Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [82]
Annie felt her heart skip a beat. “Me!” She needed to back up here and straighten out the merger business right now.
“I have a few pet peeves or hates, whichever you prefer. One, I can’t stand a liar. Two, I hate broccoli. Three, I don’t like short hair on a woman. Will you let yours grow?”
Annie felt like her blood was freezing in her veins. “No. I like short hair. No merger and no extended contract. Why are you being so persistent about this? You’re making me very uncomfortable, Parker.”
“Then I guess I’m going to learn to love short hair. You won’t ever serve me broccoli, will you?” he said lightly. “I’m being persistent,” he said teasingly, “because I want us tied together. A union is a union. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. Fifty-fifty.”
She had to get out of there right now. Leave it alone and work it out later. Leave, you foolish girl. “I’ll think about it.”
“Promise you’ll never lie to me?”
Annie squirmed in the big bed. Her heart pounded in her chest. “I promise,” she said weakly.
“What about your pet peeves and hates?”
Annie shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
“None?”
“I’m willing to accept you just the way you are,” she croaked. “Why can’t you accept me the way I am? Why do we have to make promises? Why is that unity thing so important to you?”
“It’s a quirk of mine. Do you have a problem with it?”
“People make promises in good faith and sometimes things go awry and a promise gets broken. One or the other party then gets upset. Tom and I used to do that, and invariably there were hard feelings. I’m one of those people who remembers things like that. So, to answer your question, yes, I have trouble with promises. I’m also having a great deal of trouble with your merger plans. I almost think you asked me to marry you for my business.”
“Okay, I just canceled them out,” Parker said airily.
“That’s good, Parker,” Annie said, feigning sleep. He’s lying.
Annie lay quietly, her mind racing as she listened to Parker’s steady, even breathing. What would he do if he ever found out she was a criminal? He’d dump her so fast her head would spin. Maybe this was all a big mistake. Maybe she needed to leave and forget about this man once and for all. If things were heating up back on the mainland, she needed to be able to cope with it. God in heaven; what if Parker was visiting and the insurance investigator showed up at her door? How would she ever explain that away? Maybe I’m just not meant to be happy. Maybe this is my punishment for taking that money in the first place. If I’m stupid enough to agree to his little merger, and I get caught, that leaves him in control. Maybe he knows.
Annie looked around the room she would share with the man next to her if she did go through with the marriage. She thought she could be happy here in this land filled with sunshine and beautiful flowers—on a part-time basis. Could she love this man next to her into eternity? Even though her biological clock was ticking, she could still bear children. A son for Parker to carry on the Grayson family name and a daughter for both of them to love and cherish. A family. Her family. But it didn’t feel right. Something was wrong. She just didn’t know what it was.
Assuming she wanted all these wonderful dreams, could they be ripped away with one slip of the tongue? Should she confess now to certain things? Not necessarily confess, but inform Parker of the insurance investigator. No, better to keep things quiet where that matter was concerned and hope for the best. She’d been more than clear on the merger business. Did she deserve or even want this little bit of happiness? Was this all one big giant mistake on her part?
Her thoughts tortured, Annie waited for sleep to drive them away.
Annie’s eyes filled with tears as Parker slipped a lei around her neck. It was so fragrant it made her dizzy. “I’ll miss you,” she said in a choked voice. “This has been the nicest two weeks of my life.”
“And mine. I