just as he’d said earlier, one thing she knew for certain about Harlan Patrick was that the man did love a challenge.
Seven
Harlan Patrick knew he was taking a huge risk even as he made the plans for his first date with Laurie in years. He had no idea how she’d react when she discovered they weren’t going out for a simple postperformance dinner.
For the first time in his life, he was truly grateful for the financial resources at his disposal. He discovered that money could make a lot happen in very little time. The hardest part was trying to explain to his uncle why the plane he had just sent back to Texas needed to be piloted right back out again.
“Harlan Patrick, are you sure you know what the devil you’re doing?” Jordan inquired with an impatient edge to his voice. “I held my tongue when you took off with the corporate jet without a word to me. I sent my pilot to Montana to retrieve it without a single complaint. And now you want him to pick you up? I’m not running a blasted air shuttle. If Laurie’s got you this tied up in knots, maybe you ought to get back home and think things over.”
“In a way that’s just what I intend to do,” he said, taking the well-deserved criticism without flinching. He knew he’d tested Jordan’s patience to its limits, but he was also counting on the fact that his uncle still had at least a tiny touch of the Adams love of romance in his soul. After all, the tales of Jordan’s elaborate attempts to convince Kelly to marry him were legendary. The current generation had made use of a few of them.
“Meaning...?” Jordan asked.
“I’m coming home and I’m bringing Laurie and the baby with me.”
Silence greeted that announcement, followed by a sigh. “Are you sure that’s wise? You know the kind of questions you’re likely to face here, the pressure from your grandfather to marry.”
Harlan Patrick matched his uncle’s sigh. “I know, but I can’t think of any other way to make her remember what we had. I want her to see what we could have again, if only she’d be reasonable.”
“I sympathize with the position you’re in, I really do, but I seem to recall that Laurie’s got a mind of her own, to say nothing of a temper. This is a whole lot more complicated for her than you’re making it out to be. The fact that you’re saying she’s the one who needs to be reasonable tells me you don’t fully understand her position.”
“Dammit, I do know it’s complicated,” Harlan Patrick replied.
“Do you really? It seems to me your first mistake was not taking her seriously enough years ago. Are you absolutely sure you can see her point of view now?” He waited, then asked, “Or are you just trying to bulldoze right on over her the way you always did?”
Harlan Patrick wasn’t entirely comfortable with the question. He supposed he did have a tendency to get a notion into his head and then run with it, regardless of the other person involved. Some might say he was selfish and bullheaded. He preferred to think he was simply fighting for what he believed in.
“You haven’t answered me,” his uncle persisted.
“Dammit, we have a baby,” Harlan Patrick retorted. “That’s what’s important. Not my feelings or Laurie’s. I want that baby to be a part of my family.”
“Well, of course you do,” Jordan soothed. “But tricking Laurie into coming back to Texas when she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be here seems like the wrong way to go about it. Why not just ask her to come?”
“What makes you think I’m tricking her?” Harlan Patrick grumbled defensively. “Maybe I have asked her.”
“Then why are you whispering? That’s a surefire indication that she’s close by and you don’t want her to know what you’re up to.”
“Maybe it’s just a surprise. What’s wrong with that?”
Jordan chuckled. “Depends on whether it’s the sort of surprise the recipient will appreciate. Not all of the surprises I tried out on your aunt Kelly went over that well, as I recall. You know,” he added thoughtfully, “there are some similarities. My business was in Houston then, and Kelly wanted to stay right here in Los Piños on her ranch. We fought about it tooth and nail for a while.”
“And you were the one who gave in. Okay, okay, I hear you,” Harlan Patrick conceded reluctantly. “Are you saying