“Looks that way,” he agreed.
“If I had to guess, I’d say she has a hot date,” Karen noted, surveying Lauren intently.
“I’m wearing old jeans and a T-shirt. Why would you think that?” Lauren demanded, totally perplexed by the assumption. “There is nothing remotely ‘hot’ about this outfit.”
“Maybe not on the average woman, but on you?” Grady said. “I’ve got to go with Karen on this one.”
Lauren frowned at him. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, I’m running over to grab a quick bite with Wade. That’s it. No mystery. No big romance. Just dinner.”
Grady’s eyebrows rose. “At his place?”
“Yes, why not? Is that some sort of big deal?”
Karen grinned and rolled her eyes. “She’s going to a man’s place and he’s cooking, and she wants to know if it’s a big deal? Girl, you have been out of circulation too long. It is a very big deal.”
“He’s fixing an omelette, not serving caviar and champagne,” Lauren retorted irritably.
Grady suddenly looked worried. “Lauren, is that what it’s going to take to impress you? Caviar and champagne? I don’t think Wade’s that kind of guy.”
“He’s not, thank heavens,” she agreed fervently. “Now if you two will stop hovering, I can go over there before dinner’s ruined.”
“Seems anxious,” Karen teased.
“Very anxious,” Grady agreed.
“You know, as two people who spend every spare second sneaking off to their bedroom, you may not have the best qualifications to act like a couple of nosy chaperons,” Lauren pointed out. “If you’re not careful, Wade and I might decide to keep you company every single evening from here on out.”
Grady wrapped his arms around Karen’s waist from behind. “Let her go,” he said at once.
Karen laughed. “By all means.”
Lauren darted out the front door, pretending that she didn’t hear the hoots of laughter that followed her. That was the trouble with two people knowing her as well as Grady and Karen did—they thought they could get away with anything. After all, she had popped up repeatedly during their courtship. One of these days, though, Lauren was going to get even with them for tonight. She just had to come up with a plan diabolical enough. Maybe the rest of the Calamity Janes would help—although more than likely they’d be on Karen and Grady’s side. They were all born meddlers. Heck, she’d been one herself up till now.
As Lauren neared Wade’s house, her footsteps slowed. Memories of the heat she and Wade had generated earlier in the barn flushed her skin. Was she expecting a repeat of that tonight? Hoping for it?
“Dinner’s going to be burned if you stand out there too much longer.”
Wade’s voice carried on the still night air, startling her. She could barely see him in the shadows, his feet propped on the porch railing.
“Sorry, I got sidetracked by Grady and Karen,” she muttered as she joined him.
“Which doesn’t explain why you were just standing out here,” he teased. “Scared to come inside?”
The accurate accusation grated. A flash of temper came and went in a heartbeat. “That just makes me smart,” she said.
“Oh? How so?”
She forced herself to meet his gaze without blinking. “Because of what happened in the barn a little while ago. We agreed we were going a little too fast. Now here we are alone together again, with all that energy still charging around in the atmosphere.”
He grinned. “Then it is still charging around for you, too? I was afraid it was just me. I took the coldest shower I’ve ever taken in my life, and then you waltz across the yard and I’m so hot I could haul you straight off to bed right now.”
Lauren swallowed hard at the temptation that shot through her. “We had a deal,” she reminded him.
He sighed heavily. “I was afraid you were going to bring that up. Leave it to you to test a man’s honor. Oh, well, come on inside and let’s eat. We’ll have a pleasant, quiet dinner and then discuss the rest.”
She grinned despite herself. “You, a man of action, intend to discuss whether or not we have sex?”
“Hey, I’m a reasonable guy. I’m willing to look at all sides of the issue.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
When he led the way inside, carefully keeping his hands to himself, Lauren looked around curiously. It was a typical, simply decorated ranch outbuilding—a cottage, really—with masculine colors and a few oversize pieces of furniture suited to big men. The only personal touch she could see was a small framed picture of a woman, her arms wrapped around the waist of a grinning boy. There was no mistaking that the boy was a younger version of Wade.
“Is this your mother?” she asked him.
He glanced at the picture, then nodded.
“She’s beautiful.”
The comment seemed to startle him. “Yeah, I suppose she is.”
“What about your father?” she asked, then saw at once that it was the wrong thing to bring up. His jaw clenched visibly at the mention of his father, and his hands bunched into fists.
“Never knew him,” he said tersely. “It was just my mother and me.” He turned away and began cooking the diced onions and peppers in the omelette pan on the stove. He focused so hard on his actions, Lauren was surprised all the circuits in his brain didn’t burn up.
“I’m sorry,” she said, hoping to smooth things over.
“Nothing to be sorry for. It’s just the way it was,” he said, his grim expression belying the casual tone. “We did okay.”
“Where is your mother now?”
“Still working at the same bar in Billings.”
Lauren debated her next question, then decided to ask anyway. She needed to know what made Wade tick, and the only way to get to the truth was to push the boundaries, even when the topic clearly made him uncomfortable. “Is that where she met your father?”
He turned and scowled at her. “Why do you care about this?”
“Because you’re not
