“If you have any other alternatives you intend to demonstrate, perhaps we ought to take this inside,” she suggested breathlessly.
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he taunted. “Knowing that you could keep me here and have your way with me?”
Laurie felt a grin spreading across her face. “You bet.” Her smile broadened. “Dare you.”
Before she realized what he intended, he scooped her into his arms, walked into the room and kicked the door shut behind them.
“Darlin’, don’t you know better than to dare a man like me?”
She chuckled at his predictability and at the fire that made his skin burn to her touch. “Got you,” she taunted.
“Oh, no,” he said, heading for the suite’s bedroom. “I’ve got you.”
And in case she had any doubts about that, he spent the next several hours proving it.
It was dawn before he left, sneaking from the bed that smelled of perfume and sex. He bent over to drop a kiss against her cheek.
“I’ll be back before you know it,” he promised. “Unless Justin murders me for being late this morning.”
“Love you,” she told him with a yawn.
“Remember that when you wake up,” he teased, and then he was gone.
Laurie’s eyes flew open at the sound of the door clicking softly closed. “I’ll never forget it again,” she whispered. “Never.”
* * *
Just as he had predicted, that day and the next she was so busy that she hardly had a second to spare. Val had lined up newspaper and television interviews, along with drop-in visits to a couple of country-music radio stations. At night there were her appearances at the Ohio State Fair, where the temperatures were wickedly hot, the air still and muggy. The wildly enthusiastic crowds more than made up for the discomfort.
It was only late at night that Laurie realized that she hadn’t heard a word from Harlan Patrick, but by then it was too late to call and morning brought a new and demanding round of commitments.
From Columbus the tour moved on to Cleveland, then west to Indianapolis, then south to Louisville. She was getting closer to home again, but for some reason she didn’t care to explore too closely the allure of Nashville wasn’t what it once had been. Something inside her knew that that brief visit to Los Piños had reminded her that her real home was in Texas and always would be.
Back in her dressing room after another wildly successful concert, she sorted through the stack of messages Val had left for her, hoping for one from Harlan Patrick. Nothing. She told herself she wasn’t disappointed, but the truth was that she felt let down and scared. It was as if he, too, had vanished from her life.
Val wandered into the dressing room carrying Amy Lynn.
“I thought you were taking her to the hotel,” Laurie said, reaching for her wide-awake daughter.
“Your daughter woke up about an hour ago and started fussing. Nothing I could do seemed to settle her down, so I figured we’d come on over here and see if seeing her mama could help.”
Laurie looked into those wide blue eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, and thought of other blue eyes she’d like to be staring into about now. How had she gone for so long without Harlan Patrick around? Could she ever do it again? She took the baby from Val.
“What’s wrong, darling girl? Are you missing your daddy?”
Amy Lynn stared back at her. “Da?” she said wistfully.
Laurie grinned. “Val, did you hear that? She said her first word. She said, ‘Da.’”
“Are you going to call Harlan Patrick and tell him that?”
“I can’t. It’s nearly midnight. He’s probably been asleep for hours. Ranchers get up at the crack of dawn.”
Val grinned. “Something tells me he wouldn’t mind losing a little sleep for this news. Besides, you’ve been missing him like crazy. Call. Maybe then both you and the little one here would actually get a good night’s rest.”
Laurie thought it over, then nodded. “You’re right.” She reached for the phone and punched in Harlan Patrick’s number. It seemed like an eternity before he answered, his voice thick with sleep.
“Yeah, what?”
Laurie held the phone up to Amy Lynn’s mouth. “Say it,” she whispered. “It’s your daddy.”
Amy Lynn studied the phone quizzically, then said loudly, “Da?”
Laurie heard Harlan Patrick’s hoot even before she put the receiver back to her own ear. “You heard?”
“She said ‘Daddy,’ didn’t she?”
“Close enough,” Laurie agreed. “Isn’t she the most brilliant child on the face of the earth?”