narrowed. He wasn’t sure he liked where this was heading. Justin had always been very sneaky about tricking him into hard work, then taking off for parts unknown. “Exactly what does that have to do with me?” he asked suspiciously.
“We need labor. We need a strong back and lots of sweat. We want to do this ourselves.”
“Excuse me, but I see a slight contradiction here. If you want to build this all by your little lonesomes, why am I involved?”
“Because Patsy’s pregnant, in case you haven’t noticed. She might be able to hold a hammer, but it’s doubtful she could get close enough to actually hit a nail.”
“You’d better not let her hear you say that,” Harlan Patrick warned. “I’m told women are very sensitive on the subject of their waistlines, especially this late in a pregnancy. Besides, she won’t be pregnant forever. Isn’t the baby due any minute now?”
“True, but I’d like to have the frame of the house up as a surprise on the day we bring the baby home from the hospital.”
“Maybe you ought to go for walls, too, or were you intending to sell her on the idea of open-air living?”
“Very funny. I’m not planning on making her live there yet. I just want to show her it’s under way. Can I count on you?”
In exchange for a future with Laurie? He didn’t even hesitate. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours a day as soon as I get Laurie up to Ohio.” He regarded Justin evenly. “What about you, then? Can I count on you?”
Justin grinned. “Was there ever any doubt? I’m a cop. Nobody loves a good mystery more than me.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“Oh, yeah, and I intend to start collecting first thing tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? I was thinking of spending one day in Ohio before I came back.”
“Tomorrow,” Justin repeated. “I can’t count on this baby waiting around much longer. Patsy looks as if she’s about to pop.”
“I’ll be back tonight,” Harlan Patrick agreed with regret. He’d hoped for a long night with Laurie back in his arms. Maybe this was just as well, though. When they were together the next time, he wanted her full attention and he seriously doubted he would have it until she’d finally found her daddy.
* * *
Laurie was startled when they got to her hotel in Columbus and Harlan Patrick stayed outside the room, rather than following her inside. She’d also been a bit bemused by his lack of persistence when it came to keeping Amy Lynn with him for the next couple of weeks, but she’d been so grateful that she hadn’t questioned that.
“You’re not coming in?”
He shook his head. “I’ve got to get right back to Texas.”
“But I thought—”
“I’ll be back before you know it, darlin’.”
Conflicting emotions tore through her. She’d expected him to stay, to plague her about coming home, to be in her face for the next two weeks. It should have been a relief to know that he was leaving. It wasn’t. He was standing right next to her, and already she felt alone and abandoned.
“Why?” she asked, because she’d never gotten a chance to ask another man that very question. “Why are you leaving?”
“You’re going to be very busy the next couple of weeks, and I have some things to do. You won’t even have time to miss me.”
She missed him already.
He tilted her chin up. “I will be back. I promised Justin I’d help him with something, a surprise for Patsy. It’ll take a few days, maybe a week or two.”
“Fine. You do what you have to do,” she said finally, ungraciously.
He chuckled. “A man could almost get the idea that you’re not anxious to see me leave.”
She drew herself up and resorted to her haughtiest demeanor. “Don’t be silly. I never wanted you trailing after me in the first place.”
“When did you change your mind?” he asked, bending closer. “Was it when I did this?”
His mouth settled over hers, and his tongue slid between her lips. Laurie eased into the kiss as naturally as breathing.
“Or this?” he inquired, his hand doing a slow sweep over her hip before finally coming to rest just below her breast.
Her pulse raced.
He leaned back and gazed into her eyes. His own eyes were the deep, mysterious blue of dawn with the promise of excitement to come. His hand closed over her breast, and his thumb scraped over the nipple until she gasped with the wicked sweetness of the sensation.