Fortunately, before his frustration caused him to say something that would set them back, Katie emerged from the house with a platter of hamburgers. She put it down on the picnic table, then lifted her gaze to survey the two of them.
“Everything okay out here?” she asked, regarding them hopefully.
“Terrific,” Tommy said with a forced note in his voice.
“Terrific,” Luke echoed.
Katie looked pleased. “Well, that’s...terrific. I’ll be out in a minute with the rest of the food. Is the fire hot yet?”
“The coals are glowing like a lover’s eyes,” Tommy said.
Used to Tommy’s tendency to talk explicitly when it came to women, Luke shot him a dark look, but Katie only seemed amused by the response.
“I’ve never heard anyone get poetic about charcoal before,” she said.
To Luke’s amazement, Tommy looked faintly sheepish. “Seems like I have a turn of phrase for every occasion.”
Katie seemed to forget all about the food that was still waiting inside. She observed Tommy speculatively. “Maybe you should be writing country songs,” she said, clearly warming to the possibility.
Luke regarded her with astonishment. “Why the devil would you leap to a conclusion like that?”
“Because he’s obviously got a flair with words,” she said. “What about it, Tommy? Have you ever thought about it?”
“I’ve done a couple,” Tommy admitted, drawing a smug I-told-you-so look from Katie. “Haven’t sold ‘em, though. Everybody tells me I’d be a fool to just put ‘em in the mail to some singer I don’t even know. Like as not, they’d just steal the song and there wouldn’t be nothing I could do about it.”
While Luke stared open-mouthed at his brother, Katie said, “I’m sure there must be ways to protect yourself. Maybe Luke can help.” With that less-than-subtle hint, she turned around and sashayed back inside. Luke watched the sway of her hips for a minute, then turned back to his brother.
“Do you really want to write country songs?”
Tommy avoided his gaze. “Like I said, there’s not much chance of selling anything. It’s more like a hobby, I guess.”
“But you enjoy it?” Luke persisted.
“Yeah,” he admitted, shifting uncomfortably. “It helps to get stuff out of your system. Sometimes I just have to get what I’m feeling down on paper.”
Luke regarded him with exasperation. “If writing music is what you want to do, why on earth are you talking about going to Alaska?”
“Because Alaska’s more practical. Isn’t that the sort of thing you were always preaching to me?”
“Practicality definitely has its place,” Luke agreed. He turned his gaze on the screen door through which Katie had just disappeared. “Sometimes, though, you just have to follow your heart.”
Tommy followed the direction of his gaze. “Is that what brought you back to Clover?” Tommy asked with a surprising perceptiveness. “Were you following your heart?”
Maybe because there were protective shadows now that dusk had fallen, maybe because he was feeling more mellow than he had in some time, maybe just because he wanted someone to whom he could admit the truth, Luke said honestly, “I’m beginning to think that is exactly why I came back.”
Tommy chuckled. The low sound conveyed more than amusement. To Luke there also seemed to be a note of genuine affection behind it, a hint of understanding.
“What’s so funny?” he asked his brother.
“It’s just that it’s about time you wised up. Everybody always thought you were the smart one, but it always seemed to me that when it came to your feelings for Katie, you were dumber than grass.”
Luke laughed. “Now that’s a hook for a country song, if ever I heard one.”
* * *
Something had changed. Katie knew it the minute she walked back outside with the rest of their dinner and heard her husband and Tommy singing enthusiastically. Luke was wildly off-key, but Tommy had a deep, rich voice that was surprisingly sensual and definitely deserved a try at Nashville.
Of course, they were singing some improbable lyric she’d never heard before. It sounded something like, “When it comes to love, I’ve always been dumber than grass.”
“No, no,” Tommy protested. “There’s no rhyme. It should be, When it comes to love, alas, I’ve always been dumber than grass.”
“Maybe Nashville is beyond your reach, after all,” Katie said to Tommy as she joined them.
“I don’t know. I was thinking maybe we’d make a good duo,” Luke said.
Katie lifted her eyebrows. “I’d think again, if I were you.”
Luke slipped an arm around her waist. “If I stay here, will you make it worth my while?”
Luke’s touch and the teasing banter shimmered through Katie, reminding her of the intimacy they’d shared just before Tommy’s arrival. “What would you consider worth your while?” she inquired, daring to look into eyes that had promptly darkened with desire.
Luke glanced toward an upstairs window. It was probably Mrs. Jeffers’ room, but she got the idea.
“Play your cards right and we’ll see,” she said, then turned to Tommy. “Are those hamburgers done yet? I’m starving.”
“Me, too,” Luke said, but he wasn’t looking toward the grill when he said it. His gaze was pinned directly on her.
The banter and easy camaraderie lasted through dinner. Luke seemed to have let down his guard with his brother, and Tommy’s belligerence disappeared. As soon as the dishes had been cleared, all three of them by some unspoken agreement went back outside into the soft night air, where the only thing breaking the silence was the sound of crickets chirping. Lightning bugs flickered against the velvet darkness.
As if he sensed—or hoped, at least—that she wouldn’t refuse, Luke took Katie’s hand and led her to the hammock that was strung between two sturdy oak trees. He climbed in, then tugged her in alongside him. She went into his arms without resisting and settled her head on his shoulder.
Tommy cleared his throat and remained standing. “Maybe I should be taking off.”
Katie started to protest, but Luke sent his brother a grateful look.
“Stop by the office in the morning,” Luke said. “We’ll talk some more.”
“I told you before...” Tommy began, a belligerent note creeping back into his voice.
Katie jumped in. “There’s no harm in talking, is there, Tommy?”
“Damn, but you’re pushy, Katie,” he accused, but there was a lightness in his voice that hadn’t been there before tonight. “Seems to me you and my brother are about evenly matched.”
“Does that mean you’ll show up?” she asked.
“I’ll show up,” he said. Suddenly he grinned at the two of them sprawled practically on top of each other in the hammock. “You two have a good evening.”
“You, too,” Luke said quietly.
Only after Tommy had gone did he add, “I wonder where the hell he’s staying.”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Not a word. I don’t think he’s got a dime to his name, either.” He sighed heavily, and his arms around Katie tightened. “I think you may have been right. I think he’s been down on his luck for a long time now and wanted to come home. Robby gave him the excuse he needed.”
Though she was increasingly aware of Luke’s body pressed intimately against her own, Katie tried to keep her attention focused on loftier things. If she wouldn’t let Luke into her bedroom, she’d be damned if she was going to make love with him in a hammock. That would certainly violate the spirit, if not the letter of their contract.
“Are you planning to offer him work?” she asked, trying to ignore the sweep of Luke’s hand from hip to thigh and back again.
“I did. And he told me to take my job and, well you know the rest.”
“Can’t you find some way to help him get a break in Nashville?”
“Katie, you heard us singing. Did those lyrics sound
as if they stand a chance of climbing the country music charts?”
“How long did it take him to write them?”
“About ten seconds, but that’s not the point.”
“It is the point,” she corrected. “If he can do that in ten seconds, just think what he could do if he actually worked at it. Besides, he has an incredible voice and the kind of bad-boy looks that could make him a star.”
Luke stared at her. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious. If you think I’m wrong, get him a gig closer to home and check it out. He could probably work some club in Myrtle Beach. Country music is everywhere up there.”
She gazed into blue eyes that were suddenly thoughtful and added, “Besides, if Tommy finds a place for himself, if he’s doing something he loves, I don’t think he’ll press for custody of Robby. You can end this before it ever gets to court.”
Luke cupped her face in his hands. “Have I mentioned that I love you, Katie Cassidy?”
The impulsive statement sent shock waves rebounding through her. Of course, she knew he didn’t mean it. Not in any way that counted. He was just grateful for the mediating she’d done that had eased tensions between him and his brother. That was all it was, she told herself sternly right before Luke’s mouth settled against hers in the sweetest, gentlest kiss she’d ever experienced.
On the surface there was nothing provocative or even remotely dangerous about that kiss, but Katie’s body apparently didn’t know that. She responded as if it were the darkest, most sensual, most seductive invitation ever delivered. And she knew without a doubt, as her pulse scrambled and her heart thundered, that she was within seconds of losing the last fragile thread of her resolve.
It took her only one of those scant remaining seconds to bolt from the hammock, practically toppling Luke onto the ground with her.
“What the...?” Luke demanded, looking dazed.
“I’m going to bed,” Katie announced with as much dignity as she could muster.
“Good. I’ll—” Luke began, apparently taking her words as an invitation.
She frowned at him. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He halted where he was. “I see.”
He looked so taken aback, so thoroughly confused by her sudden change that Katie almost took pity on him...and herself. Only a reminder that Luke had chosen her not as a wife, but as a means to an end kept her from throwing herself back into his arms.
“I’ll be at the diner by the time you get up,” she said in a tone designed to put as much emotional distance back between them as possible. “Peg will probably have Robby there by then, too. If you come by...” she gazed into stormy eyes “...I’ll take a break and we can all have breakfast together.”
Luke looked as if he were about to protest, but finally he shook his head and turned away.
“We had a deal,” Katie reminded him softly.
“I don’t want to hear another word about the damned deal,” he said. “Just go to bed, Katie. Go now, unless you want me to prove that you want to tear up that blasted paper even more than I do.”
He was right, she thought. If she stayed, there would be no turning back, and she wasn’t ready to risk it yet. She cast one last tormented look in Luke’s direction, then turned and went inside. One irony did not escape her. She had smoothed over Luke’s relationship with his brother, but his relationship with her was in more turmoil than ever.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Luke didn’t show up at the diner. Katie watched for him all morning long, delaying her break until she was practically faint with hunger. Robby had long since protested the delay and demanded pancakes with an egg on top “the way Daddy likes.” Once he’d eaten, he couldn’t wait to go off with Mrs. Jeffers, who was beginning to look a little frazzled, but who swore she was having more fun than she’d had in years.
At the door to the diner, Mrs. Jeffers turned and came back. “Dear, I don’t want you worrying about what happened yesterday,” she said, squeezing Katie’s hand reassuringly. “Luke is absolutely right about the rent. We’ve all been taking advantage of your good nature. I’m sure we’ll manage to get on the proper schedule somehow.”
Katie stared at her, feeling her temper start to rise all over again. Everyone was just assuming again that Luke was in charge. “The schedule you were on was just fine,” she said tightly. “There is no need for any of you to be upset. I’ll handle Luke.”
Mrs. Jeffers looked alarmed by her anger. “Now, Katie, don’t you dare start fighting with your new husband over this. This should be a time of joy for the two of you. Like I said, we’ll manage.”
“And like I said, there’s no need for anyone to manage anything. You’ll pay me just as you always have and that’s the end of it.”
“If you say so, dear,” Mrs. Jeffers said doubtfully. She started toward the door, then turned back again. “One last thing, should I bring Robby back to the boarding house after our outing or take him to Peg’s?”
“Bring him to the boarding house,” Katie said, suddenly reaching a decision she should have made the moment she and Luke returned from Atlanta. If they were ever going to have anything resembling a normal marriage or even a decent business partnership, then they needed to get everyone back under one roof so they could all adjust together. “I think it’s time everyone came home where they belonged. I’ll expect to see you and Ginger and Mr. O’Reilly there tonight, as well.”
The pleased expression on Mrs. Jeffers’s face indicated to Katie that the woman had no idea she was part of a gauntlet being thrown down in front of Luke.
Katie was still formulating her strategy for showing Luke once and for all that he did not control the running of the boarding house, when Ginger pulled her aside.
“I heard what you said to Mrs. Jeffers,” Ginger said, her voice shaking. “Do you really think you can convince Luke to back down?” Tears formed in her eyes. “I don’t want to have to leave, Katie. The boarding house is home to me.”
“And it will stay your home,” Katie said, biting back the first sharp retort that had come to mind. “It’s my boarding house. I set the rules.”
“But Luke...”
“Luke may understand big business, but he doesn’t know a darn thing about my business,” Katie snapped. “I think it’s time we cleared that up.”
“But he told me that if I didn’t pay my rent, he would evict me.”
Katie saw red. “He told you that?” she said incredulously. “He actually used those words?”
Ginger nodded. “He as much as said it before you showed up yesterday. It’s not like I don’t see his point,” she whispered, choking back a sob. “I really do, but Katie, you told me school was important. You made me see that. I can’t go to school and work a full-time job to pay the rent. The hours here are about all I can manage and I’m putting that money away for college.”
“Stop worrying about it. You’re doing exactly what I want you to do. I’ll settle this with Luke.”
Ginger didn’t look particularly reassured by Katie’s declaration. If anything, she looked even more concerned, but whatever doubts she had she kept to herself.
Amazingly enough, so did Peg, who had come through the swinging door just in time to hear most of the conversation. Other than the inscrutable expression on her face, she might have been deaf to the obvious storm her niece intended to stir up. Katie was grateful that for once her aunt intended to let her handle her own problems.
Mr. O’Reilly, however, wasn’t nearly so reticent. He caught Katie on the front porch when she returned to the boarding house later that afternoon.
“I think it’s time we had a talk,” he said, indicating the rocking chair next to him.
Katie sank into it gratefully. After more than six hours on her feet, she was ready to sit down. She looked over at the retired fireman, whose expression was combative, and realized this wasn’t going to be one of the friendly little chats they usually had in the afternoon. She suspected there woul
d be no anecdotes about his heroics as a fireman in Charleston and probably not even the lecture on fire safety that she’d come to expect. The man turned positively rapturous over smoke alarms. He’d personally seen to it that the boarding house had the most technologically advanced ones on the market and he’d done it at his own expense.
“What’s the problem?” she asked.
“Too many rules.”
“What rules?” she inquired warily.
“These rules,” he said, waving a sheet of bright canary yellow paper in front of her. “I found it under my door when I got back to my room earlier. Then your husband made it a point to let me know that he planned to enforce each and every one of them.”
With a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, Katie reluctantly accepted the piece of paper. “Rules of the Clover Street Boarding House” headed the page. First on the list was the deadline for paying rent, with appropriate penalties for late payment. That was followed by a schedule for using the downstairs rooms that included a 10:00 p.m. curfew on weeknights, 11:00 p.m. on weekends. There were more, but when she came to rule number nine, Katie knew she’d hit on the one that Mr. O’Reilly was most upset about.
“No boarder may raid the refrigerator for between-meal snacks.”
Katie groaned. What the dickens had Luke been thinking of? If he had his way, the boarding house would soon seem no friendlier than a prison. She balled the paper into a wad and said, “I’ll handle this.”
Mr. O’Reilly’s disgruntled expression suggested he didn’t have a lot of faith in her handling her husband. “If you can’t,” he warned, “I’ll be moving out at the end of the week. Life’s too short to be staying where I’m not wanted.”
“Nobody will be moving out,” Katie promised. Unless it was her new husband, she amended, and she might very well be chasing him out with a broom.
Katie couldn’t find any sign of Luke anywhere in the house. All she found were more of those damnable colored sheets of paper, posted everywhere and shoved under every door. He’d probably placed an ad in the Clover weekly as well.
Finally a Bride Page 15