Her Minnesota Man (A Christian Romance Novel) (44 page)

He studied her face for a moment, and then his uncertainty vanished and he grinned, awakening the dimple in his left cheek. Settling Frankie in the crook of his left arm, he extended his right hand to Laney, beckoning. "Then come here, and let's see if I can persuade you."

No, he was going to have to do some explaining first. Laney slid her hands into her coat pockets and stayed right where she was, a good ten feet away from him.

His smile faded. "I have a new band, Laney. A Christian band. We just recorded our first album. Then the Graces showed up in Nashville and I hitched a ride home."

So that was the reason for the Graces' road trip. Somehow they'd discovered where Jeb was, and they'd gone after him.

That rankled.

"I'm not so desperate for a man that I need my great-aunts to drag one home and throw him at my feet," she said loudly enough for the Graces, who were no doubt hovering just around the corner, to hear.

Jeb coughed into his gloved fist, covering up a laugh.

The wretch.

Laney tried to give him a severe look, but failed because his hair had gotten long again and the wind was blowing it over his left eye and she ached to smooth it back and press her lips against his dear face.

"I was ready to come home," he said, serious again. "The Graces just happened to show up in Nashville the afternoon before I was planning to leave." Frankie squirmed in his arms, and without looking down, Jeb stroked the cat's head with two long fingers encased in a leather driving glove. "I already had a plane ticket. For yesterday. I would have been here last night, but I didn't want the Graces driving home by themselves."

"We would have been perfectly safe by ourselves!" Caroline huffed from somewhere nearby.

Laney rolled her eyes, and then she mouthed an emphatic
Thank you
to Jeb. When he grinned in perfect understanding, she felt an answering smile tug at her own lips. But then she remembered she still had a bone to pick with him.

"You didn't call me." Inside her coat pockets, she squeezed her hands into fists. "All these weeks, Jeb, and you didn't even
 
.
 
.
 
." As her voice faded to nothing, she shook her head.

"Yes, but when I called you that day from the airport, you said we were okay. And then I said I'd be busy for a while. Remember?"

"Jeb, that was three and a half months ago!" He'd sent her a lovely Christmas gift, but he hadn't called, not once in all that time.

"I know what you're thinking." His gaze remained locked on her even as Millie approached and relieved him of his feline burden. "You're thinking that if I loved you, I wouldn't have stayed away so long. But there were some things I needed to do, Laney. Some things I needed to figure out. And I think you needed time, too. And I was afraid that if I broke down and called you, I'd end up on the next flight home because I
do
love you, more than you'll ever—"

"You love me?" she interrupted, breathless with hope.

"Well, of course I love you," he said almost irritably. "I've loved you forever."

"Would you kids mind hurrying this up?" Caroline inquired pleasantly. "It's fifteen degrees out here, and we want our supper."

Jeb flung her an exasperated look, then turned and opened the Buick's front door with a flourish. "Don't let us keep you. I'm sure Frankie Five's hungry, too."

He walked over to Laney and pulled her into his arms.

Maybe she should have resisted, made him suffer until he realized how much he'd hurt her. But there had been too much suffering in Jeb's life already, so her hands came out of her coat pockets and she melted against him like butter on a warm scone.

"That's more like it," he said gruffly.

"Oh, Jeb," she sighed against his coat. She loved him too much to stay mad at him, but she had to make him understand what he'd done. "You've been stupid again."

"That's what I've been hearing all the way home." He squeezed her harder. "I wanted to call you, but I wouldn't let myself. In the last couple of years that got to be a habit—seeing how long I could go without calling you—and I guess I just kind of fell back into it. But you needed to hear from me, didn't you?"

"Yes." She nodded against him. "I really did. And I know I could have called you to ask what was going on, but I was afraid."

"I understand now. And I'm sorry." He sighed against her hair. "Laney, I think some parts of my brain are still screwed up. So please just tell me whenever I do something stupid and I'll try really hard to make it right."

"Deal," she said, snuggling closer.

"Jeb?" Aggie spoke from immediately behind Laney. "Now would be a good time to pop the question."

Laney groaned against his coat. "Make them go away."

"Ladies," he said over Laney's head, "I'm grateful for all of your help. But I've got this now, so just beat it, okay?" He found Laney's bare hands and pressed them against his chest, covering them with his gloved ones.

"Our work here is done," Caroline informed her sisters with smug satisfaction. "And it's my turn to drive."

"Shotgun!" Aggie yelled, pumping a
mittened
fist into the air.

Millie chuckled. "Happy Valentine's Day, lovebirds!"

Laney looked up at Jeb. "I can't believe you let them drive you all the way home from Nashville."

"Give me credit for having a brain," he said. "
I
drove. And this morning when they argued over whose turn it was to ride shotgun, I ordered them all into the back seat and let their cat-in-a-box sit up front with me. Frankie Five's not so bad."

By the time the Buick rumbled past them and backed out of the driveway, Laney was being thoroughly kissed. She wondered briefly if Mrs. Lindstrom was enjoying the show from one of Mrs. Schultz's windows, but then Jeb changed the angle of his head to deepen their kiss and Laney forgot all about Mrs. Lindstrom and absolutely everything else.

"I love you," Jeb said when they came up for air. "Marry me, Laney. Come live in my house and make it a home. We'll have fourteen children and grow old together."

She shivered. "Fourteen children?"

"Well, maybe not all at once." He dragged her hands away from his chest so he could unzip his jacket and open it to share his warmth.

She immediately pushed her arms beneath the jacket and around his lean waist. Flattening her palms against his back, she gloried in the warmth radiating from beneath his flannel shirt.

"Marry me," he urged in a low voice as he nuzzled the curls just behind her ear. "Please."

"Kiss me some more and I'll think about it."

He chuckled. "Sweetheart, if you can think when I kiss you, then I'm not doing it right."

She huffed out a breath. "I meant I would think about it after the kiss."

"Think about it
 
.
 
.
 
. right
 
.
 
.
 
. now," he said between nibbles on the tip of her frozen ear. "It's Valentine's Day, princess. Be mine."

Gently catching her jaw in his gloved hand, he turned her face up to his and waited.

"Oh, all right," she said, grinning.

"Thank you." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Now let's go inside where it's warm."

They walked arm-in-arm to her kitchen door.

"A Christian band?" Laney asked as they climbed the steps.

"Yeah." He opened the door for her and followed her inside. "I have to go back in two weeks to mix the tracks and master the album, but that won't take long. You could come. You could see some new sights and meet everyone I've been working with. They're all Christians, Laney. We even pray together."

"I'll come," she said happily. She shut the door and they removed their coats. "I'm jobless at the moment. Did the Graces tell you?"

"They told me everything." Jeb tossed his gloves on the counter and hung his coat beside Laney's. Then he pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry things have been so hard for you." He smoothed back her hair with one broad palm. "And I'm sorry for adding to your troubles. I was just so excited and so focused on what you'd think when I came home that I never dreamed you might not be sure about me." He leaned his forehead against hers. "But how could you not know? How could you not feel my love? Laney, you
know
me."

"I was afraid to believe it," she admitted. "I've fooled myself before, remember?"

"Stop beating yourself up over those other guys." His forehead lightly rubbed hers as he shook his head. "This is
me
, Laney. You know it's different with us. It always has been."

"Yes," she whispered.

"In one way or another," he went on, "I've been yours since the day I saw you in that blue dress and the tiara."

She raised her head, offering her mouth for another kiss.

"Wait." He touched a finger to her lips. "I have a present for you." His hand went to his pocket, and then he grinned and said, "Not an engagement ring. We'll go shopping for that tomorrow. But I think you'll like this." He withdrew his hand and brought it between them before slowly uncurling his fingers.

For several heartbeats, Laney could only stare in amazement at the tiny H-shaped piece of cardboard that lay in his palm. Then she picked it up and turned it over. And yes, the other side was shiny and pure black.

"Remember the dark gray suit I wore to your mom's funeral?" Jeb asked. "I had it cleaned after I got back to L.A., but I never wore again. I took it to Nashville in case I needed it for a fancy dinner with the record executives, and I didn't notice until I unpacked that there was an envelope taped to the hanger. The puzzle piece was inside."

"The cleaners found it in your pocket," Laney guessed. "You must have been toying with it the day of the funeral and absently dropped it in there."

"Or it fell in while I was sitting at the table."

Laney rubbed the piece between her finger and thumb. "I put the puzzle away."

"I know. The Graces told me. But even though you don't need it anymore, I thought you'd still be glad to have it."

"I am." The tears starting in Laney's eyes had nothing to do with the gift and everything to do with the sweet man who'd brought it to her. "Thank you."

He smiled tenderly. "You're an amazing woman, Laney Ryland."

"Hmm." Leaning away from him to put the puzzle piece in a safe place on the counter, she took the opportunity to dash away a trembling tear caught in the corner of one eye. "Don't you think 'Laney Bell' has a nicer ring to it?"

"Absolutely." He grinned and pulled her closer. "Hey, listen. I just figured out how to solve our geography problem."

"Are you talking about where we'll live?" Laney shook her head. "That's no problem. I don't have to stay in Owatonna. Not fulltime. The Graces might be pushing eighty, but I'm beginning to think they don't need me to look after them."

"Some day they might," Jeb pointed out. "Besides, I need them to keep me humble, so we'd better stay here. You love my house, anyway. And we wouldn't want to leave our church, would we?" His dimple flashed as he added, "And let's not forget that all of my favorite fishing spots are less than an hour's drive from Owatonna."

"Oh, yes," Laney deadpanned. "The fishing spots would be the most important consideration."

"Hey." Jeb's dimple winked again. "Fishing
is
important. Haven't you ever noticed how often it's mentioned in the Bible?"

Laney smirked at him, then sobered to ask, "But what about your band?"

"We'll turn your house into a rehearsal space," he said. "Maybe even put in a recording studio at some point."

Was he be serious about installing a band in her house? The neighbors might have something to say about that.

"I take it you'll be sending Mrs. Lindstrom on a world cruise," Laney said archly. "She's still living with Mrs. Schultz, you know."

"Hmm. Tempting. But your basement's plenty big enough to rehearse in, and we can soundproof it. Your three bedrooms and two baths will make a nice living space for the band. Two of the three guys are married, no kids yet, so the wives will be able to come and go whenever they want. There will be times when we're rehearsing for weeks or even months at a stretch."

Laney was beginning to see some exciting possibilities. "So when you're not touring or recording, you'll be right here?"

"Yep." He grinned. "You can call me home to supper every night, and I'll come running."

"But could I travel with you some?" she asked hopefully.

"Like I've always told you, there's nothing glamorous about life on the road," he said. "But I'd love having you with me."

"That might be difficult after the babies start coming." As soon as the words were out, Laney felt heat rushing to her cheeks.

"Let's play that by ear," Jeb suggested.

"Okay." Laney snuggled deeper into his embrace. "How soon can we get married?"