Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (152 page)

“I told you she was good.” Daniel Gavin pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning. The vice president was looking at her with grudging admiration.

“Dr. Davis,” he said, rising from his chair. “We’ll want a preliminary team to go in two days. This has already been pushed back enough that we need to do some fast PR.”

“I don’t think there’s any way—” Lauren began.

Adrianne cut her off. “That’s a good idea. It will take a few weeks to get everything in place, but sending you and Mason over with a few reporters will kick things off, satisfy the media and the White House and then leave things quieter for the full team’s arrival in a few weeks.”

Vice President Forrester nodded. “Fine. We’ll do our part.” He started for the door but turned back after a few steps. “As long as she keeps Dr. Riley on a short leash in front of the reporters.” He headed for the door that Daniel Gavin held open for him but he paused at the threshold. “Dr. Riley’s lucky,” he said to Adrianne.

She took a deep breath and a chance. “Mr. Vice President?”

He turned back. “Yes?”

“Dr. Riley is a brilliant scientist and a wonderful person with a huge heart and a hell of a lot of passion for what he does. He’s not lucky. You are.”

Michael Forrester looked at her for several seconds. Then he gave her a nod. “Agreed. But I was referring to him being lucky to have you.”

The door swung shut behind him as Adrianne stared at the dark wood. Slowly, she smiled.

“See, even the VP knows you love him,” Lauren said.

Adrianne’s smile grew. “Evidently.”

“How’s your heart doing?”

“Never better.”

MASON FROWNED AT the back of Ryan McDonald’s head as the White House Press Secretary was running down what was going to happen at the press conference in ten minutes. The man took fourteen paragraphs to explain the simplest thing.

They were standing on the tarmac outside the hanger where the private plane was housed that would take them to Haiti the next morning.

The Secretary of State and Secretary of Agriculture would each make a statement—something along the lines of how great this project was to bring two countries together and challenge the United States to use their vast resources to blah, blah, blah. Mason and Lauren were available for questions for fifteen minutes. Then they would be getting their team ready for the trip. Which is what they should be doing. That was the important part.

He was only here because of the fucking PR consultant.

He didn’t need a fucking PR consultant. He didn’t need anyone telling him that insulting the vice president of the United States was a bad idea. But Lauren had hired someone to do it anyway. And thanks to that person, he was now getting ready to speak at a press conference.

Wonderful.

And he was paying this person. Quite well according to Lauren.

Even better.

Mason rolled his head and shoulders, listening to the pops and cracks. He was tense. He knew it. He didn’t need a health consultant to tell him that—or that it was lack of sleep, lack of exercise, lack of giving a fuck about anything that was doing it to him.

Instead of tense, he should be excited. He should want this trip to Haiti. He’d wanted it for months, years really. He’d been working for it for a long damned time.

And now he didn’t care.

It wasn’t about this circus around the White House. Though he hated it, he understood this was smoothing the way. The team would be more effective and efficient with the White House behind them. That was a no brainer.

His irritation was not about where he was—but where he’d rather be.

Though he planned to return to Sapphire Falls the minute he touched US soil again, every hour he was away was a heavier and heavier weight on his heart.

She still wasn’t answering her phone, even at her office. According to everyone, she was out of town.

They were all lying for her.

He needed to be in Sapphire Falls. He needed to be with her. He’d be there this minute if he didn’t have to go to Haiti.

But he had to go to Haiti. It wasn’t guilt, it wasn’t interest. He had to go. It was a pre-visit visit for the public relations and media angle of the story. According to the new PR consultant, it would keep the reporters away when the rest of the team showed up, which meant they could get right to work.

That was the only reason he was here. The sooner they got to work down there, the sooner he could come back.

That and the fact that Lauren had threatened to put him in charge of their Facebook page and Twitter account if he no-showed.

He knew the Facebook and Twitter thing were because of this PR woman too. What the hell did they need Facebook and Twitter for?

Rebelliously, he’d left his suit jacket and tie in the car. No denim, she’d said. How had she known he’d considered blue jeans? He’d only started wearing jeans again regularly since Sapphire Falls.

Also, to show this PR nut who was really in charge, he intended to use the term zoonotic diseases during the Q and A. It wouldn’t be relevant to anything but he was going to throw it in so that everyone would scramble to look it up.

That would show her.

“Dr. Riley?”

Mason tuned back in as the questions started.

“Larry Chilver,
The Examiner
. Wondering how you answer the questions about the importance of this project?”

“No one’s asking me about the importance of the project,” Mason said. “I guess the people I hang out with get it.”

Larry didn’t seem to find that funny. “Some say that the Haitian people have bigger, more immediate concerns in light of the housing situation and cholera epidemic sweeping the country.”

This was exactly what annoyed Mason most about these press conferences. He didn’t want to answer questions about if they should go, not go, what it meant socially or psychologically. What was he, an idiot? Of course there were questions and issues, but that wasn’t his deal. He had the science and the Haitian government and Outreach America wanted it. It was up to everyone else to work out the political, economic and cultural issues.

“That’s not my problem,” Mason said into the mic. “Talk to Ryan here about how this impacts them socially and what their agenda and priorities are. Ask me about what we’re going to do when we get there.”

“So Ag Innovations doesn’t care about the living conditions or health conditions in Haiti?” Larry returned.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said,” Mason answered sarcastically. “All we care about are plants that will allow this country not just to eat but to stabilize economically and socially—”

“Of course Ag Innovations cares about every aspect of life in Haiti,” a woman said, stepping forward and pushing Mason away from the microphone. “Really, Larry, what kind of question is that?”

She laughed lightly and Larry even smiled.

“You know that Dr. Riley knows and understands every aspect of what life’s like in Haiti. But feeding this country, giving them back the opportunity for economic stability, are huge priorities of the Haitian government—who have asked Dr. Riley to come and share his work.”

The woman was dressed in a red suit and heels and she obviously knew not only what she was talking about, but how to work a crowd. The reporters were smiling and nodding, listening raptly and taking notes as she went on about how the local Haitian farm economy depended on viable crops. That grassroots stability, of course, spread to form a foundation for the entire country to build on, including their exports. In time, with the right help from Outreach America, the US government and Ag Innovations, Haiti would be able to truly recover.

Mason realized that having a PR person on his side might not be such a bad thing.

Especially if she looked like that and so obviously believed in what they were doing.

Especially if it was Adrianne.

Adrianne was here. Surprisingly, it took that fact a while to sink in. She loved him. He’d known it all along.

As she stepped away from the podium, turning a question over to Ryan McDonald, Mason pulled her up against his side and said in her ear, “No denim, huh?”

“You have to admit,” she said with a smile, still facing the reporters, “I look damned good in this suit.”

“I have to admit I want to see you out of that suit ASAP.” He knew they had to keep facing forward with friendly, composed expressions and mannerisms as if they were discussing nothing more than work. Mason didn’t want the media in his work and he definitely didn’t want them in his love life. But it was damned hard not to grab her and kiss her right there in front of them all.

An incredible sense of relief and rightness swept over him as her scent drifted up to him and he breathed deep. She was here. She’d gotten on a plane—

“You got on a plane?” he demanded, turning toward her with a frown.

She elbowed him in the ribs. “Smile, Mason.”

Gritting his teeth, he faced the reporters and relaxed his face. He wasn’t quite able to pull off a smile. “You flew to get here?”

“Of course,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“I know about your heart. I know that—”

“I’m not afraid anymore.”

He turned toward her. “What happened?” He was thrilled, of course. But this was big. Something had changed her mind.

“You happened, Mason.” She glanced up at him with a smile. “You’re worth every risk. Without you, my heart wouldn’t be whole anyway.”

No one had ever said something like that to him before. He started to reach for her, but she nudged him. “Answer the question.”

The question…

Mason turned to the reporters and answered a question about the shortened growing season for his seeds. Then Adrianne kept him from losing his cool when asked about the skeptics who wondered if Ag Innovations was playing God.

His response was that those skeptics would be praying to him for help if an earthquake took their homes, friends and livelihoods.

Adrianne’s response was much better. “Agricultural Innovations is still, of course, working within the confines of the natural world. While what they do certainly seems miraculous, Dr. Riley and his team still answer to Mother Nature. Soil, water, light, pests all still play a role.”

That might have been the sexiest thing he’d ever heard.

That the love of his life not only understood and supported him, but was willing and able to go on record with it…that was the miracle.

“As a layperson myself, I understand that it’s hard to grasp what they’re doing, but I am smart enough to know that I should be thankful—to Ag Innovations and to God for giving them the brains to do this wonderful thing.”

Adrianne stepped back next to him as Ryan moved to the podium again.

“You know it’s killing me to stand here next to you and not touch you,” Mason said.

She reached out and hooked her pinky finger with his.

“You always broadcast everything you feel for me. Wish you were broadcasting right now,” he added.

She kept her face toward the crowd. “My feelings right now are that this is a hell of a project and neither of us is going to mess it up. If I have to keep the fact that I’m madly in love with you under wraps for a few minutes, I can do it.”

“I don’t care what these reporters think,” Mason said.

“I do. I want them to make you look really, really good. Because you are really, really good. But,” she added after a pause, “the minute we’re alone, I’m going to be very outgoing about how I feel.”

He tightened his finger on hers and fought to keep from putting his hand on her butt. At least.

“You could have told me about your fear of flying,” he whispered.

“No, I couldn’t.”

He opened his mouth to reply and then shut it. She could have but it would have changed everything—exactly what she didn’t want.

“And now?” he asked. She was here. Something had happened.

“I told Lauren I wanted to do this and she helped me find a way to get over my fear.”

“How?”

She gave him a mischievous smile. “I’ll show you later.”

He frowned. Adrianne and Lauren as allies should make him happy. Instead, it made him nervous. The only two women in the world who really knew him were teaming up…that could only be trouble.

“Smile, Mason.”

He tried.

“I love you, you know,” she said conversationally, smiling at the small crowd before them.

Pleasure and want seemed to explode in his gut. It was the first time she’d said it directly and he was standing in front of a crowd of reporters trying to act professional and intelligent. He groaned. “Not fair, Ad. Do you have any idea what I want to do right now?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I do.” She smiled but kept her eyes forward. “We have all night and then it’s a long flight to Haiti. You can show me later. Repeatedly.”

“Long flight?” he repeated. “But—”

“I’m going with you to Haiti tomorrow,” she confirmed.

“No.”

She glanced at him and he realized he’d said it loudly.

“No scowling, Mason.”

He consciously relaxed his face. “You’re not going.”

“Yes, I am.” She faced their audience again.

“Your heart—”

“Is fine.”

“But your doctor—”

“Practically wrote me a prescription for the trip and for the sex,” she said. “And I met the physicians for the team. Neither are concerned. And Mason,” she said, turning to him as the last question was answered and the reporters began gathering their stuff. “It’ll be harder on my heart to be away from you anyway.”

“Cheesy,” he said. “But I appreciate the sentiment. And feel the same, by the way. But I’m only going to Haiti for the first week and then I’ll be back in Sapphire Falls. At least for a while until I need to go check on things.” But he couldn’t deny that the idea of having her with him was tempting.

“Then I’ll go with you for a week and we’ll go back to Sapphire Falls together after that.”

“I don’t want this to be too much,” he said, pulling her closer.

“I know. Me either. But I’ve already dealt with the press, the vice president of the United States and Lauren, Phoebe and Hailey ganging up on me. I can handle anything after all of that.”