Luke (7 Brides for 7 Brothers Book 1)

by Barbara Freethy

  As she left the room, her own words rang through her head. She just hoped she could live up to the promise she'd just made Kaitlyn.

  * * *

  Luke's phone buzzed as he got out of the shower early Saturday morning.

  It was a text from Knox. When are you coming back? Got tickets to the Dodgers tomorrow night.

  He sighed, not sure how to answer even that simple question.

  While he was thinking, his phone buzzed again, a text this time from his friend and business partner Pete Ramsay. Got lucky. Studio time opened up for Tuesday morning. You in?

  He stared at the text, feeling paralyzed in a way he'd never experienced. His life was calling. Why wasn't he answering?

  Setting his phone down, he got dressed and threw the few clothes he'd unpacked into his duffel bag. He was still debating whether or not he wanted to put it in the car when a third text came in. This one was from Gabe. I have a potential buyer for the resort. Interested?

  His chest tightened. He was interested, wasn't he?

  Dammit. He'd never had so much trouble making a decision before. He grabbed his backpack and duffel and walked out to the car and threw them inside. Then he started down the path to the lodge. He'd get breakfast, talk to Lizzie, then decide what he wanted to do.

  He was almost to the lodge when he ran into Brad, who was just coming down the steps.

  "Hey Luke," Brad said with a happy smile.

  "I thought you were at the hospital. Congratulations, by the way."

  "Thanks. You cannot believe how beautiful my daughter is. And Shari was as tough as nails. I have never seen a woman in so much pain, but she just killed it and brought our child into the world. I don't know how she did it."

  "I'm glad they're both good."

  "It was rough for a while, with the baby coming so early. They want to keep her an extra day or so to get her weight up and make sure everything is working properly, but Doc says not to worry."

  "Then you shouldn't worry."

  "Easy to say," Brad said with a sigh. "But I suddenly feel overwhelmed. How good of a father will I be? It occurs to me I know next to nothing about babies. And we weren't prepared to bring a baby home. We don't even have the crib up. I have to find some people to cover my tours. John already has a full schedule. There's suddenly a lot to do really fast." He paused. "Sorry I'm rambling. My brain is like scrambled eggs this morning."

  "Understandable."

  "So did Liz really climb down the mountain on a rope to rescue Kaitlyn yesterday or has that story been embellished?"

  "She did exactly that. She was amazing."

  "I had no idea she had that in her. Thank God you were there to rescue them both."

  "Liz did the hard part."

  "So any chance I could talk you into taking over my hiking adventures for the next week?" he asked hopefully.

  He hesitated. "Sorry. I have to go back to LA. We're going into editing the next film, and studio time just opened up."

  Brad nodded. "It was worth a shot. Do you know what you're going to do yet with this place? Are you putting it up for sale?"

  He saw more worry in Brad's eyes. He held a lot of people's happiness in his hands, and it wasn't a feeling he was familiar with. He was used to only having to be concerned with himself. "I don't know yet."

  "Okay. Well, I hope I see you around. If not, it's been great getting to know you."

  "Likewise."

  Brad headed to his car while Luke started up the steps to the lodge, but as he neared the front door, his pace slowed. Lizzie was going to ask him the same question Brad had just asked—or maybe she wouldn't. She thought she already knew what he would do. She was bracing herself for him to leave. He'd convinced himself that's why she hadn't been able to say she loved him. She didn't want to put her heart on the line and watch him stomp on it. He needed to convince her he wouldn't do that, but first he had to convince himself. He had to know what he wanted, and he had to be sure.

  He looked around, seeing Tom giving a riding lesson to a young boy, a group of teens laughing as they headed to the pool, and a car pulling into the parking lot filled with kids that reminded him so much of his last trip here. This resort was more than just land and buildings. It was memories and love, not just for his parents who had first fallen for each other here, but maybe for him and Lizzie.

  "Damn you, Dad," he muttered. "Why did you have to make things so difficult?"

  He pulled out his phone, looked at Gabe's text, and then punched in a reply.

  I've made a decision.

  Thirteen

  Five days later, Lizzie knew how Luke had felt when she didn't show up at the airport ten years earlier, when she didn't answer her phone, when she hadn't had the guts to say good-bye to his face.

  She'd thought he would say good-bye before he left the resort. He'd told her he loved her, so how could he just leave? But that's exactly what he'd done. He'd taken off before breakfast on Saturday. It was now Thursday, and she hadn't heard a word from him.

  Would she ever see him again? She really had no idea, and the pain in her heart had settled into a steady ache that occasionally ran through her in sharper waves when she thought about him. It felt worse than it had the first time they'd broken up.

  Sighing, she looked at the computer screen in front of her and tried to put Luke out of her mind and concentrate on work. She would continue to do her job until someone fired her. Hopefully, even if Luke had decided to sell the resort, it would take at least a few months. School had started a few days ago, and Kaitlyn seemed happy enough about her classes and the potential of friends. The last thing she wanted to have to do was pull her out of school now and move somewhere else.

  Which was why she really needed to know what Luke was thinking. She couldn't understand what was taking him so long. If he'd decided to leave, then she should have at least heard from one of the Brannigan lawyers by now. She supposed she could call them directly. On the other hand, did she really want an answer? At this point, no news was better than bad news.

  Pushing back her chair, she stood up and walked out of the office. She needed fresh air, and while business at the lodge had slowed down since Labor Day, it was Thursday, and there were some guests checking in for the weekend.

  As she entered the living room, she was happy to see Brad and Shari walking in the front door. Brad held a baby car seat in one hand, and their beautiful daughter was fast asleep.

  She'd been to the hospital twice to see Shari, but she'd thought the baby would stay in the hospital a few more days.

  "You're back," she said with delight as Brad set the car seat down on the big coffee table in front of the couch. She threw her arms around Shari and gave her a warm hug. "It is so good to have you home."

  "Thanks. It feels good to be home."

  She sat down on the couch in front of the baby and felt a yearning deep within her soul as she stared at the infant. "She's beautiful and perfect."

  Shari sat down next to her. "I think so, too. I still can't quite believe she's ours."

  "And I am outnumbered by females," Brad added with a laugh. "So the second one will have to be a boy."

  "Let's not talk about a second child right now," Shari protested.

  "Fine, I'll give you a few months," he said with a teasing smile. "I'm going to take our beautiful daughter to our cabin."

  "I'll be there in a minute," Shari said. After Brad and the baby left, she turned to Liz with a questioning gaze. "So how are things around here? Is Val holding her own?"

  "She's doing a great job. She's not you," she added quickly. "But she's a solid cook and she's getting the job done."

  "I'm glad. And Kaitlyn—is the good attitude still holding?"

  "Shockingly—yes. She's gone back to the girl I remember, and it is such a relief. She's talking to me. She even showed me her homework last night. She's still on her phone a lot, but she has new local kids she's texting now. There's a girl who lives about a mile from here, and she seems like a good ki
d. Her father is a doctor at the urgent care center in town."

  "That's great. To think it just took a hike…" Shari teased.

  "And both of us almost dying," she reminded her. "But that dangerous moment finally broke down the wall between us, so I'm grateful for it. I did tell Tom that he's now prohibited from telling the story about the rock at our campfires, and I'm taking the lure of hidden gold off our flyers."

  Shari smiled. "I'm sure the story will still get around."

  "Maybe, but I'm going to make it a little more difficult to hear."

  "And Luke? What's happening there?"

  Her breath caught in her chest. "I haven't heard from him since he left."

  "We really need to know his plans," Shari said, concern in her eyes. "If we have to move, we need time."

  "I know. I don't know what to tell you. I can try to track him down, but he could be anywhere in the world by now. And part of me thinks that it might be better just to wait, see what happens. Maybe he just hasn't decided, and he's letting things ride."

  "I know it's complicated for you, Liz, but I think you might need to call him. Every one of the staff members who came to visit me at the hospital was concerned about their jobs. I'm afraid people will start looking for other positions just to protect themselves."

  "I'm aware. I have the same concern. I'll give it until next week, then I'll look for him. I really hoped Luke might see this place as a good investment, or that maybe he might like owning a place in this beautiful valley. He's such an outdoorsman. But that was a fool's dream."

  "Or the dream of a woman in love," Shari said gently, as she stood up. "You do love him, don't you, Lizzie? I saw the sparks between you right from the start."

  She got to her feet. "It doesn't matter how I feel. Luke's life has always been somewhere else. And to be fair, mine has, too. We just can't get the timing right."

  "Maybe that's about to change," Shari said.

  "What do you mean?"

  Shari tipped her head to the door behind her.

  Liz turned around, shocked to see Luke walk into the room. Her stomach immediately clenched, and her head spun at the sight of his handsome face and rugged body. She hadn't thought she'd see him again. She'd really believed their next contact would be an email or a certified letter or maybe a text.

  "Hi," Luke said, his gaze on her face as he walked forward.

  "Hi," she murmured back.

  "So, I'm going to go," Shari said.

  "How's the baby?" Luke asked, dragging his gaze from Liz to Shari.

  "She's beautiful. Brad just took her home. Come by later if you want to meet her."

  "I will. Congratulations again."

  "Thanks for the flowers you sent. They were beautiful."

  After Shari left, Liz didn't know what to say, so she settled for something completely irrelevant. "You sent Shari flowers?"

  He nodded. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

  "That was nice."

  "I can be nice."

  He could be nice. He could be a lot of other things, too, but she didn't want to think about his good traits, only his negative ones. She had to prepare herself for bad news, so she needed to get her armor up quick. "It would have been nice if you'd said good-bye before you left."

  "I thought about it. I was actually on my way into the lodge last Saturday when I decided I wasn't ready to say good-bye yet."

  "So you just left?"

  "I needed to think."

  "About what?"

  "You."

  Her heart fluttered with impossible hope. "What about me?"

  "Last week when Kaitlyn ran away, and you and I went past Last Chance Rock, I couldn't help thinking that that rock symbolized our relationship. It was our opportunity to forget the past and move forward. How many people get a second chance in life, Lizzie?"

  "Do you want a second chance?" she whispered, trying not to get too carried away by his words.

  "I do."

  "But how could we possibly work? It's not like that much has changed. And what has changed doesn't tip the scales in our favor. You didn't want to stay before because the world was calling, and I didn't want to leave because my career was calling. But now I have Kaitlyn. It's not just me anymore. It's me and a thirteen-year-old who has already proven how much trouble she can be."

  He smiled. "I think Kaitlyn has turned a corner. She's texted me a few times since I left."

  "She has? She didn't tell me that."

  "We didn't talk about you. She told me about school. It sounds like she's settling in."

  "It sounds like you and she have become friends."

  "I hope so." He stepped forward, his brown eyes dark, deep, intense, as he settled his hands on her hips. "I don't want to leave you again. I don't want to keep running around the world looking for something—someone—I've already found. That empty hole in my heart—only you can fill it."

  She licked her lips. "Luke—"

  "Wait. I'm not done yet. You can come up with a thousand reasons why you and I don't work, but the truth is we do work. We're incredibly good together. We balance each other out. We can talk about things that matter. We can laugh and play and be serious, too. I trust you, and I think you trust me."

  "But—" she began.

  "No buts," he interrupted, putting a finger against her lips. "If you can't tell me you love me now, then I'll wait—as long as I have to. Or maybe I'll just love you enough for both of us."

  She was so overwhelmed by his words, her eyes started to water.

  "I want to be where you are," he continued. "If that's here, then consider this my new address."

  "Seriously? You want to live here?"

  He nodded, a smile playing around his lips. "I do. I was thinking that we could turn the last un-remodeled cabin into a studio, and I could do my film editing in there. I could limit my filming to a couple of months out of the year. Maybe the summer months or winter break. Perhaps you and Kaitlyn could come with me on some of those trips—when school is out."

  "You've thought about this a lot," she said, feeling amazed.

  "Ever since I left here, I haven't been able to think about anything else."

  "I really didn't believe you were coming back, Luke."

  "And how did you feel about that?" he challenged.

  "Incredibly sad." As his gaze burned into hers, she knew it was past time to tell him how she really felt. "I don't just want you or need you, Luke. I love you. I don't know why it's taken me so long to tell you that, because it's been true forever."

  He drew in a sharp breath, and she could see that her words meant a lot to him. "You weren't ready to say the words before. I'm happy you are now."

  "Me, too, because I don't want to lose you again, either. You are too important to me."

  "Then we're finally on the same page."

  "And the same continent," she said with a laugh.

  He grinned back at her. "That, too." His humor faded as his expression turned serious. "I want you to know that I'm ready to put you first—you and Kaitlyn. Because my dreams now are really only about you, about being your husband and maybe a father figure for Kaitlyn."

  She drew in a quick breath. "Really?"

  "That's not a proposal. I'm doing that up right one day, but I just want you to know exactly what I'm thinking."

  "And I want you to know that when you want to ask me, the answer is going to be yes. If it were just me and Kaitlyn wasn't around, I wouldn't ask you to stay here; I'd follow you to the ends of the earth. Because I know now that my life is never going to be completely right without you."

  "I don't need you to follow me. I need you to be next to me. I want us to be together, whether it's me making a film or you playing in a concert hall or both of us watching Kaitlyn do something amazing."

  "I want that, too," she said, her heart overflowing with emotion. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love she was feeling. Then she said, "I can't believe this, Luke. I can't believe we're b
ack together after all these years."

  He smiled down at her. "And it pains me to say this, but my father was right. We were meant for each other."

  "I guess he knew you better than you thought."

  "I guess he did. I had a lot of growing up to do."

  "So did I. I'm sad we missed years together, but I think we both needed to find our own way. Who knew it would be here—in a beautiful resort in the woods?"

  "Certainly not me," he admitted. "But I am so ready for this adventure. I think it's going to be the best one yet." He paused. "So where's Kaitlyn?"

  "At school. She won't be home til three. She's going to be very happy."

  "Good." He glanced down at his watch. "Looks like we have about an hour before we can tell her the good news. I wonder what we should do with the time," he mused, a wicked smile on his face.

  "It's the middle of the day," she protested. "I'm supposed to be working."

  "I'll make it okay with your boss," he teased, as he stole another kiss. "Let me show you how happy we're going to be, Lizzie."

  She let out a sigh as he ran his mouth down the side of her neck. How on earth could she resist a line like that?

  "Show me, Luke. Show me now and show me forever."

  "I will." He grabbed her hand as they ran up the stairs, like the two kids in love they'd once been and would be forever more.

  # # #

  Dear Readers,

  I hope you enjoyed the first book in this exciting and fun new collaborative series 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. I really enjoyed working with bestselling authors: Ruth Cardello, Melody Anne, Christie Ridgway, Lynn Raye Harris, Roxanne St. Claire and JoAnn Ross in bringing you seven incredible love stories!

  For those of you who are new to my books, I hope you'll check out my ongoing NYT Bestselling family series: The Callaways, featuring strong, sexy alpha heroes, who are born to serve and protect. The series begins with ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS! I also recently released a brand new romantic suspense trilogy Lightning Strikes that begins with BEAUTIFUL STORM. An excerpt follows this letter.