"Palm Beach, and don't ask, okay? It's a long story."
"Listen, man, I just called to tell you Travis is right. Whatever you do, don't let Natalie get away from you."
Gage sighed. "You know, for a couple of freewheeling bachelors, you guys sure are full of advice for the lovelorn."
"You love a woman," Slade said roughly, "you're a fool if you ever let her walk out of your life. Understand?"
"Aren't you the guy who's watched legions of broads march into the sunset?"
"Legions don't count for a damn," Slade said. "It's just one woman, the woman, who matters. A man finds her, he
should have his head examined, if he lets her get away. You got that?"
"I've got it. But you're the last one I'd expect--
"Tell me about it," Slade said, and hung up the phone. Slowly he walked to the window and looked out at the dark street. Lara would be at the airport by now, waiting for the plane that would take her back to Baltimore.
The plane that would take her out of his life, forever.
"Hell," he whispered.
Gage was right. Who was he, to give anybody advice about love? He didn't know a damned thing about it... except, he did. Maybe the Lara he'd loved was nothing but illusion but he had loved her. He'd go on loving her for the rest of his life. The memories of her-of how she'd slept wrapped in his arms each night, of the smile that lit her face each evening as he came through the door-those would fill his lonely nights but they weren't enough. He wanted her. Lara. Warm and real, and in his arms...
"Mr. Baron?"
Slade looked up. Help was standing in the doorway. Her tone was polite but the look on her face said he was the last person on earth she wanted to deal with. Welcome to the club, he thought, and gave her a tight smile.
"What is it, Helga?"
"I wondered if you'd want dinner, sir. It's getting late, and-"
"No." He turned his back to her and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "No dinner, thank you."
"I'm sorry about..." She cleared her throat. "Mrs. Baron said she wouldn't be back."
"That's right."
"Well, then.. .would you want me to call Mr. Elliott for her, sir?"
Slade shut his eyes. He could hear Lara's voice, the sexy laugh, the way she'd purred, "He doesn't suspect a thing... "
"Sir?"
"No," he said, very calmly, "that's all right, Helga. Why don't you just give me his address and I'll-I'll deal with Elliott."
Helga nodded. She dug a business card from her apron pocket, and gave it to Slade. He read it and frowned.
"Elliott and Stefan?" He looked at his housekeeper. "Catering A La Carte?"
"Yes, sir." Helga licked her lips. "Stefan is my nephew. That was why I recommended them to Mrs. Baron."
"I don't-I'm not following this, Helga. You introduced my wife to--to-"
"I suppose it can't do any harm to let you know about it now, sir. The party she was planning, I mean." Helga knotted her hands together. "Well, I don't think you'd call dinner for two a party, but Stefan said he and Elliott would be happy to handle it. Elliott such a nice man, sir-Elliott knows the manager of the hotel, you see, and he said he could-"
"The hotel," Slade said, trying not to grab Helga and shake the story out of her more quickly.
"The one where your wi-where Mrs. Baron booked the suite. For tomorrow night. For your birthday? Oh, she took such care, sir. She asked me the name of your favorite champagne and was there any special dish you... Mr. Baron? Are you all right?"
"No," Slade said in an unsteady voice, "no, I'm not all right. I've got a block of wood where I'm supposed to have a brain, and..."
Why was he wasting time, talking? Slade hurried across the room, paused just long enough to give a shocked Helga a hug and a kiss and raced down the stairs.
He called every airline he could think of on his car phone, on the way to the airport. None would tell him if a Lara Stevens or a Lara Baron had purchased a ticket for a flight to Baltimore.
"Security restrictions," one clerk finally said, when Slade roared out his frustration.
But he learned that only one line had a flight to Baltimore leaving within the next hour. He had no choice but to hope Lara was booked on it.
He didn't even bother trying to find a parking space. Instead he pulled to the curb in front of the departure terminal for East Coast Air.
"Hey," a voice shouted, "you can't leave your car there..."
Slade didn't look back. He ran. He felt as if he were running not just to catch the plane before it left but for his life. Time was slipping through his fingers. What a fool he'd been, not to have told his wife what he should have told her days ago, what he'd tell her now...
If she'd listen.
God, she had to listen.
He raced through the terminal, checking gate numbers as he went, slowing only when he reached the security checkpoint because he knew damned well he'd never get past it if he shouldered the woman ahead of him out of the way. A lunatic was on the loose, the guards would figure, and they'd be right. Only a crazy man would have shut Lara out of his life... and only a crazy man wouldn't have realized she loved him as much as he loved her, and that he could trust her, forever, with his heart.
The way she'd slept in his arms, ever since that night at the lake. The way she'd given herself to him each time they made love. Why had he been so blind? He knew women and yes, he knew sex. And what they'd done together hadn't been sex, it had been something more: it had been a way of saying "I love you" without words.
Where was she? This was the right gate, the right waiting area. So many people. He couldn't see her. Couldn't find her. Couldn't...
Slade's heartbeat stumbled.
There she was. His wife. His beautiful, beloved wife. She was standing at the window, staring out at the night, with Michael, asleep, in her arms. He took a deep breath and thought of all the times in his life when he'd known that what he said next might change the future. The first time he'd stood up to his old man. The time he'd talked his way into college, and then into grad school. Turning points in his life, all of them.. .but nothing, compared to this.
If he lost Lara, he lost everything.
Slowly he started toward her, trying feverishly to work out what he'd say. I made a terrible mistake. Can you forgive me? Will you give me another chance?
But when she swung toward him, as if she'd sensed his presence, and he saw the anguish in her eyes, his apology flew out of his head.
"Lara" His voice broke. "Lara, I love you. I need you. I can't imagine my life without you. I was wrong about everything. Sugar, I'm sorry. I'm so terribly sorry I hurt You..."
His words stumbled to a halt. He'd lost her. He could see it in the way she just stood there, looking at him, her eyes empty of everything but pain.
A cold hand seemed to tighten around his heart.
"I love you," he said softly. "I've loved you all along, ever since that day in Denver. Do you remember? You thought I was just another guy, hitting on you, and maybe I was-but then I kissed you and I was lost."
He paused, waiting for her to speak, but she was still silent. Slade took a deep, deep breath.
"I was afraid to admit it, even to myself. I didn't believe in love, Sugar. I thought it was because of my father, and what I'd seen, growin' up. I was afraid of how defenseless I'd be, if I ever gave away my heart." His mouth curved into a rueful smile. "What I never figured was that I'd meet a woman who'd take my heart, whether I was ready to give it or not." His smile faded. "Darlin', please. Tell me you'll give me another chance. Tell me you'll come home with me, that you'll let me spend my life provin' my love to you."
"You broke my heart tonight," Lara said softly.
Slade clasped her shoulders. Between them, their son sighed in his sleep. "I know I did, darlin'. If I could go back, undo all that-
"I was planning a surprise for your birthday." Her voice trembled. Tears rose in her eyes and turned them into glittering stars. "And then you walked i
n, and I was so happy to see you, and then you said-you said-"
"I was wrong, Sugar. I know there's nobody else for you, the same as there's nobody else for me."
"There never was." Lara looked at him through a spill of tears. "I'm not what you thought, Slade. There's no long line of men in my past. As for what I did in Denver, agreeing to go that hotel with you-"
"It was my doin', sweetheart. I know that. I'm the one who talked you into it. I seduced you."
"I wanted you to."
Her smile was tremulous and teary, but he felt his heart leap with hope.
"Did you?" he said softly.
Lara nodded. "And it wasn't because..." She looked down at their sleeping son, then up at Slade. "It wasn't because I wanted a child. Oh, I did, I wanted a baby.. .but I went with you because of what I felt for you, Slade. I'd never felt that with another man, the sense that I'd-that I'd found a part of myself that had been missing, that now I would be-"
"Complete."
"Yes. Complete."
They stood looking into each other's eyes. After a long moment, Slade clasped Lara's face in his hands. He smoothed his thumbs along her cheeks, stroking away her tears.
"I love you. My heart and my soul are yours. And I want you to marry me."
Lara gave a watery laugh. "Aren't you forgetting something, Mr. Baron? A license? A justice of the peace? A ceremony that took place almost two weeks ago?"
"That doesn't count. We did it for all the wrong reasons." He smiled. "I want you to marry me again, Sugar, this time for all the right reasons. Because we love each other, and because our lives won't be complete without each other." His eyes searched hers. "Will you say yes?"
Lara didn't hesitate. "Yes," she whispered, "oh, Slade, yes-
He kissed her, his mouth gentle on hers.
"We'll do the thing right, darlin'. At Espada, with my whole family lookin' on. Me in a tux, you in a white gown and a veil."
"It sounds wonderful. But you don't have to do this." Lara lifted her hand and lay it against his cheek. "That ceremony in Baltimore-
"It was legal." He grinned, and for the first time in hours, she could see the mischief dancing in his eyes. "Which means, my beautiful wife, that I don't intend to let you out of any of your matrimonial obligations, just 'cause we're gonna do this thing up right in a few weeks."
Lara grinned back at him. "Amazing, how that accent of yours just comes and goes."
They smiled at each other and then their smiles faded. Slade reached out and took Michael gently from Lm-a. He clasped his son in one arm and put the other around his wife.
"Let's go home," he said softly.
Tears of joy blurred Lara's eyes. She rose on her toes and pressed a kiss to her husband's lips. "Yes," she said. "Let's."
* * *
EPILOGUE
THERE had never been a wedding at Espada before.
Marta Baron smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she applied the last touches to her makeup and thought how remarkable it was that things could so quickly change.
Just a little more than a month ago, her stepsons had come home to the ranch under duress. They hadn't said so-they were fine young men and wouldn't have wanted her to know how little they enjoyed returning to Espada-but Marta knew how they felt. And each had been troubled, as well.
She smiled again.
Now, on this brilliant summer afternoon, the house rang with their laughter, as well it should. There was nothing more joyous than a wedding. She said as much to Jonas, when he came up behind her and looked at her in the mirror.
"Isn't it lovely, having such a wonderful celebration at Espada?"
Jonas nodded. "You and Catie did one heck of a job, all right." He took something from his pocket. "Got a little somethin' for you," he said, and looped a diamond-and emerald choker around his wife's throat.
Marta smiled and lay her hand over his. "It's beautiful, Jonas. Thank you."
"Goes real nice with that there gown."
"Yes, it does. Good. I want to look just right. I've never been the stepmother of the groom before."
"You don't look like nobody's stepmother, gorgeous. Why, you don't hardly look old enough to be my wife."
Marta turned around. "And you don't look old enough to be the father of three married men," she said as she tied his bow tie.
Jonas chuckled. "Flatterer."
"Well, it's true." She sighed, gave a last pat to his tie and smiled up at him. "What a happy day this is! Gage and Natalie, back together again-"
"And Natalie with a bun in the oven."
Marta rolled her eyes. "Such a delicate way of putting it, darling, but yes, it's lovely that she's pregnant. And Travis, with a wife-"
"And Slade with not just a bride but a son." Jonas looked past Marta, into the mirror, and smoothed back his hair. "Baby came a little early but what the heck, he's a good looking little guy. Got all the best Baron attributes."
"They're nice girls, Lara and Alexandra. You'd think the two of them, and Natalie, had known each other all their lives." Marta sighed. "Now, if Caitlin would just find a good man, and my daughters, too."
"Hell's bells, woman, you got one weddin' about to take place and here you are, already plannin' more. Give 'em time, why don't you? It'll happen." Jonas turned her to face him. "Now, gimme a kiss, tell me again how I don't look a day over sixty, and then let's go down and greet our guests."
Marta smiled, rose on her toes and wound her slender arms around her husband's neck.
"You don't look a day over thirty," she whispered, and pressed her mouth to his.
Slade stared into the mirror in his old bedroom.
"How do I look?" he said, for the tenth time.
Gage and Travis looked at each other and tried not to laugh.
"Handsome as sin," Travis said solemnly.
"Perfect," Gage said, just as solemnly.
"No, I'm serious. You don't think this collar's too tight?
Or that this tie---"
"You look wonderful," Catie said, peeping into the room around the half-opened door. "Can I come in?"
"And me?" Alexandra said, carrying Michael and following behind Caitlin.
"Me, too," Natalie said, and went straight into Gage's welcoming arms.
Travis smiled at Alex, thought how amazing it was that she'd married him, and drew her into a quiet corner. "Nice," he said softly.
She smiled back at him. "You, too, cowboy. I haven't seen you in a tux in quite a while."
They both smiled at the shared memory of their first meeting and then Travis cleared his throat.
"Actually," he said, "it's the, uh, the accessory I was referring to."
"The what?"
"The accessory." He smiled and touched the baby's nose with his finger. Michael giggled, grabbed his uncle's hand and dragged it into his mouth. "I was thinking... I was thinking how nice it might be if we had a baby."
"Were you?" Alex blushed. "That's good. That you were thinking it, I mean. Because I was thinking it, too."
Travis bent his head and kissed his wife tenderly. "Sweetheart," he whispered.
"Darling Travis..."
"Oh, yuck," Caitlin said, laughing as she snatched her nephew from her sister-in-law's arms. "Come on, Mikey. Let's go find us a corner where everybody isn't standing around being sappy."
She carried the baby out into the garden and took him from guest to guest, smiling as he gurgled and enthralled them all. A little while later, when the chamber orchestra on the lowest level of the waterfall deck began playing, she followed her musical cue and fell into the wedding processional along with both her sisters-in-law.
At the altar, still holding Michael in her arms, surrounded now by her stepbrothers and Marta and Jonas, she felt a catch in her throat when she saw the look on Slade's face as he watched Lara come toward him, radiant in a long, full gown of white lace, her strawberry-blond hair crowned by a coronet of white flowers.
After the ceremony ended and the weddin
g party had gone on to mingle with the guests, Caitlin put her mouth to Michael's ear.
"You see, sweetie?" she whispered. "Your daddy and your mommy love each other so much that it makes me feel good just to look at them. It's the same for your uncles and aunts." Caitlin's voice shook, ever so slightly. "They're all happy, Mikey, because that's what love does for some people. It makes them happy."
"Brrrp, " Michael said, and blew a bubble.
"I agree with you, sweetie. Love-that man and woman stuff-is okay for them but it's not for us. It's just silly. The land. This land. That's all that matters."
"Catie?"
She looked up. "Slade," she said brightly. She kissed him, kissed her new sister-in-law and handed Michael to his father. "It was a beautiful ceremony, you two. Just beautiful.
"Catie," Slade said, "what's wrong?"
"Yeah," a chorus of male voices said. Travis, Gage and Jonas surrounded the little group. "What's the matter with you, girl?" Jonas said gruffly. "Don't tell me you're blubberin' over the sight of two people givin' up their freedom, the way all these other darned-fool women are doin'."
Caitlin shook her head. "It's the sun. It's so bright, it just made my eyes tear, that's all. I'm going to-to get a tissue..."
She rushed away before anyone could stop her.
"Now, what in blazes do you suppose that was all about?" Jonas said to his sons.
"Espada," Gage said. Everyone looked at him. "Don't look at me as if I'm nuts. She was talking to the baby and I overheard her." He shot a pointed look at Jonas. "She loves this place, and she knows it'll never be hers."
Travis nodded. "Gage is right That's why Catie's upset, Father."
Jonas frowned "I know that, dammit. I jes' wish the girl was my own flesh and blood."
Slade put his arm around Lara's waist and drew her away. "Let them argue," he said, and smiled at her. "I don't give a hoot. Not today." He kissed his son, riding in the crook of his arm, then kissed his bride. "I'm the happiest man alive, Mrs. Baron."
Lara lay her head against her husband's shoulder. "And I'm the happiest woman." After a moment, she sighed. "It's not Espada."
Sandra Marton - Slade Baron’s Bride Page 17