Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,64
left. He had to know the whole truth before it was splashed across the front page of every newspaper in the country. Keeping it from him now was out of the question.
When she’d hung up, she explained everything to Emma.
“You’re doing the right thing,” she assured Lauren. “Now get home and tell Wade.” She grinned. “Maybe you can even talk him into going with you. With a man that gorgeous by your side, no one would ever question why you decided to walk away from Hollywood. Besides, everybody loves a great romance. You ought to know. You starred in enough of them.”
Unfortunately, when Lauren got back to the ranch, Karen greeted her with more bad news.
“Grady and Wade had to ride up into the hills,” she explained. “Some of our herd broke through a fence up there, and they’re trying to round them up. I’m not expecting them back tonight. I would have gone with them, but somebody had to stay here to take care of the horses.”
“That and the fact that Grady wouldn’t let you go,” Lauren guessed.
“Well, he did mount a pretty strenuous case against it,” Karen admitted. “I decided to let him win this one, because someone did need to stay behind.”
“What about me?”
“I knew the second I talked to Jason that there was a good chance you’d have to go to Los Angeles to settle this media frenzy that had him so worked up.”
“That could have waited.”
“No,” Karen insisted. “Better to get it over with before you have photographers crawling all over Winding River. How long could it be before one of them decided to check out your hometown?”
“You’re right. I’d better get upstairs and pack. Maybe I’ll fly out tonight, so I’ll have a little time to meet with my publicist before tomorrow’s press conference. Are you sure Wade and Grady won’t get back tonight?”
“Not without a miracle.”
Lauren called the local airport and made arrangements to charter the same plane she’d used before to fly her in and out of Winding River. She would call her publicist from the plane.
When she was ready to leave, she hugged Karen tightly. “Please, whatever you do, keep Wade away from newspapers and the TV tomorrow. I have to explain all of this to him myself.”
“I’ll do my best,” Karen promised. She tucked a finger under Lauren’s chin. “Remember, chin up. Fighting spirit. And once this is over, you can put it all behind you once and for all—if that’s what you want.”
“It is,” Lauren said fervently. She just prayed it would go according to plan and that she’d still have the man she loved to come home to when it was over.
By the time Wade and Grady made it back to the ranch two days later, they were exhausted, sweaty and filthy. All Wade wanted was a long shower, some halfway decent food and a good night’s sleep. A couple of sweet kisses from Lauren wouldn’t be such a bad thing either, he thought with a burst of anticipation as he unsaddled his horse and headed for his house. He doubted if he could handle anything more intense right about now.
“Come on up for some food before you head to bed,” Grady told him. “I imagine Lauren will be around.” He grinned. “In case that’s an incentive.”
“Oh, it is,” Wade confirmed.
He’d actually missed her the last couple of days. Never before, with the exception of his mother, had he had ties to anyone that ran deep enough for him to care whether he saw them from one minute to the next or not. Phone calls satisfied his need to be in touch with his mother, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough with Lauren. In fact, now he knew with certainty that he couldn’t go for long without catching a glimpse of her, without holding her in his arms.
He rushed through his shower, pulled on clean clothes and hurried up to the main house. Karen greeted him with a smile.
“You must be starved. I’ve got breakfast almost ready. Have a seat. Grady should be back down any minute.”
He glanced around, but there was no sign of Lauren. “Where’s Lauren?” he asked, not giving two hoots if he appeared overly anxious. Everyone in this house seemed to know where things stood between them anyway.
A flash of something that might have been guilt tracked across Karen’s face. “She had to go out of town unexpectedly.”
Wade’s gut began to churn. “When?”
“The same day you and Grady took off to round up the