The expression on his face turned rueful. “Oh, yeah. I’ll be back. If there’s one thing that’s become crystal clear to me since I met you, it’s that I’ll never be able to stay away. You can count on it.”
She pulled herself together. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as he headed for the door. “Then that’s what I’ll do,” she said. He turned at her softly spoken words and her gaze locked with his as she added, “I’ll count on it.”
She didn’t stop to analyze where it would lead, this counting on Cord. All she knew was that at this moment, with so much uncertainty in her life, relying on him was as natural as breathing.
* * *
What the hell was wrong with him? Cord wondered as he sought out a place to get a drink and a grip on his rampaging hormones. He had almost made a costly mistake. He had almost seduced Sharon Lynn into making love with him. For a few incredible moments, he had known what it was like to caress her skin, to feel her tremble in his arms. As lost as they’d both been on a sea of sensations, it wouldn’t have taken much to carry them the rest of the way. She’d wanted it, too, wanted it every bit as badly as he had. He’d seen that much in her crushed expression when he’d pulled away.
But it would have been wrong, he reminded himself, a temporary bliss at best. She would never have forgiven him or herself.
No, when he finally—and inevitably—made love to Sharon Lynn, it would be when she wasn’t feeling so lost and alone that she reached for him in despair. It would be when she wanted him and him alone, beyond reason, and because she could no longer be without him. He had to reassure himself over and over that that time would come. Otherwise, he truly would have cursed tonight’s lost opportunity.
He gravitated toward the Italian restaurant, where he could order a pizza and a beer and hope that the two combined would satiate at least one of his hungers. The other was a lost cause, at least for now.
He was halfway through his beer and about to take his first bite of pizza, when Harlan Patrick turned up, looking every bit as down in the mouth as Cord felt.
Cord gestured toward the opposite side of the booth. “Have a seat.”
Harlan Patrick managed a halfhearted grin and slid in. “I’m surprised to find you in here.”
“Why is that?”
“The family hotline is burning up with the news about Hazel Murdock being Ashley’s grandma. I figured you’d be with Sharon Lynn.”
“I was.”
Harlan Patrick regarded him speculatively. “She throw you out?”
Cord grinned. “No. Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Then that brings us right back to where we started. What are you doing here?”
“Taking a time-out.”
The response drew a knowing chuckle. “Being honorable is the pits, isn’t it? I used to follow that path with Laurie and look where it got me.”
“It sure as hell doesn’t keep you warm at night, that’s for sure,” Cord acknowledged.
“Of course,” Harlan Patrick added thoughtfully, “in this case, it can also prevent you being run down by a whole slew of gun-toting Adams men.”
“Something I never considered,” Cord confessed.
“Really?”
“Not even once.”
“Then this was all about doing what’s best for Sharon Lynn?”
Cord shrugged. “Could be.”
“Fascinating.” He shook his head and gave Cord a sympathetic look. “You’re a goner, man.”
“Could be.”
Before Harlan Patrick could explore that, which he certainly seemed eager to do, Justin strolled in looking every bit as glum as the two of them. He nudged his cousin over and slid in beside him.
“Well, that was fun,” he said, ordering his own beer.
“How’d Hazel Murdock take the news?” Cord asked.
“About like you’d expect. She grumbled about her tramp of a daughter, moaned a little about fate, then vowed to do her duty by the poor little tyke.”
“Do you think she’ll turn up?”
“Oh, yeah,” Justin said. “Especially now that she’s aware that her precious grandbaby is living with an Adams. Big mistake on my part.”
Cord’s pulse began to thud dully. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I made the tactical error of mentioning who was caring for the baby,” Justin admitted. “I was hoping to show her that she could rest easy if she decided to leave the baby right where she is.”