When the phone in his cheap motel room rang, he stared at it. “What the hell?” No one knew where he was. No one who mattered, anyway. With the kind of pickup work he was doing these days, he answered to no one. Nobody kept track of his whereabouts.
His mental dismissal didn’t seem to stop the ringing. It went on and on until he finally yanked up the receiver just to stop the noise.
“Yeah, what?”
“Gracious as ever, I see,” Grady Blackhawk said.
Wade was stunned. He’d deliberately not gotten in touch with Grady because he’d feared the other man would reveal his location to Lauren. Stubborn as she was, she might come after him out of some sense of obligation, and he knew that he didn’t have the strength to resist her if she did. Maybe in a few months he would, but not yet.
“What the hell do you want?” he asked curtly.
“I want you to come back.”
“Not an option,” Wade said.
“Lauren’s gone.”
“So what?” he asked, though for some reason his heart ached at the news. She had gone back to Hollywood, after all, just as he’d predicted.
It didn’t surprise him. That sudden trip she’d taken to Los Angeles had clearly been the handwriting on the wall. The lark was over. Once she was back in the spotlight, evidently she’d decided it suited her better than a ranch in Wyoming.
“Thought it might make it easier for you to say yes, if you knew that,” Grady said, as if he’d been dangling a tasty carrot in front of Midnight.
“It doesn’t matter,” Wade lied.
“Can’t face the memories?” Grady inquired, hitting the nail on the head. “Maybe that should tell you something.”
“All it tells me is that I made the worst mistake of my life when I thought I’d be enough for her. In fact, she’s probably enjoying herself back in Hollywood now, laughing over her brief romance with a small-town cowboy. It’ll make a great anecdote for her next TV interview.”
He’d caught one of those interviews on the night he’d first left town. She’d looked so gorgeous, so composed and glamorous, he’d simply stared at the screen, fascinated and sick at heart.
“Lauren would never demean what the two of you shared that way,” Grady chided. “And if you weren’t being an idiot, you’d know that. She loved you.”
“Let’s not even go there,” Wade warned. “If I’m even going to consider what you’re asking, we have to agree that the topic of Lauren is off limits.”
“Fine. Whatever,” Grady retorted. “Just don’t let your damn stubbornness and pride keep you from doing what you know you want to do. I’ve got a job with your name on it. Come back, Wade.”
Then the sneaky, conniving, son of a bitch added, “The baby’s due soon. We really need all the extra help around here we can get.”
Wade felt the knot in his stomach ease. He’d been looking forward to the baby’s arrival almost as much as Grady and his grandfather, Thomas Blackhawk, had. The news had been a turning point for Wade. It had kicked off the start of his own dreams for the future.
“Your grandfather must be over the moon by now. Is he driving you crazy?” he asked.
“He’s been hovering the last couple of weeks. He thinks the whole thing was all his idea. I might have to fight him to get to be in the delivery room,” Grady confirmed. “So, anyway, you can see that Karen’s going to be out of commission for a while. Help me out.”
Grady was right, Wade thought. Why shouldn’t he go back if Lauren wasn’t there? She probably wouldn’t show her face until the next class reunion in another eight or nine years, and by then surely his heart would be completely healed. Working for Grady had been the best setup he’d ever had even before Lauren had set foot on the ranch. Why should he sacrifice that just because the fool woman had broken his heart?
“Will Karen be able to keep her nose out of this? I don’t want her pestering me about Lauren.”
“She won’t say a word,” Grady promised.
“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Wade uttered a little sigh of resignation. “I’ll be there as soon as I can get there.” He paused, suddenly thoughtful. “How did you find me, anyway?”
“Does it matter?” Grady asked, sounding evasive. “All that counts is the fact that you’re coming back where you belong.”
Yeah, maybe. But it remained to be seen if he could bear being there without Lauren.
Wade had been back for two weeks now, and aside from enduring speculative looks from both Grady and Karen, it hadn’t been so bad. Images of Lauren only popped into his head every hour or so.
He’d been stunned to discover that Grady had sold Midnight and their other horses, but he’d explained that the new owner had made him an offer too good to turn down. And without Wade or Lauren there to train the still-fractious stallion, Grady had seen no point in holding out. He’d handed Wade a sizable check for his share and assured him they could start looking for a new stallion and some broodmares whenever Wade was ready.
“It could be a while,” Wade told him. He just didn’t have the heart for it right now. That dream and marrying Lauren had gotten all twisted up together in his head. It was too soon to consider following through with one without having the other.
Grady frowned at the response. “Why wait? At least take a ride over to the Grigsby place this morning,” he suggested over breakfast. “There’s a horse over there I’d like you to take a look at. He sounds too good to pass up.”
“What’s the rush?” Wade asked, regarding him with puzzlement. “You obviously weren’t that anxious
