“You are going to stay for supper, right?” Laura said as she came downstairs to the living room where Fenton was sitting on the couch.  His pride was smarting almost as much as his backside, as Laura and Paul ended up having to help him into the house when he finally did get off the horse.

And then Paul had gone upstairs to lie down, with his sister fussing over him all the way.

Fenton loved watching how Laura moved; she was so graceful and beautiful that he ached to be near her. He wondered what it would be like to wake up every morning next to her….

“Staring again, are we?” The tone in her voice broke into his thoughts, and he grimaced when he realized he had been.

“S-sorry,” he stammered, wondering how anyone could have this kind of effect on another human being, and it be legal!

“Why do you do that?” she asked, her pale blue eyes searching his darker ones.

“Do what?” he asked, not sure what she was asking.

“Stare at me.” She sat down next to him, and he felt his pulse racing just from being so close to her.

“You don’t know?” he said, his voice sounding rough and husky as she leaned in closer.

“No… I don’t,” she said, her own voice lower and more sultry than usual….He had that kind of effect on her….

“Because I think I’m falling in love with you, Laura Scott,” Fenton said as his face started to move towards hers…and then he kissed her….

* * *

Paul stood at the top of the stairs and watched them. He had been coming down to get an aspirin for his head, but stopped when he saw Fenton kiss his sister.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that as the protective side of him wanted to interrupt and kick the cop out of their house, but the other side felt very happy for his sister.   Laura deserved happiness, and if that happiness meant Fenton Hardy, then Paul could accept that. He liked Fenton.

So instead of interrupting, he turned around and went back to lie down. He hoped he felt better by suppertime.

* * *

“Oh my,” Laura said softly when they finally did pull away, “Wow, Mr. Hardy, you certainly do know how to treat a girl…”

Fenton blushed, hardly believing how forward he had dared to be. But it had felt so right…

“I’m sorry—” he started to apologize, and she put her fingers on her lips to silence him.

“Don’t…please. Unless you really didn’t want to kiss me.”

“Oh my God, Laura – nothing could be further from the truth! All I can do is think about you! I don’t know what’s come over me!” Fenton said honestly.

Laura laughed.  “Good, so it isn’t just me!”  When he looked at her in confusion she admitted, “I can’t think of anything but you. Ever since I first saw you, I wanted to get to know you….I just didn’t know how.”

“I guess we need to thank your kid brother for that,” Fenton murmured as he started to nuzzle her neck, and she whispered, “Yeah I guess we do….Maybe little brothers do have some good uses after all….”

Fenton chuckled as he looked deep into her translucent blue eyes, and kissed her again.  I’m going to marry this girl, he once again asserted, without a doubt in his mind.

* * *

Dr. Daniel Scott opened up the front door to his house and then stood there in shock.

He had come home early from work after a ruptured aorta during surgery had cost a teenaged boy his life. As usual, when the surgeon lost a patient – particularly one as young as Ryan – he needed some down time.

So he’d come home, open a bottle of scotch and stare at the fireplace until the morning. Then he’d shower and get on with life.

Or that was what he had planned anyway. But instead when he opened the door he saw his daughter lip-locked to the cop from the other night.

All keyed up from the surgical loss, Dr. Scott found another outlet for his emotions.

“Just what the hell is going on here?” he roared, making Laura and Fenton both jump as they had not heard him coming in.

“Dad—”  Laura started to try to explain even as her face turned a crimson red. It was embarrassing to be caught like this by her father!

Her father ignored her as he continued, enraged, his finger pointing at Fenton, “You – out of here. If I catch you anywhere near my daughter again, I’ll have you arrested for…for…for something!” He really couldn’t think of a charge, but it sounded like a good threat at the time.

Fenton slowly stood up, really not wanting to fight with Laura’s father, “Sir—”

The surgeon cut him off.  “Are you deaf? Get the hell out of my house or I’ll have you charged with trespassing!  Now go!”

Laura turned to Fenton, “You’d better go…but I’ll call you later, okay?”

If Dr. Scott heard her, he gave no indication, but continued to glare at the young cop. How dare he come into my house and manhandle my daughter, the outraged father thought.

“What’s going on?” Paul asked, coming down the stairs. His father’s arrival had not gone unnoticed to him as he heard his voice very clearly…but then again, so did the neighbors, probably.

Fenton started towards the door even as Dr. Scott snarled at his son, “Where the hell do you get off leaving your sister alone with this…this hormone-driven animal?”

Paul looked shocked, but before he could say anything, his father snorted and stormed out of the room and towards the small study he kept at the back of the house.

Laura’s eyes started to water as she turned to Fenton and whispered, “I’m so sorry…” and then she bolted upstairs.

Fenton was torn. He knew it was better if he left the house now, as his being here would do nothing to help, but, at the same time, he wanted to make sure Laura was all right.

Paul must have seen his dilemma because he gave Fenton a weak smile.  “Don’t worry….It’ll be okay. I’ll go and make sure of that.”

The cop was still torn, but Paul just nodded, “She’ll call you later. I promise.”

“Paul, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Fenton finally said as he opened the door to leave. “This with your father…”

“I know,” Paul said.  “It’s okay. Dad’s a bit temperamental at times, but not usually this bad. He must have had a bad day at work. It’ll blow over though. It always does.  And when it does, he’ll apologize – he always does that, too.”

“One thing you need to realize, if you hope for anything lasting with my sister, is that we Scotts, are a very passionate people. We do everything with great passion, including loving the people we care about….I’m sorry about this.  But it isn’t your fault. And Laura will call you, ‘cause she really does like you…and so do I.”  And with one final reassuring smile, Paul closed the door and then went to find his sister.

* * *

Laura threw herself down on her bed and sobbed. She couldn’t understand why her father had to be so mean to Fenton. Sure, he probably had a bad day, since he was home early, and both she and Paul knew what that meant….

But did he have to go and scare off the one man that Laura knew she could never replace?  There was just something different about Fenton – something she couldn’t place her finger on, but a something that made her want to know him better.

And he said he was falling in love with her….

She didn’t hear him come in the room, but when she felt the weight of someone sitting on the bed next to her, she knew without looking that it was Paul.

“Oh Paulie,” she cried, and flung herself into her younger brother’s arms.  “Why… why?”

“I don’t know, Laura,” Paul whispered as he held his sister, “but I can tell you one thing….”  He waited for her to raise her wet face to look at him, and then he smiled, “I got a feeling that your Mr. Hardy won’t be so easy to scare off.”

“You think so?” Laura asked, her face hopeful as she searched his younger one, and Paul nodded.

“Let’s just call it a feeling I have in my gut – and you know my instincts are never off.”

Laura smiled – he was right about that.

And then Paul grinned, “By the way, I did kind of promise Fenton you would call him later….You don’t want to make a liar out of your little brother, do you?”

Throwing her arms around her brother’s neck, Laura gave him a quick peck on the cheek.  “You are the best little brother anyone could ever hope for….Do you know that?”

“Well I kinda have to be,” Paul admitted. “Nothing else would be good enough for the best big sister, now would it?”

“Oh no,” Laura moaned, realizing one flaw in their plan.

“What’s wrong?” Paul asked, worried as he saw the look on his sister’s face.

“I never got Fenton’s phone number!”