by Kristi Gold
When Logan’s phone beeped, he took the cell out of his back pocket and swiped the screen. “The driver’s here.”
“Then I guess you better go.” She sounded disappointed, even to her own ears.
He pocketed his wallet then unrolled his sleeves. “Do you have a pen and paper handy so I can give you my info?”
Hannah withdrew a pencil from the tin container on the counter and tore a piece of paper from the nearby notepad. “Here you go, but don’t forget, I already have your card.”
He turned his back and began jotting something down. “Yeah, but you don’t have my home address.”
She swallowed hard. “Why would I need that?”
He faced her again, caught her hand and placed the card in her palm. “In case you change your mind and decide to spend a few days as my guest in Cheyenne.”
Oh, how tempting that would be. But... “I would have to ask my friend Gina if Cassie could stay with her. And I’d have to suspend my job search, even though that’s not going anywhere right now.” Funny, she sounded as if she was actually considering it.
He took a brief look around before he leaned over and brushed a kiss across her lips. “If you do decide to come, don’t worry about calling. Just surprise me and show up.”
With that, he strode through the living room and out the door, leaving Hannah standing in the kitchen in a semi-stupor until reality finally set in. Then she snatched up the cordless phone and pounded out a number on her way to the bedroom, where she closed the door. As soon as she heard the familiar hello, she said the only thing she could think to say.
“Help!”
* * *
“He wants you to do what?”
Sitting in a high-back stool at the granite island in her best friend’s kitchen, Hannah was taken aback by Gina Romero’s strong reaction to her declaration. Normally the woman rode her mercilessly about finding a man. “I’ll speak more slowly this time. He wants me to go to Cheyenne for a few days and investigate the possibility that the man I’m inheriting from might be my biological father.” She sure as heck wasn’t going to reveal that inheritance was basically a fortune.
Gina swept one hand through her bobbed blond hair and narrowed her blue eyes. “Is that all he wants to investigate?”
Hannah would swear her face had morphed into a furnace. “Don’t be ridiculous, Gina.”
“Don’t be naive, Hannah.”
“I’m not being naive.” Even if she wasn’t being completely truthful. “He really is trying to help me.”
Gina handed her eight-month-old son, Trey, another cracker when he began to squirm in the nearby high chair. “So tell me what’s so special about this mystery attorney who wants to help you.”
That could take hours. “Well, he’s fairly tall, has dark hair and light brown eyes. Oh, and he has incredible dimples.”
Gina gave her a good eye-rolling, the second Hannah had received today. “Okay. So he’s a hunk, but does he have anything else to back that up?”
“As a matter of fact, he does. He’s a full partner in a very prestigious law firm in Cheyenne.”
“How’s his butt?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
The memory brought about Hannah’s smile. “Stellar.”
“Well, then, why aren’t you home packing?”
“You’d think that would be enough, but I still have quite a few reservations.”
“Unless you’re lying and he’s really in his eighties and drives a Studebaker, you should go for it.”
“He’s thirty-eight and drives a Mercedes. But he’s also childless and divorced.”
“Not everyone who’s divorced is an ogre, Hannah,” Gina said. “You can’t judge him by your experience with that Henry what’s-his-name you went out with for a while.”
Gina could have gone all year without mentioning that jerk. “I only went out with him twice. But you know I worry when I meet a man who couldn’t make his marriage work.”
Gina frowned. “There are all sorts of reasons why marriages don’t work, and it might not have even been his fault.”
She couldn’t argue that point since she had no details about Logan’s divorce. “But what if it was his fault? What if he has some horrible habits that can’t be overlooked?” Or worse, what if he cheated on his wife?
When the baby began to fuss, Gina rifled through the box of crackers and handed another one to her son. “Tell me, did this attorney do anything weird at dinner like that Henry guy you dated? Did he pick his teeth and belch? Or did he try to unsnap your bra when you hugged him good-night?”
“I didn’t hug him good-night.”
“Too bad.”
“But I did kiss him.”
Gina slapped her palm on the table, sending the baby into a fit of giggles. “You’ve been sitting here for ten minutes and you’re just now telling me this?”
“It was a mistake.” A huge one. “I had a couple of drinks and I guess it stripped me of all my inhibitions.”
Gina sent her a sly look. “Question is, did you strip following the kiss?”
Heaven forbid. “Of course not. I just met the guy and I’m not that stupid.”
“Yet you’re considering going away with him,” Gina said, adding a suspicious stare.
“I wouldn’t be going away with him. I’d be staying at his house, which is very big, according to Logan.”
“Wonder if his house is the only thing that’s big.”
Hannah playfully slapped at Gina’s arm. “Stop it. This has to do with filling in the missing pieces of my family history, not getting friendly with Logan.”
“Sure it does, Hannah. Just keep telling yourself that and you might start to believe it.”
Leave it to Gina to see right through her ruse. “So what if I am attracted to him? Is there anything wrong with that?”
Gina made a one-handed catch of Trey’s cracker when he tossed it at her. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s about time you start living again, girlfriend.”
Same song, fiftieth verse. “I have been living, girlfriend. I’ve finished school and raised my daughter and I’m about to start a new career.”
“Don’t forget you cared for your ungrateful mother during the final months of her illness.” Gina reached across the island and laid a palm on Hannah’s forearm. “What you’ve done for your family since Danny’s death is admirable. Heck, I’m not sure I could do the same thing if something happened to Frank. But now you need to do something for yourself.”
Hannah still harbored several concerns. “What if I make this trip, decide that he’s someone I want to spend a lot more time with and end up getting hurt?”
“That will happen only if you let him hurt you.”
“True, but you have no idea how I felt being around him last night. I could barely think.”
“Chemistry will cloud your mind every time.”
Chemistry she could handle. “I’m worried it’s more than that, Gina. I wish I could explain it.” How could she when she couldn’t explain it to herself? “I sense he really is a compassionate person, and maybe he’s had some hard times during his life, too.”
Gina took Trey from the high chair, placed him in the playpen and then signaled Hannah to join her in the adjacent den. She sat on the sofa and patted the space beside her. “Come here and let’s have a heart-to-heart.”
Hannah claimed her spot on the couch and prepared for a friendly lecture. “Bestow me with your sage advice, oh, wise one.”
Gina sent her a smile. “Look, while we were growing up, you always walked the straight and narrow, always striving to be the best cheerleader, best student and an all-around good girl.”
She bristled over her friend’s words. “And what was wrong with that?”
“Because you did all those things to please your mother, and it never seemed to matter. Then you married Danny at the ripe old age of twenty. You worked hard to please him by quitting college so he could go to trade school when his parents cut him off because he married you.”
She could feel her blood pressure begin to rise. “I loved Danny with all my heart and he loved me.”
“Yes, he did, and he appreciated your efforts, unlike Ruth. But don’t you think it’s time you have a little adventure?”
Adventure had been a word sorely missing from her vocabulary. “Maybe you’re right, but what do I do about Cassie?”
Gina looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I can’t count the times you’ve kept Michaela when Frank and I went out of town for a long weekend, including the one when I got pregnant with Trey. It’s way past time for me to return the favor and watch Cassie for however long it takes for you to thoroughly investigate the attorney.”
Hannah couldn’t stop the flow of sexy, forbidden thoughts streaming through her imagination, until reality came calling once more. “But you’re going to be saddled with two giggling girls and a baby. That doesn’t seem fair.”
Gina stood and began picking up the toys bouncing across the hardwood floors while Trey kept hurling more over the side of the playpen. “I’m used to this little guy’s antics, and the girls will be in school during the day. Unless you plan to be gone until they reach puberty, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“If I do go—” and that was a major if “—I only plan to stay a couple of days. A week, tops. But you’re still going to have to deal with them at night, not to mention you have a husband to care for and—”
Gina held up a finger to silence her. “Frank has been trained well. And besides, he’s been talking about trying for another kid next year. I might as well get in some practice before he knocks me up a third time.”
The sound of those giggling girls grew closer and reached a crescendo as one red-headed ball of fire and one petite, brown-haired follower rushed into the room dressed in too-big formal attire, their faces showing the signs of a makeup attack.
“Aren’t we pretty, Mama?” Cassie asked as she spun around in the red sequined strapless grown.
“Very,” Hannah lied when she caught sight of the charcoal smudges outlining her daughter’s eyes. “But did you have permission to raid Gina’s closet?”
“Those came out of my cedar chest, Hannah,” Gina said. “Cassie’s wearing my prom dress and Michaela’s wearing yours, in case you didn’t recognize it.”
Hannah did recognize the black silk gown all right, but she didn’t remember giving it to her friend. “What are you doing with it?”
Gina looked somewhat chagrined. “I borrowed it and forgot to give it back.”
Michaela’s grin looked as lopsided as her high ponytail, thanks to the scarlet lipstick running askew from her mouth. “Can I keep it, Hannah?”
“Yes, honey, you most certainly can.” The terrible memories of her part-octopus prom date, Ryan, were still attached to the gown, so no great loss.
“Do you have something you’d like to ask your daughter, Hannah?” Gina inquired.
Hannah supposed it wouldn’t hurt to get Cassie’s reaction to the possibility of her traveling to Cheyenne. “Sweetie, if I decided to take a trip out of town for a few days, would you mind staying here with Michaela and Gina?”
Cassie ran right out of her oversized high heels and practically tackled Hannah with a voracious hug. “I want to stay, Mama! When are you going?”
Good question. She pulled Cassie into her lap and planted a kiss on her makeup-caked cheek. “I’m not sure yet. Maybe tonight, but probably tomorrow.”
Cassie looked crestfallen. “Go tonight, please. Me and Mickey want to have a wedding. Gina said we could use her dress.”
Hannah glanced at Gina. “You said that?”
“Yes, I did. But they’ve been forewarned that the groom will either be a stuffed animal or the baby brother, no boys from the neighborhood.”
Cassie came to her feet and gave Hannah a hopeful look. “So can I stay, Mama? I’ll be good and I’ll help Mickey clean her room and I’ll go to bed when I’m told.”
Hannah couldn’t in good conscience make a promise she might not keep. “We’ll see. Right now you need to wash that purple eye shadow off your lids and go for something a little more subtle, like a nice beige. But before you do that, I want to take a picture.”
While she fished her cell phone from her pocket, the girls struck a pose and put on their best grins. And as soon as she snapped the photo, the pair took off down the hall, sounds of sheer excitement echoing throughout the house.
She then noticed the blinking blue light indicating she’d received a text. And she couldn’t be more surprised when she noted the message’s sender. “Speak of the sexy devil.”
Gina moved close to her side. “Devil as in the attorney?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“‘Dinner should be ready around seven. Italian. I also have a good bottle of wine. The only thing missing is you.’”
“Now I’m worried,” Gina said.
Hannah pocketed the phone and stared at her friend. “You have something against Italian food?”
“I’m part Italian, silly. No, I’m worried because the devil didn’t mention good sex.”
She elbowed Gina in the side. “Would you please get off the sex thing? We have two impressionable, minor children in the house and they hear everything within a fifty-mile radius.”
Gina pushed off the sofa and picked up the whimpering baby. “Come on, Hannah. Put on your big-girl panties and get with the program.”
Something suddenly dawned on her. “Oh, my gosh, all I have are big-girl panties. Not a sexy pair in the drawer.”
Her friend claimed the rocker across from the sofa and positioned the baby on her shoulder. “It’s not even close to noon yet, so you have a few hours left to remedy that. Have you used the department-store gift card I gave you on your birthday?”
She was somewhat ashamed she’d held on to it for three months. “No, but before you get your big-girl panties in a wad, I’ve been too busy to shop.”
“You better get busy if you want to be in Cheyenne by sundown,” Gina said as she set the rocker in motion and rubbed her sleepy son’s back.
A barrage of memories assaulted Hannah, recollections of a time when she’d rocked her baby girl, plagued with emotions that ran the gamut from bliss to utter sadness that her daughter’s father would never know those precious moments. She secretly longed to have another child someday, and to be able to share that with a special someone. She suspected Logan Whittaker might not be the one to fulfill that dream.
“What’s wrong now, Hannah?”
She looked at Gina through misty eyes. “Nothing really. Just remembering when Cassie was a baby, I guess. Time has a way of zipping by before you even realize it’s gone.”
“True, and time’s a wastin’ for you,” Gina said. “Go shopping and buy those sexy panties along with a few nice outfits. Then go home and pack and get thee to Cheyenne.”
If only it were that easy. “Do you really think this is the right thing to do?”
Gina sighed. “I think you’ll never know unless you try, so just stop thinking and do it.”
Her best friend was right. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that jazz.
She might live to regret the decision, but darned if she wasn’t actually going to do it.
Four
Never in a million years had Logan believed she’d actually do it. But there Hannah stood on his threshold, wearing a fitted, long-sleeved blue silk blouse covering tapered jeans, a small silver purse clutched in her hands. Talk about feeling underdressed in his faded navy T-
shirt, tattered jeans and rough-out work boots. She’d parked her car beneath the portico and set two bags at her feet, which sported some deadly black heels, causing Logan to think questionable thoughts he shouldn’t be thinking before she even made it into the house.
“You’re here,” he said, slight shock in his tone.
“I guess I should have called,” she replied, clear concern in her voice.
“I told you to surprise me.”
“Yes, but you looked absolutely stunned when you opened the door.”
He grinned. “I thought you were the maid.”
Fortunately she returned his smile. “I suppose we’re going to have to work on that mistaken identity thing.”
He personally would have to work on resisting the urge to kiss her at every turn. “We can do that after dinner.”
“As long as I don’t have to cook, it’s a deal.”
After grabbing Hannah’s bags, Logan stepped aside and nodded toward the open door. “Come inside and make yourself at home.”
The minute she entered the house, Hannah’s gaze traveled upward toward the two-story foyer flanked by twin staircases with modern black banisters. “Wow. This is amazing.”
He’d pretty much taken the view for granted and enjoyed seeing it through her eyes. “Yeah, it’s impressive. But overall the place is more comfortable than elaborate.”
She shot him a cynical look. “It’s practically a mansion.”
He started up the wood-covered stairs to the right. “I’ll show you to your room before I give you the grand tour.”
Hannah followed behind him to the second floor, where Logan stopped at the landing, allowing her to move in front of him for a purely selfish, and very male reason—to check out her butt. “Just go right and keeping walking until you reach the end of the hall.”
She paused to peer inside the first of the three spare bedrooms. “Very nicely appointed. I really like the navy stripes mixed with yellows.”
A color pallet he wouldn’t have personally chosen, but if it worked for her, it worked for him. “The house was basically move-in ready. You can thank my decorator for the finishing touches. That’s definitely not my thing.”