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“They didn’t teach that in the ballroom classes my mother forced on me.”
“I assure you, no finesse is required,” he laughed. “It’s not hard. Just hang onto my waist.”
Twenty minutes later they made their way from the dance floor to a secluded corner. Leigh was gasping for breath, her hand splayed over her chest. She leaned against the wall. “No more,” she wheezed.
Chad mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. “A cold drink and some food, and you’ll be ready to go again.”
She looked up at him doubtfully. “I haven’t had a workout like that since… I can’t remember if I’ve ever had one like that.”
He came to her, held her tight, and they laughed softly together. The scent of his cologne filled her head intoxicatingly. His strong hands roamed her back as his lips moved through her hair. “Do you like my friends?”
She lifted her head to look up at him. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“They like you, too. But if some of those guys don’t keep their lecherous eyes to themselves, I’m going to have to set them straight.”
“About what?” she asked throatily. His eyes were looking at her in a way so familiar that it stirred her already heated blood.
“About there being no doubt that you belong to me. About the fact that I was the one who saw you first and I’m serious and that it’s ‘hands off’ to anyone else. About this.” He kissed her deeply, thoroughly, planting his tongue in her mouth and knotting her hair in his fist. She could feel his suppressed desire and recognized it because it corresponded to hers. When at last they drew apart, he kissed her once gently on the cheek and said, “Let’s go eat supper.”
If no one else had been set straight on Chad’s intentions, Leigh certainly had been.
Platters of prime steak were carried in from the charcoal pit outside the barn. They were accompanied by foil-wrapped baked potatoes and huge bowls of salad. Redwood picnic tables covered with paper tablecloths had been placed end-to-end in several rows. Leigh retrieved Sarah while Chad filled their plates.
The baby lay in Chad’s lap and thumped him in the stomach with her tiny feet until he would poke a bite of fluffy potato into her eager mouth.
There was much shouting, laughter, and boisterous teasing while everyone sacrificed table etiquette to having a good time. Leigh didn’t remember ever enjoying herself more and ate heartily. She and everyone else broke into spontaneous applause when the enormous birthday cake bearing over a hundred candles was wheeled out on a rolling table.
At her door, after they had seen a tired Sarah to bed, Chad stroked Leigh’s cheek. “You would fit right in,” he said. “I loved having you there with me tonight. I was proud to be with you. It wasn’t as if I were there with just another date. Everyone seemed to accept you as part of me. I wish you would.”
“You’re making it very hard for me.”
“Good. I want to wear you down, tear down your defenses.” He crushed her against him. “Marry me, Leigh.”
“Sometimes I think we can make it work, then…”
“Don’t think of the reasons it might not work. Think of all we have that’s right.”
“I know, I know. Believe me, I know. But there’s still your work, Chad. I’m not merely being stubborn. I honestly don’t know if I could ever cope with that.”
“Let’s give it a trial run,” he suggested softly. “I have to go out of town next week.” Her head came up and terror filled her eyes. “Not to a fire,” he assured her quickly. “I need to check out some equipment over in Louisiana. I’ll call you every night at ten o’clock. I promise. You can see what it would be like for me to be gone.”
She nodded. Maybe a trial run like this wasn’t a bad idea. Perhaps they both needed time to analyze their feelings. The sexual attraction between them couldn’t be denied, and when they were together that colored their better judgment. Apart, they might see things more clearly. “When do you have to leave?”
He grimaced. “Tomorrow.”
Her first impulse was to berate him for not telling her, to panic because she wouldn’t see him again before he left. But she had to start getting accustomed to such rapid partings. She smiled bravely, if a little shakily. “I’ll miss you,” she admitted. “You promise to call?”
He kissed her then, a kiss that promised more than a telephone call.
* * *
Had it not been a weekend, the days might have passed more quickly. As it was, Saturday and Sunday dragged by. Leigh went to the mall on Saturday on a flimsy excuse just to get out of the house. Even the difficulties involved in getting Sarah ready for an outing and carrying her stroller into the mall crowded with Christmas shoppers were worth the few hours her mind wasn’t directly targeted on Chad, though it was never far from thoughts of him. By the time she wearily carted Sarah and all her paraphernalia back into the house, Leigh realized just how handy it was to have a man around.
As promised, he called at exactly ten o’clock that night. Leigh had already put Sarah to bed and had taken a hot bath to make herself sleepy. She was lying in bed reading a book when the telephone rang. A split-second later she was holding the receiver to her ear. “Hello.” She didn’t pretend coyness. Pride took a back seat to the thrill of hearing his voice.
His “Hello, darling,” was like a soothing balm to her breathless anticipation.
After they exchanged banalities about his flight to rural Louisiana and the activities that had filled her day, he said, “I wish I were there with you. In bed. Making love. Or just holding you. God, Leigh, I want you.”
