of indignation and family loyalty kicked in and loved her for it. His big sister had a mile-wide protective streak. All of the Adamses did.
“Laurie Jensen isn’t worth one more second of your time,” Sharon Lynn declared. “She’s never been any good for you, and this proves it.”
“I know what you’re trying to do, sis, but you and I both know that Laurie is the only woman for me.”
Sharon Lynn blushed. “Okay, I’m sorry. It just makes me so mad the way she keeps walking out on you.”
He decided not to remind her that that was only half of the story. The first time Laurie had gone, Sharon Lynn had actually taken her side, accused him of being a short-sighted jerk for not going after her, for not trying harder to become a part of her new life, maybe using his business degree to become her manager or something. When Laurie had gone this last time, Sharon Lynn had positioned herself staunchly behind him. Rarely did a kind word about Laurie cross her lips. The rest of his family tried never to mention her at all.
He scowled at Sharon Lynn. “Just hand over the paper, okay?”
His sister wasn’t quite finished. Once she got wound up, it was impossible to slow her down. She gave him a defiant look. “You have to forget about her, Harlan Patrick. Move on. There are a zillion women in Texas who’d love to be with you. Pick one of them, one who’ll treat you right instead of running out on everything you have to offer.”
“Easier said than done,” he said.
He ought to know. He’d cut a wide swath through the available women in three or four counties after Laurie had left the first time. He hadn’t had more than a date or two with any of them then and he hadn’t bothered to call even one of them after Laurie had left this last time. He’d accepted the possibility that no one would ever measure up.
“Sis, I appreciate your loyalty. I really do,” he assured her, then glared. “Now let me see the blasted paper, unless you’d prefer to have me drive all the way into town to pick one up. Do you want me to be standing in the supermarket with half the town gawking at me when I read it? That ought to keep the gossips busy for a while.”
His mother, who’d been letting the two of them battle it out up until now, sighed. “Let him see it, Sharon Lynn. The horse is out of the barn anyway.”
His sister handed him the paper with obvious reluctance. The front page was folded in two. He opened it slowly, regretting that he had even his mother and sister as his audience.
The sight of Laurie, all done up in her fancy, rhinestone-studded cowgirl stage costume, brought his pulse skidding to a halt. No matter how many times he saw her picture, he never got over the wonder of her beauty—the thick chestnut-colored hair, the dare-you curve of her smile, the sparkle in her eyes. Despite the fancy getup, there was no artifice about her. She didn’t need a lot of makeup to enhance what nature had given her.
He’d pretty much stopped looking at these rags, because the sight of her always had the same effect and he figured sooner or later it was going to turn deadly. How many times could a man’s heart grind to a halt before it stopped pumping altogether?
This time, though, the photographer hadn’t done her justice. There was no glint in her eyes, no smile on her lips. He’d caught her in an instant of stunned disbelief, one hand held up, futilely trying to block the lens, while she turned to try to shield the baby in her arms.
She’d been too slow. The baby was in perfect focus, round faced, smiling, with a halo of soft brown curls and blue, blue eyes sparkling with pure devilment. Adams eyes, Harlan Patrick thought at once, unmistakably Adams eyes. There was a whole mantle full of baby pictures just like this up at Grandpa Harlan’s. He was surprised his mother and Sharon Lynn hadn’t guessed the truth—but then they hadn’t known about that last meeting—the one where he lost his head and made love to her one last time.
This time it wasn’t love or even lust that kicked his pulse into overdrive. It was fury. The suspicion that had been nagging at him from the moment he’d heard his mother and Sharon Lynn