, and part of her wanted to know the answers.…
    “Boy, when’s that horse getting here?” Philip asked, drawing his mother’s attention. He stared up the drive.
    “Yeah,” James added. “When’s that horse getting here?”
    Relieved to be distracted from her traitorous body’s response, Anne smothered a chuckle at the two of them. But her brain echoed the same thought. Now that she had settled with her grandmother, when the
hell
was that horse getting here?
    Lettice regally marched up the steps, the moving men following her, loaded down with suitcases. “I know the way, Anne,” she said, and swept into the house.
    Anne grinned and glanced at James. Abruptly she realized they couldn’t just stand there, staring at each other, while they waited for BattleCry. Her heart couldn’t take it, for one thing. But the alternative of inviting James inside for coffee seemed too cozy. Not exactly the signal she wanted to send. Unfortunately, she had no choice without being rude.
    Screwing up her courage, she asked, “Would you like coffee while we wait?”
    His smile almost melted her. “I’d love it.”
    They went inside. She was all too aware of James walking directly behind her, his steps matching hers. It reminded her of a big cat stalking its prey … patient, watchful … all that power under control … waiting for the right moment to reach out and take …
    The kitchen, with its everyday utensils, brought a needed dose of common sense to her unruly imagination. James might be an attractive man, but he was just a man. Getting involved with him would be a mistake. She’d already made one, and she wasn’t about to make another.
    She poured them both coffee and settled across the kitchen table from him. He said