Georgie on His Mind (24 page)

Her chin lifted. "Would you have cared if he had?"

"Georgie, stop playing these games," he snapped as he
searched her face for the truth. "Why are you here? Are you
hurt?"

She looked down and nodded solemnly.

"Son of a-" He sprung back, rage eating at his insides.
He grabbed her hand and began pulling her down the steps.
"We'll call Brad on the way. Right now we're going to go
pay Clay Hayes a visit. He better have the number of a good
plastic surgeon, or his TV days will be over."

"No, stop," she said, digging in her heels and yanking him
to a stop. "Wait"

"What do mean wait? If that guy hurt you, he needs to
answer for it."

Georgie shook her head, her eyes brimming with sadness.
"He wasn't the one who hurt me, Walt. You were"

Walt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His nerves
were wound up tightly over what he'd thought Clay Hayes
had done to her. But she was okay. Thank God. Physically at
least. Emotionally she was still hurt. And it was his own fault.

"Walt, I need to know something. Were you really not
going to interfere with my date with Clay Hayes?"

He opened his eyes and gazed down at her beautiful face.
He really wished he had the answer she wanted to hear, but he
couldn't help the way he was. Whether she wanted him to or
not, whether she loved him or not, he would always look out
for her best interests. There was no changing that. "To be
honest, I was going to interfere. I tried to stay away, but the
thought of you two together was driving me nuts. In fact, I
was on my way over to find you before you showed up on
my doorstep. I know this news isn't going to make you
happy. I'm sorry, but-"

Georgie flung herself into his arms right then, her mouth
landing squarely on his. He staggered back a few steps. But
his shock passed quickly, and his arms came around her,
bringing her in close. He wanted this so badly and thought
he'd never have the opportunity again. She felt so warm,
tasted so good. He'd missed the feel of her body and the
scent of her hair. He'd missed her and almost melted in relief at having her in his arms again. But he needed to make
sure she was in his arms for the right reasons.

"Georgie," he said against her lips.

"Hmm?" She tilted her head back ever so lightly, a mild
glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Not that I'm complaining, but maybe you didn't understand what I was telling you. I was purposely going to try to
break up your evening with Clay Hayes tonight."

A small smile broke out on her lips. "I know."

"You know? And you're okay with that?"

"I'm more than okay with it. In fact, when you hadn't
shown up at the restaurant, I actually missed you not looking
after me. I realized-even after all my complaining about
having people interfere with my life-I was guilty of doing
the same thing to Brad. You were right. Love does make you
do crazy stuff." She looked down at his feet again with a
smug smile. "Maybe even things like rush out of a house
without shoes to protect the woman you love?"

"Yes, that's right, because I do love you" He grinned and
was about to bring his lips down to hers again when he heard
her murmur, "I love you too" At that moment there wasn't
much-aside from a house fire-that would get him to stop
kissing Georgie, but those four words did the trick. He backed
away a little and took in the dazzling woman standing in
front of him, the woman he loved more than anything in the
world.

The woman who just said she loved him back.

"Just so you know," he told her teasingly, "love me, love
my protective nature. You better get used to it. I'm always
going to love you and look out for you, Georgie, for as long
as we both shall live."

She sighed a contented sigh, as she cupped his face. "I'm
counting on it. Just as long as you know, I'll be loving you
back and looking out for you always too, for as long as we
both shall live."

"I'm making you put that in our wedding vows."

She laughed. "Deal"

"But, ah, just promise me one more thing."

Her brow wrinkled. "What's that?"

"Don't enter any more contests."

"Okay, I promise," she said, planting another kiss on his
lips. "Besides, who needs to enter any contests when I already have the best prize around?"

"I'm glad you think that" He grinned and wrapped his
arms around her tighter. "Otherwise I'd have to sic your
brother on you"