by Tina Leonard
Chapter Five
Luke Montgomery killed the Weed Eater’s motor, lowering his hat brim, shielding the worst of the sun from his eyes. From his vantage atop the hill overlooking his family land, he could see a rising dust cloud, alerting him company was coming. At this distance, he didn’t recognize the car, but in his line of work, that wasn’t all that unusual.
Knowing he had a full five minutes before the vehicle reached his place, Luke continued with his chore. With his Montana trip it’d been weeks since he’d done any work around the cabin, and truthfully, it felt good having a few days to himself.
As the vehicle drew nearer, he toyed with the notion of at least putting on a shirt, but in the end figured it was too damned hot to bother. At only nine in the morning, he’d hoped the predicted hundred-degree temperatures would hold off long enough to at least let him finish taming the yard. Ha.
By the time the dust-covered Mercedes stopped on his drive, Luke had finished the areas around the cabin’s front porch and most of the sides. He shut off the two-cycle engine. No way was he tackling the backyard until early evening.
A woman exited the car. No, not just any woman—the one who’d forever changed his life’s course. In the time since he and Daisy had been reacquainted, he’d never seen her look like this.
In the old days, he’d have called out something flirty, like declaring her a cool drink of water. Now, he merely wondered why she’d bothered coming by without his son.
“Where’s Kolt?”
“Cash took him and the girls to the swimming hole.” Emerging like a cautious bloom from her air-conditioned ride, she was the antithesis of his simple, country way of life. Her big-city garb consisted of a silky white blouse and pearls paired with a pencil-thin dark skirt and heels tall enough to bring the top of her head even with his whisker-stubbled jaw.
Acting on pure instinct, he leaned the Weed Eater against the nearest oak, and then closed the distance between them. He might not like her, but he was incapable of staying away. “When are you planning on letting me see him? Dallas called yesterday, not an hour after you got here. Might’ve been nice had you at least invited me to share in his first Weed Gulch dinner.”
“I came over to clear the air between us, apologize for the umpteenth time, but when it comes to you, I can’t do a damned thing right.”
“True. But being a gentleman, I won’t stop you from tryin’.” Long dark hair his fingertips itched to touch had been imprisoned in a fancy knot. Back when she’d been his, he’d liked her to wear it down. “Kolt settling in okay?”
“Yes. Having a ball with his cousins and uncles. He’s never been on a ranch before, so for him, this is the equivalent of country Disney world.”
“Good.” Luke was happy for his son, but again peeved that Daisy had left him out of the family welcome. He’d had every right to be in attendance. No doubt that’s why she was here, trying to smooth things over.
Clearing her throat, she finally got around to closing her car door, and then gestured to the cabin’s front entry. “Mind if we get out of this heat? There’s something I’d like to, ah, run by you.”
“Sure. Come on in.” He held out his hand to help her up the few steps in those treacherous heels of hers, but she politely sidestepped him to tackle the job on her own. Classic Daisy.
He opened the door for her, thankful for the rush of cool air. “Best thing I ever did was outfit this old place with central heat and air.”
“No kidding.” She fanned herself. “Feels amazing. I’d forgotten how intense Oklahoma summers can be.”
“Yeah, well…” Covered in sweat and dust and grass clippings, he parked himself on the fieldstone hearth.
She chose his favorite armchair.
He said, “You had something to run by me?”
“I do.” The oddest look clouded her features. Sadness mixed with fear on top of…shame? She looked around. “You’ve worked miracles on this old place. When we were kids, it was practically abandoned. You and Dallas and Wyatt used to be so mean to Cash and I if we even came near your cabin. Made us wonder what kind of trouble was going on up here.”
He chuckled. “We did nearly burn the place down trying to build a still.” His mind’s eye saw Daisy the way she used to be. A nosy kid always underfoot. She’d been in the same grade as him in school, but because he was friends with her older brothers, Daisy had seemed younger. Then she’d grown. Gangly legs turned long and lean and sun-kissed. Tomboy-short hair morphed into luxurious waves that he’d loved running his fingers through. Daisy’s leaving had been a devastating blow. One he’d tried to solve by replacing her.
Tried being the key word.
“How could I forget?” she said with a faint smile. “Dallas mixed that firewater with my morning orange juice and somehow I was the one grounded for a week.”
They smiled at one another for a moment. Then Luke shook his head and asked, “So…how’s the move in going? I’m surprised you have time to reminisce with me over moonshine and a brother whom I can’t ever remember you being all that fond of.”
“You know I love Dallas.”
“Of course, you do. But do you like him?”
She looked away.
“He’s a great guy, Daisy. Solid through and through. Now that you’re back, you should try getting to know him the way a sister should.”
“I know,” she snapped.
“Why so defensive? It was just a suggestion.”
Standing, she headed for the door.
“Leaving? So soon?”
“I should never even have come.” Hand on the door latch, she had trouble getting it open.
“It sticks.” Behind her, brushing against her, he ever so deliberately placed his hand over hers, jimmying the hardware. Electricity sizzled between them, so hot it wasn’t a far stretch to fairly smell the nitrogen from a summer storm. It’d always been like that. Plenty of chemistry, but no communication. For an indulgent moment, Luke ignored the task at hand to focus on the sweet curve of Daisy’s back. The way she still fitted perfectly against him as if she’d been made solely for his pleasure.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Unpacking to do?”
She shook her head.
“Then what?” he asked in a voice hoarse with confusion as to why he was suddenly consumed with the elegant sweep of her neck.
“I’m not sure. I’m just busy. Very busy.” Was it wrong of him to have noticed she still hadn’t budged so much as an inch? Just as he’d always had a knack for understanding nature, he used to wield that same talent with her. Leaning against him, she sighed and confessed in a barely audible whisper, “Y-you have to know leaving you wasn’t easy. Point of fact, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Then why’d you go?”
“I had no choice.”
“Liar.” With everything in him Luke wanted to spin her around and kiss her as if the past ten years didn’t hang between them like impenetrable curtains. But they did. Daisy Buckhorn never did anything without a reason, starting with parking her fancy car in his drive.
“I have to go.” She gave the latch a hard jiggle, and this time succeeded in opening the door. Once outside, she hightailed it to her car. “I’ll give you a call about visiting Kolt.”
As abruptly as she’d reappeared in Luke’s life, she’d just as efficiently exited. Question was—why?
“I HATE THIS CAMP and this hick town,” Kolt announced that afternoon upon entering the car. “When can we go home?”
“This is our home,” Daisy said with forced cheer that was getting harder and harder to summon. Navigating Weed Gulch Community Center’s traffic was no easy feat. At Kolt’s previous camps, along with his friends, he’d been picked up and delivered.
Like a pizza.
Another reason for the move—beyond the obvious of having Kolt finally get to know his father and her family—was so Daisy could spend more time with him, as well. The faster her career had grown, the more she
’d relied on paying strangers to raise her son.
“I was IM-ing Warren last night, and he and Phillip are going to spend the rest of the summer at Warren’s beach house. Why can’t I go with them?”
“Because you’re going to have a great time here…. Just as soon as I figure out how to get around this busted piece of crap blocking our way.” When honking her horn did nothing but make the driver in front of her slow all the more, Daisy sighed. Why had she moved back to this town? Oh, yeah, to reconnect with the family who now barely spoke to her.
“But going to the beach would be way more fun than the crap I’m doing here.”
“Did you learn that word today?” She finally had room to pass and gunned the powerful engine.
“No. But since you just said it, why can’t I?”
“Because I said so.” Traffic around the feed store slowed to a crawl. Were they giving away free samples of cattle chow?
“That’s not a good reason. Last time I said that, you told me a judge would never allow that in court.”
“Sweetie,” she said through gritted teeth, “just this once, please do as I say, and not as I do.”
“Okay,” he agreed, “but since you really didn’t even do anything, then—”
The driver of a forest-green Jeep waiting to make a left out of the feed store’s lot honked at her, casually waving his hand out his window.
“Mom, isn’t that Luke?”
Unfortunately, yes.
She’d gone to his cabin with the intention of telling him everything—about why she’d left, about Henry. How terrified she’d been of the man following through with the threats to hurt her family. Instead, she’d been so flustered by petty bickering and plain old sexual tension she hadn’t been able to think, let alone bare her soul.
“AVOIDING ME?” Thirty minutes later, when Daisy opened the front door of Buckhorn Ranch’s main house, Luke removed his hat and rummaged his hands through his hair.
“O-of course not,” she said, stepping out onto the covered front porch and shutting the door. “Why would you think that?”
“Back in town I waved. I saw you had Kolt with you and thought we might grab a malt or something, but you sped off like a spring twister was dogging your heels.”
“Was that you?” She flashed him her brightest smile. “Truthfully, I was so fed up with traffic, I hardly even noticed.” Laughing, she added, “I grabbed a few things from the store for Mom, picked up Kolt from the day camp I enrolled him in and then hightailed it back here for peace and quiet.”
“Why’d you do that? Stick him in a stupid camp when I’d like nothing better than to spend time with him?”
“Good question. One I wish I had an answer for.”
Luke had always appreciated honesty, but in this case he might’ve preferred that Daisy lie. “What’s that mean?”
“I don’t even know.” Taking him by his arm, she dragged him toward the swing. Honeysuckle growing up the side of the house damn near choked him with cloying sweetness. With not a breath of wind, it had to be pushing a hundred if not more. The house’s central air-conditioning unit kicked on with a low hum. “He’s doing great here at home, but I want him to meet boys his own age. He hasn’t mentioned you, and I’m not sure what that means.”
“Ouch.” His denim-covered thigh brushed hers. She wore shorts. His memory told him the inside of her creamy thighs felt like satin to his work-roughened palms. Needing to stay focused on the topic at hand, he asked, “How ’bout taking a stab at deciphering his behavior? I mean, I’m all for giving him time to adjust, but you have to know—he has to know—I fully intend on being a big part of his life.”
“I understand.” It didn’t escape him that though she could’ve scooted a good six inches to the swing’s opposite end, she didn’t. “I’ll talk with him tonight.”
“Good. Because it’s not just me wanting to meet him, but my family. Trust me, my mom’s not going to be held off much longer.”
“I know.” She stared off to the south pasture where two calves bucked and played in the blazing sun. “We’ll plan something soon. I just feel buried. I need to start a practice. Get a place of our own. These things take time. And I suppose if Kolt never really adjusts, there’s always the possibility of us returning to San Francisco.”
“You didn’t burn bridges?” Like you did with me?
He was attracted to her like moth to flame, but wary.
His heart knew better than to get too close. Every once in a while in his horse-whispering profession, he came across a mount that refused to be tamed. Daisy had always been a lot like that. Just when he’d thought he had her all figured out, she’d run off. Worse yet, as wild horses were prone to do, she’d emotionally bit him, kicked him, stomped him to the ground. Mustangs were a dangerous breed. He wasn’t stupid. He knew it was the danger in them, the thrill of the conquest that kept him coming back. But in Daisy’s case, he’d long since learned to appreciate her from afar.
What he didn’t want was to be in the same situation with his son. They both deserved better. Daisy may have had her issues, but Kolt didn’t deserve to inherit them, and Luke wasn’t about to suffer through them by default.
“No, no burned bridges,” she said with a dreamy, faraway look, snapping his attention back to the present. “Too much at stake for that.”
“Like what?” Surely there wasn’t that much involved in hanging out her legal shingle in a two-bit town like Weed Gulch?
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She sighed. “I don’t mean to be rude, but—” She stood, then covered her face with her hands. “I can’t do this. Not now. Could you please go?”
“Daisy…” Also on his feet, Luke wanted to pull her into his arms for a comforting hug but he held back. As it was, the exchange had brought on an uneasy sense of déjà vu. The woman had destroyed him once, and he sure as hell didn’t plan on letting her do it again. After a catchall nod in her direction, he slapped his hat on his head and walked away.
“I’M SORRY,” DAISY SAID to the real estate agent with a light shake of her head. “Would you mind repeating that last bit?” Though it’d been twenty-four hours since her run-in with Luke, Daisy hadn’t been able to think straight since.
“Fifteen hundred square feet with a reception area, restroom and two private offices. Rent is six hundred per month, plus utilities and a thirty-dollar-per-month interior greenscape fee for common areas. Margot, down at Fun Flowers in Hawthorne, does a beautiful job decorating for all major holidays.”
“I’ll take it,” Daisy said.
“I have four others to show you,” the agent noted, fanning herself with a stack of listing files. “One is in the new Villa Italiana shopping center alongside Reasor’s grocery. Très chic.”
“Thank you, but I’ve always liked this building.” It was the sole survivor of the 1928 tornado that’d taken out the rest of downtown. The three-story, square brick building had long since been remodeled to combine historic flavor with modern convenience. That said, original pressed-tin ceilings and all of the hand-carved woodwork in the world wouldn’t have been charming enough to make Daisy occupy the offices if they hadn’t also featured nice cold central air.
“Great,” the agent said. “I’ll draw up papers and have you in by this afternoon.”
“Perfect.”
Three hours later, Daisy directed the moving company that had held the contents of her San Francisco loft to cram most of the boxes into the suite’s spare office for her to sort through later. She’d decided to store everything in her office until she found a house for herself and Kolt.
By the time Daisy had to pick up Kolt from day camp, the once serene suite had become a maze of boxes and stacked furniture. Leaving the movers on their own, she headed over to the community center, glad for the break.
“What happened to you?” was the first thing from her son’s mouth as he climbed into the car.
A glance in the rearview m
irror showed that Daisy didn’t look much better than her new office. Dust smudged her right cheek and chin and her ponytail resembled an old straw broom. Laughing, she said, “I found an office.”
“You look like it attacked you.”
“Love you, too,” she said with a poke to his belly. “How was camp? Any better?”
“I guess.” He slid on his seat belt. “We had to sit in a circle and tell people where we live. I told them San Francisco, but the camp lady said I had to be from here. Well, when I told the other kids I live at Buckhorn Ranch, you should’ve seen their eyes. It was like I was famous, or something. They were all, like, asking what it was like and five kids want Uncle Cash’s autograph.”
“Around here,” she said, trying not to lose it while navigating between SUVs and minivans, “the Buckhorn name carries a lot of meaning. Your grandfather not only found oil, but raised more cattle than anyone else in town. When I was your age, he and Grandma hosted huge summer picnics, inviting the whole town.”
“Why doesn’t she do that anymore?”
“Times are different, I guess. Life around here used to be much simpler. There weren’t so many other distractions like video games and home theaters. We used to do a lot more activities together.”
“Sounds fun.” From his T-shirt pocket, he took a green-apple piece of Laffy Taffy. “Want a bite?”
She leaned over and nibbled off a candy sampling.
“How come our last name is Smith, but everyone else in our family is named Buckhorn?”
Daisy’s stomach roiled. One more thing to add to her growing to-do list—changing both of their names. Or would Luke want Kolt to take his surname?
“And how come everyone’s always calling you Daisy, when your real name’s Julie?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m sick of you always saying that.” Arms crossed, lips pressed into what was rapidly becoming his customary frown, he asked, “Can we get ice cream?”