Later he was given a sample of her singing talent when a shy, pretty teen with chocolaty eyes and a smooth mocha complexion requested assistance with a song she planned to sing, particularly with one measure that was giving her problems. Summer glanced at the music, murmured a few words to the woman who had been recruited to play the piano and sang the song in a key that was much easier for the young person to carry.
As the rehearsal concluded, Summer again walked through the closing number with the entire cast, a simply choreographed version of the title song from the movie Fame. Derek frowned as he noticed that Summer’s limp was growing more and more pronounced. Searching her face, he thought she looked tired. He was considering dragging her off the stage and making her take a rest when she called an end to the rehearsal.
Summer sincerely complimented the performers as they left her, promising to see them Wednesday night for their final rehearsal before the show on Friday evening. As she said her goodbyes and made her last-minute remarks, Clay approached Derek. “She’s good, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Derek answered simply. “She’s good.”
“I knew this would be good for her, but I had a hell of a time talking her into it.”
“Oh?” Derek studied the pleasure on Summer’s tired face as she looked into the young faces turned to her. “I’d have thought she’d jump at the chance to do something like this.”
“I think she was afraid she couldn’t do it,” Clay explained in a low voice. “You might not have realized it, but our Summer’s not quite as carefree as she lets on. We all know that she’s a little sensitive about her limp, but she’s brave about it, isn’t she?”
Resenting Clay’s thinking he might know more about Summer—Derek’s Summer, not our Summer, he added to himself—Derek only nodded. He was a little deflated to realize that he wasn’t the only one who understood the complex young woman who had come to mean so much to him in such a short time. He was also jealous as hell of anyone who had known her longer than he had. He glared at Clay as Summer approached them.
“Sorry it took so long, Derek. Are you bored out of your mind?”
He slipped a supportive and unmistakably possessive arm around her waist. “Not a bit,” he assured her, his voice husky and intimate. “Tired, Summer-love?”
“Mmm. A little,” she agreed, not protesting the supportive arm.
“Then let’s go.” He gave her little chance to say goodbye to Frank or the avidly curious Clay as he hustled her out the door and into his car.
Summer sank gratefully into the plush seat of the Lincoln, resting her head against the high back. “Weren’t they wonderful?” she asked Derek huskily.
“I felt like I was watching one of those old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies,” he confessed. “The ones where they’re always saying ‘Let’s have a show!’“
Summer laughed softly. “Kids haven’t changed all that much over the years. They still love attention, and they need to know they have special talents that make them worthy of praise. Even the ones who can’t sing or dance were able to participate in the skits or operate the lights or sound system, so they feel like an important part of the show. Basically, these kids are the ones who crave attention so desperately that they got into trouble to impress their friends or get their parents to notice them.”
Out of the corner of his eye Derek watched as Summer kneaded her right leg almost absently. He frowned. But rather than commenting on her action, he asked only, “Who will attend the show?”
“The parents and some of the home’s benefactors. Not that many people—there’s not an abundance of room.” Pulling her thoughts away from the rehearsal, she turned her attention to the route Derek was taking. “Where are you going?”
“My place.”
She turned to look at him. “I never said I was finished for the day. I might have other plans.”
“Tough,” he answered succinctly. “You need to rest. We’re going to my place, and I’m going to make dinner for you.”
Summer considered her options. She could berate him for his arrogance and order him to take her home, or she could go along with his autocratic and typically domineering decree. Judging from the hard set of his jaw, she had little chance of success with the first option. He’d do what he wanted to do, anyway.
A little smile played on her tired features as she settled back more comfortably into the seat, realizing that she wanted the same thing.
SUMMER STRETCHED and opened her eyes, then gasped as she looked frantically at her watch. Sitting up on the bed in Derek’s guest room, she realized that she’d been asleep for just over an hour. She had protested heatedly when he’d ordered her to lie down and rest as soon as they were in the house, but he’d stubbornly insisted that she would either lie down alone or he would join her.
She had hastily agreed to lie down alone.
She hadn’t expected to be able to relax, much less sleep. A near sleepless night followed by an unusually strenuous day had caught up with her, however. Now she was a little embarrassed.
She wondered what Derek had done during the time she’d been asleep. Had he looked in on her? She didn’t like the idea of being so vulnerable to his knowing eyes twice in one day.
Combing her hair with her fingers, she thought back over the past few hours. It had been wonderful having Derek by her side all day, she mused wistfully. She could easily get used to having him around all the time. She thought of his willingness to stay on the sidelines during the rehearsal, his cheerful acquiescence at the mall, his stubborn protectiveness when he’d seen that she was tired.
Oh, yes, she sighed, pushing her feet into her Loafers, she could definitely grow accustomed to his company. She’d known him only a little more than a week, and already she was dreading the idea of a weekend without him. For a woman who’d placed so much value on her independence in the past few years, the realization of how easily she could become emotionally dependent on Derek was quite daunting.
She hadn’t relied on anyone but herself for her happiness in a long time. Now she was starting to shift toward Derek. She didn’t care for that one bit. But it was too late to do anything about it now except to hang on fiercely to whatever willpower she had left. Which wasn’t much.
Sighing, she straightened her clothes and went in search of Derek.