“Believe me, I’ve tried. She seems to have the crazy idea that you need saving from yourself. She’s also very fond of Annie. So am I, for that matter.”
Relieved by the chance to change the subject, he seized the opening. “I hear you wrote a song for Annie.”
Her expression brightened as it always did when she talked about her music. “As a matter of fact, I did. I was struggling with some lyrics and she said something that brought them into focus. I give her full credit.”
“You going to sing it today?”
“Maybe.” She gave him a look every bit as sly as one of Harlan’s. “If Val’s around to hear it. I always like to get her reaction when I’m still fiddling with a new song.”
“In other words, if I go find her and drag her back, you’ll sing Annie’s song.”
“You’re very quick for a cowboy.”
“Whatever that means.”
She patted his cheek. “For the record, I don’t think you’ll have to drag her back. Just be nice. Be honest. When you think about it, it’s really not so terribly much to ask.”
Slade put aside his plate of food for the second time that afternoon. At this rate, he wasn’t even going to get a taste of the extravagant spread he’d paid for.
“Keep an eye on Annie for me,” he said to Laurie.
“Not a problem.”
He headed for the creek, debating all the way whether he had any business getting anywhere near Val. However, when he saw her sitting on a rock, shoulders slumped, staring despondently at the water, he knew he’d been right to come. He was the one who’d ruined the day for her.
He stopped several feet away. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
She didn’t look up, but her shoulders visibly stiffened. “For?”
“Starting something I shouldn’t have. Saying what I did. Take your pick.”
“How about for being a jerk?”
He grinned, accepting the judgment as fair. “That, too.” He settled down on the huge boulder next to her.
“Why’d you do it?” she asked without turning her head.
“Which part?”
“Start something?”
“Because I took one look at you in that outfit and I wanted to be sure that no other man at the party started getting ideas.” The words came out before he had a chance to censor them.
Her head swiveled toward him at that. Fire flashed in her eyes. “You were branding me?”
He winced at her indignant tone. “It wasn’t like it was a conscious thing, but in a manner of speaking, yes, I suppose I was.”
The answer clearly riled her. “If that is not the most egotistical, presumptuous thing I have ever heard in all my life.”
“Guilty,” he agreed. “I apologize again. I’ve got to say in my own defense, it took me by surprise, too, wanting you that badly.”
She seemed startled by the admission and more than a little pleased. “You wanted me?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said softly, his gaze traveling once more over the bathing suit that wasn’t even partially concealed by that ridiculously flimsy cover-up.
“How about now?”
He struggled with the urge to show her, then finally resisted. He couldn’t silence a heartfelt admission, though. “Oh, yeah,” he murmured.
She nodded with satisfaction. “Good,” she said, and stood up in a graceful, fluid move that practically had Slade’s tongue hanging out. “I’m ready to go back now.”
Great. He was so stirred up he was ready to throw her on the ground and make passionate love to her, and she was ready to return to the party.
All for the best, he told himself over and over as she sashayed past. Wasn’t that exactly why he had come down here? Wasn’t his only mission to get her back to the party? Hadn’t he sworn not to get carried away again?
Oh, sure. Like it had never once crossed his mind on the way down here that he might just finish that kiss, after all. Liar, liar, liar! He was pathetic.
“Coming?” she inquired sweetly, amusement flashing in her eyes.
“You know, darlin’, you’re a little like TNT.”
“Oh?”
“Small, but very volatile.”
She gave a little nod of satisfaction, clearly pleased by the analogy. “Remember that the next time you get any crazy ideas about starting something you’re not prepared to finish, cowboy.”
“Oh, I’ll remember it, believe me,” he said fervently. In fact, he figured it would take a month of ice-cold showers to get this afternoon’s little game out of his mind.
He managed to get through the rest of the afternoon without doing anything else crazy, but when evening came and the music began, he couldn’t resist when Harlan Patrick all