Angie ground to a halt. ‘Is that all?’ She recalled seeing the time on a wall clock when she’d been arguing with Lance in the hall. It had been ten to eleven.
They’d only been gone from the house forty minutes.
It felt like an eternity.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LANCE was right. Bud didn’t even notice that they’d been absent. He was too busy being the life of the party, telling jokes and generally having a wow of a time.
Loretta, Angie wasn’t so sure about—her sister-in-law having given her and Lance a suspicious stare as they wandered into the main party room together. She seemed to make a point of excusing herself from the group of people she was chatting to and coming over.
‘I’ve been wondering where you two disappeared to,’ she said. ‘Been catching up on old times, have you?’
‘Not exactly,’ Lance replied smoothly, before Angie could think of a suitable excuse. ‘I had Angie show me where to buy Bud some beer for his birthday. I came without a present, you see. Speaking of presents, what did you give Bud, Angie? I seem to recall your family had a rule in the old days that presents could not exceed thirty dollars. It was to be the thought that counted. Does that still apply?’
‘It certainly does,’ Loretta jumped in, seemingly relieved by Lance’s answers. Apparently she agreed with Bud’s view that Angie should share nothing but friendship with a man like Lance.
Too bad, Angie thought with a sudden fierce resolve. Lance was going to become her lover and to hell with what everyone else thought. Maybe it would only last for a night, or a weekend, or a week. But that short time with him would mean more to her than a lifetime with any other man.
Lance might be a compulsive womaniser but he had other qualities besides his sex-appeal to be treasured. There was a core of tenderness in Lance which was as captivating as it was rare. A sensitivity and sense of compassion which she had once appreciated, and which she was sure still lived within his soul.
Oh, yes, he was still easily moved to lust by a good-looking female—herself included—but just lust would have taken her virginity back there in his car. It would not have backed off, or begun planning something special for her initiation into sex. It would have ploughed on selfishly, and to hell with her discomfort or pain.
Lance might not love her, but he cared about her. Angie sensed that caring now more than ever and hugged the secret knowledge to her heart.
‘So what did you buy him?’ Lance asked, and Angie smiled mischievously.
‘Something very useful.’
‘What?’
‘A pair of glow-in-the-dark boxer shorts. They have an arrow pointing to the appropriate spot.’
Loretta dissolved into giggles. ‘I always did have to draw your brother a map,’ she said, and Angie almost choked with laughter. Lance was chuckling too when the man himself joined the group.
‘Must be a good joke if Loretta is laughing at it.’ He smiled broadly as he put an arm around his wife’s quaking shoulders. ‘I love her dearly but her sense of humour leaves a lot to be desired sometimes.’
‘Angie was telling us about her birthday gift to you,’ Lance confessed with a wry grin. ‘Loretta was saying she’s always needed to draw you a map.’
Bud’s smile seemed to freeze on his face. He recovered quickly, but Angie thought she detected an acid note in his reply. ‘Well, no one could say the same about you, mate. You’d find your way around a woman’s body blindfold.’
An awkward silence descended on the group for a few embarrassing seconds, till Lance laughed. ‘Blindfold, eh? Now, there’s a thought. Though, personally, I like to keep my eyes open when I make love.’ And his eyes moved slowly to Angie’s.
‘Make love?’ Bud scoffed. ‘That’s not what you used to call it, old chum. Still, I suppose it is a four-letter word. Hasn’t quite got the same colourful flair, though, has it? Neither does it truly reflect your superstud status.’
To give Lance credit, he didn’t react. He merely smiled with seeming indulgence and dry amusement at his friend. Angie had to admire his forbearance. Another man might have flattened him.
Loretta, perhaps sensing that the atmosphere was becoming strained, decided it was time to produce Bud’s birthday cake. It was a welcome distraction for Angie, who felt so angry with Bud that she had a job giving him a birthday kiss after the singing and candle-blowing was over.