“No fallen reindeer,” he teased, and she laughed. “Okay, you finish up here. I’ll bathe and dress Sarah.”
“But, Chad”
He stopped her objection with a firm kiss. “I’ve never been around a child Sarah’s age. I have everything to learn.”
He did amazingly well, actually. Leigh had changed into a skirt and blouse, applied her makeup, and done her hair by the time Chad had the baby dressed. She passed Sarah’s room on her way to the kitchen to finish loading the diaper bag with prepared bottles and jars of baby food, the heating dish, and Sarah’s baby spoon.
“How’s it coming?” she asked.
“We’re almost there. Meet you in the living room.” The only help he had asked for was in selecting what Sarah would wear.
* * *
For all the world, they appeared like a family on a shopping outing, and Chad did nothing to alter that image. He insisted on carrying Sarah as they toured the mall, keeping a possessive arm around Leigh as well, except when she was actually checking the decorations. As always when they were out in public, people spoke to Chad with familiarity. Proudly he introduced Leigh and Sarah to everyone.
After leaving the mall, they stopped at a fast-food place and got an order of fried chicken to go, then Chad headed the Ferrari out to Saddle Club Estates. “I want you to see my house,” he told Leigh. “We can have our lunch there.”
Chad’s house had been one of Leigh’s favorites even before she knew it belonged to him. A combination of traditional and contemporary, it was built of stone and cedar. The yard was beautifully landscaped, with several as yet immature pecan trees giving the promise of shade in years to come.
He pressed a button on a transmitter lying on the console of his car, and a gate on the driveway swung open. He drove through and parked the Ferrari outside a garage door. “We’re home,” he said cheerfully, juggling the bucket of fried chicken in one hand while holding the car door for Leigh and Sarah with the other.
Unlocking a door leading off the brick patio, he ushered them inside, then quickly stepped around them to disengage the alarm system that had beeped its warning as soon as they stepped through the door. He pushed the correct series of numbers on the panel and it clicked off. “Remind me to give you a key and the combination of the burglar alarm so you’ll never have any trouble getting in.”
Leigh nodded dazedly. She felt like a bumpkin in the city for the first time. The house looked like something out of Architectural Digest. The unmistakable flair of a professional decorator was on everything, yet the impressive decor didn’t have the sterility that touch often carried with it. The highly polished brick floors were scattered with antique Oriental rugs, more valuable because of their age and faded condition. Original works of art were grouped tastefully with prints and posters. Objects that Chad must have picked up in his travels around the world were evident on tables and étagères. His personality was stamped on everything.
“Chad,” Leigh whispered as though she were in a museum. “It’s beautiful.”
“But do you like it?”
She turned and saw that he was looking at her with painful anxiety, so afraid that she might not approve. “Yes, Chad,” she said on a slight laugh. “I just can’t take it all in.”
“Come see the rest of it.”
That was considerably more than she had bargained for. The house had four bedrooms with a sit
ting room adjoining the master bedroom, four bathrooms, not counting the one in the master suite, a formal dining room, a breakfast room, a game room with a wet bar, the giant living area, an office, a laundry room, and a country kitchen. There were fireplaces in the master bedroom, the sitting room, the living room, and the informal dining room adjacent to the kitchen.
Outside there was a jewel of a swimming pool with an attached spa, a changing cabana, and another complete wet bar that was weather-secured.
“One person lives in all of this?” Leigh said distractedly as she stood in the living room with the vaulted ceiling.
“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” Chad said ruefully. “I bought the house a couple of years ago from a friend of my dad’s, an oil man. He was building another one, bigger and better.”
“Bigger and better than this?” Leigh asked incredulously.
Chad laughed. “I bought it more as an investment than anything else. The owner wasn’t looking to make a profit and just wanted to unload it. It’s appreciated in value considerably since then due to the boom in Midland. But it’s lonely as hell to come home to, Leigh. No one’s ever lived here with me. I bought it after Sharon… died.”
He put his arms around her, mindless of Sarah between them. It seemed only right to include the baby in their embrace. Chad kissed Leigh warmly. “Who knows,” he said against her mouth, “we might end up filling those other bedrooms with little Dillons.” His hand was at her breast, caressing with a touch she had come to know, but that never failed to thrill her with its newness.
“And I suppose now that since you’ve had practice, you’d like to deliver all of them,” she teased.
“I’d rather make them.”
Leigh pushed away suddenly and covered her mouth with her hand. “Chad, I just thought about… last night. I didn’t… and you didn’t…”
He laughed. “Nothing would tickle me more than for you to get pregnant. Then you’d have to marry me right away.”
“Chad! I haven’t even said I’d marry you, much less—”