needed something, there was nothing they wouldn’t do to make it happen.
Kane didn’t have too much in the way of details, but his gut was singing off tune. “Must be pretty bad if Warren’s leaving the ranch to take her to this special place. He’d do anything for the old girl.”
Rian nodded in grim agreement. “Yeah, true enough. I feel like shit that we didn’t see them at Christmas last year.”
“Or the year before that,” Kane said, suffering a pinch of conscience, but Warren and Cora both knew the business kept them running ragged, which is why Kane knew he had to say yes. Warren never would’ve asked if it hadn’t been the only option.
“Hey, guess who I saw in the news last night,” Rian said, switching tracks, his expression turning serious. He didn’t wait for Kane to guess. “Laci.”
An iron gate swung shut inside his heart and he gave his brother a hard look. “Yeah? And? That matters to me why?”
“Stop acting like a hard-ass. I know you’re still carrying a torch for her. Shut up for a minute and I’ll tell you what I heard.”
“Yeah? So tell me.”
“She collapsed onstage last night at a concert in Memphis.”
Immediate alarm spiked and his muscles tensed even as he kept very still. “Is she okay?” he asked quietly, not sure he wanted to know. Laci was his Achilles’ heel, a weakness he had always done his best to protect by staying far away from her and her world.
“I don’t know. TMZ reported she collapsed in the middle of her number one single, and her PR machine is saying she suffered from food poisoning, but I don’t buy it.”
“Yeah? Why not?”
“Certain circles travel together, you know how that goes. People are saying that she’s flat-out exhausted. Have you seen her tour schedule? It’s insane.”
“Is she okay, or not?” he growled, fighting the impulse to drive straight to Memphis to deliver a fist sandwich to whomever wasn’t doing their job and looking out for her.
“Yeah, I’m sure if she gets some rest she’ll be okay,” Rian answered, watching him with open speculation. Suddenly a knowing smirk curved his lips and Kane swore under his breath. Here it comes... “When you gonna admit that you still care for her?”
“When you gonna drop it? We were kids...a long time ago. Neither one of us are kids now. Got it?”
“Yeah, I get it—you’re in denial and have been since the day you cut her loose. But whatever. It’s your life, bro. I just thought you might like to know.”
Kane forced a chuckle, if only to get past the awful pinch in his chest, and said, “Aw, Ri, I never knew you were such a softie at your core.”
Rian scowled at Kane’s thinly veiled sarcasm and flipped him off. “I hope your plane goes down,” he shot over his shoulder as he headed out of the office, leaving Kane to deal with the burden of knowing that Laci was lying in some Memphis hospital bed.
Kane shook his head, hating that time hadn’t healed that particular wound or erased the bone-deep need to feel Laci shuddering in his arms, or hear her breathy sighs in his ear as he took total control of her body. Time was supposed to dull that edge, right? Yeah, so someone ought to let his brain in on that little fact. Maybe if his fantasies didn’t feature Laci, he’d get over her. Maybe. But it didn’t matter who he was with or even if he was alone, Laci was there.
Irritated at himself, Kane finished his to-do list, then closed up the office to pack for a trip he didn’t want to make. Woodsville, Kentucky—home of his miserable childhood and the keeper of his most private dreams. If it hadn’t been for summers at the Bradford ranch...he didn’t know where he and Rian might’ve ended up. Probably nowhere good.
Of all the things the Bradford ranch reminded him of—fresh corn bread and hot beans simmering in a cast-iron pot, corn on the cob and steaks big enough to satisfy the appetites of two growing young men—there was only one thing that ever jumped to mind when he thought of those blistering summer days and time hadn’t dulled those memories.
Sweet as seasonal rain and with curves for days, there were still times she invaded his dreams, leaving him rock hard, aching and reaching for a woman who was never meant to be his.
Kane physically shook himself from his reverie, appalled at his own mopey melancholy. When did he become such a sap? Apparently, Woodsville brought out the worst in him.
Well, one thing was for certain, no matter where Laci was...leaving her behind had been the best thing he could’ve ever done for her—and for himself.
So what if the scar remained tender to the touch. Everyone had scars. Some people just hid them better than others.
LACI OPENED BLEARY eyes to blink at her unfamiliar surroundings. Where was she? Disoriented, she struggled to sit up and discovered she was lying in a hospital bed and tethered to an IV. What the... And just as panic began to cloud her thinking, her memory returned with a flash and she realized she must’ve collapsed onstage.
Lifting her arm to stare at the plastic tubing delivering who knows what into her vein, she closed her eyes again, still too tired to truly process the ramifications of what’d happened. The lights, the sold-out arena, the total collapse. She should feel guilty but she didn’t. Did that make her a bad person? Her thoughts drifted on the tide of her bone-deep exhaustion and she would’ve sunk into blessed sleep if Trent’s voice hadn’t jarred her back into awareness.
“There she is.” Trent’s drawl made her jump and reluctantly open her eyes to focus on her manager as he came into the room with a big, relieved grin. “Thought you were gonna sleep the day away, honey. How you feelin’? That’s one helluva way to grab a little R&R, you know. You scared me, girl.”
A faint smile found her lips to humor Trent, but honestly, Trent was the last person she wanted to see right now. Of course, that uncharitable thought made her cringe with guilt. Trent was the reason she was on top, making millions and selling out shows. Her daddy had always warned her about biting the hand that was handing out the goods, but right about now she was feeling kind of snappy and she didn’t trust her mouth not to say something bad. Trent didn’t seem to notice, though.
“Girl, my heart just about fell out of my chest when you collapsed onstage,” Trent said, seeming genuinely concerned. “I wish I’d known just how puny you’d been feelin’. Girl, we gotta work on our communication skills,” he said, somehow turning it back on her. Hadn’t she told Trent a million times that she was exhausted? Maybe she hadn’t been entirely clear, she realized, feeling as if she’d not only let down her fans but the man who was making all her dreams possible.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured through numb lips. She rubbed at her mouth absently, wondering why the words tasted hollow. She was sorry, she truly was, for making a mess of things, but a part of her couldn’t muster the energy to give the emotion much more than lip service and she knew that was just ugly of her. Tears burned beneath her lids as she rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t realize just how tired I was, I guess.”
“Well, all’s well that ends well, I suppose,” Trent said, pushing
