Can't Say No
Authors: Sherryl Woods
New York Times
bestselling author Sherryl Woods sweeps readers away with a reader-favorite tale of finding strengthâand loveâin unexpected places.
Audrey Nelson had heard the words “We knew we could count on you” too many times. She was known as a good sport, but to her that meant she was just a wimp! Canceling her vacation to cover a hot-air balloon festival was the absolute last time she would give in.
But Blake Marshall's high-handed manner didn't give her a chance to say no. He literally swept her off her feet before she could protest, and his charm made dangerous inroads into her outrage. Audrey knew Blake understood her need for control and self-respect. Could he get her to say yes to the most important question of all?
The Sweet Magnolias
Chesapeake Shores
Willow Brook Road
The Devaney Brothers: Ryan & Sean
The Devaney Brothers: Michael & Patrick
The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen
The Calamity Janes: Gina & Emma
A Christmas Blessing
Natural Born Daddy
The Cowboy and His Baby
The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter
The Littlest Angel
Natural Born Trouble
Unexpected Mommy
The Cowgirl and the Unexpected Wedding
Natural Born Lawman
The Unclaimed Baby
The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride
Suddenly, Annie's Father
The Cowboy and the New Year's Baby
Dylan and the Baby Doctor
The Pint-Sized Secret
Marrying a Delacourt
The Delacourt Scandal
Everything was tingling, but she wasn't about to tell him that. “I'm not sure.”
“Come here and let me check.”
Audrey groaned at the seductive gleam in his eyes. “Don't you ever think about anything else?”
Blake considered the question carefully. “Nope. Not since you turned up. Before that, my mind was entirely on this balloon race.”
“You have a fascinating array of seduction techniques, Mr. Marshall. Perhaps we should try marketing them to one of the men's magazines.
101 Ways to Get a Woman into Your Arms.”
“I'd rather think of some way to keep her there. My technique must need work. You keep running away.”
“It should give you no end of satisfaction to know that as long as we're up here, I won't get far.”
“Eventually, though, we'll have to land,” he said, his expression suddenly sobering. “What happens then, Audrey?”
Sherryl Woods
has written more than seventy-five romances and mysteries in the past twenty years. She also operates her own bookstore, Potomac Sunrise, in Colonial Beach, Virginia, where readers from around the country stop by to discuss her favorite topicâbooks. If you can't visit Sherryl at her store, then be sure to drop her a note at P.O. Box 490326, Key Biscayne, FL 33149 or check out her Web site at
www.sherrylwoods.com
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S
HERRYL
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OODS
Canât Say No
One
“N
o.”
There was a disgusting catch in Audrey's voice. She scowled at herself in the mirror. One simple, common, everyday word and she couldn't get it out with any authority. Ridiculous. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin defiantly and tried again.
“No!”
This time the word rang out in the tiny motel room. It was firm, emphatic, convincing. Obviously it was not the tone she had used with her boss yesterday, or she wouldn't have been spending the start of her vacation on an assignment that held all the appeal of mud wrestling.
“Audrey, I've got a little problem,” Harvey had said on Thursday morning. He'd said it early, before her first cup of coffee, when he knew her resistance was at its lowest.
She had promptly clamped her hands over her ears. “I don't want to hear it. When you have a little problem, it means I have an even bigger one. I'm leaving on vacation in precisely thirty-two hoursâ” she'd glanced at her watch “âand seventeen minutes. Whatever problems you're having will have to wait until I get back.”
“But this won't wait and besides, you're going to love it,” Harvey insisted, waving his unlit pipe in her direction and beaming at her. He wore a deceptively jovial look that usually spelled doom. “It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Harvey Fielding wasn't known as one of the best public relations men in the country for nothing. He'd joined the Blake Marshall Vineyards when they'd been little more than a field of grapes in the Napa Valley. Now it was one of the fastest-growing California wine companies, thanks to Blake Marshall's genius for business and Harvey's ingenious instincts for promoting it. He was a master at what
Newsweek
had described as “The Hyping of Napa Valley.” He'd been one of the first to offer tours of the winery, then gone on to add other enticements for visitors, including a moonlit champagne-and-classical-music concert series that had drawn thousands during the summer months.
Audrey had worked for the company for more than two years. She knew all about Harvey's “once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.” The last one had plunked her in a rowboat in the middle of a freezing stream for eight solid hours with a clipboard in her shaking hands and water splashing all over her new sneakers, while a camera crew tried to shoot a thirty-second commercial that Harvey had assured her would be a snap. Not even the presence of one of television's steamiest, most sensual actors had warmed her blood. At least they'd given him hip boots, a sexy brunette actress and a magnum of the finest champagne to hold on to. They hadn't even offered her a sweater. She still couldn't view the ad on television without getting goose bumps.
Harvey was not the steamroller sort of boss. He never made demands. Quite the contrary, he was subtle and persuasive. He knew exactly the right buttons to pushâat least with her.
Yesterday morning, for example, his expression had sobered impressively and he'd settled his considerable bulk on the edge of her desk. He'd leaned toward her conspiratorially with that “you're the only one who can handle this” gleam in his eyes, and Audrey automatically had tried to inch her chair out of his line of attack. Unfortunately, she couldn't retreat to the next county fast enough. Besides, Harvey would have followed her. He was looking very determined.
“Look, I know you're supposed to be going on vacation, but I swear I'll make it up to you,” he said with enough sincerity to win votes from an opposition party.
“Supposed to be? I
am
going on vacation.” Even though she said it firmly, she could still hear the questioning lift in her voice. Damn.
Harvey hurried right on. “It's just one of those things. Joe was supposed to handle this, but his wifeâYou know Kelly Marie, don't you? A really sweet girl. Anyway, she's expecting a baby....”
There had been this sinking sensation in the pit of Audrey's stomach. She had sighed fatalistically and completed the sentence for him, “And Joe would never be able to forgive himself, if he weren't around when she delivered.”
In retrospect, she knew that was the moment when she should have said no. Emphatically. Instead, thinking of poor Kelly Marie going into labor all alone, she had muttered resignedly, “Okay, Harvey, what's the assignment?”
“The hot air balloon festival in Snowmass.” The words sort of ran together in a rush. When Harvey actually displayed overt signs of nervousness, it was definitely ominous.
“What about it?” she asked, eyeing him warily. “Are we providing the champagne? Am I supposed to pour five thousand glasses of our finest?”
Harvey scowled at her sarcasm. “No, it's nothing like that. You won't have to do a thing, really. Just be available. Blake's entered in the raceâit's a damn crazy obsession for an executive, if you ask meâbut we need one of the PR folks on hand to make sure the media gets anything they need about him or the company. The bio is all prepared. Joe even ran off a history of Blake's record in these ridiculous competitions. Our boss is actually pretty good. He won down in Albuquerque this year and we weren't around to capitalize on it. I don't want that to happen again. All you'll have to do is hand the press the prepared stuff and maybe do one quick release if he wins any of the events this time. I hear one of the networks will be there. You might try to set up something with them.” He peeked to check her reaction, then added, “I'd do it myself, but I'm scheduled to work that wine-tasting event in San Francisco.”