He hesitated a moment, then reluctantly moved toward the kitchen. Tougher than she looked, Annie reminded herself in satisfaction. But when she opened the door and saw the three people standing on the other side, she could only hope she was as tough as she needed to be.
Immaculately attired in a hand-tailored suit, Nathaniel Stewart studied Annie with a grimace of distaste. “I must say you look the part of a housekeeper. Where did you find those clothes—at a thrift store?”
“You’ve lost so much weight, Annie,” Mona Stewart fretted, wringing her hands in a characteristically nervous gesture. “I knew I was right to be worried about you living alone this way. Have you not been able to afford food?”
“How can you stand living in this dump out in the middle of nowhere?” Preston Dixon asked, looking around with an elegant sneer. “Why would you choose to stay here for four long months when you could have been living in your own beautiful home?”
“This is my home,” Annie told him flatly. “The house you’re talking about belongs to my parents.”
They didn’t wait to be invited inside, but filed past her, looking around as if in fear that something might crawl on them. Annie resented that; her house might not ever be featured in a home-and-gardens magazine, but it was spotlessly clean.
She placed her hands on her hips and frowned at her uninvited guests. “It might have been nice if you had called before you came, Mother, Dad. As for you, Preston, I can’t imagine why you’re here. You and I have nothing to say to each other.”
He gave her the sort of sm
ile a kindly, patient uncle might have given a favorite, but misbehaving niece. He’d looked at her that way frequently when they’d been engaged. She’d hated it then, too. “Now, Annie, it’s apparent that your little experiment in independence hasn’t worked out exactly as you planned. You’re obviously exhausted, you look positively haggard, and this house is little more than a shack. We’re all impressed that you’ve made it four months on your own, but it’s time for you to come home now.”
“Yes, Annie, you’ve proven your point,” Nathaniel added, speaking with a forced gentleness probably intended to prove that he’d forgiven the harsh words she’d spoken to him the day she’d left his house. “You’ve shown us you can support yourself, if necessary. We got the message. Now pack a bag and let us take you home—if you have anything here worth taking with you.”
“We love you, Annie,” Mona said, the perfunctory warmth in her voice barely reflected in her perpetually vague eyes. “Preston adores you. Let him take care of you.”
“I don’t need Preston—or anyone—to take care of me, Mother. And what Preston adores is our money, not me. I don’t know why you and Dad can’t, or won’t, see that.”
“That’s both an insulting and an absurd accusation, Annette,” Nathaniel chided sternly, his uncharacteristic tolerance slipping. “Preston can have any woman in our social circle that he wants—”
“Can and has,” Annie murmured, thinking of the affairs she had learned about through a jealous ex-friend Preston had romanced and dumped.
Nathaniel ignored her. “You’re the one Preston asked to be his wife because the two of you are so obviously well suited.”
“Because he thought I was such a doormat that I wouldn’t interfere with anything he did,” Annie countered. And she had been a doormat, damn it, she remembered with a wince. Until the day she’d finally realized she’d had more than enough of other people’s footprints on her back.
Her father frowned heavily at her. “I’m losing all patience with you, Annette. I have no intention of allowing you to continue to throw your life away. You’ve had your rebellion. You’ve purposely humiliated all of us by posing as a penniless housekeeper in this hick town. But it’s time for it to stop now. We’ve come to take you home. Get your things and come along.”
It had taken Annie twenty-six years to work up the courage to look her intimidating father in the eye and defy him. It was easier now than it had been four months ago—the day she had declared her independence for the first time. “I’m staying right here.”
Mona drew in a sharp breath, clearly appalled that anyone could so openly flout the man she hadn’t challenged in thirty years of marriage. “Annie, please. Can’t you see we only want what’s best for you?”
“I think Annie is perfectly capable of deciding what’s best for her.”
Trent’s comment drew everyone’s attention to the kitchen doorway, where he leaned in a casual pose against the door frame. He looked strong and fit and gorgeous, Annie thought, studying him with the admittedly biased perspective of someone who loved him. His slightly shaggy, dark gold hair was tousled appealingly around his handsome face, and his eyes were very clear and blue behind the glasses that suited him so well. Lean muscles rippled beneath his workman’s plaid shirt and worn-soft jeans. She would choose Trent’s simple, masculine style over Preston’s designer-clad, moussed-and-blow-dried facade any time.
Preston’s carefully maintained smile of forbearance faded. “Who the hell are you?”
MAINTAINING HIS relaxed pose with an effort, Trent took his time studying the other man. He’d been shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation from the kitchen and he’d learned a great deal about Annie’s relationship with her parents. No wonder she’d been so adamant about being on her own. Making her own way. These people talked to her as if she were a child. Apparently, they’d even chosen a mate for her.
What kind of parents could be so clueless about their own daughter?
He finally answered the other guy’s question with a lazy drawl intended to irritate. “I’m Trent McBride. Annie’s…friend. Who the hell are you?”
“Preston Dixon. Annie’s fiancé.”
Trent’s chuckle probably caught Dixon by surprise. “Oh, I don’t think so,” he murmured, glancing at Annie’s furious expression.
Annie nodded at him. “You’re right. He’s not.”
Her father had already studied Trent and written him off as insignificant. “This is a family meeting, young man. It would be best if you leave now.”
Trent had no intention of going anywhere, of course, but he was pleased when Annie moved quickly to his side. “Trent is an invited guest in my home. He’s welcome to stay as long as he likes.”