Sunset Seduction

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“My brother is the Goody Two-shoes in the family,” Logan said. “In this case, I’m glad he watched out for you two ladies.”

“Hey,” Luke said. “If a beautiful woman needs my help, I’m there.”

A moment ticked by. Then it hit Audrey. Luke had called her beautiful.

Good gracious. She had to stop banking on his every word. It wasn’t the first time he’d paid her a compliment. He was Mr. Nice Guy, she reminded herself.

After dinner, they had a second glass of wine, and though the men offered to help with the cleanup , Sophia shooed them into the family room to watch the baseball game.

“The paella was delicious,” Audrey said, bringing the empty dishes to the counter next to the sink.

“Thank you. I’ll share the recipe with you if you’d like.”

“I would love that. I just don’t know when I’d have time to try it out. Once my job is done here, I’ll be starting veterinarian school again.”

“Luke told us what you did for your brother when he broke his back. You dropped out of school to care for him.”

“Casey needed me. I wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s done so much for me and it was the least I could do for him. Of course, I’d hate for him to hear me say that...he and I butt heads a lot.”

Sophia rinsed the plates and nodded. “That’s what family is all about.” A hint of longing touched her voice. “I never had a brother or sister to butt heads with. Maybe that’s why Luke and I became such good friends.” Sophia was thoughtful for a few seconds, her gaze going somewhere distant. “My mother and I were very close, too. I miss her terribly.”

Audrey understood great loss, yet she didn’t know her folks enough to miss them with the kind of intensity she saw in Sophia’s eyes. More like, Audrey missed the idea of her parents. She missed big Sunday dinners and Christmas mornings and having a mother to come home to after school, offering snacks and hugs. She missed having a father to teach her to ride a bike and kiss her forehead when she did her chores properly.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mother, Sophia. I didn’t know my mom. She died when I was a baby, and shortly after, my father married Casey’s mom. But we lost both of them in a horrible tornado that passed through our town in Oklahoma just a few years later. It touched down and swept away everything in its path over one square mile.”

“Oh, that’s awful,” Sophia said, her eyes widening with horror.

It was the same incredulous reaction Audrey got when she explained the circumstances of the tragedy to others. Usually she didn’t like talking about it.

“How did you escape?”

“Casey and I were playing with friends on the other side of town. The tornado missed us. It’s weird, you know. One side of a street could be completely destroyed, and the other could be eerily untouched.”

Sympathy touched Sophia’s eyes. “I’ve seen it on the news and always wondered how that could be.”

“It was really hard and nightmarish on us, but we managed. We had no choice.” Audrey shrugged then. Life had been tough after that, but Casey had always provided for them. He had uncanny talent as a bronc buster and had made more than enough money on the rodeo circuit to keep a roof over their heads and plenty of food on the table. Audrey didn’t dwell on the past. She refused to spend her life feeling sorry for herself. “It’s been Casey and me ever since.”

Sophia smiled as she loaded the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. “I think we have a lot in common, Audrey. It’ll be nice having another female living on the ranch again.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Audrey really meant it. She’d been unnerved coming here to face Luke. She’d lost her courage in confronting him, but she’d gained something, too. A job and a chance to matter, doing something she loved to do. She was looking forward to working with Trib and the other horses, spending time on the ranch and getting to know Sophia better. “And who knows, we might just diffuse the toxic levels of testosterone around here.”

Sophia laughed lightly. “We can certainly try. I think you and I are going to be great friends.”

Her heart panged with warmth. She could use a new friend. “Me, too.”

“Hey, everyone, I’d like you to meet Katherine Grady. She goes by Kat.”

At the sound of Luke’s voice, Audrey whirled toward the kitchen door. A Marilyn Monroe look-alike with platinum-blond hair stood beside him, her wide green eyes fashionably made-up to match her pretty emerald-and-blue outfit. She held on to Luke’s arm and darn if Audrey didn’t hone right in on that. A flashback of rodeo groupies—pouty pink lips and all—came to mind. Her heart sank. She struggled to keep her expression from taking a nosedive in front of everybody.

“Nice to meet you,” Kat said, her voice soft as butter.

Suddenly, Audrey’s head clouded up and spun. It was like the time she’d climbed onto the mechanical bull at Dusty’s Dancehall in Texas. She’d been sixteen and trying to prove to the guys she wasn’t a child. As soon as the bull started bucking, everything in that honky-tonk got blurry real fast. Only this was worse.

The world around her began to fade. Her legs went numb. She reached forward to grip the kitchen counter and missed, scraping her fingernails on the sharp edges. Desperate to hold on, her arms flailed. She needed support. But it was too late.

Blackness surrounded her.

Right before all the lights went out.

Three

Audrey woke to Luke hovering over her. Her body was flattened out on the Slade kitchen floor and her head ached like crazy. She blinked and stared into his concerned eyes as the palm of his hand rested on her hot face. Her cheeks stung, so she figured she’d been slapped a time or two. Relief filled his voice when he spoke to her. “Audrey Faith, you gave us a scare.”

She tried to lift her head up. Two Lukes appeared in her line of vision. She blinked one of them away and as she eased back down, Luke’s other hand cushioned her head. “How long was I out?” she asked quietly.

“Not long. Does this happen often?” he asked.

“This was the first time,” she said, feeling a little bit ridiculous. Four pairs of eyes—including the blonde woman’s—ogled her.

“You fainted.” Sophia spoke softly, holding a bottle of smelling salt in her hand. “Luke rushed over to you. He got to you before we had to use this. It was just a few seconds.”

A few seconds too many, she thought.

“What happened, honey?” Luke asked.

“I’m not sure. I got light-headed. Then everything went black.”

“Logan’s calling the doctor,” Sophia said.

“Oh, no. I don’t need a doctor.” Audrey made a move to sit up again and when twin Lukes didn’t appear, she figured she was good to go. His hand to her back, he helped hinge her forward slowly. “My head’s not spinning anymore. I think...it’s just...”

What was it? She didn’t know why she’d fainted. It couldn’t have been because Kat showed up attached to Luke at the hip. She’d seen Luke with other women before. No amount of nose twitching would make them disappear, though. And as a smitten teen, she’d daydream of trading places with the females on his arm. Audrey knew that this time it wasn’t Kat’s presence that made her see stars.

She’d been overly tired today and a little stressed. A reasonable excuse came to mind. “I might’ve caught a bug or something.”

“Now I’m sorry I woke you up for dinner,” Sophia said, her expression grim. “You probably needed your sleep.”

Logan entered the room with the phone to his ear. “I can’t get hold of the doctor. Maybe we should take her to emergency.”

Luke nodded. “Good idea.”

“No, it’s not necessary.” Audrey summoned all of her strength, planted her feet and rose to full height, refusing Luke’s extended arm for support. There. She wasn’t dizzy anymore. Whatever happened had been freakish, but it had passed. “I feel better already. I think all I need is a good night’s sleep. It’s a bug and I need to rest. Honestly.” She glanced at Logan first, then at Luke, giving him a pointed look. No way was she going to disrupt their evening by going to the hospital. Besides, she really did feel better.

The men darted glances at each other. “What do you think?” Luke said to Logan.

“I’m fine,” she said a little more firmly.

Logan shrugged. “She looks fine, Luke.”

Sophia added, “You can check on her during the night, Luke.”

Kat, who had been quiet throughout this exchange, raised a perfectly arched brow at that.

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” Luke asked, his genuine concern touching something deep and lasting in her heart. As if she needed another reason to worship him.

She nodded, did a pirouette right in the middle of the kitchen—ending with a flourish a gymnast would be proud of—and gave him a big smile. “I promise I’m okay.”

“As long as I’ve got your promise, we’re good. I’ll walk you to your room.”

She wanted to protest. She could walk to her own room, for heaven’s sake, but the envious look in Kat Whoever-she-was’s eyes made her accept his invitation. “Sure.”

She turned to Sophia and Logan, giving them each a big hug. And then, magnanimously, she put out her hand to Kat. “So good to meet you,” she said, as if she hadn’t just made a spectacle of herself by fainting.

“I hope you’re feeling better soon.” Kat cupped her hand and gave a little squeeze.

Audrey’s gaze shifted to her white knight. “If Luke has anything to say about it, I will.”

The comment flew over the men’s heads, but Sophia had a glint in her eye as Luke walked Audrey out of the kitchen.

Once they reached her bedroom, Luke turned the knob and opened the door. “I’ll check in on you later.”

“Not necessary, really.”

“I’m gonna insist, Audrey.”

She didn’t like the idea of Luke coming to her room during the night. Well, okay, she would like the idea if his motives were different. Regardless of his friendship with Casey, she wasn’t his obligation. She could fend for herself. He didn’t need to lose sleep over her.

When she paused for a moment he added, “Your welfare is my responsibility as long as you’re under my roof. You fainted tonight. We don’t know why.”

“I told you why.”

“You’re guessing, but you don’t know for sure.”

He wasn’t letting this drop. Mr. Nice Guy was also a Good Samaritan.

An idea popped into her head. “How about if you text me?”

He chuckled from deep in his throat and a boyish gleam lit his eyes. “You’re sleeping three doors down.”

“It could be fun. And you don’t have to be disturbed.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll text you. I’ve got your number.”

“Great. Well then, good night.”

“Sleep tight, Audrey.”

After closing the door to Luke, her lungs released a whoosh of air, and she slumped against the door as the last bit of her energy seeped out. She was more tired than she’d let on to the Slades. She’d never fainted before. What was that all about? She chalked it up to emotional angst seeing Luke again. By all rights she should feel exhausted after the highs and lows she experienced today. The lowest was finding out that Luke had no memory of their night together. That had been a crushing blow, and she hadn’t been allowed time to absorb the implications and heal her wounded heart and deflated ego.

Audrey undressed with deliberately slow moves, carefully peeling off her clothes. No sense tempting fate. A sudden move here or there and she might find herself on the floor again without a dashing prince to awaken her.

She hung up her blouse in a double-wide closet and folded her jeans in half, putting them across a captain’s chair in the corner of the room. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, then climbed into bed, giving Jewel a little nudge. “Why aren’t you a curl-up kind of cat?”