“Oh, I can think of plenty of things to do that are more exciting than watching you tie that man up in knots,” Karen retorted, turning a heated gaze on her husband.
“Come to think of it, so can I,” he said, kicking his chair back as he reached for her hand and then pulled her from the room.
“I’ll do the dishes,” Lauren called after them, barely containing a laugh at the speed of their departure.
Still, after they’d gone, she sighed, unable to stop the wave of envy that washed over her. She’d been married twice, but she had never been in love like that, never taken one look at her husband and forgotten about everything else. Maybe she’d spent too many years faking emotions on-screen to know the real thing when it came along.
Thinking about that, she absentmindedly finished off the leftovers, then groaned at the amount of food she had eaten. It was more than she consumed in two days when she was working on a movie. At this rate, unless she exercised hard for a solid three hours every day, she’d be as big as a house by the end of summer. Already, her size-four jeans were getting snug in the waist, and she’d barely been here twenty-four hours.
It doesn’t matter.
The shocking words echoed in her head. Lauren dropped down on a chair and stared at the empty lasagna dish with a sense of astonishment. For the first time in ten years, her weight actually didn’t matter. Nor did her dress size. She was finally free of all of the unnaturally rigid self-control she’d been forced to live by from the moment she’d taken up a career in front of a camera.
“Oh, my,” she murmured, reaching for the last piece of garlic bread as a final act of defiance. It was loaded with butter and garlic, and it tasted absolutely heavenly, even though it was no longer warm from the oven.
A tap on the back door had her looking up guiltily and brushing crumbs from her lips.
“What’s this? Pigging out on the food I brought by last night to celebrate your arrival?” Gina asked, grinning.
“I am,” Lauren said, shoving aside that nagging guilt. “And you know what? I don’t care.”
“Uh-oh, is there a rebellion in the making?”
“There is,” Lauren confirmed. She eyed the box in Gina’s hand eagerly. “Did you bring dessert?”
“Cheesecake, as a matter of fact. I was experimenting with a tiramisu flavor. Rafe had to fly to New York this morning, so I’m looking for a guinea pig.”
“You’ve found one,” Lauren said enthusiastically, getting up to grab plates from the cupboard.
“Where are Grady and Karen?” Gina asked.
Lauren directed a pointed look toward the ceiling.
Gina grinned. “Ah, newlyweds. I keep forgetting that they’re never available after dinnertime. I’m glad Rafe and I aren’t like that.”
Lauren hooted. “Only because he’s still out of town so much. Just wait till he moves his practice out here and hooks up with Emma. She’s so efficient, she’ll have them both out the door every afternoon by four. You’ll be just as disgusting as Grady and Karen.”
“Jealous?” Gina asked.
Though the question was meant to be teasing, Lauren considered it seriously. “You know, I am.”
“Then we definitely have to get busy and find you a man. After all, you were the one who was matchmaking like a crazy woman all during the reunion. You practically threw me at Rafe.”
“Of course, that was before we knew he’d followed you out here in the first place to try to put you in jail,” Lauren said.
“Actually, he wanted to put my business partner in jail. I was just a means to an end.” Gina grinned. “Then there was Emma. Weren’t you the one who pushed her into Ford’s arms at the dance?”
“No, that was our English teacher. I actually tried to set her up with some guy who turned out to be an exterminator from Des Moines who’s married to one of our old classmates. It was not one of my shining moments.”
“Still, turnabout is fair play,” Gina insisted. “There must be someone around who’s worthy of you.”
Lauren thought of her reaction to Wade Owens earlier in the day. Instant animosity was probably not what Gina had in mind, but there had been a lot of electricity crackling in the air this afternoon. It was just as well that her friend didn’t know about her encounter with the sexy wrangler.
She took a deliberate bite of cheesecake, savoring the smooth texture and fabulous flavor. “Oh, sweet heaven,” she murmured. “Who needs men when there’s cheesecake like this? It’s sinful.”
Gina beamed. “Yes, but this pleasure is short-lived. A man’s forever.”
“If you’re lucky,” Lauren said. “I’ve had two who barely lasted till the ink was dry on the wedding license.”
“Oh, don’t be so cynical,” Gina said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “They were jerks. We’re talking about a real man.”
Once again, an image of Wade popped into Lauren’s head. With that whipcord-lean body he was a real man, no doubt about that.
“What?” Gina said, staring at her curiously. “You’ve already met someone, haven’t you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve only been here a couple of days. I’ve barely left the house. Why would you think that?”
“Because of your expression.”
“My expression? What about it?”
“It went all dreamy there for a minute. You can’t fake a look like that, and only one thing can cause it—a man. Who is he?”
“You’re crazy,” Lauren insisted. “And if you keep bugging me, I’m going to tell everybody in town that your cheesecake tastes like spoiled cottage cheese and has the texture of sand.”
Gina regarded her with a horrified expression. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.” Even as she uttered the words, Lauren recalled that same dare coming from Wade’s lips earlier in the day. And what had she said? Maybe I will. Those were certainly words meant to get a man all riled up. What had she been thinking?
“Why do I have the feeling you’re having some sort of flashback?” Gina asked, studying her intently. “It’s that man again, isn’t it?”
“I’m telling you, there is no man.”
Gina patted her hand. “Keep telling yourself that. I spent a lot of time in denial where Rafe was concerned, too. So did Emma with Ford, and Karen with Grady, and Cassie with Cole. Just look at us now. I recognize the signs.”
Lauren shuddered. Gina couldn’t be right. Her with Wade Owens? She wouldn’t allow it.
Then again, if her friends were anything to judge by, she might not actually have much say in the matter.
Lauren got up at the crack of dawn, filled her pockets with treats for Midnight—apples this time—then decided she deserved a hearty breakfast herself before she went out to work with the horse and risked an encounter with Wade. Both were going to require stamina, to say nothing of all her wits.
Even though she was up early, Grady and Karen were already long gone. A still-warm pot of coffee sat on the stove, along with two fresh eggs just gathered from the henhouse and a plate of crisp bacon. Lauren would have settled for cereal or toast, but an honest-to-goodness breakfast was too tempting to pass up.
Twenty minutes later, her stomach full, she carried her cup of coffee out to the porch and sat down with a sigh