LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I’m not coming to dinner tonight,” Toby said. “And I’m not inviting Angie.”

      “Why not? If there’s nothing going on between you two, then why try to keep her away from your family?”

      Stacey had a point. Unfortunately, with the sparks that were jumping between him and Angie lately, he doubted a blind man would believe there wasn’t anything going on between them.

      And knowing his family the way he did, he was sure they’d figure out something was up the second he, Angie and the kids walked in the door.

      Hell.

      “Okay,” he finally conceded. “But let me invite her. And I’ll only do it if you guys promise not to interrogate her.”

      “My, aren’t you the protector. She’s lucky to have you in her corner.”

      Toby didn’t know about that.

      “Oops,” Stacey said, “Piper just smeared green beans all over herself. Gotta go.”

      Good, Toby thought. He was glad Stacey’s baby had made a mess she’d have to clean up. That was what his sister got for butting into Toby’s business.

      He just hoped he didn’t have an even bigger mess to deal with now.

      * * *

      Angie saw Toby’s name displayed on her caller-ID screen. She’d been too chicken to call him after she said she would. What was the proper length of time one should wait to call the man they’d intimately nestled against all night long? Three days? Maybe there was an article in some women’s magazine she could reference.

      Ugh. She needed to get this over with. He was probably calling to tell her that they needed to see less of each other. That he wasn’t looking for a relationship. He’d made that more than clear. The sooner she bit the bullet, the sooner she could get over him. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she’d ever get over the feeling of his fingers stroking their way up her waist. Or his husky voice telling her how good she felt.

      She tried to sound more upbeat than the groan stuck in her throat would allow when she said, “Hello?”

      “Um, hey.”

      Couldn’t he even manage a proper greeting? He must already be experiencing remorse at what they’d done and guilt over what he was about to tell her.

      She should make it easy for him and call things off first, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words for him.

      “Did my sister Delaney call you yet?” he finally got out.

      “Not that I know of. But I haven’t looked at my missed calls since I got out of the shower.”

      Why would Delaney be calling her? Had the rumors started already? Was Toby trying to do damage control? Maybe they needed to get their stories straight about her spending the night out at the Double H.

      “Good. I wanted to talk to you before she did.”

      Uh-oh. This didn’t bode well.

      “It sounds like my family is doing a dinner thing tonight and they want me to bring you.”

      “Why would they want me there?” Unless they thought something was going on between her and Toby. Of course, she didn’t know why his family would think that when she, herself, had no idea if there was anything going on between the two of them.

      “They, uh, well, they’re just curious about you since we’ve been spending, uh, so much time together and, you know...” Was Toby nervous? His voice tripped over the words like a shy schoolboy asking her out to prom. He was usually so confident. What had happened to all his swagger and self-assuredness?

      “So they want to check me out?” She actually wanted to ask if they were trying to determine if she was good enough for their Fortune Jones standards. Angie had the feeling she wouldn’t pass that test.

      “It’s really not a big deal. It’s just a little family get-together. And I made Stacey promise that they wouldn’t interrogate you or anything.”

      “Yeah, that’s not exactly selling me on the idea, Toby.” In fact, the implication that he probably had to wrestle the promise from his sister made it seem that much more likely that what his family had planned was a full-scale inquisition.

      “Well, I figure we could either go to the dinner together and show a kind of united front, or we can sit back and wait for them to come into the Superette one by one and hound you for information.”

      That was a good point. She didn’t relish being the subject of the Fortune Joneses’ scrutiny, but she’d rather it be in the privacy of their family ranch than in public at her place of employment. She didn’t mind working in the bakery on occasion, but she’d hate to have to hide back there for good.

      “Plus,” Toby continued, “the kids will be there and Stacey is bringing Piper. If we stick close to at least one of the children, we should be safe, right?”

      Angie didn’t know if he meant they’d be safe from the prying questions from his family or safe from their own raging hormones.

      But she just wasn’t sure she should go. She wanted to spend more time with him, but would this just make things more complicated? He sounded as if he was eager to have her there, which wasn’t how a man would act if he was trying to break it off with a woman.

      “Let me think about it,” she finally said.

      “Fair enough. I’ll be at the baseball field most of the afternoon, so just give me a call on my cell when you decide.”

      She had no more than set her phone down on the counter when a preprogrammed ringtone sounded. The foreboding theme song from Jaws indicated it was her mother.

      Doris had called her twice last night, and if Angie didn’t talk to her mom now, the woman would think something was going on and make another surveillance trip into the Superette.

      “Hi, Mom,” Angie finally said, ending the crescendo of doom.

      “Evangeline, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday. Where have you been? On a date?”

      Did her mom suspect?

      Probably not. Doris didn’t keep in touch with many people she’d known from when she’d lived in Horseback Hollow. They were too small-town for Doris’s perceived cosmopolitan lifestyle. Not that Lubbock could be considered an epicenter of sophistication by most people’s standards, but her mom liked to think she was a big deal now.

      “I’ve just been really busy. Nothing new or exciting going on here.”

      “Good, because if you don’t have plans tonight, there’s a dinner dance at the country club here in Lubbock, and Margie Suttelheimer’s grandson is going to be there. He’s a corporate attorney, and his second divorce was just finalized last month. Margie assured me his prenup was ironclad. His ex barely got a dime, so he’s still worth millions.”

      Angie had never made a quicker decision.

      “I’m sorry, Mom. I’ve already made plans for tonight.”

      She’d just have to tell Toby that dinner with the Fortune Jones clan was on.

      * * *

      At one minute after nine, Toby went out to the barn for some privacy. Using his cell phone, he placed a call to Ms. Fisk at child services, only to reach a recording that said she was out of the office. So he left her a voice-mail message.

      Next he called the Lubbock attorney who’d first contacted him about the money that the anonymous donor had given him and he’d placed in trust for the kids. Jake Gleason specialized in estate planning, so if push came to shove, Toby would retain someone else to handle the custody issue. But for right now, he needed some professional assurance that Barbara had only been blowing smoke.

      Unfortunately, Jake hadn’t

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