Luke's Would-Be Bride

She swallowed with difficulty, then somehow managed to turn around again, finally breaking eye contact. It took her to the count of ten to get her breathing under control. It took even longer to reel in her thoughts. Fanning herself with the leftover flyers, she tried to put her thoughts in order, but that wasn’t easy. Luke Carson was not an easy man to put out of her mind.

Lisa was talking on the other side of the room, and Jillian did her best to follow along. After all, helping Lisa get settled was what she was here to do.

“Does everyone have a questionnaire?” Lisa asked.

Several men held up their light blue sheets of paper. The rest all made agreeable sounds of one sort or another.

“Do you have any questions?” Lisa asked.

“I have one,” a man nearly hidden in the very back of the room called. “Why isn’t there any place on this form for my phone number?”

“Forget about your phone number, Karl,” the stocky man sitting next to him said. “I’d rather know their telephone numbers. You gals are single, aren’t you?”

Lisa’s laugh was deep and throaty. Jillian had a feeling that more than one of these men would hear it in his dreams tonight. Waggling one finger, Lisa said, “I was sure your ad said you Jasper Gents were shy.”

“Shy but willing,” someone called.

“Now, are you gonna answer our question?”

Jillian met Lisa’s gaze over the tops of more than a dozen cowboy hats. They shared a shrug and a mild shake of their heads before Lisa said, “Yes, it just so happens that Jillian and I are both as single as a long-stemmed rose. Now, we don’t want to keep you from your meeting, so we’ll be going. It was nice meeting all of you. Stop in at the store and see us real soon, ya hear?”

“Oh, we’ll be there.”

“You can count on it.”

“You got that right.”

“Yes sirree, Bob.”

Watching Jillian and Lisa leave, Luke couldn’t help noticing how well the two women communicated with just a look or a gesture. He wondered how long they’d been friends and had to fight the almost overwhelming desire to follow them out the door. Holding on to his composure, he tipped his chair back and hitched one boot over the opposite knee, calculating his next move.

“Cletus McCully, you old dog,” Karl declared. “You were right, absolutely right.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Lisa and Jillian,” someone said reverently. “Those are fine names, don’tcha think?”

“I wouldn’t care if their names were Myrnella and Peerpont. They’re fine looking,” someone else declared.

“My mother’s new furniture is fine looking. Lisa and Jillian are gorgeous,” Jason insisted.

“And single.”

“Yeah, single.”

The front legs of Luke’s chair met the floor with a definite click.

“How old would you say they are?” Jason asked.

“Who cares?”

“Yeah, who cares.”

“Now about this welcome mat Cletus mentioned,” Doc Masey began.

“A town picnic is a great idea,” Karl said.

“With dancing?” Jason asked.

“Yep.”

“With real live women and everything?”

“Yep.”

“I second Cletus’s motion!” Jason exclaimed.

“I third it.”

“I fourth it.”

“Everyone in favor, say aye!” Jason shouted.

The room echoed with a chorus of ayes. Before Luke, who was supposed to be running the meeting, could ask for any nays, Cletus said, “It looks like we’re going to have us a town picnic.”

A cheer went around the room. Cletus stood up and said, “Wyatt? You, Clayt and Luke can work out the details, can’t you?”

“The details?” Wyatt croaked.

“Sure. I’ll bet the kind women of the Ladies Aid Society would help you with the food. Isn’t that right, Isabell? Meanwhile, we’ll all spread the word. Seems to me there won’t be much left for you three boys to do. Don’t dilly-dally with your plans. The sooner we have the picnic the better.”

“Now just a cotton-picking minute,” Clayt grumbled.

Before Luke and Wyatt could add to Clayt’s rebuke, someone who had no authority whatsoever moved to adjourn. Within seconds, men whose scowls had been miraculously replaced with wide grins nearly tripped over each other in their haste to be the first ones out the door. The next thing Luke knew, he, Wyatt and Clayt were alone in the sweltering room.

“It looks like we have a town picnic to plan,” Wyatt said.

“What’s worse, we have to ask Isabell Pruitt to help,” Clayt grumbled.

“I could strangle my grandfather,” Wyatt declared.

“I’d be glad to help,” Clayt sputtered. “But I don’t know how in the hell I’d fit it in.”

Luke didn’t think there was much he could add to that. After all, Clayt did have his hands full these days. It had only been a few weeks since his ex-wife had breezed into town just long enough to dump their nine-year-old daughter on his doorstep, saying that she’d had it with parenting. Haley might not have seemed like such a handful if Luke and Clayt’s mother hadn’t been called away to Oregon to care for her ailing mother, leaving her men to fend for themselves. The fact that the grass was burning up on the family spread only compounded Clayt’s worries.

It took Luke a while to notice that nobody was talking. He looked from Clayt to Wyatt with ‘What?’ written all over his face.

Wyatt was studying Luke through narrowed eyes. “I was just wondering why you’re not complaining louder than anybody about the fact that there are only two new women in town and sixty-two bachelors vying for their attention.”

“That’s right,” Clayt cut in. “Why aren’t you swearing up one side and down the other?”

Luke didn’t think there was much use in trying to deny anything. After all, Clayt and Wyatt both knew him like the backs of their own hands. When he was good and ready, he hitched his fingers through his belt loops and rocked back on his heels.

“I don’t particularly like the idea of competing with at least half the county for a woman’s affections, but it just so happens that I have a little advantage.”

“What advantage?” Clayt asked.

“It’s not a big deal, really.”

“Don’t make me drag it out of you,” Clayt threatened.

“Don’t make me help him,” Wyatt added.

Luke almost smiled.

“Well?” Clayt demanded.

Lowering his voice as if guarding a secret, Luke finally answered. “It just so happens that I know something the other bachelors don’t.”

“About the two new women?” Wyatt asked.

“About Jillian.”

“I’ll give you to the count of three,” Clayt declared.

This time Luke didn’t even try to keep the grin off his face. Glancing from Clayt to Wyatt, he said, “I know where she works.”

“Where?” Two voices rose in unison.

“In my office. With me.”

Clayt and Wyatt tipped their hats up at the same time, but Clayt was the first to find his voice. “How in Sam Hill did you manage that?”

With an unmistakable heat still vibrating through his body, Luke said, “Just my lucky day, I guess.”

He turned around and, without another word, slowly sauntered out the door. Yes sirree. Today was definitely his lucky day. And from the looks of things, tomorrow was going to be even better.

Chapter Two

“Did you ever see so many cowboy hats in one room?” Jillian asked, looking up from the box of pots and pans she was unpacking.

“Forget the cowboy hats,” Lisa said coyly. “Did you ever see so many cowboys in one room?”

“This is ranching country, so it only stands to reason that there would be cowboys here.”

Lisa pushed an empty box out of her way. With her hands on her hips she asked, “But doesn’t it seem more than a little amazing how things are working out? I mean, what were the chances that we’d see that advertisement luring women to Jasper Gulch? Could it be possible that there really are men in the world who are looking for more than a one-night stand?”

“You heard what they said at the meeting tonight,” Jillian answered. “The Jasper Gents are shy but willing.”

“I think they might have been stretching the truth a bit with that shy part.” Lifting her hair off her neck, Lisa asked, “Does it feel awfully warm in this kitchen to you?”

Jillian shook her head and said, “Do you think the fact that you decided to stir up a loaf of cinnamon swirl coffee cake, which you baked in a kitchen that was already sweltering hot, has anything to do with that?”

Lisa shrugged. “I couldn’t help it. After passing out those flyers to the people at the town meeting tonight, I had an incredible amount of restless energy. And you know I always cook when that happens.”

Straightening, Jillian strode to the refrigerator. Of course she knew that Lisa cooked when she got excited, just as Lisa knew that she couldn’t boil water. Their knowledge of each other went back through a series of years, through a series of heartaches, of whispered secrets and treasured smiles, to a time when they’d both needed a friend more than they’d needed anything else in the world. In the face of such a friendship, the fact that they were complete opposites only made things more interesting.

“I’ve never felt like this before.”

The deep, raspy note in Lisa’s voice drew Jillian around. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never felt on the verge of so many possibilities. I mean, just look at this kitchen. Look at this house.”

Jillian glanced at the old-fashioned stove, the worn floor and painted cupboards. She’d seen a lot of kitchens that were more modern, but she knew what Lisa meant. This rented house marked a new beginning for Lisa, a chance at happiness, maybe even a chance at love.

Since the only items in the refrigerator were leftover burgers from a fast-food place in Western Minnesota and two half-empty cans of soda, she closed the door and stood leaning against it. A breeze wafted through the nearby screen, fluttering the flyaway wisps of hair around her face.

“You were lucky to find this house in so short a time.”

Lisa muffled a yawn with one hand. “We can thank that sweet old Cletus McCully for that. I liked him the moment I met him when he showed us this house two weeks ago. He said he trusts me. Can you believe that? He didn’t even ask for a security deposit. Did I tell you that he said people don’t lock their doors at night in Jasper Gulch? I’ve never lived in a town like this, and I certainly never thought I ever would. But just look at us. We’re here. You’ve already found a job, although I was hoping you’d take a little time off for a change, and I’m going to open a clothing store. Maybe you’re right, Jillian. Maybe dreams really can come true.”

Jillian followed the course of Lisa’s gaze out the window to the east. “Of course dreams really can come true. Travis and Cori are living proof.”

“Yeah. What do you suppose everyone’s doing back in Wisconsin?” Lisa asked.

“They’re probably doing what they always do at eleventhirty on a week night. Sleeping.”

“I’ll bet Travis and Cori aren’t sleeping.”

Jillian shook her head at Lisa’s reference to their friends who were planning to be married next month. “You, Lisa Markman, have a dirty mind.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years.” After a slight pause Lisa added, “Do you think they miss us?”

For at least the thousandth time since she’d met Lisa, Jillian wondered what it would take to make her friend see herself for what she really was. At five foot five, Lisa was a little shorter than Jillian. Her hair was thick and straight, the ends reaching to her shoulders, heavy tendrils brushing her eyebrows. On the outside was a woman who wore bright clothes, had a sultry laugh and a figure to die for, but inside she was one of the most caring and loyal people Jillian had ever known.

“Are you homesick, Lisa?”

“Who me?” She straightened, visibly pulling herself together. “This is my home now. The Jasper Gulch Clothing Store is set to open in less than a week, and I’ve already met a good share of the bachelors here in town.”

A dozen men’s smiling faces flashed through Jillian’s mind, but only one unsmiling face remained. A strange kind of warmth started in her throat and slowly settled lower. Trying to think of something—anything—else, she said, “Did any of those men make a lasting impression on you?”

“I met so many of them in so short a time it’s not easy to remember their names. Let’s see. There was one man named Karl, and I think one of them said his name was Boomer. There was an Archie and a Ben and I remember a boy named Jason, and of course that sweet old Cletus McCully. And there was that woman named Mel who owns the diner and Isabell Pruitt, who, if you ask me, looks as if she makes a habit of sucking lemons, and I remember someone named Clayt.”

“And Luke.”

“Who?”

Jillian gave herself a mental shake. “Shouldn’t the loaf of coffee cake be cool enough to eat by now?”

Lisa reached for a towel then hurried away toward the front door. Jillian stood perfectly still at the kitchen counter in Lisa’s newly rented house. She could hear the sound her friend’s bare feet made on the worn linoleum. Otherwise the night was silent.

She’d always heard that the plains were supposed to be windy places. Tonight only the barest of breezes wafted through the open window. She wondered what the weather was like in Wisconsin. Although her life in Madison hadn’t been easy, it was still the one place in the whole world that she considered home. It was where she’d grown up, where her parents and grandparents were buried and where she’d met the three best friends she’d ever had. It had felt strange to leave Ivy Pennington and Cori Cassidy yesterday morning. But Cori was getting married soon, and Ivy, an older woman, who’d been the surrogate mother of them all, had encouraged Lisa and Jillian to check out the Jasper Gents here in South Dakota. Lisa had been so excited about coming to Jasper Gulch, Jillian hadn’t been able to turn down her request to come with her.

In all honesty she had been feeling at loose ends lately. And she was enjoying the change of pace. Her rent was paid on her apartment in Madison, and it was going to be fun to watch Lisa systematically search for the man of her dreams. But the one thing Jillian hadn’t figured into her summer holiday agenda was her reaction to Luke Carson.

“Jillian,” Lisa said, interrupting her train of thought, “where did you say you put that coffee cake?”

“Right there on the railing,” she said, hurrying through the quiet house and out onto the porch. “Right there next to the…”

Her voice trailed away the moment she realized she was looking in the exact spot the loaf should have been. Walking to the edge of the porch, she checked the bushes then peered at the dark houses all around them.

“Someone must have taken it,” she said incredulously.

“Someone stole our coffee cake?” Lisa whispered.

“It looks that way.”

“Who in the world would steal such a thing at a quarter to midnight in the little town of Jasper Gulch?”

“Does it make you nervous?” Jillian asked, looking sideways at her friend.

Lisa’s brown eyes lit up with excitement. “Are you kidding? We’ve only been in town for fifteen hours, and I’ve already had more fun than I had in an entire month in Madison. I wonder what other surprises are waiting for us in Jasper Gulch.”

Luke Carson’s image filtered through Jillian’s mind all over again. She tried to blink it away.

Yawning again, Lisa said, “I’m about ready to fall asleep on my feet. If you want to go on up to bed, I’ll turn out the lights.”

Jillian looked at the dark houses all around, then at the leaves that were stirring in the slight evening breeze. Keeping her voice as low as the murmur of insects hiding in the dry grass, she said, “You go ahead. I’ll be in, in a little while.”

“You aren’t afraid to be out here by yourself after what happened to my cake?”

Jillian shook her head. She’d been on her own for a long time and knew how to take care of herself. Giving the dark windows of the neighboring houses a cursory glance, she said, “There’s probably a perfectly logical explanation for that. Cletus McCully said that other than the ugly color of orange paint Bonnie Trumble used on the front of the Clip and Curl, the only crimes committed in Jasper Gulch are gossiping and jaywalking. So I doubt a hardened criminal stole our late-night snack. A stray dog probably took it, or maybe a raccoon. You go on ahead. I think I’ll sit out here for a while and unwind.”

Jillian sank to the top step and wrapped her arms around her knees, listening to the sounds Lisa made as she walked up the stairs. A short time later a pipe rumbled somewhere in the old house. And then the only sounds she heard were the squeaks of crickets and the wind in the eaves.

She sat there for a long time, the air slowly cooling her skin, the quiet slowly lulling her thoughts. When she’d agreed to accompany Lisa all these miles to Jasper Gulch, she’d wondered what she would do with herself. Just like that, she’d found a job. It had been completely unexpected, but not as unexpected as the longing she’d felt deep inside when she’d first looked into Luke Carson’s eyes.

She tried to tell herself that the reason her longing was so unsettling was because it had come out of the blue. Surely it had nothing to do with the husky undertones in his voice or the intensity in his gray eyes. It wasn’t as if she’d never experienced those feelings before. It was just that they had a way of leading straight to heartache. And Jillian didn’t think she could survive any more of that.

She rose slowly and went inside, where she closed the doors and turned out the lights. She tiptoed up the stairs, washed her face and donned a clean nightgown. Crawling between the sheets, she stared at the moonlit shadows dancing on the dark ceiling, thinking about everything she’d done that day. She couldn’t help wondering what tomorrow would bring.

She was certain of only two things. She was going to put an end to whatever it was she’d glimpsed in Luke Carson’s eyes today and to whatever it was that had answered deep in her chest. And she was going to make sure he didn’t get the wrong idea about her presence here in Jasper Gulch.

Yes, first thing tomorrow morning, that was what she was going to do.

“It looks as if you’re making a dent in that stack of folders.”

Jillian glanced over her shoulder and found her new employer leaning in the doorway. His arms were folded at his chest, his hat shading the upper part of his face. In the four hours she’d been there, he’d come and gone twice. She hadn’t heard him return either time.

He’d met her at the door a few minutes before eight that morning and quickly filled her in on the operation of his small clinic, explaining that since this was cattle country he did most of his work out of his truck. He kept this small office here on Main Street to examine dogs and cats and an occasional hamster, but unless it was an emergency, he only scheduled appointments for every other Thursday. He’d pointed to the file cabinets, poked his head into his one-and-only examining room and had pretty much given her free rein of everything in between. Other than taking a few telephone calls, she’d spent the morning familiarizing herself with the workings of his practice.

“Are you getting a handle on Brenda’s filing system?” he asked from the doorway.

Since she couldn’t very well say something bad about someone she’d never met, she gave him a small nod and turned back to her filing.

“Liar.”

Her double take didn’t quite make him smile, but it raised his lips enough to crease one lean cheek. Pushing away from the doorjamb, he said, “Come on, Jillian. This is Jasper Gulch. If we didn’t gossip, we’d have nothing to do. Everybody knows that the only way Brenda Townsend could figure out what letter came after T was to recite the entire alphabet from the beginning. So you don’t have to try to protect her reputation.”

She smiled to herself and reached for another stack of files. “Then it wouldn’t be wrong of me to surmise that the gum stuck on the bottom of the chair belonged to your former office assistant?”

“You catch on fast.”

She glanced at the name on the next file, wishing his simple compliment didn’t make her feel so…complimented. Last night she’d vowed to set Luke straight about her presence in Jasper Gulch. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that that was easier said than done. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried. It was just that Luke Carson wasn’t an easy man to deter. He had a restless energy that didn’t permit him to stand in one place very long. She didn’t know how a man his size did it, but he moved like lightning…without the thunder.

Reining in her thoughts, she asked, “Where did this Brenda go? When she left Jasper Gulch, I mean.”

“To Sioux Falls. The girl hated to type, but she sure seemed to enjoy chasing me around the desk.”

Being careful to keep her voice neutral, she said, “I would have thought it was the other way around.”

He made a sound only men could manage and said, “Give me some credit. The girl was nineteen and thought the olden days referred to the years before microwaves were invented. Believe me, I never chased Brenda Townsend around the desk, and I give you my word I won’t chase you. But don’t worry, I won’t hold you to the same rule.”

Jillian hadn’t intended to turn around, but once she had, she couldn’t look away. There was a maddening hint of arrogance about this man that was impossible to ignore. He might have been a country vet, but he was no country bumpkin. He had his masculine swagger down to an art form, and his smiles, well, they were just rare enough and just unexpected enough to chase nearly every coherent thought right out of her head.

Jillian stared wordlessly at him from her side of the cluttered old desk. He was watching her, his gaze steady, his expression thoughtful. His skin appeared even darker beneath his dusty black cowboy hat, his jaw square, his chin strong. As far as she was concerned, she’d noticed entirely too much about him. In fact, the first thing she’d done when she’d stepped foot inside the office that morning was notice he’d shaved. The second thing she’d done was give herself a mental kick for noticing in the first place. She gave herself another one, this time keeping her expression under stern restraint.

“Trust me, Luke. You have nothing to fear.”

“Do I look afraid, Jillian?”

She fought against the urge to smile and lost. Tipping her head ever so slightly, she said, “I think you know exactly how you look.”

“And how is that?”

She thought about all the words she could have used to describe him, but ended up shaking her head and saying nothing.

“Spoilsport.”

A strange sensation of déjà vu washed over her. The same thing had happened yesterday. Studying him intently, she said, “Have you ever been to a little town in Wisconsin called Maple Bluff?”

“No, I can’t honestly say that I have.”

“How about the University of Wisconsin? Have you ever been there?”

He took a step closer and shook his head. “I studied veterinary medicine at Michigan State, why?”

“It’s nothing, really. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen you someplace before.”

Stopping on the other side of his desk, he said, “We’ve never met.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because if we had, I’d remember. And so would you.”

He didn’t move, not even when the telephone started to ring. For a long moment neither did she. She thought she’d been prepared for the advances of the bachelors in Jasper Gulch. After all, it stood to reason that men who’d advertised for women would be interested in pursuing the new women in town. But she hadn’t been prepared for Luke Carson’s straightforwardness or his persistence. Actually she hadn’t been prepared for anything concerning this man, least of all her instinctive response to him. Truth be told, she was strangely flattered by his interest. But Jillian couldn’t afford to be distracted by romantic notions. Since she had no intention of leading him on, she knew she had to put an end to these feelings arcing between them once and for all.