What the Heart Wants (What the Heart Wants, #1)(74)

Had he really deserted Laurel? He hadn’t thought of it that way. He’d told her he’d be in touch. And he would, as soon as he sorted her out from her father.

Lolly’s eyes flashed. “If she’s going to be a part of the family, she’s my business too! She’d be my stepmother, so it’s important whether I like her or not!”

“Well, do you?”

She gave him the “duh” look. “What do you think? Yes, I like her very much. I want you to marry her. Now, are you going to?”

Jase glared at his daughter, but she didn’t back down. She never did. He studied her militant stance, her bouncing curls and sparkling eyes, the cute summer outfit designed to show off her precocious figure.

She narrowed her eyes and tightened her mouth. “Well, are you?”

Jase ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head as if to clear it. “I don’t know.”

Exhaling in disgust, Lolly turned on her heel and stalked off.

He felt like a fool.

Maxie attacked him next, but she was more subtle. “Laurel Harlow is such a lovely girl,” she mentioned in a casual voice as they sat together on the patio that evening. “And you did spend a lot of time with her. I do hope we’ll be seeing her again, Jason. Perhaps she could visit us for a week or so.”

He didn’t answer. Everybody was on his case, damn it. When Craig Freiberg called from Bosque Bend to report on the latest with the Anderson tract, he artlessly let it fall that Laurel had said Jase would be staying in Dallas from now on. Obviously Craig was fishing for more information about their breakup, but Jase left him dangling.

God, is that what he had done to Laurel—exposed her to still more speculation and gossip?

He should go right back to Bosque Bend today and assure her that he still loved her. But at the moment he had a lot to catch up on with the business. As soon as all that was settled, he and Laurel could straighten everything out. Yeah, once he got his mind in gear, he could figure out exactly how to handle the situation with Laurel.

*



But there was no relief in sight. Bright and early the next morning, Lolly continued her campaign. “If Laurel Harlow isn’t my mother, who is?” she demanded, hauling out the old annual and opening it to a marked page. “Is it that one?” She pointed to a blond, bubbly cheerleader whom she vaguely resembled.

“God, no! She wouldn’t have given me the time of day.”

Maxie took Jase aside later. “You’ve got to tell her, Jase. She’s driving me crazy.”

“I will,” he sighed. “When she’s old enough.”

Four days later, Lolly had flown the coop.





Chapter Seventeen



Lolly’s off on another wild-goose chase,” Maxie said, calling him at the office. “It’s the mother thing again. She left a note on her pillow, and the maid saw her getting into Chloe Ginsburg’s little red car half an hour ago, about three o’clock.”

Jase closed down his computer with fingers that had turned stone-cold.

“Where to?”

“According to the note, she’s off to San Antonio to meet her mother and we shouldn’t worry about her.”

“San Antone? Lolly doesn’t know a damn soul in San Antonio. She’s only been there twice in her life—that seventh-grade tour of the Spanish missions, which she couldn’t care less about, and last summer, when we did the River Walk and the Alamo. Remember that creep of a bellhop who tried to chat her up?” He rubbed his forehead to relieve a sudden ache over his eyebrows. “Why does she think her mother is in San Antonio?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I’m leaving as soon as I can. Call me if there’s any news.” He stuck his laptop in its carry case, grabbed a jacket, and strode out of his office.

His administrative assistant looked up from her desktop computer. “Problem?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how long this will take. If there’s anything I haven’t seen yet, I’ll take it with me.”

“Lolly?”

“Yep.”

Connie slid a couple of pages into a folder and handed it to him. “Girl Child’s run away again?”

“You got it.” Opening his case, he stuffed the folder in on top of his laptop.

“Bosque Bend?”

“San Antone.” He clicked the case shut and looked at his assistant. “And when I find her, I’ll bring her home and lock her in her room till she turns forty or signs up to be a nun.”

Connie gave him a disbelieving look. “Sure you will.”

Damn Connie, but she was right. He’d never had it in him to discipline Lolly like he should have. Maybe if he’d been tougher on her, made her toe the line instead of being so f*cking proud of her spirit, she’d be home whacking tennis balls against the side of the garage right now.

Bypassing the elevator, he headed for the stairs. His adrenaline was demanding action.

The Cadillac was parked right next to the door, a perk of being the head honcho. He opened the windows, turned the AC on high, made a few quick, futile calls to some of Lolly’s friends, and headed for I-35. Damn and double damn! He had six hours of hard driving ahead to reach San Antonio by dark. A lot could happen to two girls alone in a strange city in six hours.