The Hottest Ticket in Town (3 page)

4

L
ACI
HADN
'
T
MEANT
to end up in Woodsville, but her rented convertible seemed to have a destination in mind from the start because before she knew it, she was entering the town where she'd often spent summers while her daddy was out logging. The town square, quiet and still bathed in twilight, brought an easy smile to her mouth, even though it'd been a dog's age since she'd been back. Everything about Woodsville was steeped in nostalgia—the kind that sucked you in with a powerful current that was impossible to swim against. Woodsville was as charming as a postcard on the surface, but she knew not everyone harbored sweet memories of this place.

Kane's face appeared in her mind's eye and she fought the immediate catch in her chest. Kane Dalton had been her everything—the light in her soul and the fire in her heart—until he'd gone off and joined the Marines, leaving her behind in a red-hot minute as if she'd meant nothing to him. He'd broken her heart in a million pieces and it was safe to say she'd never fully recovered from his abandonment. Well, some might say she'd done all right for herself but they didn't know her private pain, the nights she spent thinking of him, wondering where he went, or if he was all right. For all she knew, he was dead, killed in a war on the other side of the world. Sometimes it was easier that way—thinking he was dead—because then she wouldn't have the option of looking him up just to satisfy some wicked curiosity about things that didn't matter anymore.

She made a point to never ask the Bradfords about Kane and bless their hearts, they seemed to understand and never volunteered anything, either, which was just the way she liked it. Ignorance was better than knowledge sometimes. It was right selfish of her, but she didn't want to know if Kane was happily married off to some other woman, when that woman should've been her. So, yeah, she preferred to know nothing about Kane Dalton.

But as she was driving through Woodsville, the memories were too strong to deny. Her daddy had started dropping her off at the Bradford ranch, with Warren and Cora, when she was about fifteen. Sweet old couple, they were, but she'd been a terrible brat at times because she'd been mad at her daddy for dumping her off with strangers, even if they were nice enough. Still, they'd been good to her. Cora had taught her how to make the best pies in four counties. She even had the blue ribbon from the county fair to prove it. Not that she had much time to bake these days. Trent didn't schedule much downtime. A pinch of guilt followed at the thought of her manager. She probably should've left a note, but then he'd have followed her and, by damn, she needed some downtime or she was going to lose her ever-loving mind and then where would they be?

She needed peace and solitude and the sound of the farm around her. No more lights in her face, people fussing about her everywhere she turned and definitely no Trent booking her for umpteen appearances until she fell over dead from pure exhaustion.
I'll call as soon as I've had a few days to regroup
, she promised herself, if only to assuage the guilt, and it worked because after that moment, Trent completely left her mind, and for that, she was grateful.

Since she was already in Woodsville, Laci knew exactly where she wanted to go. It was way past the appropriate time to reconnect with the Bradfords and now was as good a time as any. She knew without a doubt that they would let her stay for as long as she liked and that was exactly the kind of hospitality she needed right now. Everything in life that had ever made sense could be found at the Bradford ranch.

When she rolled up to the house, she saw the truck parked out front and smiled quizzically. Warren had always been a Ford man, but this truck was a Dodge. Maybe the old guy had switched loyalties over the years. Hopefully, that was the only thing that'd changed. She climbed the stairs and, when she found the front door locked, she searched under the welcome mat for the spare key—
aha!
Some things
don't
change—and quietly unlocked the door.

At two in the morning, she knew Warren and Cora would be dead asleep—life on the ranch was hard work—so she figured she'd surprise them in the morning. Tiptoeing to what had always been her room, she slipped inside and closed the door, grateful for a bed after hours on the road and way too little sleep. As if a switch were flipped, pure exhaustion returned and extreme fatigue pulled at her eyelids. Everything smelled like home and safety and all she wanted was to put her head on that pillow. Tomorrow, she and Cora could make biscuits and gravy—her favorite—and catch up. But until then...sleep was all she wanted.

Stripping as she went, she climbed beneath the covers and dropped off almost immediately with what she was certain was a smile on her face.

Thank you...this was bliss.

* * *

K
ANE
'
S
MOUTH
CLOSED
over a tightly budded nipple and sucked the sweet berry, teasing the tiny ridged piece of flesh until the woman writhed and moaned, arching into his arms, offering more of herself for his touch. Her skin was like the smoothest alabaster, perfect in every way. Her breasts overflowed his hands and he squeezed the abundant flesh with a groan as he moved to the other nipple. Her breathy pants fueled his need to touch and feel every inch of her, to know what made her squirm, what made her cry out with abandon. He needed to know everything about her. He wanted to own her cries and make her body quake with each thrust. His finger slid between her slick folds, searching for that sweet heat, testing and teasing. There was something so familiar about the way she cried out, the way she clung to him, pressing herself against him so that every part of her was touching him in some way. Her body, soft and willing, created a carnal need so fierce that his hands shook as he gripped her hips and ground his swollen cock against her. Their tongues collided with urgent, desperate thrusts as they swallowed each other's breath and created a maelstrom of lust and want between them. Good God, his heart hammered with a ferocity that he'd never experienced. He needed that slippery heat as much as he needed air to breathe. He wanted to plunge inside her, going balls deep, straight to the hilt, but as he was poised above her, ready to slide into blessed home, something—an errant sensation, a discordant moment amid total bliss—caused him to realize he wasn't dreaming and that he was about to make love with a complete stranger.

Kane's eyes flew open and he stiffened, ignoring the aching pulse between his legs, as he stared down at the woman beneath him, her arms still looped around his neck with drowsy desire. Her eyelids fluttered open and her mouth opened in confusion, followed by alarm. “Oh my God!” she cried, jerking her arms away from his neck and then pushing at his chest. “Get off me! What the hell do you think you're doing?”

It was then that he realized that he was lying on top of—
son of a bitch!
—Laci McCall.

* * *

O
H
,
GOOD
L
ORD
!
Laci's cheeks burned with mortification as, of all people, Kane Dalton stared down at her with sudden dawning recognition. What the hell was
he
doing in
her
old bed at the Bradford ranch? She pushed at his chest, refusing to appreciate all that solid muscle beneath her fingertips or the fact that he felt pretty good on top of her, glaring as she demanded that he get off. “I don't know what the hell is going on, but if you don't get yourself off me right now, I'm going to turn you from a rooster to a hen in about five seconds.”

“No need for that,” he bit out, seemingly just as thrown off-kilter by the current events as he rolled off her, taking most of the blankets with him, further exposing her naked body. She gasped and retrieved the blanket, scooting as far away from him as possible. Ten seconds ago, their tongues had been in each other's mouths and he'd been about to...oh, goodness gracious...
Yeah, you know what he was gonna do and you were about to let him!

She gathered the blankets around her tightly, even though she realized it was a lot like closing the barn door after the horses have already run out, but it gave her some sense of control in a whacked-out situation. Damn, he looked good. He was a breath of fresh air after too much time spent on a tour bus.
Stop that!
Kane had always been a good-looking devil, but that didn't mean he wouldn't lead a girl straight to hell with a smile on his handsome face. “So? Explain yourself,” she said, glaring.

“Me? I was asked to take care of the ranch while the Bradfords go to Florida for a special cancer treatment for Cora. How about you? Last I heard, you haven't been around this ranch in close to five years, too busy going off and getting famous and all that to visit. Warren and Cora might make excuses for you, but I sure as hell ain't gonna do it. So that brings me back to my original question... What the hell are you doing here?”

Her mouth dropped open, filled with ready and hot words to defend herself, but there was something else that caught her attention and jerked her around. “Cancer? What do you mean, cancer? Nobody told me Cora was sick,” she said, genuinely concerned, forgetting for the moment that she and Kane were still naked in a room together. “How sick?”

“That's not for me to say,” Kane answered gruffly. “If Cora wanted you to know, she would've found a way to tell you.”

“Don't be a jerk. I have just as much right to know about Cora's illness as you do. She was like family to me and you know it.”

“Do I? Do I know that? Because the way I see it, you plain disappeared and walked away from anyone who'd ever meant anything to you, including the Bradfords.”

“Shut your mouth. Don't you dare talk to me about walking away when that's exactly what you did when you joined the Marines, leaving me behind as if I were an old sack of potatoes,” she retorted, her fury returning in a blaze of fire. “You've some nerve, Kane Dalton, to talk to me like you've got a leg to stand on. You left me without so much as a ‘catch you later' and I was left to deal with the fallout.”

Kane buttoned his lip—as well he should—and didn't deny her accusation, but that didn't stop him from maintaining his position. “The situation between me and you ain't got nothing to do with the Bradfords. You could've kept in contact and if you had, you would've known about Cora.”

“I did keep in contact as much as my schedule allowed,” she told him as tears pricked her eyes, but she held them back. He was right. She should've made more of an effort, but Trent kept her moving at breakneck speed and it was hard enough to remember what city she was in, much less to call people from her former life. But she couldn't say that—even to her own ears it sounded petty and self-absorbed, no matter that it was the truth—and so she swallowed her tears and her need to defend herself and simply jerked a short nod, conceding a small point. “I love the Bradfords and they love me. If you don't believe me, you can go screw yourself.” Ignoring her nakedness, because who cared at this point, she tossed the blanket away and climbed from the bed, proud as you please, then scooped up her discarded clothing and walked from the room with her head held high.
Take a good look, Kane, because it's the last one you're gonna get!

5

H
OT
DAMN
,
THAT
ass was going to be the death of him, Kane thought as Laci left the room, purposefully giving him an eyeful out of spite. Oh yeah, he knew it was spite, too, because he could see it in the angry twitch of her sweet hips as she exited. She'd wanted him to know exactly what he was missing—as if he didn't already know—and make him hurt with the knowledge. His cock throbbed with plaintive disappointment and he pushed at the stiff member with irritation.
Ain't nothing gonna happen with you, so settle down
.

He found his jeans and a T-shirt and went straight to the kitchen for some coffee and a slice of Cora's peach pie. It didn't matter that Laci was here; the chores waited for no one—that was one thing he'd learned all those years ago and nothing had changed that fact.

He found Laci already brewing the coffee, except he noted with a mix of relief and disappointment that she'd dressed—although the short sparkly number wasn't exactly made for modesty—and he wondered what her plans were. She couldn't stay, that was all he knew, but he'd wait until after he'd had his pie to deliver that sour news.

“Did you leave your tiara at home?” he asked, gesturing to her getup with a grimace. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Laci glared. “Don't you dare get after me for what I'm wearing because it's none of your business.” She glanced down at the short, impossibly tight dress, but admitted snippily, “If you must know, it's all I had with me. I left in a hurry.”

That begged more questions, but he bit his tongue. He didn't want to know what trouble she was in. Whatever was happening in her life was her own doing. Still, he didn't think he could focus with her traipsing around in that sparkly thing. “I'm sure Cora wouldn't mind if you borrowed a dress or shirt or something other than that thing,” he said.

“There's no way I'm going to fit into anything Cora can wear and you know it. You're just going to have to deal with me in my costume until I can get to town and pick up some supplies.”

“Whoa, now. What are you talking about? You thinking of staying?” The alarm in his voice did nothing for her already prickly disposition, but he couldn't help it. “C'mon now, what are you thinking? Don't you have your famous life to get back to?”

“You hush your mouth before you choke on your damn foot,” she snapped with a glower. “I can see right now some things never change. Tact was never your strong suit.”

“Don't see no point in sugarcoating shit.”

Laci drew a deep breath and started over. “I didn't come here to fight with you. I didn't even know you would be here, but we have ourselves a situation that we need to work together to figure out.”

He crossed his arms and waited. “This ought to be good. Tell me how we're going to work this out? I'm all ears.”

“So the Bradfords aren't here and you're taking care of the ranch for them,” she surmised.

“That's about the long and short of it, but I fail to see how that creates a situation for the two of us when it seems pretty clear to me what the solution is.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Is that so? Enlighten me.”

“You leave. I stay.”

“And why should I have to leave? The Bradfords have extended a standing invitation to me. I have every right to be here with their blessing.”

“Why would you want to?” he asked point-blank. “It's not like we're the best of friends. I have a purpose for being here...you don't.” She bit her lip, her gaze acknowledging that fact, but there was something else there, something she wasn't saying, that she held back. Kane didn't want to care, but he couldn't seem to help himself, saying roughly, “Listen, you've got your reasons for coming and it's none of my business. All I'm saying is that I can't leave because I made a commitment to the Bradfords. You can stay or go, your choice, but if you choose to stay, it could be awkward.”

“So you wouldn't care if I stayed?”

Hell yes, he would care. “No,” he lied, because there was no sense in adding more fuel to the fire. The fact was, there was some truth to her accusation that he'd left her behind, but she didn't know the whole story, nor would he tell her, either—that was his gift to her, even if she never knew the whole of it. But he supposed if his arm were twisted, he'd have to admit there was no harm in letting her hang out if she needed to. The ranch was plenty big enough. Hell, he could take the pump house and let her stay in her old bedroom. He exhaled a long breath, prepared to do the one thing he never saw himself doing. “We got off on the wrong foot...you can stay. I'll move out to the pump house and give you the room. If we stay out of each other's hair, everything should be fine. We're adults, right?”

“Yeah,” she agreed and damn, if that wasn't the right thing to remind each other at the moment because he was fairly certain she was remembering what they'd
almost
done this morning as
adults
. She cleared her throat and smiled, gesturing to the coffeepot. “So, how about we share a pot of coffee and start over? Can we do that?”

Sure. And maybe she could stop being so damn easy on the eyes? He cut his gaze away, needing a minute to school his thoughts before they gave him away. “How long you thinking of staying?” he asked, needing to know how long he'd have to suffer the constant barrage of the past in the form of the present.

“Just a few days, I suspect. That okay?”

He grunted in answer. “Sure. I can handle a few days.” He reached for the pot and poured himself a mug, then, because he was practically raised by Cora to do the right thing, he poured Laci a mug as well before moving to the oven where he pulled out the pie. “Grab some plates, will you?” he asked and Laci smiled with delight as she did so.

“Cora made peach pie before she left? That dear old thing is the living embodiment of Betty Crocker and I love her for it,” Laci said, accepting a slice from him.

“Yeah, and Warren gave her hell for it, too. She's real sick, Laci. I don't know if that treatment is going to do a bit of good at this point.”

“Really?” Laci's expression dimmed as she took a bite, but a smile lifted her mouth as she appreciated Cora's talent for the culinary arts. “I never could match her recipe, no matter how hard I tried. That woman has magic in her fingers when it comes to the kitchen.”

“You come pretty damn close,” he grudgingly admitted between bites, trying not to think too hard on how natural it felt to sit here with Laci, talking about pie, because it wasn't natural at all. Not in the least. He'd left for a reason and he could tell by the way things had panned out for Laci that his choice had been the smart one.
So don't start romanticizing sharing a slice of pie
, he warned himself. He finished up and brought his plate to the sink where he started to wash up, when Laci joined him and took the plate from him.

“I got this,” she said. “You've got chores to do. The least I can do is clean up.”

“Thanks,” he said, hating how the morning light glinted off the honey strands of her hair, giving her a halo. In all the years and miles he'd put between himself and Laci, he'd never found a woman who came halfway close to the way he'd felt about Laci. There was a reason she was a superstar—she had something special—and he'd known it from the start.
Back away
, he told himself when the urge to touch her cheek became too hard to fight. “I'll be feeding the cattle,” he told her, stepping away, needing to put some space between them right this second before he scooped her into his arms and finished what they'd started this morning. Boy, wouldn't that be the most epically bad decision of his life? Yeah, but if he were going to screw up his life and everything he'd built to this point, he might as well go big, right?
Not really
, the voice answered drily.
Keep it in your pants, big boy,
and remember what her daddy told you all those years ago...she ain't for you, son.
Ain't that the truth. Kane started for the door but Laci's voice at his back stopped him.

“I'm heading to town to pick up a few things. You need anything?”

He half turned, regarding her with a slow, deliberate gaze.
You naked beneath me and all the time in the world to make up for what I lost a long time ago.
But he couldn't say that. Not in a million years would he, either. So he uttered the one thing he could, “Nope,” and then exited the house as if it were on fire.

* * *

M
AYBE
SHE
SHOULDN
'
T
STAY
. Laci rolled the idea around in her head, weighing the pros and cons of staying a few days in the same house as Kane when stacked up against the very real problem of their long-buried, but obviously very much alive, attraction to one another. Allowing her gaze to roam the familiar kitchen with its worn hardwood floors, she noted the disrepair creeping up and taking over. Rusted hinges on the cupboards, chipped countertops...everywhere she looked she found something that needed a little TLC. It was just Cora and Warren in this old ranch house and Cora, bless her heart, was sick and Warren had his hands full trying to care for her and the ranch without any help. Why hadn't they called her? She would've flown in the best of care for Cora if need be. Round-the-clock care, even.

Laci worried her lip, concerned and feeling out of sorts for being unaware that all this had been happening to two of the nicest people she knew and loved. She could blame Trent for keeping her going 24/7, but the fact was, she'd stayed away because of Kane. The Bradford ranch was so much a part of her memories with Kane that for a while it'd been too painful to go there knowing that Kane was gone.

Of course, in hindsight, that'd been just selfish. Warren and Cora were good folk and they'd been there for her when she'd had no one except her daddy, God rest his soul, and she'd repaid that kindness by relegating them to a few hurried phone calls in between shows. Laci rubbed at the sudden tickle in her nose. She ought to have the kitchen remodeled for Cora. But even as the thought took root, she remembered how particular Cora was about her kitchen and realized she couldn't go and make a big change like that without the old gal's permission. The shock of it alone might send Cora into a tailspin.

Laci leaned against the counter, her gaze finding Kane through the kitchen-sink window. He crossed the yard to the barn where she could hear the cows making their usual morning racket. A smile found her. She'd forgotten how loud those milkers could be.

The first time she'd stayed here, Cora had filled a mug with fresh milk and given it to her with a mile-high stack of flapjacks for breakfast and Laci had never experienced something so good as Cora's cooking coupled with milk straight from the cow. However, at first, Laci had been resistant, pushing away the milk with a polite “No, thank you” because she was mildly lactose intolerant, but Cora just laughed and asked her to try it.

“I'm willing to bet your stomach will tolerate fresh milk just fine,” Cora had assured her, but Laci hadn't been too sure. Her daddy had dropped her off with these old folks and now they were trying to kill her, she'd thought. But her daddy had ingrained in her a respect for her elders so, sending a prayer to heaven, she drank the milk and ate the flapjacks. When her stomach didn't immediately rebel, she stared at Cora in confusion, prompting Cora to say, “I was raised on a farm with nothing but fresh milk and there weren't nothing like that ‘lactose intolerant' stuff going around. You know why? Because we didn't monkey around with the milk. It came straight to our cups as God intended and you can't tell me that God don't know what he's doin' when it comes to his animals. That stuff you buy in the supermarkets got goodness-only-knows-what inside it and none of the good stuff that was put there in the first place. That's why your body don't mind it.”

And after that, Laci never thought twice about drinking raw milk, until Trent came along and tossed it from her travel fridge, saying milk made phlegm and it was bad for her singing career. She hadn't had a glass of milk—raw or otherwise—in years. Laci watched Kane until he disappeared into the barn and then went to the fridge. She found a glass container of milk and smiled. “Might as well make sure it doesn't go to waste,” she murmured, pouring what was left into a mug and drinking it down. A sigh of happy nostalgia followed and she simply enjoyed the quiet moment.

Maybe it was weird, but she'd come to really appreciate the small things since she'd hit it big. Most times, she never talked about her childhood to anyone within her inner circle, much less reporters who asked. Her daddy had done a fine-enough job for a single father, but times had been hard and there was no way of prettying up that simple fact. Her time with the Bradfords had been the first stint of stability she'd ever had, similar to Kane and Rian. Not that her daddy had been abusive like the Dalton boys' daddy, God no, but her daddy hadn't always done a good job of providing a sense of home for his only daughter.
Oh, Daddy...I wish you were still here. You'd know how to handle Trent.

All she'd done was run away from her problem, but it would be right where she left it when she went back. The dissatisfying smack of reality threatened to sour the milk she'd just enjoyed, so she let it go. She'd deal with that later. In the meantime, she was going to find a way to help Cora without stepping on her toes too much. She turned a critical eye to the kitchen. Maybe some new appliances? Surely that wouldn't be overstepping too much. But first...she surveyed her glittering costume with a smirk; she needed to get a few things from town.