Eddie Hanover was short, round and sported a wispy gray comb-over. He was one of the guys Anna had grown up around and she loved him like a second father. “Hi, Eddie. How’s it going?”
“Going great, Anna. Trust your dad to hold to traditions even when times are hard,” he said with a grin.
True. Her father hadn’t wanted to even discuss canceling the annual Christmas party. The company might be in trouble, but her dad wouldn’t “cheat” his employees out of something they looked forward to all year.
“Have you seen Clarissa?” Eddie’s wife Trina asked. “She’s been looking all over for you.”
“Well, I’ll go look for her.” In the driveway. Inside her own car.
“Just wanted to say howdy, let you know we all appreciate the Camerons throwing the party,” Eddie told her, then grabbed Trina’s hand and dragged her off in the direction of the music.
She nodded, but the pair were already lost in the mingling crowd. Then she caught a flash of something bright red out of the corner of her eye. When she glanced over, she saw it was Clarissa, headed her way.
Think fast, she told herself. If only she were dating someone else, she thought frantically. Then Clarissa would have to give up on the whole “marry for the sake of the family” idea and she’d drop the subject of Garret Hale for good.
Unfortunately, there was no man in Anna’s life and no prospects for one anytime soon. Her gaze scanning the room, frantically trying to find an escape route, she eventually spotted something even better.
A tall man with no woman clinging to his arm, standing beneath a red ribbon-bedecked sprig of mistletoe.
With Clarissa hot on her heels, Anna sprinted toward him, moving in and out of the ever-shifting crowd like a race car driver on a complicated course. When she was right behind him, she tapped him on the shoulder and shouted to be heard over the pounding music.
“Kiss me and save my life!”
Two
He spun around, his lake-blue eyes fixed on her. Then he smiled, reached for her and said, “My pleasure.”
She barely had time to take a breath before his mouth came down on hers. He wrapped his arms around her, held her tight and kissed her as she’d never been kissed before. Long and hard and deep, he sent sparks of something wonderful shooting through her system. His tongue tangled with hers as he tasted her completely and Anna found herself melting into him, giving herself up to the incredible glory of what he was making her feel.
The magic she used to dream about was here. Finally here. In the arms of a man she’d never met before.
Who was her newfound hero anyway?
“Oh, Anna!”
Clarissa’s voice penetrated the lovely glow surrounding her and Anna reluctantly broke the kiss, pulling back just enough to stare up into her rescuer’s blue eyes.
Really, the man was drop-dead gorgeous. No, better. He was bring-the-dead-back-to-life gorgeous. Lake-blue eyes, night-black hair, a strong jaw and shoulders wide enough to belong to a professional football player.
The music was playing, the steady roar of conversations continued to roll on, but she felt as though she and her mystery man were all alone in the world. Until Clarissa piped up again.
“You should have told me!”
“What?” she asked, still looking into those deep blue eyes. “Told you what?”
Clarissa moved in close, gave Anna a tight hug and said, “You should have told me that the reason you stopped seeing Garret was because you were involved with his brother!” Brother?
“You’re Anna Cameron?”
“You’re Sam Hale?”
“This is wonderful,” Clarissa said on a satisfied sigh.
This was a nightmare, Sam Hale told himself, looking down at the pretty woman who had just knocked his socks off.
He didn’t belong there and he knew it. Didn’t matter that he’d been invited to the Cameron Christmas party. Hell, it looked as if half of Crystal Bay, California, was crammed into the ballroom of Dave Cameron’s big house on the sea.
But he wasn’t there for the warm holiday celebration, he’d come to get an up close look at Dave’s daughter. Of course he’d seen pictures of her, but he hadn’t had the time to recognize her before that mind-numbing kiss. The woman he’d heard so much about from his brother, Garret. The same woman who was now looking at him as if he’d just crawled out from under a rock.
He was here to find out if maybe he’d been wrong about the woman. It was no secret that Cameron Leather was in trouble. And the fact that Dave Cameron’s daughter had been dating his brother had just seemed too coincidental to Sam. He’d figured that some wily, sneaky, money-hungry woman had latched on to Garret for one reason only.
Cash.
But Garret was still pissed about this, so Sam had decided to see for himself if his suspicions were true. If he was wrong about her, he could try to smooth things over between this woman and his brother.
He was off to a hell of a start.
“I can’t believe you kissed me!” she accused.
“You asked me to,” he reminded her. And there was nothing he’d like better at the moment than to kiss her again. As soon as that thought hit his brain, his blood started humming. He was ready and willing and all too damn eager to give in to his desires. So, he clung to the threads of his anger and used them to fight back the growing rush of want.
She pointed to the arched doorjamb above his head. “You’re standing under mistletoe. And I didn’t know it was you, now, did I?” the redhead with the beautiful eyes argued.
“Anna, you two shouldn’t bicker,” Clarissa lowered her voice and leaned in to make sure she was heard. “It’s a party.”
“This isn’t what you think it is,” Anna said, still glaring at him.
What he should do is leave. Distance himself from this whole mess. But he couldn’t quite make himself walk away from her. At least, not yet.
“Lovers’ quarrels,” the older woman said, “happens to everyone, dear.”
“Oh, God,” Anna whispered.
Then she licked her lips and Sam’s insides tightened. His focus was narrowed on her. This woman was nothing like what he’d expected. The kind of woman his brother usually went for was-less than this one. This woman had fire inside her and a mind of her own. She clearly wasn’t an empty-headed party girl looking for a good time. The question was, was she a mercenary woman looking for a fat wallet?
“I can’t believe this,” she muttered.
Damned if he’d stand there and be accused of being a lecher or something. “You know, I was just standing there minding my own business…”
“Have you met my husband?” Clarissa asked.
“You should have introduced yourself,” Anna told him.
“Before or after you propositioned me?” he countered.
She gasped, outraged. “I did not!”
“You said, ‘Kiss me and save my life,’” he reminded her with a grin. “What did you expect a man to do?”
“Okay, yes, I did. But I didn’t know it was you.”
“We covered that already,” he said.
“I’ll just find Dave,” Clarissa said, tipsily oblivious. “He’ll be so happy to know about the two of you!”
“Don’t!” Anna spoke up quickly, but it was too late, the older woman was already disappearing into the crowd. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
“Now that we’re alone, want to move back under the mistletoe?”
“No!” She flushed, though, and he knew she was lying. She stared helplessly after her stepmother for a long minute. Then whipping back around to glare at him again, she said, “You have to leave.”
He’d been thinking the same damn thing a second ago. But now that she was practically ordering him out, Sam wasn’t about to leave. “Hey, I was invited. Why should I leave just because you’re suddenly regretting trying to seduce me?”