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Kate felt good. The lethargy and depression she’d been feeling since Clay’s wedding had started to dissipate. She’d completely adjusted to the idea of her father’s impending marriage. And even the sale of the Circle L—to Luke of all people—no longer seemed so devastating. Clearing the air between them had helped, too.
“Evening, Nellie,” Kate called as she entered the small, homey café. She’d arrived home from school to discover a message from her father suggesting she meet him for dinner at Nellie’s at six sharp.
“Howdy, Kate,” Nellie called from behind the counter.
Kate assumed her father would be bringing Dorothea so they could discuss last-minute plans for their wedding, which was scheduled for Friday evening at the parsonage. Minnie Wilkins, Pastor Wilkins’s wife, and Dorothea were close friends. Kate would be standing up for Dorothea and Luke for her father in the small, private ceremony.
Carrying a water glass in one hand, a coffeepot in the other and a menu tucked under her arm, Nellie followed Kate to the booth. “I’m expecting my dad and Dorothea Murphy to join me,” Kate explained.
“Sure thing,” Nellie said. “The special tonight is Yankee pot roast, and when your daddy gets here, you tell him I pulled a rhubarb pie out of the oven no more than fifteen minutes ago.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Nellie, I could use a refill on my coffee,” Fred Garner said. Sitting at the table closest to the window, he nodded politely in Kate’s direction. “Good to see you, Kate.”
“You, too, Fred.” She smiled at the owner of Garner Feed and Supply and the two ranchers who were dining with him. Glancing at her watch, Kate realized her father was a few minutes late, which wasn’t like him.
To pass the time she began reading the menu; she was halfway through when the door opened. Smiling automatically, she looked up and saw Luke striding toward her. He slid into the booth across from her.
“Where’s your dad?”
“I don’t know. He asked me to meet him here for dinner.”
“I got the same message.”
“I think it has something to do with the wedding.”
“No,” Luke muttered, frowning. “I’ve got some bank forms he needs to sign.”
Nellie brought another glass of water, then poured coffee for both of them.
“Evening, Nellie.”
“Luke Rivers, I don’t see near enough of you,” the older woman said coyly, giving him a bold wink as she sauntered away with a swish of her hips.
Astonished that Nellie would flirt so openly with Luke, Kate took a sip of her coffee and nearly scalded her tongue. Why, Nellie had a good fifteen years on Luke!
“Does she do that often?” Kate asked, in a disapproving whisper.
“You jealous?”
“Of course not. It’s just that I’ve never known Nellie to flirt quite so blatantly.”
“She’s allowed.” Luke gazed down at his menu and to all appearances, was soon deep in concentration.
Kate managed to squelch the argument before it reached her lips. There wasn’t a single, solitary reason for her to care if a thousand women threw themselves at Luke Rivers. She had no claim on him, and wanted none.
The restaurant telephone pealed, but with four plates balanced on her arms, Nellie let it ring until someone in the kitchen answered it.
A minute later, she approached their table. “That was Devin on the phone. He says he’s going to be late and you two should go ahead and order.” She pulled a notepad from the pocket of her pink uniform. “Eat hearty since it’s on his tab,” she said, chuckling amiably.
“The roast-beef sandwich sounds good to me,” Kate said. “With a small salad.”
“I’ll have chicken-fried steak, just so I can taste those biscuits of yours,” Luke told the café owner, handing her the menu. “I’ll start with a salad, though.”
“I got rhubarb pie hot from the oven.”
“Give me a piece of that, too,” Luke said, grinning up at Nellie.
“Kate?”
“Sure,” she said, forcing a smile. “Why not?”
Once Nellie had left, an awkwardness fell between Kate and Luke. To Kate it felt as though they’d become strangers, standing on uncertain ground.
Luke ventured into conversation first. “So how’s school?”
“Fine.”
“That’s good.”
She laughed nervously. “I’ve started washing down cupboards at the house, clearing out things. I’ve got two piles. What Dad’s going to take with him and what I’ll need when I move.”
Instead of pleasing Luke, her announcement had the opposite effect. “You’re welcome to live on the ranch as long as you want,” he said, his dark eyes narrowing. “There’s no need to move.”
“I know that, but the Circle L belongs to you—or it will soon.”
“It’s your home.”
“It won’t be much longer,” she felt obliged to remind him. “I’m hoping to find a place in town. In fact, I’m looking forward to the move. You know what the roads are like in the winter. I should have done this years ago.”
“You wouldn’t have to move if you weren’t so damn stubborn,” Luke muttered from between clenched teeth. “I swear, Kate, you exasperate me. The last thing I want to do is take your home away from you.”
“I know that.” She hadn’t considered relocating to town earlier for a number of reasons, foremost being that her father had needed her. But he didn’t anymore, and it was time to exhibit some independence.
Nellie brought their tossed green dinner salads, lingering at the table to flirt with Luke again. He waited until she’d left before he leaned forward, speaking to Kate in a low, urgent voice. His eyes were filled with regret. “Kate, please stay on at the ranch. Let me at least do this much for you.”
She thanked him for his concern with a warm smile, but couldn’t resist adding, “People will talk.” After all, Luke had pointed that very fact out to her when she’d made her foolish proposal. The night of Clay’s wedding...
“Let them talk.”
“I’m a schoolteacher, remember?” she whispered. She felt genuinely grateful for his friendship and wanted to assure him that all this worry on her behalf was unnecessary, that she was fully capable of living on her own.
Their dinner arrived before they’d even finished the salads. Another silence fell over them as they ate. Several possible subjects of conversation fluttered in and out of Kate’s mind as the meal progressed. Her fear was that Luke would divert the discussion back to the ranch no matter what she said, so she remained silent.
A sudden commotion came from the pavement outside the café.
“It’s Harry Ackerman again,” Fred Garner shouted to Nellie, who was busy in the kitchen. “You want me to call the sheriff?”
“No, let him sing,” Nellie shouted back. “He isn’t hurting anyone.”
Harry Ackerman was the town drunk. Back in his and Nellie’s high-school days, they’d dated seriously, but then Harry went into the military and returned to Nightingale more interested in the bottle than a wife and family. Within six months, Nellie had married a mechanic who’d drifted into town. Problem was, when he drifted out again, he didn’t take Nellie or their two children with him. But Nellie hadn’t seemed to miss him much, and had supported her family by opening the café, which did a healthy business from the first.
Fifteen years had passed, and Harry was still courting Nellie. Every time he came into town, he took it upon himself to sing love songs from the pavement outside the café. He seemed to believe that would be enough of an inducement for her to forget the past and finally marry him.
“Actually his singing voice isn’t that bad,” Kate murmured to Luke.
Luke chuckled. “I’ve heard better.”
Fred Garner stood up and strolled toward the cash register. He nodded in Luke’s direction and touched the rim of his hat in greeting. “I’ve been hearing things about the two of you,” Fred said, grinning broadly.
Kate concentrated on her sandwich, refusing to look up from her plate.
Luke made some vague reply that had to do with the ranch and not Kate, and she was grateful.
“Be seeing you,” Fred said as he headed toward the door. As he opened it, Harry’s latest love ballad, sung off-key, could be heard with ear-piercing clarity.
Fred left and soon Harry Ackerman came inside. He stared longingly at Nellie, placed his hand over his heart and started singing again at the top of his lungs.
“You get out of my restaurant,” Nellie cried, reaching for the broom. “I don’t want you in here bothering my customers.” She wielded the broom like a shotgun, and before she could say another word Harry stumbled outside. He pressed his forlorn face to the glass, content to wait until his one true love returned to his waiting arms.
“Sorry, folks,” Nellie muttered, replacing the broom.
“No problem,” Luke answered, and she threw him a grateful smile, then hurried over to refill their coffee cups.
The disturbance died down when Harry wandered down the street to find a more appreciative audience. Luke sighed as he stirred his coffee. “I don’t think your father has any intention of showing up tonight,” he began. “In fact—”
“That’s ridiculous,” Kate said, cutting him off. “Dad wouldn’t do that.”
“He’s trying to tell you something,” Luke insisted.
“I can’t imagine what.” She could, but decided to pretend otherwise.
For a long moment, Luke said nothing. “You’re smart enough to figure it out, Kate.” He finished off the last bite of his pie and pushed the plate aside. “I’ve got some things to attend to, so I’d best be leaving.” The corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement as he glanced out the café window. “Who knows, you might be singing me love songs in a couple of years if you don’t come to your senses soon.”
Kate ignored the comment. “My father will be here any minute.”
“No, Princess,” Luke said, and the smile left his eyes. He leaned across the table to brush his hand gently against her cheek. “But his message is coming across loud and clear.”
Kate stayed at the café another half-hour after Luke had gone and it took her that long to admit he was right. Her father had been giving her a message, this one no more subtle than the rest. Expelling her breath in disgust, Kate dredged up a smile and said goodbye to Nellie.
* * *
Kate didn’t see Luke again until Friday evening, when they met at the Wilkins home for her father’s wedding. Kate arrived with Devin, and Luke followed a few minutes later. Kate was busy arranging freshly baked cookies on a tray for the small reception to be held after the ceremony, when Luke walked into the dining room. Dorothea was with Minnie Wilkins in the back bedroom, and her father and Pastor Wilkins were talking in the office.
“Hello, Kate,” Luke said from behind her.
“Hi,” she responded, turning to give him a polite smile. Her breath caught in her throat at the elegant yet virile sight he made. He was dressed in a dark, three-piece suit that did nothing to disguise his strong, well-formed body, and his light blue silk tie enhanced the richness of his tan. Kate suspected that Luke was basking in the wonder she was unable to conceal, and yet she couldn’t stop staring at him.
Her heart skipped a beat, then leaped wildly as his penetrating brown eyes looked straight into hers. She felt the tears well up, knowing that only Luke truly understood how difficult this evening was for her.
Many of her emotions tonight were identical to the ones she’d experienced at Clay and Rorie’s wedding. All day, she’d worried her stomach into a knot of apprehension. The acceptance and strength of purpose she’d so recently been feeling had fled. Tonight, she was reminded again that everything she loved, everything familiar, had been taken from her life. First the man she’d planned to marry, now her father, and soon, so very soon, her childhood home. It was too much change, too quickly.
Just as she had at Clay’s wedding, Kate forced herself to show pleasure, to behave appropriately. She was happy for her father and Dorothea—just as she’d been for Clay and Rorie. But why did everyone else’s happiness need to cost Kate so much?
Luke must have read the distress in her eyes, because he hurried to her side. “Everything’s going to be all right,” he told her quietly. He’d said the same thing at Clay’s wedding.
“Of course it is,” she agreed, braving a smile. She turned back to the flowers, although her fingers were trembling. “I couldn’t have chosen a better wife for Dad myself. Dorothea’s wonderful.”
Luke’s hands rested on her shoulders and began to caress them gently. “So are you, Princess.”
It demanded every ounce of fortitude Kate possessed not to whirl around and bury her face in Luke’s chest, to absorb his strength. But this was exactly how she’d lost control before; she had to remember that.
A sound came from behind them, and Luke released her with a reluctance that echoed her own. She needed Luke now, just as she’d needed him a few weeks before. But this time, she was determined to be stronger.
The ceremony itself was brief. Kate felt almost wooden as she stood next to the woman her father had chosen to replace her mother. Memories of the lovely, soft-spoken Nora, and of their happy, close-knit family, almost overwhelmed Kate. Twice she felt tears threaten, but managed to hold them back. Both times she found Luke’s eyes on her, his gaze warm with empathy.
When Pastor Wilkins closed his Bible and announced that Devin and Dorothea were now husband and wife, Devin took his bride in his arms and kissed her. Minnie Wilkins dabbed at her eyes with a lace hankie.
“You look so lovely,” the woman murmured, hugging her friend.
Soon they were all hugging each other. When Kate’s arms slipped around Luke it felt...comfortable. In fact, it felt too comfortable, too familiar, and that frightened her. She stiffened and let her arms drop. Luke would have none of that, however. Locking his hands on her upper arms, he drew her back to him.
“What I wouldn’t give for a full moon and some champagne,” he whispered in her ear.
Kate could have done without his teasing, but she refused to satisfy him with a response.
The small reception began immediately afterward, and Kate was busy for the next hour, dishing up pieces of wedding cake, passing trays of sugar cookies and pouring coffee.
Her father came to see her in the kitchen, his eyes bright with happiness. “You’re going to be fine, aren’t you, Princess?”
“You know I am,” she said, flashing him a brilliant smile.
“Dorothea and I will be leaving soon.” He placed his arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “Don’t forget I love you. You’ll always be my little girl.”
“You’ll always be my hero.”
Devin chuckled. “I think Luke would like to fill that position and I’d be pleased if he did. He’s a good man, sweetheart. You could do a lot worse.”
“Dad,” she groaned, closing her eyes. “Luke is wonderful, and I understand your concern. You’d like all the loose ends neatly tied up before you leave for your honeymoon, but I’m just not ready for a commitment.”
“You’d make a lovely country bride, Princess. I want you to be happy, that’s all.”
“I will be,” she said, standing on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek.
By the time Devin and Dorothea were ready to leave, more than twenty close friends had gathered at the parsonage. They crowded onto the porch to send the newlyweds off with a flourish of kisses and enthusiastic waves. Almost everyone returned to the warmth of the house but Kate lingered, not wanting to go back inside when tears were blurring her eyes.
Luke joined her, standing silently at her side until she’d composed herself.
