‘Um, well . . .’
‘She sure has, Mama.’ Hunter’s blatant declaration stunned her. ‘If we don’t take her in to see Dad right away he’ll need more surgery. I’m sure he knows Laura is here too.’ He gave Brett a long stare. ‘Patience isn’t his strong suit.’
She would have given anything for a few minutes alone with Hunter because their scrappy emails and interrupted phone conversations had only given the barest insights into how things stood between the two men. But Laura was used to playing things by ear in her job and one difficult man wouldn’t ruffle her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Hunter watched his father fall under Laura’s spell as they chatted about his surgery and loved how she turned it around when Warren quibbled about following his doctor’s recovery plan.
‘Don’t you want to play with your grandchildren again as soon as possible?’ Laura homed in on the one reason above all others that would get his father’s attention.
‘Yep.’
‘Then this isn’t the time to be stubborn except when it comes to pushing through the exercises you don’t feel like doing and making sure you eat right.’ She grinned. ‘Be as stubborn as you like about those things.’
‘You’re quite a gal. I can see why my son’s a changed man these days.’
He stiffened, unsure about the pointed comment until Laura treated him to one of their private looks that told him to ignore it because she intended to.
‘You need to rest as much as possible so we’re going now.’
Hunter admired the way she didn’t ask.
‘We’ll see you again in the morning.’
Outside the room she seized his hand with a brilliant smile. ‘Hang on a minute.’
‘Why?’
‘You haven’t kissed me yet.’
‘I haven’t had the—’ Pressed back against the wall with her fingers tangled in his hair he gave up his breath to her long, searching kiss. With a satisfied smile she wiped a smudge of pink lipstick from his mouth.
‘That’s better.’
‘Sure is.’
‘Was it really okay for me to turn up this way?’
A shadow flitted across her face and Hunter clasped her in a tight hug. ‘More than okay. It was awesome. I needed you real bad.’
‘Good.’ Laura blushed. ‘I don’t mean I’m pleased things are bad . . . oh you know what I mean at least I hope you do because—’
This timehesilencedherwith a lingering kiss. Smoothing back a lock of hair that had worked loose from her ponytail, he smiled. ‘Everything’s good and yeah I mean pretty much everything.’ Hunter glanced around to make sure his mom and Brett weren’t hovering within earshot. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘I haven’t booked anywhere to stay. Are there any hotels nearby?’
‘Yeah, but you’re comin’ with me. I’m stayin’ in Franklin at my folks’ house. It’s about a half hour drive from here and there’s plenty of space in my bed for a certain delectable nurse.’
‘I don’t want to offend your parents.’
‘Don’t fret. For a start Mom and Brett are planning to stay here with my dad.’ Hunter grinned. ‘Plus, they know I’ve never been the conventional type and I’m not likely to start now.’ He sensed a lingering reluctance in her silence. ‘If it bothers you, we’ll fix you up in one of the spare bedrooms and I’ll stick to . . . visiting you.’
‘Would you mind?’
He cradled her face with his hands. ‘I’ll never mind makin’ you happy whatever it takes.’
‘You’re a wonderful man.’
