Can’t Say No

Chapter One

“Bree, eventually your speech will come back. The battery of tests proved there’s nothing physically wrong.” Dr. Willming leaned forward, peering at her through thick lenses. “The mind has curious ways of dealing with traumatic shock. You’ll talk again, I promise you, sweetheart. Just accept that your body is asking for a little rest right now-and we both know you could use a lesson or two on how to take it easy, now don’t we?”

He’d worked so hard for a smile that Bree had to give him one. It was genuine, actually. She’d known the white-haired physician half her life and loved him to bits. And having seen more doctors than she cared to count over the past few weeks, she still valued Dr. Willming’s opinion most. Lowering her eyes to mask the frustration that was pictured there, she reached down for her purse.

“Bree, it would help a great deal if you’d get it through your pretty head that you were not responsible for your grandmother’s death,” the doctor continued in that low, vibrant voice of his. “You know her heart had been weak for years, and you know that no one could have done anything to prevent what happened. Now, I want you to get some solid rest and put a few hefty pounds under your belt.”

Bree glanced first at the doctor’s ponderous belly and then at her own slim, belted form. At Dr. Willming’s irrepressible chuckle, she felt her own lips twitch. Five minutes later, she escaped the good doctor’s fiftieth round of reassurances-after an affectionate hug-and let herself out into the long corridor between offices. Her leather heels clicked a staccato rhythm on the shiny linoleum, slowing only when she stepped outside and faced a flat gray rain.

Maybe there was another city as ugly as South Bend at winter’s end and in the middle of a downpour, but Bree doubted it. By the time she climbed into her car, water was dribbling down the nape of her neck, her hair was slicked to her scalp and even her eyelashes were dripping. Shivering, she jabbed the key into the ignition, started the engine and then, for no reason at all, leaned back in the seat and shut her eyes.

Dr. Willming had been coddling her for two weeks. Bree wanted to feel grateful, and instead was inclined to pull out her hair. Being treated like spun sugar was exhausting. Actually, she’d always thought of herself as a little more of the lemon than the meringue.

And this business about a “traumatized speech loss” was nonsense. Obviously, what she had was a temporarily loose screw. Bree was instinctively compassionate with other people’s weaknesses and problems, but she’d never had an ounce of patience for her own. There was clearly nothing physically wrong with her. She’d never once flipped out in a crisis; a ton of people counted on her being dependable…

The engine coughed. Bree opened her eyes, shoved the car in gear and backed out of the parking space. A half hour later, she parked in her apartment’s lot and noted, without surprise, that it was raining even harder than it had been when she left Dr. Willming’s office. She made a mad dash for the door.

Inside, the gloomy day spilled in through her living-room windows. Switching on a lamp, she unbuttoned her raincoat. Absently, her eyes roved over the furnishings she’d so painstakingly chosen a few years before, all creams and cocoas and browns-the neutral shades that had then been so popular.

Two weeks ago, she’d discovered that neutral, soothing colors drove her bananas.

But that’s only because you’ve turned into a moody, spoiled brat, Bree wryly informed herself, and swept past the offending decor, striding toward the bedroom for her brush. A headache nagged at her temples, the same stupid headache that had dogged her every step for the past two weeks.

She wandered to the window, staring out mindlessly. Her entire world seemed to be crashing down around her, for no good reason. Gram’s death had been the catalyst; still, it wasn’t just the trauma of loss, but also that suddenly she was seeing everything through Gram’s eyes. Her fiancé, Richard, for instance. If she’d had a few secret doubts about marrying him before this, she’d tried to ignore them. Richard was affectionate and smart and thoughtful and nice looking; what more could a woman want in a man? Gram had labeled him “Sweet, Bree,” the afternoon she’d met him, and pursed her lips as she’d made herself a cup of tea, only later adding absently, “Did you ever stop to think that even a molasses cookie can have too much molasses?”

It was all too rare finding a man with a “sweet” side; Bree hadn’t listened to Gram. However, she’d done nothing but listen to Richard since this business of not being able to talk. Good Lord, the man was happy extolling the merits of computer systems for hours at a stretch. Rationally, of course, Bree should have found the subject fascinating. She herself was a systems analyst, having chosen that field because it offered women good opportunities for promotion as well as more than adequate salaries.

“And you’re bored silly,” Gram used to say. “Don’t you remember that as a little girl, the only thing you ever wanted to do was make perfumes when you grew up? What happened to the dreams, Bree?”

Dreams didn’t pay the rent. Bree’s salary from Marie paid the rent. Bree’s eyes focused on the stack of computer printouts on her dresser, provided free of charge by her boss on the premise that work would get Bree’s mind off her “little problem.” Marie was incredibly talented at manipulating people, but she smiled and complimented so often that being used by her seemed like a privilege. “Baggage,” Gram had labeled Marie. “A clever bit of baggage-take off the paint and she’s all tough leather.” Bree hadn’t listened to her; Gram couldn’t possibly understand what it took for a woman to survive in today’s business world. If the little exploitations were endless, Marie still paid well and had given her every opportunity to advance. Bree had never been too unhappy.

She was just unhappy now. During the past few weeks, everything seemed to bother her, and trailing her like a shadow had been a ridiculous, irresponsible, unforgivable urge just to pitch it all.

Bree gnawed at her lip, thinking of Gram, until a thin film of tears filled her eyes. She blinked back the tears, and when her vision cleared she found herself staring at the half-open door of her closet. The edge of one suitcase peeked out at her, and she had a sudden, very inviting image of herself unpacking that suitcase in the South Carolina woods, in the loft of an extremely rustic log cabin, with Gram’s things around her and no telephone and absolutely nothing intruding on her peace…

“Bree, I simply can’t let you do this, darling.” Addie Penoyer trailed her daughter through the airport lobby, dodging suitcases and squalling children and yawning businessmen. “It just isn’t like you to behave so impetuously. Honey, you can’t possibly cope with a trip like this. Look how difficult it was for you to even buy the ticket.”

Someone in the bustling crowd jostled Addie; Bree protectively grabbed her mother’s arm with a frown and glanced up frantically as the loudspeaker announced her flight.

“I wish you would listen to me,” Addie wailed. “Richard called us last night, after he saw you. Bree, you can’t be serious about breaking off the engagement. And Marie-honey, she just can’t believe you’d leave her in the lurch like this. She said she’d just taken on two new clients that only you could handle. You know how much she thinks of you, darling. All of us understand that you’re not yourself right now, but…”

Bree had intended to navigate the airport alone, but that had turned into one of those best-laid plans of mice and men. Her mother had been convinced that Bree couldn’t handle the tickets and luggage and car rental arrangements on her own. Unfortunately, Addie had been proved right, and Bree was already frazzled. She had learned, to her sorrow, how ineffectively scratch paper and pen communicated in a world of talkers. And her mother’s continuous barrage of reproachful pressure wasn’t helping an already thundering headache.

With an arm around Addie’s shoulder, Bree determinedly steered her toward the terminal entrance. “This just isn’t right,” Addie continued distractedly. “All alone in that cabin…I’m going to talk to your father again, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Mom, I’ll be fine,” Bree mouthed firmly. “Please don’t worry.”

“Pardon?”

Bree sighed. Her lips formed “I love you, Mom,” and then tightened anxiously as she heard her flight called a second time.

“Well, at least promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”

Bree nodded vigorously four times and offered yet another warm, reassuring hug. Mothers. A moment later, Addie was safely out the door, and Bree dodged a pair of howling twins in a frantic dash for her plane. By the time she reached her flight’s waiting room, her heart was tripping in double time and her nerves felt like tumbling Tinkertoys. “You’re the last one,” the blonde stewardess told her cheerfully. “Have a good flight, now.”

Bree nodded, answering her with an automatic half smile. Inside the plane, another stewardess wanted to see Bree’s ticket, and as she groped in her shoulder bag for it she caught her reflection in the small rectangular mirror on the opposite wall. At least the woman staring back at her didn’t look like a wild lady with a screw loose.

Shoulder-length auburn hair, glossy and thick, framed small, delicate features. The chin was a little stubborn, but the green eyes were huge and downright beautiful…and makeup had done wonders for the circles beneath them. Maybe her skin looked a little oddly pale, but the cream silk blouse and tan linen skirt presented a crisply attractive image. She had the most beautiful smile this side of the moon, her father always told her. That was nice. At the moment, her legs felt as strong as tapioca and her stomach was growling with nerves, but at least those kinds of things didn’t show.

“Down four rows, Ms. Penoyer…” The stewardess directed her with a smile, handing back her ticket.

Gratefully, Bree stepped forward. All she wanted was her assigned seat, a pillow and silence. Obviously, freedom was getting to her, she thought wryly. She was now without a fiancé, without a job-heck, without a future. It had proved a little tiring to tear up her entire life in a matter of days. Actually, it was going to take every last bit of energy she could dredge up to get to Gram’s cabin, but that goal beckoned like sunlight after days of rain, if she could only be done with this night flight and just be there…

She paused in the aisle next to her assigned window seat. To get to it, she was going to have to maneuver herself past an incredibly long pair of stretched-out legs. The man was dead-to-the-world asleep, precisely the activity Bree had in mind for herself, but in the meantime he was one more roadblock in an incredibly long week of them.

She bent over him and tried to whisper, “Excuse me.” Unfortunately, no sound escaped her lips. When was she going to get used to that? Exasperated with herself, she sighed, and pitched her shoulder bag over the man to her seat. He didn’t budge.

She wasn’t surprised. One glance told her she wasn’t going to like him. Normally, she took her time about judging people, but this man was such an easy read. He was all the things that got a woman in trouble. His thick sweep of sun-bleached hair was disheveled, Robert Redford style. He had classic, good-looking features and barely a character line, though he must have been more than thirty. His skin was suntanned, out of season. The body was long; the shoulders would have made a linebacker jealous; and Bree had always had a low tolerance for Adonises. In the meantime, his macho Italian tailoring was still blocking her path.

She touched his shoulder, which accomplished nothing. An explosion clearly wouldn’t wake him. Frustrated, she tried to climb over him modestly, but her straight linen skirt would only spread so far. Muttering under her breath, she hiked up her skirt and lifted her leg to take the classic Mother-May-I giant step.

The passenger in front chose that instant to propel his seat back. Bree jolted forward, grappling for balance, and instantly felt two hands reach out to assist her, one curling intimately around her hip and the other splaying on her ribs. The contact couldn’t have lasted ten seconds, ten seconds in which her shocked eyes locked with a pair of dark, dark blue ones. His weren’t looking at her face but at the open throat of her silk blouse. It wasn’t his fault that her breasts were all but mashed in his face, but no one, Bree thought irritably, had the right to wake up that fast.

“You’re all right?”

Awkwardly, she tumbled the rest of the way into her seat, and then patiently stared at the big brown hand that seemed to have parked itself on her thigh. The hand lifted. Slowly. Nodding distantly in answer to the man’s question, she bent her head to strap herself in. She had to rumble with the seat belt, of course. Talk about a sea of troubles. And the moment she was settled, a frigid draft wafted down from the little air vent above her head. She reached up to adjust the vent, but had obviously just penned herself in.

With an amused smile, her seatmate reached up and moved the air vent for her. “Better?” he asked.

She nodded again. Seconds later, the plane’s engines vibrated into motion. Bree stared out the window at the dark night with its peppering of airport lights, but was well aware the passenger next to her was blatantly checking out the territory. Her breasts were receiving a second approving inspection, she was delighted to know. When he reached down for a magazine, he also gave her legs a four-star rating, and he forgot the magazine on the way back up. When those navy eyes of his concentrated even longer on her face, she could feel a ridiculous heat climbing up her cheeks.

Why me? she thought glumly. Why couldn’t God’s gift to women have settled in the smoking section?

“Are you flying farther than Charlotte?” he asked conversationally.

She shook her head no, trying to make the motion chilly and dismissing. Even his voice annoyed her; it was one of those husky, sexy baritones. She closed her eyes, ignoring him.

“Do you want me to get you a pillow?” he continued blithely. “I’ll probably sleep through the flight myself. I’ve been traveling for more than thirty-six hours.”

Unwillingly, her eyes blinked open again, and unfortunately his were there waiting for her-dark blue and suggestive of satin sheets and accomplished seduction techniques. His lips broke into a wonderful smile at having won her attention.

“Hart Manning here.” He extended his hand.

For the sake of politeness, Bree offered him her hand. His grip was firm and warm and-as expected-lingered far too long. His thumb brushed her wrist in a way that promised limitless sensual potential. Yawning, Bree tucked her hand back in her lap where it was much safer, resisted the urge to fasten the neck button of her blouse, and stared with annoyance at her skirt, which had ridden up above her knees. To push the thing down would be like admitting he was getting to her.

“You didn’t say if you wanted a pillow.”

All she really wanted was for him to shut up. She shook her head.

“Is there some reason you’re not talking?” he asked, his tone throaty with amusement. “Or maybe your name’s a deep, dark secret? It’s a long flight, you know.”

And getting longer. Luckily, the stewardess paused in front of them, diverting her seatmate’s attention. Actually, the two appeared mutually diverted. The brunette was savoring Mr. Manning as if she’d just discovered chocolate. “I’ll be serving snacks in just a bit. Would either of you like a drink in the meantime?”

Bree’s throat was parched. She parted her lips simply to ask for water…and then wearily closed them. No more. She’d already been totally mortified at the ticket counter, trying to talk via pad and pen. Once she was alone at Gram’s cabin, the squirrels wouldn’t care that she was as mute as a stone, but for now she just couldn’t handle any more complications.

“Scotch for me,” her seatmate said smoothly, but instead of looking at the stewardess he was studying Bree. A ripple of a frown dipped into his tanned forehead.

He said nothing until the stewardess returned with his drink. “The lady has changed her mind and would like a scotch as well,” he told her.

“Certainly, sir.” The brunette beamed.

Bree glowered. She hated scotch. Furthermore, Mr. Manning refused to stop staring at her. Averting her face, she again tried to ignore him.

“There you go…” Hart pulled down the tray in front of her, set her unwanted drink on it and arranged the napkin. His movements were so casual and automatic that she was totally unprepared for his next one. Firm fingers claimed her chin and tilted her face to his. “I didn’t mean to offend by teasing you before,” he said quietly. “I didn’t realize that you couldn’t speak. Look…I know how difficult it can be for you in public-I have a second cousin who’s deaf. And if I could help…”

He enunciated in clear, careful tones. Ideal for a lip reader. Frustration warred in Bree with an unfamiliar confusion. Something was wrong with her pulse rate. Something that directly related to the caress of his forefinger on her cheek.

His fingers gradually dropped, and she groped for the drink, taking a quick gulp. The scotch was awful, awful, awful. Like oil. Still, she took another slow sip before setting the glass down again. Immediately, those fingers reached for her chin again, as firmly determined as they were gentle, forcing her eyes to meet his.

“Are you still offended? I really didn’t mean to tease you,” he repeated softly. He stared at the trace of moisture on her bottom lip as if he’d just found gold. Wet gold. A wickedly elusive smile touched his mouth. “But you’re also an exceptionally attractive woman. You can hardly blame me for coming on to you. And believe me, whether or not you can talk doesn’t make a whit of difference.”

Very slowly, she removed those long fingers from her chin, replaced them in his lap and bent down to get the notepad and pen from her purse. Her thumb clicked down the ballpoint with a vengeance. Mr. Manning, she wrote swiftly, I am neither deaf nor desperate. Lay off and we’ll get along just fine.

She handed him the scribbled sheet. He burst out laughing. Not the response she was expecting. Several passengers glanced in their direction, and Bree flushed with embarrassment. Hart Manning’s eyes danced back tangos of amusement. “But you can’t talk? Don’t tell me I misunderstood that.”

She nodded.

“Since you were young?” His voice was gentle with empathy.

She shook her head no. Wearily. Wasn’t he getting tired yet?

“You’ve been ill, then,” he probed quietly. “A recent operation?”

She shook her head again.

“It isn’t physical? But then…” An absent frown puckered his forehead. “Why?”

He had just that kind of voice: one wanted to tell him everything-dark secrets, buried guilts, indecent fantasies. Bree bet a lot of women had mistaken the timbre of that seductive baritone for sympathy. She had already figured out that the man was downright nosy.

Unfastening her seat belt, she curled a leg under her, leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She was going to sleep if it killed her.

Naturally, instant sleep proved impossible. She felt as relaxed as a drummer in a parade. Yes, she was a thirty-year-old woman who had certainly handled her share of men. But Hart Manning still made her unreasonably nervous. Verbal defenses had always been her specialty; she felt a horrible vulnerability without them. And he was still looking at her. She could sense his curiosity; she had the terrible feeling he was the kind of man who never left a puzzle until every last piece was in place. He almost made her feel…afraid. Which was ridiculous. What was there to be afraid of?

Ten minutes later, Bree opened her eyes to see the stewardess removing their drinking glasses. “He went out like a light, didn’t he?” the brunette whispered with a little laugh.

Bree nodded, regarding her seatmate with a dry half smile. His eyes were closed, his legs stretched out, and he was clearly enjoying the deep sleep of the just.

So much for the hunt and chase, and that foolish little frisson of fear. Mr. Manning had never been a danger, anyway, not to Bree. She could take care of herself; she always had. She’d work herself out of this no-talk nonsense and get back to managing her life…

And what a tremendous job you’ve been doing of that lately, Bree, a small voice whispered in her head.

Bree sighed, suddenly feeling a mixture of depression and confusion. Closing her eyes, she curled up toward the window-as far away from her seatmate as possible-and fell asleep.