Match Me If You Can (Chicago Stars #6)(108)

“Wrong.” Here, at least, he was on solid ground.

“Then when?”

“Last weekend, at the party.”

Disbelief shone in her eyes. “Why didn’t you say something then?”

Too late, he realized he should have stuck with his original plan, but he refused to let himself panic. Always meet strength with strength. “I’d only broken up with Delaney a few hours earlier. It seemed a little premature.”

“This whole thing seems a little premature.”

Kate braced her hand on the tablecloth. “Annabelle, you’re being peevish.”

“That doesn’t begin to describe how I feel.” He winced as Annabelle shot up from her chair. “Did anybody hear him mention the L-word? Because I sure didn’t.”

Just like that, she’d cornered him. Had he really thought she wouldn’t notice? Was that why he’d decided to do this in front of her family? He began to sweat. If he didn’t handle this exactly right, the whole deal would collapse around him. He knew what he had to do, but at the precise moment when he most needed to keep his head, he lost it. “I hired the Northwestern marching band!”

Stunned silence greeted this revelation.

He’d made himself look like an ass. Annabelle shook her head with a quiet dignity that unnerved him. “You have lost your mind. I only wish you could have done it privately.”

“Annabelle!” Kate’s neck was turning red. “Just because Heath doesn’t want to air his most intimate feelings in front of virtual strangers doesn’t mean he’s not in love with you. How could anybody not love you?”

Annabelle kept her eyes locked with his. “Here’s what I’ve learned about pythons, Mother. Sometimes it’s more important to pay attention to what they don’t say than to what they do.”

Kate came to her feet. “You’re too upset to discuss this now. Heath is a wonderful man. Just look at the way he fits in. Wait until tomorrow when you’ve had a chance to cool down, and then the two of you can talk this through.”

“Save your breath,” Doug muttered. “All you have to do is look at her, and you know she’s going to blow it.”

“Come on, Spud,” Adam pleaded. “Tell the guy you’ll marry him. For once in your life, do the smart thing.”

Help from her brothers was the last thing Heath needed. These were guys you wanted by your side in a foxhole, not around a pissed-off female. Proposing in front of her family was the worst idea he’d ever had, but deals had turned sour on him before, and he’d still managed to pull them off. All he needed to do was get her alone…and avoid the one topic she’d most want to discuss.





Chapter Twenty-two




Annabelle rushed into the deserted hallway. Soft music played through the speakers, and dim, romantic lighting cast a soothing glow over the garnet walls, but she couldn’t stop shaking. She’d thought Rob had broken her heart, but that pain was nothing compared to what she felt now. Just past the dining room, she stumbled into a nook furnished with a love seat and a pair of Sheraton chairs. Heath followed her, but she kept her back to him, and he was smart enough not to touch her.

“Before you say anything you’re going to regret, Annabelle, let me suggest you turn on your fax machine when you get home. I’m sending you a jeweler’s receipt for a very large diamond ring. Notice when I ordered it. On Tuesday, four days ago.”

So he’d been telling the truth when he’d said he’d decided to marry her the night of the party. She didn’t feel comforted. Even though she’d known he had this emotional hole inside him, she’d thought she could keep herself from ever tumbling into it.

“Are you listening to me?” he said. “I’d already made up my mind to marry you before I met a single member of your family. I’m sorry it took me so long to get my head straight, but, as you’ve been quick to point out, I’m an idiot, and all I did tonight was prove you’re right. I should have talked to you privately, but I started thinking how much it would mean to them to be part of this. Obviously, I got carried away.”

“It didn’t occur to you that I’d refuse, did it?” She stared blindly at her watery reflection in the window. “You were so sure I was head over heels in love with you that you didn’t even hesitate.”

He moved behind her, standing so close that she felt the heat of his body. “Aren’t you?”

She’d thought she was being so clever dangling Dean in front of him, but he’d seen through her charade, and now he’d stolen what was left of her pride, in addition to everything else. “Yeah, but so what? I fall in love easily. Thankfully, I get over it just as easily.” What a lie.

“Don’t say that.”

She finally turned to face him. “I know you so much better than you think I do. You saw how well I got along with the guys at the party, and that was when you realized I’d be enough of a business asset to compensate for not being gorgeous.”

“Stop putting yourself down. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

She might have been able to laugh at his sheer gall if it didn’t hurt so much. “Quit lying. I’m a compromise, and we both know it.”

“I never compromise,” he retorted. “And I sure as hell didn’t compromise with you. Sometimes two people fit together, and that’s what happened to us.”