Kat Attalla Special Edition (72 page)

"Oh, no, I don't." Jake rose and slammed the chair back into the table. His daughter had taken a sadistic delight in informing him that Kate hadn't left. "Go feed the animals. I'll take care of Kate."

Jake picked up a pebble and tossed it over the roof onto the front porch as he slipped in the back door. Chloe was right. Kate had no intention of leaving. She had torn off the tops of the boxes that she had packed the last two days. Half her clothing and personal possessions covered the sofa, ready to be put away at her leisure.

She stood at the door and shrugged at the empty porch. When she turned and caught sight of him, she let out a startled cry. Her white-knuckled hand gripped the door handle to support her shaking legs.

"You scared me." She took in a large gulp of air and placed her hand over her heart. Despite her fright, she seemed pleased to see him.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

Her tentative smile faded again. "Unpacking."

"Don't bother. You're not staying in this house."

Kate drew herself up and returned his determined stare with one of her own. "The hell I'm not, Callahan. I warned you that I wouldn't leave, even if you told me to. I have a lease."

"Do you think I care about a piece of paper? This land is mine, not Trevor's." She ignored his angry outburst and removed more clothes from the open box.

"Did you hear me?"

She shrugged. "I'd have to be deaf not to. You can't make me leave, so deal with it."

"You think not? We'll see." He strode past her and kicked open the front door.

* * * *

Kate reached for another shirt and threw it on the pile of clothes. All her carefully folded lingerie scattered across the carpet, and she fell to her knees to gather it up. This wasn't going the way she'd planned.

She clutched the silky undergarments to her chest and pushed up to her feet. She had just gotten her balance when she was hoisted up in the air like a sack of grain and dumped on Jake's shoulder. All her clothes fell to the ground again as she grasped at the fabric of his flannel shirt to keep from sliding off. She was so stunned she couldn't speak.

He carried her across the lawn to his house and dropped her in his favorite easy chair. "Still think I can't make you leave?"

Kate scrambled to her feet, only to be gently pushed back in the seat. "That only proves you're bigger than me.

"I believe the press refers to you as the Queen. Is that right?"

She‘d prayed for an end to his cold silence. Before he finished with her, she might be wishing for it again. "The Queen of Flash. If you want to insult me with it, get it right."

"Well, Your Highness. Since I can't seem to banish you from the kingdom, maybe you'd better learn the new borders."

Kate squared her shoulders and tipped her head for him to continue.

"You're gonna be living in my castle, not at the servants' quarters next door. I'm too damn old to be sneaking home at five in the morning."

"Huh?" Already dazed and confused, Kate wondered if she suffered from a hearing deficiency, too.

He stalked around the chair and continued. "Another thing. Chloe and I don't do interviews. If I see one reporter trespassing on my property, I'll fill his rear
-
end full of buckshot. Do you understand?" He sat on the arm of the chair and looked her straight in the eyes.

Did his scowl hold an underlying trace of humor or had she imagined it? "What are you talking about?"

"The only leather around here that gets special treatment is still attached to the cows. When you're not on the road, you'll get up at six o'clock like the rest of your family."

Try as she might, Kate couldn't compose a coherent thought. She blinked and shook herself, sure that she must be imagining this conversation with Jake. She gazed up again, but he hadn't disappeared.

"One more thing," he went on. "When you are working, you will wear your wedding ring onstage, and I don't care if that doesn't fit the image of a rock star." He paused and used his thumb to close her jaw, which hung open. "What's the problem?"

Kate absently rubbed her empty ring finger. "I don' have a wedding ring."

“I’ll take care of that."

She sighed. He had said all the words she wanted to hear. She should be elated, but
-
-
"I know you have it in you to be romantic, Jake, so why are you turning this into a joke?

Jake cleared his throat and moistened his dry lips. "I'm turning this into a joke because the thought that you might refuse makes me ill. You don't corner the market on being afraid."

This time she didn't doubt the sincerity of his claim. She pushed him off the chair arm and sprang up to her feet. She had no problem with her hearing. Jake had the problem with his comprehension. "You big jerk. I've told you more than once that I love you. Why would you think I'd refuse? And if you say one word about my money, I swear, I'll cash it all into pennies and bury you in
it
."

Jake burst out laughing. He caught her around the waist and spun her in the air, bringing her slowly to rest against his chest. "You just called your future husband a jerk."

"Well, you are," she muttered.

"Then why did you say yes?"

She tipped her head back to gaze into his smiling eyes. "I've got a thing for jerks."

"There are a lot of jerks in this world," he pointed out.

Kate broke out in a wide grin. "I know. I've met a lot of them. But you top the list, and I only settle for the best."

"I love you, Kate." He gathered her up into his arms and put all the feeling into his kiss that his proposal had lacked. He'd found that part of himself that he thought he'd lost. Never again would he give a thought to her money. He had a family. That made him the richest man in the world.

Epilogue

Jake stared out the window at the last few leaves clinging to the trees.  The days got progressively shorter, and the nights much too long. Kate had intentionally set aside the late fall and early winter for her recording sessions and tours so that she could be around when the farm work was heaviest. Although she called every night when she went on the road, a fiber-optic romance didn't have the same appeal as the feel of her next to him.

He had dreaded the day when the local people would find out the truth about her work. Except for the initial surprise, most of their friends seemed to take it in stride that they had a celebrity among them. Kate refused to be treated differently, and they accepted that.

"You miss her, huh? Me, too," Chloe said. She joined him at the window and followed his stare. "Even Lollipop turned her nose up at her feed."

Jake smiled. Kate had developed such a bond with that animal that Jake had been unable to sell it. He kept it around as a pet, something he'd never done before. "She'll be back in a couple of weeks."

Chloe touched his arm. "I know that, but you always seem surprised when she does return."

"I do that for her benefit."

"Yeah, right," she teased him.

The sun disappeared into the horizon.  In the distance a car meandered up the road toward the house. "Turn off all the lights and pretend we're out. It's Elsa Johannsen coming by with another fruitcake," Jake warned with a wicked grin. She and Kate had become close friends, and Elsa felt it her obligation to check up on Chloe and him while Kate was away.

"No. The car is too big."

They stepped out onto the porch. The yellow TAXI light on top of the car flickered twice and burned out. Typical for life in Tannersville. The car stopped and the door flew open wide. As Kate stepped out, Jake found himself unable to move. She wasn't due back yet. What had happened? A slight push from his daughter reminded him that he should go to his wife.

Kate threw her arms around his neck and planted a warm, wet kiss on his mouth, without a thought for the gawking taxi driver. Jake reached in his pocket and handed some bills to the man and waved him away.

"What are you doing home?" he asked when he finally came up for air.

"I couldn't live without you for another day."

Her declaration touched him, but he knew there was something more. "Thank you, but why else are you here?"

"Can we discuss it later? I'm really tired, with the time difference and all. The plane arrived late and I left right from the studio, so I didn't get any rest in the past day."

"Sure." He carried her bags inside and left them in the foyer. Chloe had already cornered Kate's attention when he joined them in the living room. Kate looked more tired than usual. Especially since she had been in a studio rather than onstage the past two weeks.

"Did you finish early?" Chloe asked.

"No." Kate massaged her temples and leaned against Jake as he sat next to her. "We stopped and rescheduled the recording session for a couple of months from now."

"Why?" Jake asked.

"I haven't been feeling too good."

He put his hand to her forehead. "Have you seen a doctor?"

"Yes, Daddy," she joked. "Nikki took me to her doctor, and he suggested that I take it easy for the next couple of months, then I can go back into the studio."

"It's nothing serious?" Jake pushed.

She smiled up at him. "No. But I've decided not to follow up the release of the album with a tour this time. My agent didn't like it, but she understood when I explained my reasons."

"Oh, gee. That is too bad." Jake tried for sympathy, but he didn't quite pull it off. He never interfered in her career, except for his insistence that she find a new agent, which she gladly did. If she never went on the road again, he wouldn't shed a tear.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Tomorrow, Jake. It involves the two of us, and we really need to discuss it. I just need some sleep. I always seem to need sleep these days."

"All right." He pulled her to her feet and walked her to the bedroom. "Just tell me why you changed your plans, and I won't say another word until tomorrow."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Kate glanced over his shoulder and winked at Chloe, then turned back to him. "They don't make leather miniskirts in maternity sizes."

"Oh," he said, and left her at the door. She sat on the edge of the bed and counted to three. "Oh, Kate. Wait a second."

"You promised."

Jake pushed her down on the bed and stretched out next to her. He ran his hand along her stomach and bent down to kiss the area where his baby had begun to grow. "It's tomorrow somewhere in the world."

"You've got a point there." She cupped his face in her hands. "Are you sure you want to start this all over again? Chloe is almost seventeen."

"I know what I'm getting into. What about you?"

"I know that you might be eating a lot of chocolate cake for the next six months. Anything else I need to know, I figure you'll teach me. You did so well with Chloe."

"And your career?"

She snuggled closer. "A deal is a deal. I said I would stop the traveling when I got pregnant."

"I won't hold you to it. After all, it's my fault."

"I seem to remember being there, too."

“I know, but
-
-
“  He never wanted Kate to feel trapped on the farm.

She took his hand and laid it against her stomach again. "The music critics might argue that I do my best work alone on a stage, but I've decided I prefer the results when working with a collaborator."

The End

About the Author

Like most authors, I didn't start out as a writer, but rather as a reader. My passion for romance novels began in my late teens and left me with an itch to discover the world.

After living in places as culturally diverse as Athens, Greece and Cairo, Egypt (where I met and married my own romantic hero), we returned to the States.

From a very young age, I showed an aptitude for telling stories. Of course my mother called me a pathological liar, but I prefer to think back on those days as an apprenticeship for my future craft.

Also published by Books We Love

Murphy’s Law

Codename: Romeo

Homeward Bound

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