McFarlane's Perfect Bride by Christine Rimmer

“Mission accomplished, if you ask me.”
    â€œLooks that way,” Connor agreed. “Your wife is amazing.”
    â€œShe certainly is.” Russ spoke with deep satisfaction. Then he put his hat back over his eyes and let his head drop to the blanket again.
    Melanie returned to them. Connor thought she looked sort of bemused. “CJ starts tomorrow,” she told him. “Nine to one, Monday through Thursday. I guess we’ll have to take turns driving him out here—Jerilyn, too.”
    â€œEither Gerda or I will do it, no problem.” Connor would slip his housekeeper a little extra for the inconvenience. “So you’ve got two new employees, then?”
    â€œOh, yes, I do. CJ turned me down flat. But then Jerilyn spoke up and said how she’d love to work at the Hopping H. So I offered her the job.”
    Connor could guess the rest. “And then CJ suddenly changed his mind.”
    â€œAnd it’s great. I can put them both to work, and Ryan will love having them around.” She added, sounding bemused again, “I really do like that girl.”
    Connor almost turned to share a glance with Tori, to give her a nod of acknowledgment, since what had just happened was all at her urging. But then he remembered that he and Tori were finished sharing glances.
    They were finished, period.
    Â 
    As the day went by, Tori became only more certain that there really was no hope for her and Connor. Thepicnic at the ranch was just one of those final obligations they both felt duty-bound to fulfill.
    By Sunday evening, when Connor pulled the SUV to a stop in front of her house, she was beyond positive. It was done between them, finished. All without ever really getting started.
    She tried to remind herself yet again that it was for the best. But somehow it didn’t feel that way in the least.
    CJ and Jerilyn jumped out first, but only to load Jerilyn’s bike in the back. They would take it to her house when they dropped her off.
    That left Tori and Connor momentarily alone.
    She said, each word falsely bright, “Well, thank you. It was a beautiful day.”
    â€œYeah,” he replied without looking at her. “Great weather.”
    â€œI’ll be seeing you, then.” She leaned on the door.
    He turned as the door swung wide and he looked at her. A look that burned her right down to the core. She had the impossible, overwhelming urge to leap across the console and kiss him so hard…
    Uh-uh. No way. Not going to happen.
    She tore her gaze free of his and got the heck out of there, somehow managing to wave goodbye to Jerilyn and CJ as they put the bike in the back of the SUV.
    In the house, feeling totally bereft and hating that she felt that way, she called Allaire. But no one was home. They were probably off at some Traub family Sunday dinner. Tori hung up without leaving a message.
    About then, she realized that she’d left her picnic basket in the back of Connor’s SUV. It wasn’t a big deal. She could get it later. Much, much later.
    Or maybe he would have CJ drop it by.
    It was all just too sad and depressing. She’d finally found a guy who made her heart turn somersaults, and he was a ruthless corporate shark unwilling to be straight with her.
    She took a long bath and turned in early.
    And at midnight she was still lying there, wide awake, telling herself that she hardly knew Connor. They’d only spent a total of maybe fifteen hours together—if you counted the picnic just that day, when they’d each been doing their level best to pretend the other didn’t exist.
    Really, she needed to get over this and move on. She needed to shut her eyes and get some sleep.
    But sleep was not in the offing. She kept seeing his face at that last moment before she got out of the SUV, seeing the hunger there, the stark longing for what was never going to happen between them. She kept thinking that maybe she had been too