“Well, then.” Brad’s lips were now a straight line, and Annabelle knew that he wasn’t used to a woman turning him down. “Perhaps you small town people are a bit different from us city folk.” He made the words sound like an insult, but Annabelle didn’t care. She was quite happy to be classed differently from this man.
The food came and went and she conversed with Uncle Mitch, who had introduced himself by that title and was seated on her other side.
“So, tell me, what he’s like away from here?”
Mitch Gelderman was an older version of his brother, Ethan’s father. His face was more lined, his hair grayer, but the resemblance was there, as it was in variations in all the Gelderman males.
“He’s happy,” Annabelle said honestly. “He has friends who love and respect him and he’s nothing like the man who’s seated across from me right at this moment.”
It was true; Ethan was so tense she could feel it across the table. He talked and smiled when anyone addressed him, ate and drank, but Annabelle had observed this man plenty, and he was extremely unhappy.
“I love them all, my nieces and nephews. But Ethan—” Mitch had what Annabelle guessed passed as a smile on his face as he looked at Ethan. “He’s always been special to me. Maybe because of the flying, maybe because I knew how hard my brother rode him, but he always had a bigger piece of my heart.”
They both looked at Ethan as he smiled at something Hope had said, and Annabelle felt an ache in her heart that terrified her, because she’d never felt it with any other man before. In fact, she had vowed to let no man have that kind of hold over her, and until this moment, she’d succeeded.
“You love him, girl?”
She dragged her eyes from Ethan and looked at Mitch. His eyes were a lighter blue, but still intense, and suddenly she couldn’t lie to him as she’d wanted to.
“It’s a bit early for that, Uncle Mitch, but I really like him, and I’d be grateful if you kept that to yourself.”
His laugh was like a dog’s bark. “I can do that for you, girl, if you promise me that you’ll look out for him.”
“That I can do.” They lifted their glasses to seal the pact.
“What are you two talking about?” Annabelle looked back to Ethan as he spoke.
“It’s between me and the lady, boy, so you just go about your business,” Uncle Mitch said.
“You trying to steal my girl, Uncle?”
Mitch barked again. “I would if I was a few years younger. This one may be worth fighting for.”
Ethan’s eye traveled over her face before he spoke. “I think you could be right there, Uncle Mitch.”
Annabelle was pleased when minutes later the next course came, so she could pull her eyes from Ethan’s.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ethan had watched Brad lean close to Annabelle with that smile he reserved for hitting on women, and while he knew she could handle herself, he still wanted to reach over the table and punch his brother, hard. He’d watched as they talked, and then Brad had turned away and he’d relaxed…a bit, because he could never fully relax with his father around, but at least Annabelle seemed to have handled Brad, which was one thing less for him to worry about.
He was amazed how comfortable she seemed seated with strangers she knew nothing about, strangers from a world that was foreign to hers. She’d made Uncle Mitch laugh several times, along with a few others who’d joined in their conversations. Of course, in that dress she could recite a shopping list and he’d still be her slave.
The emerald suited her, like every other color she wore. The soft material draped and curved around the beautiful body he now knew intimately. She was wearing a simple gold chain around her neck and a matching bracelet, and he wondered who had brought them for her. His stomach clenched, and Ethan realized he was jealous. It had been a lot of years since he had experienced the emotion, and to him it was telling. He’d never wanted a woman with the ferocity he did Annabelle, had never imagined spending more than a few months with someone before moving on, but with her he had a feeling that that would never be enough.
God, he was in trouble.
Ethan had always believed relationships were not for him. Being connected to someone who could break him emotionally was not something he’d ever wanted or needed in his life, especially after living with his father, whom he could now acknowledge he had once loved.
But Annabelle intrigued him. More than intrigued him, she got to him, and Ethan knew some of that was because she’d kept him at a distance. In that time he’d gotten to know her, and in doing so his need for her had grown into so much more than just taking her body.
“You must be happy to have your boy back under your roof again, E.G.?”
Ethan heard one of the guests say those words and knew they had been directed at his father. ‘E.G.’ was how most of his friends addressed him.
“Just a fleeting visit, Bob. Ethan’s not one to stay anywhere for too long. He lives a lifestyle many of us would jump at if we didn’t have responsibilities. My boy’s not big on commitment. Isn’t that right, son?”
His father had made the words sound like he was joking, but Ethan knew differently. He’d never get over Ethan’s refusal to follow in his footsteps, no matter that the reason for that had been E.G. himself.
