Starstruck Cowboy (Working Man Series Book 1)

by Elizabeth Rose

  Star leaned over and sniffed them, a smile plastering her face. Luke did care, after all. What other reason was there for a man giving a girl flowers? The answer was clear. She had fallen fast asleep after their love making and Luke carried her up to her room and tucked her in just like he tucked in Baby in the barn.

  Guilt hit her. How could she ever have made him sleep in the barn? She lifted up her sleep shirt and stared at her naked body in the mirror. Star had no idea what had happened to her panties, nor did she really care. Atop one of her breasts was a little memento left by Luke. Never having had a hickey before, she decided she rather liked the idea of being branded as his girl.

  Whether he had done it on purpose or by sheer accident didn’t even matter. In reality, she would rather not know. All she knew was that last night was real and not a dream, and that is all that mattered. She loved the time she spent with Luke.

  Raising her hand, she boldly tapped on Luke’s bedroom door but there was no answer. Scared but excited at the same time, she tried the door and it wasn’t locked so she slid it open.

  “Luke?” she called out softly, scanning the room for him. Bright sunlight streamed in through the window telling her she had overslept. Just how late was it, and why hadn’t someone woken her up so she wouldn’t miss the shoot?

  Luke’s shirt from last night was thrown over the back of a chair. His duffel bag was against the wall in the corner. The rest of the room was spotless. His bed didn’t look like he’d even slept in it and she wondered if he’d gotten any sleep last night at all.

  Closing the door, she made her way to the shower, deciding she’d make it a fast one. After all, she was in a hurry to see Luke again and work with him shooting the next stunt.

  Luke stifled a yawn as he waited for Brent’s cue to go ahead with the next stunt. It was an easy one. All he had to do was race down the hill on Isobelle with five guys chasing and shooting at him. Then he’d hook his foot in the reins, pretend like he was shot, and get dragged along behind his horse for about fifty feet before he cut himself free.

  He was glad he’d gotten up early and talked Brent into filming before Star awoke. It shouldn’t be a problem. Daisy would be busy harvesting the tomatoes and cucumbers for canning this morning. He’d spoken to her in the kitchen after he had about two hours of sleep. He assured her Star wouldn’t be needed for the scene and promised he’d give Star the message to accompany Buck and Zeke to town for supplies. In the limo, of course.

  Well, Buck and Zeke left before he could give them the message. If he had walked a little faster to the limo when he saw it pulling out he could have made it, but Daisy didn’t need to know that.

  Now, Luke was thankful he’d talked Brent into letting Amber fill in for the fight scene that followed this stunt. After the doctor examined Amber, she was found to only have a sprained ankle out of the whole mess. She could pull a few punches without moving too much and Brent could make sure the camera stayed away from her wrapped ankle.

  Star and Daisy were going to be furious when they found out, but he was doing it for Star’s own good. The girl didn’t know the first thing about stunts. It was up to him to save her from breaking her damned neck. She would thank him in the long run. Four or five years down the line, maybe, but still, he knew he did the right thing.

  Brent gave the word and Luke went ahead with the stunt. It went like clockwork, no problems involved. Relief filled him and he let out a breath. It was so much easier concentrating when Star wasn’t anywhere near him. This way, there was absolutely nothing to take his mind off his work. The next scene should go just as planned as well. Afterwards, he would saunter back to the house for a leisurely breakfast and a cup or two of coffee. Just about then, Star would be rolling out of bed with a hangover. Then he would give her a kiss and explain the whole thing.

  “Luke!” Luke’s spine stiffened. It was Star. What was she doing up already?

  “Damn,” he cursed under his breath. Luke rode over to the crew where a coffee break was in progress. Star stood in the middle of a group of men, a paper cup of hot brew clutched in one hand. She was wearing the dress required for the next scene. It was one of Rosie McAllister’s sexiest in the whole movie. Star’s breasts were pale half-moons pushed up so high that Luke thought they’d pop right out when she bent over.

  “Star.” Luke nodded and slipped out of the saddle. He tethered Isobelle to a tree, taking his time as he went over the lines in his head he planned to use on her. Hopefully, they would work.

  “Luke, I brought you some coffee.” Star walked up behind him and Luke hesitated to turn around.

  “I thought you’d still be sleeping.” He couldn’t stall any longer. He turned and faced her. She was smiling so much her body took on a rosy glow. Today, instead of wearing her hair up in a bun, it was curled in little ringlets and hanging loose just the way the character of Rosie wore it. Star’s neck looked long and smooth, making Luke want to reach out and nuzzle it with his face. Then his eyes locked on something he hadn’t noticed at first. It was a little red mark staring up at him from the exposed part of her breast.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked, sounding much too calm and not like her feisty self at all.

  Luke’s eyes darted back and forth quickly, hoping no one else had seen the evidence of their intimacy. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled his shirt out of the waist of his pants and unbuttoned it as fast as he could. “Star, get over here, will you?” He pulled her behind a tree.

  The coffee sloshed over the rim of the paper cup and she grabbed his hand to stop him.

  “Luke, not now,” she spoke in a hushed whisper. A blush painted her cheeks and she looked up shyly from under long lashes. “We’re supposed to be doing a shoot.”

  He groaned inwardly at her assumptions. She thought he wanted to bed her and was taking her behind the tree for a quickie. The thought was appealing after last night’s follies and his body wasn’t objecting at all. But his common sense was telling him he’d screwed up where Star was involved.

  “No, I’m not trying to bed you, Twinkles. I’m only trying to save your dignity.” He ripped off his shirt in one quick motion and tossed it over Star’s shoulders.

  “What are you doing,” she asked in confusion. “I’m not cold.”

  “Neither am I at the moment, but that’s going to have to wait. Get back to the house and put on some clothes.”

  “I’m wearing clothes!” She pulled his shirt off her shoulders with one hand, the coffee still balanced in the other. “Weren’t you the one who told me Rosie McAllister wears her dresses like this?” She reached over with the hand holding his shirt and pulled one shoulder of her dress down a bit farther. That little red mark on the top of her breast got bigger. If he noticed it so well, Daisy was sure to see it along with Brent and the rest of the hired hands as well as the crew. He’d never flaunted his love affairs before and he wasn’t going to start now with Star.

  He reached over and pulled the dress back up her shoulder. Wrong thing to do. Just the feel of her soft, warm skin against his rough hand was driving him crazy. He kept thinking of last night in the limo and the way he’d made love to her. When she’d fallen asleep, he’d carried her up to bed. How he’d wanted to crawl right under the sheets with her and spend the night holding her in his arms. But she’d been intoxicated and he never should have listened to her when she convinced him that she wanted to make love. He knew it was what he wanted, but now wasn’t sure if he did the right thing.

  “Rosie might wear her dresses like that, but it’s only because her character is a slut.” Luke looked her in the eyes as he spoke. “Star Brighton is a lady. Now, I’m not going to tell you again to get into the house and change those clothes.”

  Wrong thing to say. The smile that brightened her face a moment ago darkened faster than a prairie storm on a windy day.

  “I’m here to do the shoot and I’m not going to change my clothes until I’m finished.”

  Amber walked up at that m
oment wearing a dress that looked similar to Star’s. Brent was too cheap to ever have more than one costume per character per scene. Even the stunt people had to share clothes. Luke hadn’t wanted to get the dress from Star earlier, and convinced Brent to have Amber use another one instead.

  “Luke, didn’t you tell her?” Amber limped over to Luke and put a hand on his arm for balance.

  “Tell me what?” asked Star, eyeing up Amber.

  “That I’m standing in for this scene.” Amber flashed a smile. “I’m not in as bad of shape as we thought, after all.”

  Luke felt it coming. Star was going to explode and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  “Oh, really?” Star refused to look at him and he was thankful. “I wasn’t notified. When did this change take place?”

  “Just this morning,” said Amber. “Right after Luke insisted I fill in.”

  “Amber,” Luke interrupted. “Why don’t you go sit down for awhile and rest your foot?”

  “Sure thing, Luke.” She gave his arm a little squeeze. “Just let me know when you need me.”

  She left and Luke could have cut the tension between him and Star with a knife.

  “Star, I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he said, trying to smooth things over.

  “Too late for that!” Her words hurt and he knew she meant that in two ways.

  “I don’t think you understand.” He took her arm and she jerked back, spilling hot coffee on the ground.

  “I think I understand only too well.” She threw his shirt at him and he caught it in one hand. “You’d better go let Amber know you need her. You’d better go taste another flower and see if the nectar is quite as sweet.”

  “Star, it’s not what you think.”

  “How do you know what I think? Have you even asked me? Or have you just decided to push me under a rug because something better’s come along?”

  “Twinkles, you know it’s nothing like that.”

  “Don’t call me that stupid name!”

  “Let’s go get a cup of coffee and talk this whole thing over.”

  “Here’s your damned coffee, stud boy.” She started to throw it at Luke but he was one step ahead of her. He grabbed her wrist and twisted, causing the hot brew to spill on the ground.

  “Don’t even think of it,” he growled. “Your temper, along with your jealousy, is someday going to get you into a truckload of trouble.”

  “Don’t talk to me like that. And don’t mention trucks around me. If it wasn’t for you and your damned stunts, I’d still have my truck not to mention my wad of money.”

  “You know you were at fault just as much as me on that one, sweetheart.” He dropped her wrist just as Daisy approached the scene.

  “Star, what are you doing here?” asked Daisy. “I thought Luke said he’d give you my message to go to town with the boys for supplies.”

  “Sorry about that, Daisy.” Luke patted his pockets, desperately looking for a toothpick. Actually, what he really needed was a cigarette. “They left before I could get a chance to tell her.”

  “Why are you in that dress, Star?” Daisy’s eyes scanned Star’s clothes making Luke’s stomach tighten. Star quickly reached over and pulled the shoulder up over the evidence of their lovemaking.

  “I was supposed to do a stunt this morning but it seems Mr. Tyler took it upon himself to replace me,” Star complained. She was really ruffled now. Luke could tell by the way she’d gone back to calling him Mr. Tyler.

  Brent walked up and put his money’s worth into the conversation. “Luke felt Amber was more experienced and could do the job better.”

  Luke shuddered. Experienced wasn’t the best choice of words at that moment.

  “My daughter knows what she’s doing and can handle it,” said Daisy.

  Luke wondered if Star really did know what she’d agreed to last night. He was sure about now she was regretting the whole thing.

  “Luke doesn’t seem to think so,” said Brent.

  “Luke doesn’t seem to think at all,” snapped Daisy. “We had an agreement, Mr. Valens, and you’d best not go back on it.”

  “Well, we don’t have a contract,” whined Brent. “Besides, I don’t have any insurance for Star if she gets injured.”

  “You agreed to pay her to do stunt work,” spat Daisy.

  “She’ll get her pay.” Luke kept his eyes on Star who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes on the ground.

  “Tyler, what are you saying?” asked Brent. “I’m not going to pay two girls for one scene.”

  “Take it out of my cut,” said Luke. “And pay Star for the next stunt as well, but she’s not doing it.”

  “But that stunt’s too physical for Amber to do with her hurt foot,” protested Brent.

  “Then we’ll get someone else to fill in.” Luke felt irritated by this conversation.

  “My daughter can do it,” Daisy assured them.

  Star bit her lip but refused to say a word.

  “I think your daughter has already done more than should have,” mumbled Luke.

  Luke threw his shirt over his bare shoulder and stepped around Star. What he needed was a cup of coffee so he could think straight. And he needed a damned cigarette. What he didn’t need was this kind of tension so early in the morning, and to see Star in that sexy dress with his mark upon her breast.

  He left the three of them behind and headed for the company trailer.

  Star headed for the house, no longer caring that Amber was going to do the shoot. She just needed to get far away from Luke and her memories of what had happened last night.

  He seemed ashamed of what they did, because he tried to cover up her hickey. In doing so, he covered up her heart in the process. Maybe she had the wrong impression of Luke after all. When her mother told her Luke was a womanizer, she didn’t believe it, but now she wondered if it was true.

  She’d seen the way Amber squeezed Luke’s arm and told him to let her know when he needed her. He replaced Star in the shoot with an injured woman. How could he? What was Luke doing? How many flowers had he flitted over to while looking for the sweet nectar to fill his lusty needs?

  It seemed to her that Luke was no better than Teddy after all. Teddy, to her, right now looked like a saint. At least he never sweet talked her to get what he wanted. He just came out and took it. Even so, he never had the gall to tease her with empty promises of foreplay. The only promise he’d broken was the one to marry her.

  “Star! Star, wait up,” called her mother.

  Star glanced over her shoulder but kept on walking.

  “Star, I need to talk to you.” Daisy grabbed her arm and swung her around. In the process, the neckline of her dress dipped lower. Star saw her mother’s eyes fasten to Luke’s little token of love.

  “What’s that?” she gawked.

  “A bruised heart,” Star answered.

  “It doesn’t look like a bruise to me. Plus your heart is on the other side.”

  “No, it’s not,” she answered. “Not when I wear it out on my sleeve.”

  “Star, is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Definitely not.”

  “Let me rephrase that,” said Daisy. “Is there something you’re not telling me about that womanizer, Luke Tyler?”

  “I slept with him, Mother.” There. She came right out and said it.

  Daisy was shocked and speechless for the first time in her life.

  “Isn’t that what you wanted to hear?” Star asked her.

  “No.”

  “I slept with him and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it much more than I ever did with Teddy.”

  “Star, I’m surprised at you!”

  “You shouldn’t be. Isn’t that what you wanted me and Teddy to do so he’d marry me? Well, your little plan worked like a charm. He deflowered me and then asked me to marry him. Then just to shame me, he left me at the damned altar.”

  “Star, watch your language,” her mother warned.
<
br />   “No, Mother, I won’t. If I want to swear, I’ll do it. And if I want to sleep with Luke or any other man, I’ll damned well do that, too.”

  Daisy remained quiet for a second and then took a step closer. She put her hand on Star’s shoulder. “Is this what you really want, Star? Are you in love with Luke?”

  Star pushed her mother’s hand away from her. “I don’t know what I want at this moment and I don’t want anyone asking me about it again.” She stormed toward the house with her mother right behind her. Maxi ran up to her, barking and wanting to play. She shooed the dog away and stomped up the porch stairs.

  “Where are you going?” snapped Daisy. “If you’re not going to do the stunts, then there’s work to be done around here.”

  “Work that doesn’t pay a penny,” Star answered. She pulled open the screen door and stopped. “We need money, Mother. Now that I’m not doing the stunts anymore, we’re going to have to find another way to get it.”

  “But Mr. Tyler said he’d still pay you. You heard him.”

  “No. I don’t want his money. I’m not going to feel like he’s paying me for nothing more than a roll in the hay.”

  “Then I’ll get Brent to give us the money somehow. You just leave it to me.”

  “No, Mother. I will not go along with the little web you weave any longer.”

  “We don’t have a choice, Star. If we don’t come up with the money, we’re going to lose our ranch.”

  “Well, I’m not going to sell Licorice, so don’t even ask me to.”

  “We might have to. We’ll probably have to sell the cattle as well.” Daisy clomped up the stairs and grabbed the door from Star. “It’s just you and me now. We have to do whatever it takes to survive. Don’t you see? We’ve got no other choice.”

  “Yes, we do,” Star told her. “I’m going to get that money by doing something you suggested long ago.”

  “What’s that?”