Brenda Jackson – The Westmoreland Legacy: The Rancher Returns (The Westmoreland Legacy) / His Secret Son (The Westmoreland Legacy) / An Honourable Seduction (The Westmoreland Legacy) (страница 19)
“I had a salad earlier, but if you’re hungry I can fix dinner.”
“No need. I plan to go into town in a few and I’ll grab something at the café.”
No way he would tell his grandmother that in addition to dinner he intended to make a booty call. Word was out that he was home and a ton of women had left voice mails. On the drive into town, he would decide which woman would be the recipient of his visit. Not having Layla was getting to him. He needed to get laid and then he could be more rational about her, take his time seducing her without losing his cool.
“Looks like you aren’t the only one going into town, Gavin. Now, doesn’t she look extra pretty?”
He followed his grandmother’s gaze. Layla was crossing the yard and walking toward them. He had seen her in dresses before, but this was one with a skirt that was shorter in the front and longer in the back. Instead of boots she wore high heels and she had a knitted shawl around her shoulders.
Her hair was styled the way he liked best, flowing around her shoulders. And he could tell she was wearing makeup—not much...except for the ruby-red lip color. He frowned, refusing to let her get next to him the way she had last night. He’d been stupid enough to think their evening would end differently. Namely, in bed together.
“Good evening, Ms. Melody. Gavin.”
He did the gentlemanly thing and stood. He couldn’t help noticing she’d given his grandmother a huge smile. But the one she’d given him was forced. Not that it bothered him one iota.
“Layla,” he said, letting his gaze roam all over her.
His grandmother moved forward and gave her a hug. “Now, don’t you look pretty. Have big plans for the evening?”
Layla shrugged her shoulders, keeping her focus on Ms. Melody and ignoring Gavin. “Not that big. The equipment arrives tomorrow and my team the day after. Then it’s all work and no play. I decided to spend my last day of freedom doing something I enjoy doing but rarely have time for—going to a movie.”
“By yourself?” Gramma Mel asked.
Layla chuckled. “Yes, by myself.”
“What are you going to see?”
“That new romantic comedy with Julia Roberts.”
“Now, isn’t that a coincidence. I was going into town to see that one myself,” Gavin said.
Both Layla and Gramma Mel turned to stare at Gavin with raised brows. He smiled at both women’s expressions. He then directed his next statement to Layla. “Since we’re going to see the same movie, is there any reason we can’t go together?”
Gavin was certain there was but he knew Layla wouldn’t call him out on it in front of his grandmother. When she didn’t say anything he leaned closer to ask, “Well, is there?”
As if recovering from her initial shock, she opened her mouth, probably to say something that would blister his ear. Then she quickly closed it, seeming to remember that his grandmother was standing there, listening to their exchange.
“No, there’s no reason,” she said. “I’m just surprised you would want to see a chick flick. I took you for a blood-and-guts sort of guy.”
He shook his head. “As a SEAL, I see too much of that in real life. A chick flick should be interesting. Besides, I like Julia Roberts.”
“In that case, I see no reason why we can’t go together,” she said.
Although she’d tried to sound cheerful about it, he knew she wasn’t. Was that her teeth he heard grinding? “Great. We can go in my truck. I just need to grab my Stetson and jacket.”
* * *
“I enjoyed the movie, didn’t you?”
Layla had pretty much given him the silent treatment since leaving the Silver Spurs earlier but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact he seemed amused by it. “Yes, I enjoyed it.”
She probably would have enjoyed it even more had he not been there to cloud her concentration. It had been hard to focus on the huge movie screen with a sexy man sitting beside her.
“When are you going to stop acting childish, Layla?”
She glanced over at him. “Childish? You think I’m acting childish when you told me last night that we won’t kiss again unless sex is part of the mix?”
“Yes, that’s what I said and I meant it.”
“Well, sorry if you think I’m acting childish but I’m the one acting more adult than you. All you can think about is—”
“Making love to you.”
She swallowed, seeing a picture of that very thing in her mind. “Yes.”
“Can’t help it. You do things to me, Layla.”
When she was honest with herself, she could admit that he did things to her, as well. But she would never admit it to him. He was just like all the other men she’d known, which is why she’d sworn off relationships. All men wanted of a woman was a roll between the sheets. She wanted more from life; she had a career to build. Men and sex only got in the way of her goals.
She glanced over at him. “You were an only child, right?”
“Yes, as far as I know.”
When she looked at him in surprise he added, “My mother deserted us when I was eight and never came back. For all I know, she could have married and had more kids by now.”
Layla nodded. “She and your dad got a divorce?”
“No, but she might have changed her name and started over. Who knows?”
Layla didn’t say anything for a moment. “You’ve never tried to find her?”
“No.”
“Not even when your father was killed in the war?”
His jaw tightened. “Especially not then. If she didn’t return to see him while he was living, I sure as hell didn’t plan to give her the opportunity to see him dead,” he said in a biting tone. “Dad always believed she would come back to us. Even said he understood her need to get away. After all, he’d talked her into coming to Cornerstone.”
“Where was she from?”
“New York. Manhattan. They met while he was on military business at the United Nations. They’d only known each other a week when they married. They met one night at a restaurant, a month after her only family, an aunt, died.”
“So when they met, she had no living family?”
“No.”
He didn’t say anything else for a long moment, and then he added, “According to Dad she lasted out here longer than he expected her to. She tried being a good wife, and I remember her being a good mom. Dad placed a lot of blame on himself since he had to carry out a lot of missions, leaving her here with Gramma Mel and Grampa Gavin. And when I came along a year later, he thought she’d adjusted.”
“But she hadn’t?”
“Evidently not. One day she up and left. She told my grandparents she needed to get away for a while and asked them to watch me. She said she’d be back before Dad returned from his overseas tour. Then she got in her car— the one Dad bought for her—and drove off.”
“And she never came back?”
He shook his head. “No, she never came back. Months later, when Dad returned home and found her gone, he was heartbroken. She left him a note saying she would come back. But she never did.”
“And after all this time, you’ve never tried finding her?”
“No. She decided she didn’t want me or Dad in her life.”
* * *
Gavin inwardly admitted that more than once he had thought about locating his mother, if for no other reason than to ask her why she never came back. One of his former SEAL teammates, Nick Stover, worked for Homeland Security. All Gavin had to do was give Nick her name and there was no doubt in his mind that Nick would tell Gavin her whereabouts. A part of him knew the main reason he hadn’t done so was his fear of what he would find out. What if his mother had never wanted him or loved his dad? At times it was easier to do what his father had done and believe the best...even if it was a fairy tale.
He drew in a deep breath. Why had he shared any of that with Layla when he’d never shared it with a woman before? For some reason, when she’d asked if he was an only child, the floodgates had opened. Emotions he usually kept locked inside had come pouring out.
“Any other family besides Ms. Melody? What about aunts, uncles or cousins?”
He figured she was asking for conversational purposes only, so he obliged her. “My grandmother has a younger sister living in Saint Louis. Her only grandson, Benjamin, and I are close. We’re more like brothers than cousins. He spent a lot of his summers here. Ben’s a year older and in the Marines. Right now he’s stationed in Afghanistan, and we’re hoping he’ll be home for the holidays.”
He glanced over at her. “What about you? Any cousins?”
She shook her head. “No. My grandparents didn’t have any siblings and they had one child. I never knew my mother’s parents. They died in a boating accident when she was in her teens.”
He said nothing as he drove. They were ten minutes from his home and although there had been sexual chemistry between them as usual, they’d managed to keep it under control. That was a surprise since his plans for this evening had originally been to end up in some woman’s bed. A part of him couldn’t believe he’d given up the chance for sex just to spend time in Layla’s company. And he had to grudgingly admit that although she’d tried to ignore him for most of the evening, he had enjoyed being with her.
Moments later, he pulled into the yard in front of the ranch house. His grandmother would be leaving tomorrow and he would have the house all to himself. Bringing the car to a stop, he cut the ignition and turned to Layla. “I’ll see you inside.”