a wicked look. “You, however, might want to find out if there’s a back way out of here. Otherwise the next tabloid picture you’re in is likely to be a whole lot more revealing than either of us would like.”
* * *
Laurie’s nerves didn’t settle down until after she was back in the suite and had spent an hour with Amy Lynn tucked securely in her arms. Those few minutes before she’d found the baby downstairs with Harlan Patrick had been the most terrifying of her life. Even though she knew him as well as she knew herself, she had wondered for just an instant if he was so furious with her that he’d be capable of kidnapping their baby.
Not that it would have been all that hard to trace him, she admitted. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would make a beeline for White Pines to show his daughter off to his family.
His proposal on the heels of that upset had been enough to thoroughly shake her. It was difficult enough to cope with Harlan Patrick when he was angry and unreasonable. It was even more difficult to fend him off when he was being quietly reasonable and persistent.
Of course, this was hardly the first time the question of marriage had come up between them. She smiled as she recalled the first time he’d asked, way back in high school on the night of his senior prom. They’d been in the back seat of a convertible, staring up at the stars. She’d turned him down then and every time since.
Even in high school, when she had been starry-eyed and madly in love with him, she had known instinctively that she would never be content as his wife unless she had really tried to make a career out of her music. He had never understood how much it meant to her, nor why she couldn’t be happy just singing in a local club every now and then or maybe just with the church choir. He simply hadn’t comprehended her ambition and her desperate hunger for success.
Sometimes she hadn’t fully understood the need herself, though she suspected it had a lot to do with the hand-to-mouth existence she and her mother had led. She’d wanted to be independent enough to survive on her own without relying on the whims of a man—even Harlan Patrick—to provide for her needs.
Harlan Patrick had everything in the world he wanted right there in Los Piños, Texas. His ranch. His family. She wanted the world and the reassurance of having her own bank account, piled high with money she’d earned herself, money she knew she could replace herself if the need arose.
She glanced across the room to find his gaze on her. He was sprawled in a chair, his expression speculative, as if he were trying to puzzle out which buttons to push to get her to come around to his point of view. It was disconcerting, because she knew that sooner or later he would figure it out. He always had. The only time she’d ever said no to him and stuck to it was on the subject of marriage. With Amy Lynn to consider and more money in the bank than she could ever spend, she wasn’t sure how long it would be before she gave in on that, as well.
“You still mad at me?” he asked finally.
“No.”
“I really didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I know that.”
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
Laurie glanced at her watch. “We need to pack up and be on the bus in an hour. The club I’m playing tonight is a couple of hours from here. That’ll give us time to get there, set up, test the sound system and rehearse for an hour or so.” Even though she suspected she already knew the answer, she asked, “What about you?”
“Where you go, I go.”
She sighed. “For how long, Harlan Patrick?”
He gave her an all too familiar stubborn look. “As long as it takes.”
“What about the ranch?”
“Daddy’s there and Grandpa Harlan. They can get by without me for a while.”
She hesitated, then said, “I spoke with your grandfather the other day.”
His eyes widened with surprise. “How did that happen?”
“I called to see if you knew about the tabloid,” she admitted ruefully. “Based on what he said about you taking off for parts unknown, I gathered you did, but he didn’t.”
“He probably does by now. He probably started asking questions the instant he hung up. Mama and Sharon