Hotel Ladd (6 page)

Lacy winked and gave Annie
the thumbs up. Apparently Delaney didn’t need any more convincing.
Maybe Cal was right.
She’s a mother, same
as you
. It was the first time Annie had
thought of Cal since discovering her child had run off, but now
that she had, his image stuck. She would have to call him. He would
want to know.

“
Thanks, Delaney! Toodles!”
Lacy set her phone on the counter and announced proudly, “She’s
going to call Felicity this instant.”

Annie expelled her breath, the first
release of pressure since the ordeal had started. “Thank
you.”

“
No problem! And don’t
worry, Annie. I’m sure she’s all right. She’s just a girl trying to
find her way.”

Like you once
tried
, Annie mused. The similarity between
Casey and Lacy drew a tight string around Annie’s heart. Is this
what their mother went through when Lacy ran off? Did she worry and
fret and feel all was lost?

A sober reality dribbled in. Their
mother couldn’t have felt the way Annie was feeling. Annie was
distraught, anxious. She was beside herself with worry. Not Momma.
Her response had been to up and move. The memory gouged a fresh
hole in Annie’s heart. She simply accepted the fact that Lacy had
run off and decided the girl could fend for herself. Came to the
same conclusion with Annie. She was eighteen, of legal age, which
meant she could take care of herself. A few days later, Momma up
and left, abandoning the homestead right after Lacy.

Lacy’s phone rang and she snatched it
up. “Hey, Delaney.” She nodded. “Okay, thanks.” Pulling the phone
from her ear, she peered at the tiny screen. “She’s going to text
me his contact info.” Bling. “There it is!” She handed the phone
over to Annie. “Do you want to call him?”

“
Is there an
address?”

Lacy pressed a button on her phone.
“Yep, there sure is!”

Annie tensed. “I’d rather do it in
person.”

“
Good idea,” Lacy said.
“That way they can’t ignore you.”

Lacy was right on the mark with that
one. Casey had ignored her all night long. But phone calls were
easy to mute. A live, hot-blooded mother with an aim to drag her
daughter home was another story. While their Momma didn’t chase
after Lacy, Annie was darn well going to chase after Casey. Her
daughter might not be happy to see her, but eventually she’d
understand and be grateful for the fact. Abandonment was an emotion
that never left a person. It branded the heart forever. Annie felt
a rush of nerves. Casey was eighteen. Her life at home was no kite
flight in the park. Would she come back with her?

Chapter Five

Cal watched as Annie placed her
cosmetic bag over top of the clothes in an overnight bag. It felt
odd, being in the personal space of her bedroom. He liked it
though. It was a nice mix of feminine and sensible, nothing too
frilly or expensive, nothing silly and unnecessary. Clean,
organized…it smelled of her perfume. He stole a fleeting glance at
her open bathroom door, the shower stall partially visible. To
date, they hadn’t crossed the line into intimacy, but desire was
always with him. Particularly in the privacy of her
bedroom.

But at the moment, Annie had more
urgent matters on her mind and he was going to respect them—though
it wasn’t sufficient enough to prevent him from reacting to her
female presence. Dressed in jeans and ivory cable sweater, Annie
didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Her figure was trim and fit,
her face a beautiful combination of porcelain beauty lined with
pure country determination. She stopped her hands mid-motion and
closed the lid of her overnight bag. “You don’t have to go with me,
Cal.”

“
What if I want to, Annie?
You might need help convincing Casey to come home. Let me give that
to you.”

“
I appreciate the offer,
Cal, but I don’t think there’s anything you can do. This is between
me and Casey and it could get ugly.”

Cal chuckled. “Oh, believe me, darlin’.
I’ve seen ugly before and it doesn’t scare me.”

“
Not with a rebellious
teenage daughter. They’re a whole different kind of ugly,” she
said, adding a smile to lighten the brunt force of her
rejection.

While he didn’t think Annie meant to be
patronizing, that’s how her smile felt to him. She was pushing him
away because she believed he didn’t understand the crisis at hand.
She wrote him off as an unmarried man with no experience. However,
Cal was a whole lot more familiar with “ugly” than Annie could
possibly know, much to his shame. But she didn’t know about his
“ugly” because he hadn’t yet revealed it to her. But one day, one
day he’d share it all. It was inevitable. She’d have to know his
scars if he expected to have a future with her. Doing so when she
was knee deep in hers wasn’t going to happen. He was here as
support, and that’s all Annie would hear from him for the
foreseeable future.

Cal strolled over to her and stood by
as she zipped her case closed. He reached down and took it from her
hands. “I’ll take that,” he said, firming his grip on the handle in
case she resisted.

“
I can carry my bag,
Cal.”

“
I know you can, but I’d
feel better if I carried it for you.” Annie surrendered with a
thank-you and walked out to the living room to retrieve her purse.
Cal followed, turning out the light behind him, a last tamp to his
desire. “Have you considered it may get hostile?”

“
Hostile?”

“
Yes, hostile. Casey is a
runaway. They’re not known for their amenable
attitudes.”

“
Believe me, that I
understand. But I don’t think it will get any more hostile than
harsh words.” She paused, the calculations whirring behind her
eyes. “Do you?”

He shrugged. “It might. From what Lacy
said, it sounds like the boy has a chip on his shoulder.” A chip
the size of Texas, to hear Macolm tell it. Troy had a twin brother,
an identical twin in looks but nothing else. Travis Parker was the
twin who won the girl, made the grades, pleased his parents by
going to college, criticizing Troy at every turn. Add the fact that
Troy had allowed his libido to get the better of him, sleeping with
Jeremiah Ladd’s girlfriend and the whole town had come down on him
pretty hard, Casey included.

According to Malcolm, Troy Parker was a
bull in a china shop where every customer wore bright red clothing.
He rammed full speed ahead, took heads off when they poked into his
business... Cal understood a young man prone to temper. He’d spent
his childhood living with three of them. Beau, Clint and Jack never
met a brawl they didn’t like, biting back harder than necessary and
in most cases drawing first blood. Like Troy, seemed the fight was
bred into them. “Things could escalate.”

“
Escalate? What are you
saying, Cal? That I should fear for my safety?”

“
Now don’t go puttin’ words
into my mouth. But it’s like I told you before, you’re entering an
unfriendly situation at a disadvantage. Troy will be on his turf
and Casey will be covered under his umbrella. If they want to fight
you on this, what are your alternatives?”

“
My alternative is to say,
no. Casey is coming home with me, and that’s the end of
it.”

“
Now I don’t know about you,
but demanding others do it my way by the force of a bat never did
work too well. I say you try a softer appeal. This has to be
about
her
, not
you.”

Annie eyed him with a wariness that
looked to be born from epiphany. Was she catching on? Did she
realize he might know what he was talking about?

Cal sure hoped so. It would save her
pounds of heartache down the road.

Annie slumped and dropped to the arm of
her sofa. “This is about her.”

“
I know it is, “Cal said,
setting her overnight bag on the side table. “And you know it is.
But I think Casey is going to need some convincing. Some convincing
that might take time.”

“
What do you mean,
time?”

“
What I mean is...” Cal
lowered to the cushion beside her, but not too close. He didn’t
want her to think he was taking advantage of the situation. He and
Annie had been inching closer over the last several weeks, and if
she needed time to let him in, he was going to give it to her. No
longer a man of push and shove, Cal had learned a tender touch was
a tougher approach, but one with the biggest payoff. “Casey might
hear what you have to say, but she might not act immediately. She
might have to let it sit and stew for a while before it makes good
sense.”

Black lashes shuttered as Annie looked
away. “You’re saying I might have to leave her there…with
Troy.”

Cal hated that Annie’s voice was
strained. She sounded broken, beat, and it was the last thing he
wanted for her. Annie was a strong woman with personal courage and
determination. A woman who went after what she wanted, even when
she feared it might not go her way. But this time she had
everything riding on the outcome. It was an investment he
understood all too well. When the one person in the world with the
power to crush drops the hammer, life can feel like it ain’t worth
living. “I’m suggesting patience might be the best route. Give
Casey the room to make her own decision. Let her know you’re there
for her, but be clear it’s her decision from there.”

“
What if she decides not to
come home?”

Cal hated to say it but she needed to
hear it. “Then you have to accept that.”

Tears swam into her eyes and she turned
from him. Cal gently took her chin in his hand and drew her back to
face him. His instinct was to brush her tears free, kiss her pain
away, make love to her until she understood she was not alone in
this world but he couldn’t do any of it. Annie wasn’t ready. Like
her daughter Casey, Annie needed time.

“
Maybe you
should
come with me.” She
smiled through bleary eyes. “If I break down like this, she surely
won’t respect me enough to come home.”

“
That’s where you’re wrong.
Casey will love you every step of the way.” Annie laughed, the
sound of sweet heaven to his ears.

“
How did you become so
wise?”

“
The hard way, darlin’. I
turned wise the hard way.”

Cal drove Annie to Murfreesboro, the
near two hour drive a comfortable visit between friends, though
privately, Annie was beginning to view Cal as much more than a
friend. When he cupped her chin today, she nearly wrapped her arms
around him and hugged him tight. Her feelings went beyond
friendship. Stabs of longing moved deep inside her, stirring urges
she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Cal was there for her. He
didn’t take no for an answer. He stayed, he persisted. He let her
know in no uncertain terms that she mattered. That he
cared.

A tingle of delight scurried through
her. Dressed in a hunter green flannel button-down and jeans, Cal
looked good, the colors blending with his hazel brown eyes. Fine
brown hair fell in soft layers, his summer tan long since faded.
Woodsy, masculine, unlike the more rugged ways of his brothers, Cal
struck her as a more subdued cowboy, a country gentleman. Fed up
with the cocky, boisterous types of men floating through the town’s
streets and bars, Annie preferred Cal’s laid-back style. It was
quiet, respectful, yet every ounce as strong. And for her, a very
special feeling to be valued by such a man. After Jeremiah, there
had been a few nice men, but eventually the relationships soured.
Men seemed more interested in themselves than her and her young
daughter. She had a busy life, a commitment to Casey. Somehow, men
seemed to be squeezed out of the equation. Annie glanced to her
side, Cal’s hand steady on the wheel. But not him. He stayed. He
knew today could get ugly yet here he was, driving her there
himself. Was he a masochist?

No. She suppressed a faint chuckle. Cal
was no masochist or weirdo. He was good old-fashioned
manliness.

A few miles before they reached the
town of Murfreesboro, Cal turned at a sign reading Creek’s Bend
Ranch and followed a long winding dirt road through a sprawling
estate. Oiled-brown board fencing outlined the property, cutting
well-manicured pastures and marking horse runs. In the distance sat
a length of stables, painted barn red and trimmed in white. They
were impressive in size and Annie imagined capable of housing at
least two dozen stalls. With gentle rolling hills, expansive fields
of green against a backdrop of fall-drenched mountains, the ranch
looked like it was peeled clear off a brochure boasting the finest
in Tennessee living. “Wow, this is some kind of
beautiful.”

“
Sure is,” Cal acknowledged.
“Dwarfs our ranch back home.”

“
But your place is gorgeous,
Cal.” He smiled, as though her comment was no more than an attempt
to elevate the stature of his family’s ranch. She placed a hand to
his forearm. “I’m serious. Your place is beautiful. I’ve always
admired it.”

“
Have you?”

She smiled, a shade timidly. “I
have.”

“
When’s the last time you
went riding, Annie?”