“Jenny.” He pressed her shoulders between his hands, forcing her to pay attention. “I know I sound like a damn broken record, but I’ll say it one more time. It’s none of our business.”
“They love each other. I know it! I can feel it!”
She was cutest when she was annoyed. He smiled down at her and bobbed his eyebrows suggestively. “You want to feel something? I’ll give you something to feel.”
“Oh you’re impossible!”
“That’s why you love me. Now, unless you want to pay the consequences for locking yourself in the laundry room with a very bad boy, I suggest that we get down to the business at hand. This is going to be a helluva day.”
It was almost dusk before the Hendrens and Kerry and Linc sat down on the outdoor furniture on the porch and drew exhausted breaths. The day had been even more hectic than Cage had predicted it would be.
A barbecue picnic had been catered by a local restaurateur to relieve the initial awkwardness of the orphans meeting their adoptive parents.
The couples who had adopted the children were all Kerry had hoped for. She tearfully waved goodbye to the children, confident that each would grow up in a home filled with love.
She had demurred from accepting any praise and shied away from the media. Reporters, who had at last been granted access to the ranch, pressed her for interviews, but she kept them at a minimum. When she did speak with them, she focused their attention on the children who had enriched her life so much over the past year and took little credit for herself.
Roxie and Gary Fleming left for home with their daughters. Reverend and Sarah Hendren had left with Joe only a few minutes earlier. His parting with Linc had been almost too painful to watch. The boy had struggled not to cry. There was a tension around Linc’s mouth, too, as he and Joe solemnly shook hands, exchanging pledges to stay in touch with each other.
Now Trent and Lisa were playing together on the lawn. Lisa gave no indication that she felt rejected. In fact, she hadn’t even questioned being left behind.
“There’s leftover brisket in the kitchen.” Jenny wearily waved her hand toward the house. “Supper is every man for himself.”
“No thanks,” Cage said, speaking for all of them. “I could drink a beer though. Linc?”
“I really should be getting to the airport.”
He was ready to leave. The clothes he had bought in La Bota were packed in a new duffel bag and his new ca
mera and additional lenses were stored in their protective, customized bags. They stood on the porch steps ready to be placed in the car for the drive to the airport. There was a commuter plane to Dallas leaving later that night; there he would make a connecting flight to New York.
Kerry had learned of his travel plans through Jenny. Her heart was breaking, but she refused to show it. She had assumed the same detached air that he had started the day with. Though her image was imprinted on the film in his cameras, she could have been a stranger to him. In a few weeks he probably wouldn’t even remember her. She would be just another notch in his belt. Hers would be just one of many names on Lincoln O’Neal’s international list of sexual conquests.
Tonight, when it was all over, tonight, when she was alone in the bed where they had shared such splendor, she would cry into the handkerchief he had given her. Until then, she would act as casual as he did. As he had pointed out to her beneath the mesquite tree, she was good at playing roles.
“Surely you’ve got time for a beer,” Cage said.
“All right,” Linc agreed. “One beer.”
“I’ll get it.” Jenny pulled herself up by the armrests of her chair. “I’ve got to go inside to the bathroom anyway.”
She took only a few steps toward the front door before she clutched her tummy and exclaimed sharply, “Oh, my!”
Cage shot out of his chair. “What is it? Another one of those damn cramps?”
“No.”
“Indigestion? I told you to lay off that barbecue. He uses enough cayenne to—”
“No, it’s not indigestion.” Jenny smiled radiantly. “It’s the baby.”
“The baby?” Cage repeated stupidly.
“The baby. Such as in rock-a-bye baby.”
“Oh, Christ. Oh, hell.” Cage gripped her arm. “How do you know? Are you in pain? When—” Suddenly his chin snapped up and he peered closely into her face. He even turned her toward the porch light to see her better. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Are you sure?”
Jenny burst out laughing, realizing that he thought she was staging a false alarm to detain Linc. “Yes, I’m sure.”