by Robin Wells
“Be sure and make me pay big.”
“How big?” She gave a winsome smile. “Because I’ve got something in mind.”
“Name it.”
“All right.” Josie drew a deep breath. “How would you like to escort me to the Renaissance Ball in Tulsa in three weeks? My parents are on the board of directors, and it would go a long way toward mending fences in my own backyard.”
“Your folks are still unhappy you took this job?”
Josie nodded ruefully. “But I don’t think the issue is the job, or even the fact I moved away. I think they’re afraid of not being needed.” Josie’s brows drew together, her face serious. “Your father’s journal made me do some thinking about my relationship with my parents. I want to let them know that they’ll always be an important part of my life, regardless of where I’m living or what I’m doing. Showing up at an event that’s so important to them seems like a good way to do that”
He gave a slow nod. “You’re wise to mend your fences before they fall down. You can’t always assume that the people you love know it.”
The words hung between them, suspended in the air, which was suddenly thick with tension. Something in her eyes made the breath catch in his throat.
His gaze slid to her lips, and he silently gauged the distance between them. One step would just about do it. Oh, criminy, it was tempting. Just one step, and she could be in his arms.
No. If he kissed her now, it would have far-ranging consequences. Even if he hadn’t just made that remark about love, they’d shared something moving and profound and deeply personal tonight, and a kiss in its wake would be more than a mere kiss.
He gazed down at her, his heart catapulting at the way she gazed back. He struggled to form a clear thought
He couldn’t kiss her, but he did owe her a favor.
“If you’re sure I won’t embarrass you, you’ve got yourself a date.”
He yanked open the door, then hesitated as another thought struck him. Was she wanting him to go with her in order to make her ex-fiancé jealous? He wouldn’t be suckered into that role again.
He turned in the doorway. “Is Robert going to be there?”
“No. He quit his job at Dad’s firm and moved to Dallas a week after the wedding was canceled.”
So her ex was completely out of the picture. A broad sense of relief swept Luke’s chest. With a short nod he ducked out the door.
Josie watched it close behind him. For one heart-stopping moment, she’d been certain he was going to kiss her. Almost as certain as she’d been earlier that he’d needed her tonight.
She was still certain of that. She rubbed her hands along her arms, a thrill chasing through her. Independent, stubborn, lone-wolf Luke O’Dell had needed her. He’d clung to her hand, he’d rejected her suggestion he read the journal alone, he’d wanted her to break the news to him.
It was shocking how the simple fact that Luke had needed her filled her soul, how it made her heart seem somehow close to bursting. Just as shocking was how much she’d wanted to be there for him, to hold him, to soothe the turmoil she’d seen in his eyes.
Josie abruptly turned away from the door, still rubbing her arms. She was getting in too deep, she warned herself. Her feelings for Luke were growing more irrational and more unreasonable with every encounter. Asking him to take her to the ball was asking for nothing but trouble.
Still, Josie couldn’t keep from smiling as she headed back to the sewing machine and pulled out the scraps of fabric to resume working on the quilt. Because the prospect of trouble suddenly had an enormous amount of appeal, and she found herself looking forward to it with a great deal of anticipation.
“Josie, dear, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Mrs. Randall’s elegant chiffon gown billowed around her as she flitted across the hotel ballroom, a bulky, bug-eyed man in tow. “This is Mr. Atkins, the manager of that large, new hotel downtown. Mr. Atkins, this is the daughter I’ve been telling you about and her friend, Luke O’Dell. Since all three of you are in the hospitality business, I’m sure you have a lot to talk about” The carefully coiffed, meticulously groomed older woman smiled, batted her eyes and sashayed away.
The beefy man barely acknowledged Luke’s presence. Taking the hand Josie extended, he held it an extraordinarily long time, hungrily eyeing her like a morsel of prime rib.
Luke did a slow burn, but Josie didn’t even seem to notice the way she was being ogled.. She was too busy answering Atkins’s question about her experience in the hotel industry.
He couldn’t blame the man for staring, Luke brooded. Josie was flat-out gorgeous in that black dress. Her hair was pulled back from her face and fell in graceful curls around her shoulders. Each time she moved, her rhinestone earrings shimmered in the light and her perfume wafted tantalizingly in the air.
She was wearing a different scent tonight—something heady and intoxicating, something more sophisticated than what she usually wore.
But then, everything about her tonight seemed more sophisticated. Luke frowned. Seeing her in this lavish setting, surrounded by her elegantly attired and exquisitely well-mannered family, revived his initial impression of her. She was a city slicker of the first order, born and bred for urban life. It was impossible to imagine her parents or sisters or in-laws with mud on their shoes or straw in their hair. They’d be as out of place in a rural setting as Black Star would be in a tuxedo.
His heart sank as he thought about it. Her family had welcomed him warmly, but they lived in a world so far removed from the Lazy O they might as well be from another planet. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Josie was a part of that world, and it was just a matter of time before she grew bored and wanted to return to it. He was out of his mind, hoping she’d want to permanently stay on the ranch.
A cold, empty spot ached in his chest, a spot he’d mistakenly begun to let Josie fill.
And he had been hoping she’d stay, he silently admitted. Ever since she’d given him his father’s journal, he’d begun to think that maybe he’d been wrong about her. Maybe she wasn’t just enjoying the novelty of the ranch. Maybe she really did like the life-style—hard work, long hours, remote location and all.
After that evening at her apartment, he’d decided one thing for sure—he couldn’t go on avoiding her. It was too awkward, too uncomfortable and too damn difficult. So he’d stopped going out of his way to keep his distance.
He’d no sooner stopped avoiding her than he’d found himself actively seeking her out.
For the past two weeks they’d eaten together every evening in the lodge kitchen—much to the delight of Consuela, who was now fully recovered from her accident. They frequently went on walks and trail rides, and he’d even taken her to Tahlequah for dinner and a movie the last two weekends in a row.
The more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her. When he wasn’t with her, he was thinking about her, and when he wasn’t thinking about her, he was dreaming about her. She’d even managed to invade his sleep.
“Sounds like you’ve got exactly the type of background I’m looking for,” Luke heard the man tell her. “We could use someone like you on our staff. Your mother indicated you might be interested in a new position.”
Possessiveness surged through Luke with sudden ferocity. “She’s working for me at the moment.”
Mr. Atkins turned disdainful pale eyes in his direction. “Oh? And where might that be?”
“Luke owns a wonderful guest ranch on the Illinois River,” Josie replied.
“How interesting,” Mr. Atkins said, making it sound like anything but. “Your mother did mention that you have some kind of temporary job arrangement.”
Luke struggled to hold his temper in check. “She’s committed to work for me until February.”
Why, oh why hadn’t he made it for longer? He’d been a fool to insist on that “temporary” clause in their agreement, he berated himself.
I don’t want to lose her. The thought
hit him like a bull-whip, catching him by surprise, jarring him with the force of its impact.
He searched his mind for a way to rationalize it.
From a purely professional standpoint, there were lots of practical reasons to want her to stay. She had the lodge running like a well-oiled engine, and she’d managed to eliminate most of the things about it that Luke had found most irritating. Occupancy was up, expenses were down, and guest satisfaction was at an all-time high.
From a personal standpoint, the reasons were a lot less practical, but just as compelling. She was kind and smart, she had a great sense of humor and she was the most appealing woman he’d ever known. The more he got to know her, the more beautiful she became.
He couldn’t look at her, he couldn’t think about her without wanting to pull her into his arms and do a thousand forbidden things. It was hell keeping his hands off her. So far he’d managed, but it was becoming harder and harder not to touch her. If he touched her, he was afraid he’d lose all control.
He was burning to touch her tonight. Her scent filled his head with all kinds of erotic ideas, and the way she looked in that dress made his temperature skyrocket. She’d wanted to dance earlier and he’d turned her down, not trusting himself to hold her.
Something Atkins was saying yanked Luke’s attention back to the present “Our hotel won’t even be open until February,” the large man told Josie. “This could work out beautifully for both of us.”
The jerk was trying to steal Josie right out from under his nose! Luke’s fingers curled into fists. He needed to get her away from him, and he needed to do it fast.
The orchestra struck the opening notes of a slow ballad. “This is one of my favorite songs. Let’s dance,” Luke urged her.
Josie stared at him in surprise. “But you told me you never dance.”
Luke silently cursed himself for the lame excuse he’d given her earlier. “Yeah, well, this song is an exception. Come on.”
Atkins shot Luke an annoyed look, his lip curled in displeasure, then turned back to Josie. “Here’s my card.” He pressed it into her hand. “Call me and we’ll finish our discussion.”
Luke placed his palm on the small of her back and hustled her away. “You wouldn’t really consider working for that old lech, would you?”
“Old lech? He’s not much older than you are! Besides, he’s only interested in my job skills.”
“Your skills weren’t what he was staring at.”
He was jealous. The thought made Josie’s heart skip a beat. He wouldn’t be jealous if he didn’t care, she thought. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she followed him through the throngs of people to the dance floor.
They’d spent a lot of time together over the past three weeks, but it was hard for her to gauge his feelings for her. She knew he enjoyed her company, he appreciated her sense of humor and—most importantly—he trusted her judgment. But he hadn’t so much as held her hand since the night she’d shared the journal with him.
She’d begun to wonder if the incredible attraction she felt was one-sided. Surely she wasn’t imagining the way he looked at her or the electricity in the air between them.
His little display of jealousy had just erased all doubts, she thought with satisfaction as they reached the dance floor. And his sharp intake of breath as she stepped into his arms confirmed it.
She fitted herself against him and closed her eyes, letting sensation after delicious sensation wash over her—his breath tickling her ear, the corded muscle of his shoulder beneath her fingers, his hard chest flattening her breasts. She wasn’t sure if the thudding in her chest was his heart or her own. Maybe it was both, beating in rhythm together.
His hand moved across her back to the spot where her dress dipped and plunged, and his fingers caressed her bare flesh. A shiver of pleasure raced through her. She moved her hand to the nape of his neck, longing to feel her fingers on his naked skin, too. Her mouth went dry, her pulse roared in her ear, and a pure, single thought crystalized in her mind.
I love him.
The thought made her freeze and falter, causing him to step on her foot.
“Sorry.” He gazed down, his eyes dark with concern. “Are you okay?”
She nodded her head, but she wasn’t at all sure. The only thing she was sure of was the truth vibrating in her heart.
She was in love with Luke. The realization left her weak-kneed and dizzy, and she was glad his arms were around her for support.
Exactly when or how had it happened? She didn’t know, but it was no wonder. There were so many things about him to love—his sense of responsibility, his integrity, his respect for tradition, even his pain over the rift with his father. All of it proved that beneath Luke’s gruff exterior beat a kind, caring heart.
A heart that she loved. The knowledge flowed through her like the strains of the music, singing through her veins, dancing in her blood.
But with it came a question: could Luke put the past behind him, open his heart and dare to love again?
She put her head against his shoulder and moved with him across the dance floor, inhaling the faint scent of his cologne, feeling his breath on her neck and his heart against her own, and the question echoed in her mind like a haunting refrain.
Could Luke love her in return?
The laughing, flirtatious conversation she and Luke had enjoyed on the long drive home had settled into silence by the time he steered the pickup into the entrance of the ranch. A steamy ballad played on the radio, and the night was rife with possibilities.
Josie cast a sidelong glance at Luke’s profile and felt a thrill of anticipation rush through her. For what, exactly, she couldn’t say. She only knew that after that first dance, the rest of the evening had passed in a hazy pink glow. She and Luke had stayed on the dance floor, swaying together, until the orchestra had packed up for the evening. Then Luke had put his arm around her and murmured, “Let’s go home.”
An undercurrent in his voice had made her shiver. He wasn’t suggesting they end the evening, but continue it in private. Her lips had trembled as she’d smiled up at him and nodded.
When she’d hugged her parents goodbye, her mother had surprised her by inviting Luke to join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. And when Luke went to get her coat, her oldest sister had pulled her aside and with a frankly appreciative glance at Luke had whispered, “Now we know why you don’t want to leave that ranch.”
Her family seemed to be giving her their blessings, she thought as she sneaked another glance at him now.
Everything, absolutely everything about the evening had been perfect. And the rest of the night still lay ahead.
Her pulse pounded as he stopped the truck at the side of the lodge in front of her small apartment. Her blood felt fevered, and she hardly noticed the autumn chill as he walked her to the door. But she did notice the dark, smoky look in his eyes. Her heart fluttered and raced as she fumbled in her tiny bag for her key. “Would you like to come in for some coffee?”
“I’d like to come in, Josie, but not for coffee.”
The flutters became a tempest, and her hand shook as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. She’d left a small lamp burning on the far side of the living room, and the red gingham lampshade cast a dim, rosy glow across the room.
He closed the door behind him, and the sudden intimacy of the situation made her lose her nerve. In a sudden flurry of activity, she took off her jacket, crossed the room and hung it in the coat closet.
When she turned around, he was close behind her, close enough that she could feel his breath on her face. She gave an unsteady smile and tried for a normal tone. “Thanks for taking me tonight. It meant a lot to my parents that I was there.”
“They’re nice people.”
Tension quivered in the air between them, and their eyes carried on a conversation that had nothing to do with the topic under discussion. She swallowed convulsively. “They liked you, too. I’ve never known my mother to invite so
meone she’d just met to a holiday dinner.”
“That was kind of her.”
They stood there, their eyes still talking, attraction crackling and smoking in air that suddenly seemed too thick to breath. He placed his hands on her bare arms, and she shivered.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
She gave a tremulous grin. “The last time you asked that, we ended up in a sleeping bag together.”
The corners of his mouth quirked upward. “Not a bad idea.” He ran his hands down the length of her arms, then up again. The pleasure of it raised goose bumps on her skin. “But I had something else in mind for tonight.”
The look in his eyes was hot enough to melt her bones. A wave of heat unfurled in her belly, sending another shiver chasing through her.
“Josie.” Her name drifted out as a hungry, needy growl. His arms slipped around her and he moved nearer, closing the scant distance between them. “Josie…”
His lips touched hers like butterfly wings, barely making contact, fluttering away, then descending for another soft taste. The gentleness of it made her blood roar.
She loved him. The knowledge warmed her, filled her, flowed through her. She opened her eyes and found his face hovering over hers, his eyes dark and hungry. The feel of his lips on hers was suddenly as essential as oxygen. With a moan she wound a hand in his hair and pulled his head down.
He kissed her like a man possessed. His lips set her on fire, reducing her to a molten, liquid core of longing. She moved against him, molding herself to him, feeling his desire, feeling it stoke her own. His hands moved to the sides of her breasts, and she thought she would go up in flames.
Abruptly he pulled back. “Josie, honey…” He drew a deep gulp of air. “Josie—we need to talk.”
Talk was not what she needed at the moment. She gazed up, her vision blurred. “About what?”
“About the future.”
Oh, mercy—he was going to propose! The thought set her heart gladly, madly pounding against her ribs. “What about it?” she whispered.