“Kate, I’m really worried.”
“I know, but—”
“Mommy, who is it?” Eddie asked, rubbing his eyes.
She asked Luke to wait a minute, put her hand over the phone and said to her son, “It’s Luke, sweetie. You know how I’ve been helping him? Well,” she said, taking a deep breath, “he needs me one more time before his daughter gets here tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll be with you in just a minute, Eddie.” He walked off to finish his cookie and she returned to the phone. “Luke, I’m going to be over there shortly. I have to take Eddie to Travis and Jodie.”
“No, Kate, it’s too late for you to come out.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s not even nine o’clock, and you obviously need to talk. I’ll be right over. Leave the porch light on for me, okay.”
“Okay. And Kate? Thanks.”
He disconnected the call and she rushed to the bedroom. She pulled on underwear, jeans and a clean T-shirt, then went back into the kitchen. She had no idea how long Luke needed to talk and she wasn’t willing to drag her son out of bed in the middle of the night if it wasn’t necessary.
“Eddie, I’m going to ask Travis and Jodie if you can go to sleep at their house tonight, okay?”
“Okay. Can I sleep there all night? Uncle Travis fixes blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning.”
“Yes, he does. I’ll call him and make sure it’s okay for you to come over.”
Within a few minutes, she’d put Eddie’s things together and walked him over to the main house. Jodie was back home and they were glad to have Eddie spend the night. Travis did, however, give her a look that showed his disapproval of her running off to the neighbor’s.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she told her brother and sister-in-law. Eddie was already upstairs, checking on baby Marsha. Kate hurried off before Travis could quiz her.
The night was clear and pleasant as she drove around to Luke’s ranch. Although she could walk—or chase Eddie—through the pasture in just minutes, the drive took longer as the road wrapped around Travis’s acreage, then Luke’s property. Long enough for her to give herself a lecture about this visit. “You will be professional but supportive,” she said as her little sedan crept along the dark driveway. “You haven’t had any wine, so there’s no excuse for a repeat of that embarrassing scene in the restaurant parking lot.”
Even though she’d had a hard time forgetting their last kiss.
Her heart seemed to beat a little faster as she neared the house. Was he regretting the phone call? Was he looking forward to seeing her again? Doubtful. Mostly, he was worried, as any new father might be. He needed her wisdom, albeit limited, about children, and nothing else.
The porch light and the outdoor floodlight at the barn were on, welcoming her. She turned off the car engine and walked to the front door, just as she’d done for the past two weeks.
Only tonight felt different.
“You came,” he said from the shadows of the doorway.
“I told you I would.”
“I know, but it’s not always easy to get away when you have a child, right?”
“That’s true. One of the perks of living with your brother, however, is a built-in babysitter.”
“That’s one thing good about your brother.”
She walked up to Luke. “Do you think you two will ever get along?”
“As in friends? Doubtful.”
“Why?”
“I think it’s obvious.”
“Me?”
“What else? We don’t exactly socialize.”
“No, but you know some of the same people. Hank, for instance. He’s Travis’s best friend, and he’s the reason you chose Ranger Springs when you were looking for land.”
“True, and if I’m ever in the situation where Travis and I are at the same party at Hank’s house, I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“But you won’t like it.”
“Hey, no offense, but your brother glares at me whenever he’s within spitting distance.”
“Crudely put, but effective.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be crude.”
“That’s okay. I know you’re anxious and frustrated and just venting.”
He smiled slightly. “Is that what I’m doing?”
“In my professional opinion, yes,” she replied with a smile.
“You know, I think you just told me I’m having a hissy fit.”
Kate laughed. “Where did you hear that term?”
“My mother used to say that a lot.” He looked far into the night. “I’m really sorry she didn’t live long enough to know about Brittany. She would have loved a grandchild.”
“I’m sure she knew you’d get married someday and have children.”
Luke shrugged. “Probably. I sure wasn’t showing much promise in that area nine years ago.”
“You were still awfully young then.”
“Sometimes I don’t think I’ve learned all that much about relationships and women since then.”
“You have learned about relationships—with your daughter, I mean. I’m sure of it.” She hoped she’d learned something from her own experiences lately—something that would keep her from thinking about kissing Luke again.
Luke looked at her as though he sensed her inner turmoil. “Come on inside and talk to me some more.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kate entered the newly renovated and furnished living room with both interest and trepidation. The walls were painted a soft gold and the furniture sported neutral muslin slipcovers for easy washing, with colorful pillows. Robin had suggested some storage cubes that doubled as seating. Since Luke didn’t own any personal items, she’d picked out prints and wall art that would look good in the ranch setting and wasn’t too froufrou for a man.
“The living room looks great.” Luke had turned on some of his new lamps, giving the room a warm glow. “It’s hard to believe this room was so plain and bare just last week.”
“What’s hard to believe is all the work the contractor did in just two weeks. Everything is up to code, all nice and freshly painted. Nate Branson is a top-notch guy.”
Luke had probably paid a premium price for such quick work, which showed where his priorities were—on his daughter, not his wallet. “Brittany will love the house.”
“Do you think so? Really?”
His lingering insecurity touched Kate’s heart. “She lives in an apartment now, right? This house is wonderful for her. Cozy and clean, surrounded by adorable animals. How could she not like it?”
“I worry because it’s not grand, not like Travis’s house, for example.”
“Brittany won’t miss something she’s never had, Luke. Children don’t covet the same way adults do.”
“I don’t covet your brother’s house!”
She put her hand on his forearm. “I didn’t mean that you did. I just wanted to assure you that comparing your house to someone else’s won’t enter her mind, at least not for a long time. At some point, she’ll probably think a big new house would be neat.”
“And then what do I do?”
Kate chuckled. “Either talk to her about appreciating the value of what you have…or buy her a new house.”
“Very funny.” He sounded a little sarcastic, but he smiled, so Kate did, too, and she felt the mood ease.
“Would you like something to drink? I made some iced tea earlier, and I have a bottle of wine chilled.”
“I’m not sure I trust myself to drink wine around you,” she admitted. Definitely not at night, in his cozy house.
“Then some tea? Or coffee?”
“Tea is fine.” While Luke seemed more relaxed right now, she was confident he would start thinking about Brittany’s imminent arrival the moment she went home. And then he’d be just as stressed out as he’d been when he called. That meant they still needed to talk about what was really bothering him.
She wandered into the kitchen and watched him fill glasses with ice, pour tea and get the sweetener. He seemed nervous, as if they weren’t here strictly to talk about his daughter. Like they were two adults, alone.
Kate took a steadying breath. “Luke, she truly is going to love it here. It’s a nice community, even though that will be hard to adjust to at first. When she makes some new friends at school, she’ll feel more comfortable. She’ll love her new room and the house, plus the ranch and all the animals.”
“I wonder if she’ll accept me, though,” he said as they settled on opposite ends of the couch. “I know you’ve gone over what to say when she asks the tough questions about her mother and me, about why I never contacted them, but what if she doesn’t ask? What if she’s so angry that she doesn’t want to understand about my relationship with her mother?”
“For one thing, she doesn’t need to know much about your relationship with Shawna. Focus on how kind her mother was to your mother—Brittany’s grandmother—and you in that time of need. Tell her how much you appreciated Shawna going through your mother’s things with you.”
“I hope she does ask. That’s one thing I can be totally truthful about.”
Kate leaned forward. “She’ll ask all those questions in her own time. Don’t offer more than she’s ready to hear. Just let her know that you’ll discuss anything with her, but she needs to ask.”
“You know so much about children.” He smiled, looking devilishly handsome and yet so vulnerable in the golden glow of the lamps. “You know a lot about adults, too.”
“Well, if I did, I’d have been more observant about what was going on around me.”
“With your ex-husband?”
“Yes. He left everything behind, especially his family, to crawl into some hole somewhere and regroup.”
“Someday he’ll be sorry.”
“Frankly, I don’t give a damn,” she said, setting her glass on the new coffee table. “But I’m ready to move on. I’m going to stop beating myself up about my stupid choices.”
“You won’t make the same mistakes twice.”
“Lord, I hope not! After these past two weeks, I’m in much better shape financially. I’ll get my own place as soon as I start getting regular paychecks. So thank you for hiring me. It’s been a great experience.”
“I couldn’t have done this much without you, but I still have the hard part ahead of me, don’t I?”
“Sorry, Luke. You called me over to talk about Brittany and I started in on my ex-husband and what a terrible father he is.”
“I didn’t call you only to talk about my situation. I just—” he shrugged and looked away “—called because when I got a little freaked out, I thought of how you could make sense of everything.”
“I…I’m glad I could help.”
“I felt anxious. But not since you arrived.” He placed his glass next to hers and studied her face as if reading her thoughts.
“So you don’t need to talk anymore?” She didn’t know whether she should be relieved or worried that she didn’t want to rush off. Before she allowed herself to go down that path, she jumped up from the couch. “I should be going, then. You probably have a lot to do tonight.”
He rose also, moving closer. “Don’t go. Not yet.” With a subtle touch to her arm, he held her in place. “You make me feel good, Kate, and I think I make you feel good, too. Since we’re not working together to get everything ready for Brittany anymore, can’t we enjoy each other for now?”
Just for now? Or was he hinting that he wanted their relationship to change? Was he trying to seduce her? She didn’t have much experience in that area, at least not in the past eight years. She swallowed and tried to keep the conversation light. “I haven’t been drinking wine tonight. I’m pretty sure you’ll be safe from me, but really, I shouldn’t stay.”
“But you want to,” he added.
“I…Luke, this is not a good idea.”
“Don’t you get tired of doing the right thing all the time? Of always being sensible and following the rules?”
He apparently had no idea how often she’d been tempted by him. “I do try to do what’s right.”
“Then maybe I can convince you that this is right for us,” he said in a sexy, dark voice as he slipped his arms around her, then pulled her against him. His lips pressed against her forehead, then beside her closed eyes. He smelled heavenly, like clean male and starch and a sexy aftershave. The blend of scents made her think of sun-bleached sheets and warm, aroused male.
Not that she’d experienced sun-bleached sheets with aroused males, at least in…well, never. “Just because this feels so good doesn’t mean it’s right,” she whispered against his neck, longing to taste his skin and run her hands over his body and fill her senses with Luke.
She felt him smile, his lips turning up against her cheek as he kissed his way along her jawline. “If it feels so good, it can’t be wrong,” he said softly.
Yes, it could, she wanted to shout. She could barely breathe, and he wanted her to make a life-altering decision? He wanted her to act without weighing the repercussions? “What if we’re making a huge mistake? What then?”
“Whatever you want. You tell me.”
“I don’t know.” She couldn’t tell him what she was feeling or thinking. She couldn’t gaze into a crystal ball and see what would happen in one week, one month. She’d tried planning her life and see how well that had gone? She’d ended up divorced and barely supporting herself. Maybe there was something smart about going with what felt right now.
He tilted her chin with one hand as he continued to hold her close, and then he kissed her, hot and hungry and incredibly well. She gave everything to that kiss, wanting to mold herself to him, give herself to him. She felt overheated and needy, more than she’d ever felt before.
His hand drifted down her neck, across her chest to her breast. Yes, she silently urged. Touch me there! And then he did, his hand sculpting her, lifting her, and finally capturing her nipple between his fingers.
She moaned, but bit back a more earthy response as she twisted closer.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered against her ear, his breath tickling and arousing at the same time.
“I’m afraid,” she admitted in a small voice.
“Afraid of me?” he asked incredulously.
“No! I’m…I’m afraid of myself. Of what I’m feeling.”
“You don’t need to be afraid. I would never ask you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“But that’s the problem. I want to do everything.” She pulled back slightly to look at him. “Everything. Things I don’t know anything about.”
He swallowed, silent for once. She’d shocked him.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” she said quickly. “I shouldn’t—”
“You should,” he said, his expression and his tone fierce. “And you deserve everything.” He kissed her again, taking her breath away. When he nibbled to a stop, he pulled back and smiled down at her. “You know so much, Kate. You know about children and adults, book learning and common sense galore. But I have a feeling in the area of romance, you need a little education.”
“I think I need a lot of education,” she answered breathlessly.
“And that’s exactly what you’re going to get.” He bent and swept her into his arms.
She squealed and held on tight as he navigated around the couch, then strode down the hall with determined steps.
His bedroom was plain compared to the rest of the house, not yet decorated. Just a huge bed and curtains on the windows and that’s all they needed anyway. He placed one knee on the mattress and lowered her gently as his mouth came down and kissed her again.
Then his body was stretched out alongside and over her, and all she felt was Luke, surrounding her with scent and sensation. Longing, deep and intense, swept through her.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered again as his hand swept her shirt upward.
>
“I want to feel your skin,” she said, imagining his hot, smooth flesh against her own.
He swept her shirt away, leaving her lying on the bed in her plain white bra. Then he crossed his arms and lifted his own T-shirt, flinging it across the room.
Ed had neatly undressed in the closet, placing his clothes on the shelves or in the hamper. Never messy. Never so urgent and wild that he tossed his shirt aside.
But she didn’t want to think about the past when she was here with Luke, and he looked incredible. All smooth, tight skin and muscle stretched over an amazing frame. He might have done stunts, but he looked like a movie star. Better than a movie star. He was real and he was here with her.
She ran her hands down his torso, loving the feel of him.
“I’m pretty tough,” he said, confusing her, then he added, “You can touch me as much as you want. With your hands, your nails. Do whatever you want. It’s all okay.”
She did want to rake her nails down him. Not to hurt, but to claim him as her own.
No! He wasn’t hers. She was just…borrowing him for the night. She closed her eyes and sunk into the sensations, pushing everything else out of her mind.
And then Luke lowered himself, kissing her, making her forget, and she held him tight. Some while later, perhaps minutes, perhaps hours, he broke away to finish undressing them both. She wasn’t so sure about his seeing her naked. She’d had a baby, after all, and he was used to those hard-body California women. But it was fairly dark in here. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her imperfections.
He didn’t seem to care as he kissed his way down her body, over the faint stretch marks that probably weren’t visible in the dim light but she knew were there. At the moment, they seemed incredibly sensitive. Or perhaps that was his undeniable ability to make her forget how much they didn’t have in common and concentrate on only what they had together.
“You’re beautiful, Kate,” he said as he moved back up her body.
“I love to hear your voice,” she admitted. “You make me feel so good.”
“I’m going to make you feel even better.”
Daddy Lessons Page 14
