Harlan Patrick’s father contradicted, all but snatching the baby out of his arms. “That’s my job now.”
“Don’t fight over her,” Janet chided her husband and stepson. “Honestly, you’d think the men in this family had never had an heir before, the way they carry on over every baby.”
“You’re just mad ’cause you’re not getting a turn to fuss over her,” Grandpa Harlan retorted, linking arms with his wife. “Come on, everybody. Let’s go inside, so we can be comfortable.”
Laurie hung back as the others climbed the steps. Harlan Patrick lingered beside her.
“Feeling better now?”
She gazed up at him, and to his amazement there were unshed tears welling up in her eyes. “They love her,” she whispered. “Just like that, she’s one of them.”
“Well, of course she is. No matter how things stand between you and me, she’s my daughter. Did you think for one second they wouldn’t accept her?”
“No, but...” Her voice trailed off, and she looked away.
“But what about you?” Harlan Patrick suggested quietly. “Is that what you were going to say?”
She nodded. “They barely even looked at me.”
“Darlin’, that’s not a reflection on you. Haven’t you been around this family long enough to know that any new baby stirs everybody up? The mom and dad tend to get lost in the shuffle until the novelty wears off. Would you have preferred it if they’d laid into you right off for hiding Amy Lynn away these past months?”
“No, of course not.”
“Well, then, be grateful to our little girl for taking the heat off us for the moment.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I know I am. Once the questions start, you’re going to wish they were back to ignoring you.”
She managed a shaky smile at the reminder. “I know you’re right about that. By the way, how’s Val?”
“I left her with an ex–rodeo star.”
Laurie grinned. “That ought to make her day.”
“It might if he ever says more than two words to her. Slade’s not the talkative type.”
“That’s okay,” she said with a grin. “Val is. She’ll have his life story out of him before he can blink.”
“Now, that would be worth paying to see. He’s been here two months and none of us knows more than his rodeo history and his way with horses.”
“We could sneak around back and watch,” Laurie suggested, gazing wistfully in that direction.
“Oh, no, you don’t. We belong inside, and inside is where we’re going.” He captured her hand in his and found it icy cold. “Still nervous?”
“Wouldn’t you be if you had to face the inquisition I do?”
“I do have to face the inquisition you do,” he reminded her. “I’m not off the hook here, sweetheart. I do know one thing that might take your mind off of it, though.”
“What’s that?” she asked suspiciously.
“This.”
He lowered his head and settled his mouth across hers. If the kiss earlier had stirred temptation, this one set off skyrockets. Nothing on earth could fire his blood the way the simple touch of Laurie’s lips could. The woman’s mouth was magic, soft as satin and clever as the dickens. She could turn a nothing little kiss into pure sin.
By the time the kiss ended, he was sucking in great gulps of air and trying to ease the pressure of denim on a very sensitive part of his anatomy. Every shift in movement, though, was torture.
“I want you so bad, my whole body aches with it,” he murmured against her ear as he held her loosely in his arms. “Maybe we could sneak away to my place.”
“Not five seconds ago you were insisting we had to go inside,” she reminded him.
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I remembered what it was like to feel you up against me. You could drive a man crazy.”
“And that’s a good thing?” she asked doubtfully.
“Oh, yeah, that is a very good thing.”
“You were singing a different tune when you showed up in Montana. Chasing after me drove you crazy, and you weren’t one bit happy about that.”
“We’re talking about two very different things here.”
“Lust being one,” she guessed. “And the other?”
“Life, love, getting along, whatever you want to call it.”
She nodded. “I think I get it now.” With that she poked him sharply in the ribs. “And I do not like it, Harlan Patrick. You’re saying I make you crazy physically, so you want to sleep with me, but beyond that, I just plain drive you crazy.”
“More or less,” he admitted, gingerly rubbing the spot she’d punched. “Did you want me to lie about it?”