by Robin Wells
There was no denying that kiss had happened. Even more shocking, there was no denying how much she’d enjoyed it—or how thoroughly she’d kissed him back.
Shaken, she turned her head and stared out the passenger window. She’d only responded that way because her emotions were in a state of upheaval, she told herself fiercely. It must have been some kind of warped reaction to the fact that she was on a honeymoon alone.
It couldn’t have been anything else. She wasn’t in the market for a romance right now; that would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. No, she was just in an emotionally heightened state and she’d overreacted, that was all.
Not that Luke didn’t have several attributes that might make any woman overreact, a traitorous little voice in her head piped up. The way he looked, for example. She sneaked a glance at his profile, taking in the squareness of his beard-shadowed jaw, the deep cleft in his chin, the fine lines etched at the edges of his eyes. She had to admit that there was a rugged, basic maleness about him that was undeniably sexy.
And the way he’d handled that hurt calf, his big hands running down its injured leg as gently as a dewdrop on a blade of grass—that was sexy, too. So was the sentimental side he’d inadvertently let her see when he’d talked about that quilt.
But sexiest of all was the way he’d responded when she’d explained how her family had nearly railroaded her into marriage. He’d not only been understanding and sympathetic, but he’d opened up and let her see that he, too, had been foolish in matters of the heart. His willingness to tell her how he’d made a similar mistake had touched her. Behind his rough, tough exterior, Luke was kind and decent and compassionate. And in her opinion, nothing made a man sexier than that.
He glanced over and caught her staring at him. Their eyes locked and held, and an unwelcome jolt of electricity again raced through her. He jerked his eyes back to the windshield. Her face on fire, she simultaneously did the same.
There it was again—that jarring, kinetic connection. Josie drew a deep breath and tried to reason her galloping pulse rate back down to a trot.
Okay, so there was some kind of attraction between them. It didn’t change the fact that the timing was all wrong. She had other priorities to address. And judging from Luke’s stilted behavior, he didn’t want a romantic involvement right now any more than she did.
But all of her cool, logical thinking did nothing to ease the unbearable tension sizzling between them. She searched her mind for something, anything, to say to break the silence. “Are we getting close to the lodge?”
“Just over this hill.”
They both exhaled huge sighs of relief when the rustic wood and stone building finally loomed into view. The moment the truck rolled to a stop, Luke leapt out, rounded the vehicle and opened her door.
Josie climbed down, careful to avoid touching him. She didn’t want to aggravate the hot, heady sensation that was already muddling her thinking. “Thanks for showing me around.”
“Don’t mention it.” He touched the brim of his Stetson and gave a curt, polite nod. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go check a few things at the barn.”
Josie watched the truck rattle off down the road, wondering why the sight of its retreating tailgate should leave her feeling lost and a little forlorn.
She turned toward the lodge, where the other guests were milling around. Sure enough, just as Luke had warned her when she’d first arrived, all of the other guests were couples. Not just ordinary couples, either—affectionate, cozy couples. Heck, Josie thought dourly, they all looked like honeymooners, as paired off as turtle doves. An older couple was seated on a bench under the fiery red leaves of a maple tree, deep in conversation, holding hands. A younger man and woman meandered through the trees in the distance. Two couples were laughing and playing horseshoes in a clearing across the road, and yet another pair leaned against each other on the porch, reading a book together.
A stab of loneliness shot through Josie. She felt as out of place as a mouse at a cat convention. Maybe Luke and her parents were right. Maybe coming here alone was a lousy idea.
No, she told herself firmly. She’d made a decision to come here, and she was going to stick to it. If she was ever going to learn to trust her own judgment, she had to stop second guessing herself and start sticking by her decisions.
She’d begun to climb the wooden porch steps when the lodge door opened. “Well, hello, there,” a familiar voice called.
Josie glanced up to find Butch swaggering toward her, his hand looped on his wide-buckled belt.
“Hello,” she responded, suppressing a grimace. She had no use for men with smooth lines or smooth moves, and both of Butch’s were slick as an oil spill. His practiced compliments, sly innuendoes and lingering touches had nearly ruined her trail ride this morning. She’d been glad Luke had sent him to Tulsa for the afternoon and spared her from having to endure any more of his company.
Butch gave a slow, practiced grin, showing a row of gleaming white teeth. Josie was sure he considered his smile irresistible. Maybe other women did, too, but she found it as pompous and calculating as the man himself.
“Mighty fine evenin’,” he drawled. “Care to take a stroll?”
“No, thanks. I’m on my way in to help Consuela.”
Judging from the way Butch’s eyebrows rose in surprise, he was unaccustomed to being turned down. She scooted into the lodge before he could press her further, taking secret satisfaction in his displeased expression.
“Maybe I’ll see you after dinner,” he called after her.
Not if I see you first, she thought, firmly closing the door behind her.
She found Consuela in the dining room, arranging silverware on the gingham-checked tablecloths. Out the wide picture window, Butch sulkily strode to a dusty Chevy.
Consuela tilted her head in the direction of the retreating cowboy. “He’s been lying in wait for you.”
“Butch?”
Consuela nodded. “He thinks he’s quite the ladies’ man.”
“Well, this is one lady who has no use for him. Or any other man, for that matter.”
Consuela inclined her head. “They’re not all like that one. You need a good man like my Manuel.”
Josie gave a wan smile. “Maybe someday I’ll be as lucky as you. But right now I need a good, long, cooling-off period before I even think about getting involved again.”
Consuela gave a wry smile. “From what you told me about your relationship with your fiancé, there was nothing to cool off from.”
Josie couldn’t keep from laughing. “That’s true. Things weren’t so hot between us.”
“I saw Luke drive off just now,” Consuela remarked, her tone a little too offhanded. “And he didn’t look very cool.”
Mercy, the woman was perceptive! Josie felt her face color. Hoping to hide it, she snatched up a handful of silverware from the sideboard, ducked her head and began setting a table.
“The two of you seemed to strike sparks off each other this morning.” Consuela stopped and looked at her pointedly. “He’s the kind of man you need to look for, Josie.”
Josie fumbled the silverware, and a spoon noisily clanged to the hardwood floor. She bent to retrieve it, trying to retrieve her composure, as well. When she straightened, she decided to reply just as directly as Consuela had spoken. “Romance isn’t on my priority list right now. I want to make sure I can trust my own judgment before I get involved with a man again.” She placed a fork beside a folded gingham napkin. “Besides, from what I’ve seen of Luke, he’s not in the market for a relationship, either.”
“Love isn’t something you plan,” the older woman said, shaking her head sagely. “It happens in its own time, in its own way. Usually when you least expect it, when you’re focused on something else.”
Josie’s thoughts inadvertently flew to the sparks she’d felt with Luke that afternoon. She deliberately thrust the disturbing memory aside. “Well, the thing I need to focus on right
now is getting my life in order, and the first step is getting my career on track. Helping you here at the lodge is good practice. How can I help with dinner?”
Later that evening, after most of the guests had retired to their rooms and Consuela had headed home, Josie started down the trail to her cabin, carrying a plate of food. Against the housekeeper’s objections, she’d spent the entire evening in the kitchen. She’d had no desire to dine alone in a roomful of couples, and she hadn’t much wanted to mingle with them afterward, either. Besides, staying busy kept her from thinking about Luke and that disturbing, mind-bending kiss.
She gazed up at the nearly full moon as her footsteps crunched on the leaf-strewn pathway, and deliberately steered her thoughts away from him. She’d come here to think about her future, and that was what she intended to do.
What she’d told Consuela earlier was true, Josie reflected as she walked through the crisp night air. The key to rebuilding her life was rebuilding her career. Her temporary job at her father’s firm was at an end, and she wanted to stand on her own two feet now, independent of her family.
Reference or no reference, she needed to figure out a way to land another job in her chosen field. Working with Consuela had reinforced how much she enjoyed the hospitality industry and how much she’d missed it. Her career choice was the biggest decision she’d ever made entirely on her own, and if she were ever to develop confidence in her own judgment, she needed to prove to herself that it wasn’t the mistake her family seemed to think it was.
A twig cracked sharply on the path ahead of her. Someone was approaching. Peering through the darkened trees, Josie made out the silhouette of a cowboy hat perched atop a tall, masculine form.
Oh, great—Butch. Josie stifled a moan. The last thing she wanted to deal with tonight was another round of his unwelcome attention. She wanted to spend the evening sorting out her thoughts in peace and quiet, not fending off the advances of an overly amorous cowpoke.
If he didn’t see her, she wouldn’t have to deal with him. The thought was enough to make her rapidly scramble off the path and duck behind a boulder.
She felt more than a little ridiculous as she crouched behind the rock, balancing the warm plate of barbecued ribs and beans against her chest. Her legs began to cramp as long minutes passed. Crickets chirped, a bullfrog croaked, and the wind rustled in the leaves, but no other sounds broke the stillness of the night.
He must have turned around and gone the other way, she finally decided. With a sigh of relief, she stood and straightened.
“Hold it right there, buster,” ordered a deep, terse voice from the woods behind her.
Her heart in her throat, Josie screamed and threw up her hands. Her plate went flying.
“What the hell—”
She knew that voice. It had greeted her in the very same way when she’d first arrived at the ranch.
“Luke!” Josie gasped. She whipped around to find him standing behind her. By the dim light of the moon, she could see baked beans dripping from the brim of his hat. Her hand flew to her mouth. “What…what are you doing?”
“I was about to ask you the same question.” The scowl on his face could have boiled a vat of tar. “What the devil are you doing, lurking behind a rock in the middle of the night?” He yanked the hat off his head and stared at it. “And what the heck did you just throw on me?”
“M-my dinner.”
Luke gazed from his hat to her, his face a study of disbelief. “Why in blazes did you do that? Just what the hell is going on?”
Josie stared back, searching wildly for a response. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him she was avoiding Butch. After all, the man was a flirt, not a threat, and mentioning it to Luke would make it seem like a bigger deal than it was. Besides, she didn’t want Luke to think she couldn’t handle herself with a flirtatious ranch hand.
She could. Why, she could even handle herself with him.
She lifted her chin, fighting off the old sense of inadequacy that always overtook her whenever she’d made a mistake. If she wanted to spend the whole night behind that rock, it was her own business, she thought stubbornly. She was a grown woman, and she didn’t have to explain her every move. Not to him, anyway.
At least, not accurately. “I was going to my cabin, and I heard a…a—” she thought fast “—an owl. I was hoping to see it.”
“You were out here bird-watching?” Luke’s voice was incredulous.
Josie was glad of the dark, because it made it easier to avoid meeting his eyes. She’d always been a lousy liar. “Y-yes.”
“At night?”
“Well, when else would you expect to see an owl?”
Luke looked far from satisfied with the explanation. He stared at her suspiciously, then glanced down at his hat. A rib was sticking up near the crown like a feather. He plucked it off and tossed it on the ground, shaking his head and muttering under his breath. Josie caught the phrase city slickers and was glad she couldn’t hear the rest of his mumbled remark.
“Whatever you were up to, hiding in the woods at night was a damn fool stunt,” he growled. “All I saw was someone ducking behind a rock, and I thought I’d stumbled onto some kind of crook. I had no idea it was you. Lots of folks around here would shoot first and ask questions later. Why, I nearly coldcocked you myself.”
Josie straightened her back. Everyone made occasional errors, she told herself fiercely. It didn’t mean she was fundamentally flawed, and it didn’t mean Luke had the right to intimidate her. She pulled herself to her full stature and regarded him with as much dignity as she could muster. “I’m sorry I alarmed you, and I’m sorry about your hat, but there’s no need to act so surly about it.” Her gaze slid down, and her frosty demeanor melted as she realized beans were dripping off his denim jacket. “Oh, dear—I’ve gotten food all over your jacket, too!” She reached out and tried to brush it off. His chest was rock hard under her hand, and the feel of it sent a shiver up her arm that had nothing to do with the chill night air.
Luke pulled away from her touch as if he’d been burned. The last thing he needed right now was more physical stimulation. He’d been miserably overstimulated ever since this confounded woman had hit the ranch.
Something about her touch made him soften his tone, however. “My clothes will be all right. Believe me, they’ve seen worse.”
He gazed down at her and was struck by how pale her small, heart-shaped face looked in the moonlight. She certainly didn’t look like the evil-minded, spell-casting, she-devil he’d built her up to be in his mind. She looked delicate and feminine and worried, and looking at her made something inside him melt like a candy bar in the summer sun.
A pang of guilt shot through him. Hell, it wasn’t her fault he’d lost control of himself this afternoon. He was the one who’d instigated that kiss, and it wasn’t fair of him to try to shift the blame to her.
He needed to lighten up and start treating her like the paying guest she was. He jammed his hands in his pockets and shifted his stance. “If I’m wearing your dinner, you must still be hungry. Might as well come on back to the lodge and fix another plate. I was heading there to get something to eat myself.”
Her smile made him give one back, loosening a tightness he hadn’t even known he had in his chest.
“Okay. Thanks.”
He glanced down at her as they started back toward the lodge. “Why didn’t you eat earlier with the other guests?”
“I was helping Consuela in the kitchen.”
Luke frowned. The idea of her getting too tight with the housekeeper disturbed him almost as much as the thought of her getting too deeply involved in the workings of the lodge. “I appreciate your help, Josie, but you really don’t need to pull KP duty. We have a part-time cook who fills in on Consuela’s days off, and we have two girls who assist her in the evenings.”
“I know. But one of them didn’t show up tonight.”
Luke stifled an oath. “Again?”
“Consuela said y
ou’d been having staffing problems ever since the last lodge manager left.”
“That’s true, but it’s nothing for you to worry about. You’re a guest here, and you shouldn’t be spending all your time in the kitchen.”
Josie waved a hand. “I’m enjoying it. Besides, I won’t be in the kitchen tomorrow night. I’m scheduled for the evening trail ride and cookout.”
Luke winced. He’d forgotten all about that. Damn, damn and double damn! He couldn’t let her go off alone on a romantic nighttime outing with the likes of Butch. He made a mental note to line up Manuel or one of the other hands to escort her.
The kitchen door creaked as Luke opened it and followed Josie inside. He tossed his hat on a chair and watched her take off her windbreaker. There ought to be a law against the things her body did to a loose-fitting pink sweater and a pair of jeans, he thought. His mouth went dry as he took in the gentle curves of her breasts, the taper of her waist and the soft swell of her hips.
She looked up, and he jerked his eyes away, not wanting to be caught staring.
“If you take off your jacket, I’ll see if I can undo some of the damage I caused,” she said.
He’d have to take off more than his jacket in order for her to do that, he thought ruefully. Aggravated at himself and the direction of his thoughts, he shrugged out of the bean-soaked denim and handed it to her, then strode across the room and yanked open the refrigerator. He pulled out a plate of ribs and three large, covered bowls and put them on the counter, then turned and watched her dab at his jacket with a damp cloth.
“That refund offer still stands, you know,” he blurted out.
She looked up, her eyes wary. “What do you mean?”
“Well, now that you’ve seen the place, you can see there’s not really that much to do. Not nearly enough to occupy you for a full week.”
Josie’s expression turned as ominous as a thundercloud. “You might as well give up trying to get rid of me. That discrimination routine didn’t work before, and it won’t work now.”
