Homecoming Ranch Page 16

  Later, after Julie left the pound cake she made for me, even though I’m not supposed to have stuff like that, and her baby pulled the tube out of my catheter, Luke came home from the ranch. He was a totally different man than the depressed one who’d left this morning. He said he took my advice—like who wouldn’t, certified genius here—and he said he’d worked it out, he’d bought us a little time. And then he casually mentions that Blue Eyes might stick around a day or so, but he says it so casually that I’m like ho, what’s up with this? I said, “What about Emma?”

  Luke did one of those double takes like he had to remember who Emma was and said, “She went back to L.A.”

  I said, “So what do you think? Blue Eyes isn’t going to sell us out after all?”

  Luke kind of laughed, a little chuckle that said to me he had a secret, and he said, “Well, I don’t know about that, but at least I’ve got a few days to work on it.” I think he was going to tell me his plan, but then the phone rang, and Luke answered it before Dad could, and surprise! It was Julie. They talked and talked and I started to get a little antsy because man, Luke told me he was over her. But then I hear him saying he’ll be there at seven, and the next thing I know, he’s got on his good striped shirt and he’s headed for the door.

  I said, “Whoa, whoa—are you going out with Julie?” And I said it like she had three eyes and no boobs. Neither of those are true, by the way. “Are you sure about that, man?”

  Luke said, “Don’t make a big deal out of this, Leo. She needs some help with her car while her husband is out of town. It’s no big deal.” And he went out the door. Kind of vaulted out, like he thought I was going to ask some more probing questions. And I was. I don’t watch Dateline for nothing.

  I turned up the Rockies and the Padres baseball game and I didn’t even notice Dad until he came around and stood in front of my chair with his arms folded and glaring down at me like it was my fault. “I thought you said no problem,” he said.

  And I said, “Okay, let’s not panic. He hasn’t pulled out the ring yet has he?”

  Dad said something terribly unkind to someone with motor neuron disease and stomped off. I have to admit, I was a little confused, too, because I would have sworn that Luke was into Blue Eyes. It’s just this vibe I’ve had.

  Anyway, when he came home, I was still up, in my bed watching Top Chef and wishing I had some potatoes in a port-wine reduction. Luke looked pretty hangdog. He stood in the doorway of my room, leaning up against it, his hands in his pocket and he says, “What are you watching?”

  “Top Chef. How do you feel about empanadas?”

  He said, “Turns out, nothing was wrong with Julie’s car. She wanted to tell me that her marriage is splintering apart.”

  “I’ve heard that,” I said.

  He looked at the stained carpet (I mean seriously, were they processing wild boar in here before Dad and I moved in, or what?), and he said, “You know what sucks? What sucks is that after she dumped me six weeks before the wedding, it took me a long time to get over it. I mean, I labored like a damn ox to get past it, you know? I don’t like that she’s coming at me now. I don’t like it at all.”

  I said, “Yeah, I know. So what are you going to do about it?”

  I was hoping he’d say he was going to Kung Fu her ass, but Luke shrugged. He said, “It pisses me off that she can just give me a certain kind of look and I actually start thinking about it. I think, what if?”

  Well color me speechless. I could have sworn that would never happen. But I figure that even geniuses have an off day every now and then. Every now and then, I said. You can trust ninety-nine point nine percent of what I tell you, and I am telling you if the Rockies don’t get some pitching talent this year, they might as well hang up their cleats because they won’t even come close to winning the division. You can take that to the bank.

  Anyway, I said to my brother, “Luke, please don’t do something totally stupid. You know what Mom always said.”

  He looked up, interested in that. “What did Mom always say?”

  “She said never wear white underwear and a leopard doesn’t change its spots.”

  Luke sort of peered at me like he couldn’t quite make me out, and he said, “So which one is a message for me this evening, genius?”

  How obtuse can one guy be? I said, “Both. Just don’t do anything stupid. Julie may look good because you’ve been in the desert if you get my drift, but once a coward, always a coward, and she’s a coward. Mom didn’t say that, I did.”

  He looked like he was chewing on that for a minute. He said, “Thanks for the advice. So what’s an empanada?”

  Seriously, you’d think the guy grew up under a rock.

  SEVENTEEN

  Bree, the assistant Madeline shared with two other realtors at her firm’s offices, wasn’t very appreciative of Madeline’s checking in on Sunday morning. But Madeline couldn’t wait until Monday; she had too much to do in a very short week. She went over some details of her workload with Bree, making sure that two closings and some market research were covered for the week.

  “This isn’t really necessary,” Bree said when Madeline insisted she take notes. “You spent an hour with me going over all the details of your workload for the next month in case your plane went down.”

  “Just double-checking,” Madeline said briskly.

  “You also double-checked in case you were in a car wreck and incapacitated.”

  “You can’t be too careful,” Madeline reminded her.

  “Yeah, Madeline, you can.”

  Madeline could hear Bree’s kids in the background, the low voice of her husband telling them to be quiet, that Mommy was on the phone. Madeline felt a familiar but strange squeeze in her chest, the one she always felt when she was confronted with the evidence of an actual happy family and the glaring absence of same in her life.

  “Any movement on DiNapoli?” Madeline asked brightly, trying to ignore the sound now of pots and pans being banged around Bree’s kitchen.

  “Nothing,” Bree said through a yawn. “I told you I’d call you the minute I heard anything.”

  “Right. Just hoping. Okay, well—I guess I’ll see you next week?”

  “We’ll all still be here,” Bree said. “Madeline—don’t worry so much. You’re only gone for a few days. Everything will still be here, including your listings. You made sure of it, remember?”

  “Yes.”

  “With your flowcharts—”

  “Right, okay—”

  “And your e-mail alerts.”

  “Okay, okay,” Madeline said. “Sorry.” It was no secret to Madeline that she had some control issues. It wasn’t the first time she’d gone a little overboard with Bree. She had tried to temper herself, she truly had, but her anxiety of something falling through the cracks outweighed her need to try and not bury Bree with details. It was an ongoing battle for her.

  “Just enjoy yourself for once, will you?” Bree said. “Breathe some mountain air and unbutton the collar of your shirt.”

  Wow. She was seriously going to have to address her wardrobe since it seemed to weigh so heavily on everyone’s mind. “Okay, I will.” She would certainly try, anyway.

  She made one other call, to Teresa, her co-coach of the soccer team. “No problem,” Teresa said cheerfully. “Guess what? Melania scored a goal! It was completely by accident, but still.”

  “That’s fabulous!” Madeline said, wishing she’d been there to see it.

  “The girls are asking about you.”

  “Tell them I’ll be back soon,” Madeline said.

  “Will do. Have a good time!” Teresa said.

  A good time. What a novel idea.

  Madeline donned a new sundress and checked herself out in it. She liked what she saw—she had a good figure for the dress. She never wore dresses at home—they felt too casual, too loose. Suits and pumps, that fit her life in Orlando.

  Was that true?

  She was beginning to wonder. />
  Madeline carefully packed her things, checked her room and bathroom three times for any items left behind, and made her way to the lobby.

  Dani whistled at Madeline when she came into the lobby, rolling her carry-on bag behind her. “Now you look like a mountain woman, sweetie.”

  Madeline glanced down at herself. She was wearing the red dress with the white polkadots, Luke’s denim jacket, and her hiking boots. She’d braided her hair and donned the cap, ready to work, to do whatever needed to be done. At least that felt familiar. It felt natural. That was who she was, really—a take-charge, get-it-done kind of gal.

  “So where are you going?” Dani asked as she printed Madeline’s bill.

  “I haven’t worked that out quite yet, but I’ve got a couple of options.”

  Dani grinned. “Sure you do. Pretty girls always have options.”

  Madeline smiled. “Thanks, Dani.” She paid her bill and tucked it away into the clear envelope marked “receipts” in her day planner. “See you around?”

  “I hope so!” Dani said. “We have breakfast specials every day this week, so come on down and get some when you’re ready.”

  Madeline walked outside into bright, crystalline sunlight. She paused to breathe in deep, felt the crisp air expanding in her lungs and making her feel instantly better. All right, then, the best course of action was to tackle the tasks at hand, which she had conveniently listed just this morning. Number One: Extend the lease on her car rental.

  She stood on the covered sidewalk and called the rental company with her plan to keep the tin can for the week… until she discovered she would have to pay a fee for converting her weekend contract to a weeklong contract.

  “That makes no sense whatsoever,” Madeline insisted.

  “Maybe not, but that’s the rules,” the man said.

  He would not be argued out of it. The only option left to Madeline that did not entail forking over an extra one hundred and fifty bucks was to take the car back to Denver and get another one. It was one enormous loop of red tape, but Madeline was not the sort to let go of one hundred and fifty bucks without a fight.

  “Fine,” she said pertly to the car guy. “I’ll return it tomorrow and check it out again. Will that make you happy?”

  “Not particularly, but it doesn’t matter to me. Would you like me to reserve that for you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Please.”

  “Okay. Midsize or compact?”

  “You already know what I want! I already have the car, which, I’d like to point out is a kind of a piece of junk.”

  “Sorry, but I can’t guarantee it will be that car,” the man said.

  Madeline thought she was teetering on the edge of losing her mind completely. As she argued with the man about renting yet a different car, she noticed Luke walking down the street toward her, his hands shoved in his pocket, his gaze on the sidewalk in front of him. Her pulse instantly ticked up, and her mind was suddenly clouded with the memory of that kiss, that singularly spectacular and quite unexpected, delicious, knee-melting kiss.

  As Luke walked past her, he glanced up briefly, took two steps, then stopped and took two steps back, dipping a little to better see her, a smile on his face.

  Madeline gestured to her cell phone, then held up one finger to indicate she’d only be a minute longer. “Okay,” Madeline said. “Thanks. I’ll be there tomorrow.” She clicked off the phone and smiled at Luke.

  “So what did you do with Madeline?” he asked. “You know, the woman in bad shoes and stained shirt?”

  “You should recognize me by now, as this is the bazillionth time you’ve ‘run into me,’” she said, making air quotations with her hands.

  “That’s because you happen to be staying at the place with the best breakfast in town. So what’s going on here? You decide to stay a couple of days and do a complete about-face?”

  “You know what they say, when in Rome,” she said airily.

  Luke folded his arms across his chest and eyed her up and down. “I like it,” he said, nodding approvingly. “I like it a lot. But I didn’t have you pegged for the polka dot type.”

  Madeline laughed.

  “I didn’t think you could get any cuter, but you just did.” He reached for the tail of her braid and playfully flicked it.

  Madeline was thrilled with his approval. Absurdly thrilled. So thrilled that she set feminism back about two decades. “It’s just a sundress,” she said.

  “It’s a dress all right,” he said easily, and Madeline could feel herself melting inside. “Before you were cute in a Madeline-work-no-play kind of way. Now you’re cute in a funky, fun way. Like the jacket,” he added with a crooked smile.

  Madeline realized she was beaming. But no one had ever called her fun before, and she was surprised by how much she liked it.

  “Heading out to the ranch?” he asked.

  “Ah, yes. About that,” she said, crossing her feet at the ankles, which was a little hard to do in hiking boots, “I’ve been kicked out of the Grizzly Lodge and I need a place to stay.”

  “That’s not good,” he said casually, his gaze sliding down her body to her boots, and slowly up her legs again.

  “I’m sorry—I know you’d rather I stay somewhere else. But there isn’t really any other place.”

  Luke shrugged. “What’s one more at this point? Technically, it belongs to you. In fact, you should stay in my old room. Last one on the left,” he said, and flicked his gaze over her. “The bed’s pretty comfortable.”

  A tiny shiver slipped down her spine. “I promise it will be like I was never there. In fact, I won’t be there much. I have to work, I’ve got it all lined up. And I have to go to Denver tomorrow—”

  “Denver? What for?”

  “To return that crappy little car and get a new one,” she said. “It’s a complication with the rental company that defies all logic and is too absurd to even say out loud.”

  “I know you don’t like complications,” he said, playing with the tip of her braid again, rubbing it between his fingers. “As it happens, I’m going to Denver tomorrow, too. I could pick you up and bring you back if you need a ride.” He tugged on her braid, forcing her to take a step closer to him.

  “Great idea… but then I’d have nothing to drive while I’m here.”

  “You could drive my mom’s Pontiac. It’s not the most stylish thing in the world, but it runs like a tank.”

  Madeline remembered the Pontiac in the garage. It looked like a tank. “I don’t know how to drive a tank,” she said. “And I don’t have night goggles.”

  “You drive it the same way you do when wearing a pink hat,” he said, pulling her one step closer. “It’s just sitting there, collecting dust. It could stand to be driven around for a few days. And it’s free.” His gaze slid to her mouth.

  Free definitely appealed to Madeline’s frugal nature. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Seems invasive.”

  “I’m sure.” He’d pulled her so close that she could see the flecks of blue in his gray eyes. “I should point out that it’s also got a decent backseat.”

  Madeline had never known how arousing it could be to have a man look at her mouth the way he was looking at hers. “Are you going to kiss me again?”

  “I’d like to,” he said. “Are you going to kiss me again?”

  “It’s not a good idea,” she said softly.

  “I know,” he responded agreeably.

  “Yesterday was an anomaly,” she said. “Bad storm and all that.”

  “Oh.” His gaze lifted to hers. “We’re going with the bad storm defense, huh?” He smiled, and let go of her braid.

  That smile swirled around in the pit of Madeline, lighting her up. “So… does this mean you are okay with me staying at the ranch with Libby?”

  Luke laughed at that. “No,” he said firmly.

  He stood so close that she could almost feel him against her. It made her feel warm. Too warm. Hot.

  But Luke kept
smiling as if he could see how hot she was feeling, just how out of breath. “See you at the ranch later?”

  “Yep.” She nervously crossed her feet at the ankles, put her hands on her waist. “Lots to do.” She made a little circling gesture with her fingers. “To resolve things.”

  He nodded, his eyes shining with pleasure. “Okay. But stay out of my stuff, Blue Eyes,” he said, and stepped around her. He started to walk away, and looked back over his shoulder. “By the way, I dig the boots.”

  Madeline instantly looked down, almost having forgotten them. When she looked up, he had walked on.

  She turned around and stared at her tiny little car, her heart racing a mile a minute. Her palms were kind of sweaty. Good God, she had not come to Colorado to get involved with some… some hunk and then fly back to Orlando! What was she doing? She was kidding herself, that was what. Any attraction to that man was going to end badly. She was going to get all giddy and excited that a man as handsome as Luke would find her attractive, and then she’d leave Colorado for Orlando and her life. It was her way: She’d always let a guy get close to her, a perfectly wonderful guy, and then back off. Run. It was a habit she had never examined too closely for fear of what she might discover. But it was as she’d told Luke—not a good idea.

  So what was bothering her? Ah yes… she hadn’t wanted him to agree that it was not a good idea.

  “Jesus, stop it, Madeline,” she muttered. Just. Stop.

  But as Madeline got in to her car, she wasn’t sure if her head wasn’t telling her heart to stop being her twisted self for once? Or stop toying with the idea of a hot affair with Luke Kendrick?

  EIGHTEEN

  This time, when Madeline’s clown car puttered into the drive at the ranch, she was ready for the dogs—she’d picked up dog biscuits at Walmart.

  She emerged cautiously, the open bag in her hand, biscuits ready to be handed out. She was mildly disappointed that only one of the dogs bothered to come out from under the porch. As the dog approached, she was quick to hold up a biscuit. That proved to be a mistake, however, because the moment she held it up, the other three leapt to their feet and rushed out from under the porch, straight for her.