Homecoming Ranch (5 page)

Luke looked at the car. “I wouldn’t give it that much credit.”

The woman smiled. She was pretty when she smiled; her eyes seemed to glitter. Yeah, very pretty.

“Want me to change it for you?”

“I… do you mind?” she asked. “I have Triple A, and I called to make sure that I had coverage here, but my cell isn’t working.” She held it up to him as if to prove it. She definitely didn’t look like the sort of person one usually saw on these roads. Typically the women tromping around here wore hiking boots, backpacks, and bandannas tied around their necks. This one wore a thin gold chain around a slender neck.

“You’re just below the tree line here,” he said. “You have to be in Pine River, or a little higher in elevation to get a cell signal. I’d be happy to help.”

“I can pay you,” she suggested.

“Not necessary. I’m happy to do it.” It wasn’t often that he got to help good-looking women, and this woman was very appealing to the guy in him. Yes, she looked a little too much like a headmistress in that dark suit and primly buttoned shirt, but he could see that she had some shapely legs and some very nice curves.

“
Thank
you.” She sounded relieved. “That’s really nice of you. I thought I was going to have to walk!” She laughed.

He glanced at her shoes. “I don’t know—it’s a long way to town in heels.”

“Oh, I wear them all the time. I have Dr. Scholl’s inserts.”

Was she kidding? Walking in the mountains was a little different than walking down sidewalks.

Luke stepped past her in the narrow space between the car and railing. He noticed the gold chain around her neck was holding a little letter
M
in the hollow of her throat. He opened the driver door and reached in to pop the trunk, and saw the map spread out on the passenger seat. He couldn’t help noticing the yellow highlighted roads from Denver, or that two of the highlighted roads had been x-ed out with pen. “Where are you headed?” he asked as he shut the car door.

Blue Eyes blinked. She folded her arms over her middle uncertainly.

Luke smiled at her. “You know the marauding mountain men up here usually have long beards and dirty clothes, right?”

Her eyes widened slightly, but then she slowly smiled, producing a dimple in one cheek. “Is
that
how I spot them? Thank you—that’s information I need to have.”

He grinned. “No offense, but you look a little lost. I’m from around here, and can probably point you in the right direction.”

“Pine River,” she said, dropping her arms. “The guy at the gas station told me to take Sometimes Pass road. He said it was straight up the road I was on, but I can’t find it.”

“You’re on it.” Luke casually flicked his gaze over her. Definitely a nice figure. Not too thin, curvy in all the right places. He wondered what business she had in Pine River. “The problem is, only the locals call it Sometimes Pass. It’s only a pass after the snow season. Hence the name.”

“No wonder I couldn’t find it! Would you mind?” she asked, and crowded in beside him, brushing against his arm as she leaned into her car—way in—affording Luke an excellent view of her derriere. He had only a moment to admire it before she emerged holding the map. She spread it on the hood of her car and clicked her highlighter for action. “Where am I?”

Luke pointed at the county road that was Sometimes Pass on the map.

“
Aaah
,” she said, and highlighted it.

She stood back, admired her highlighting for a moment, then glanced up. She seemed surprised to find him still standing there and peered up at him with those Caribbean blue eyes. “So which way is Pine River?” she asked.

A man could definitely lose his way around those eyes,
Luke thought. “West.”

“And that would be…?” She pointed north.

Man, she really
was
lost. He pointed down the road. “That is west, the direction you’re headed. Pine River is about ten miles down.”

“Great. Thank you.” She picked up her map.

“Welcome.” He looked at those sparkling eyes again and moved to the safety of the back of the car. He discovered she had taken out the spare, the change kit, and had laid out the tools in a neat row. He took a look at the back tire that had gone flat. “Probably a nail or something like it,” he said.

“I worried about that when I drove into the construction site,” she said.

Where the hell was there a construction site around here? Luke paused to look down at the tools lined up.

“Oh, ah—I’ve been reading the manual,” she said, and hopped around him. “It says to loosen the lug nuts first.”

“Does it?” He reached for the Mickey Mouse car jack. “Not to worry. I’ve changed a lot of tires in my life.”

“Sure, sure,” she said, looking at the jack in his hand. She didn’t look as if she fully agreed with him. “I just thought maybe, since it’s a small car… you know.”

No, he didn’t know. He stepped around her, going down on one knee to slide the jack into its little sleeve beneath the car. He started to jack it up, but she was standing too close. He paused, looked up. “It’s probably better if you stand back.”

“Right,” she said, stepping back. But her feet, stuffed into her heels, were in his peripheral vision.

He removed the flat tire, then fit the spare donut onto the rim. He noticed her turn the page of the manual, as if she was following along. He secured the spare and stood up. “You’ll want to get that tire fixed as soon as you can.” He began to toss the tire change implements into the trunk. “Those donuts are definitely not made for the roads up here.” He shut the trunk, put his hands on his hips. “Anything else I can help you with?”

“I think that should do it.” She shut her manual. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Luke.”

“Luke,” she said. “Luke, thank you, so much. I’m Madeline.” She smiled gratefully, and extended her hand to be shaken.

That smile knocked Luke back a step or two. It changed her face, made her softer somehow. Her eyes shone, and her mouth—well, there were a lot of fantasies floating in his head at the moment. He suddenly wanted to take Grok’s claw from her hair and unbutton the top two buttons of her blouse.… But instead he took her hand. It felt weightless in his.

“Thanks,” she said again, still smiling, and backed up to the rail again. “I won’t keep you any longer.” She carefully pulled her hand free.

“Welcome,” Luke said, and with a weird little touch of two fingers to his brow—what the hell was
that
?—he added, “Take care.”

“Thanks!” She clasped her hands behind her back and stood next to her car like a cheerful little armed guard.

Luke couldn’t help but smile with amusement as he passed. He walked back to his truck, started it up again. He pulled out onto the road, drove up the road a little bit until he could turn around, then headed in the direction of Pine River. He waved as he passed her. She waved back.

A moment later, he glanced in his rearview to see what she was doing.

Blue Eyes had her map on the hood of her car and was folding it into a neat little square.

The little town of Pine River sat at the very center of the valley, on the edge of the river for which it was named. One could see it on the descent down from the mountains, sitting in the middle of the valley like an oasis in a mountain wilderness. The town had begun as a hub for miners and ranchers, but as the mining operations had shut down, and larger ranches had consumed small ranches, Pine River had morphed into a tourist town. It was a little too far from the slopes to be a ski resort. Summers were the draw here. Hiking, white-water rafting, horseback riding, cycling, camping. Any outdoor sport a person wanted could be found here.

Luke had grown up in and around Pine River. It was where he’d gone to school, played football, fallen in love.

He pulled onto the shoulder at the intersection of a rural road that led to the family ranch. He debated driving the eight miles up, but thought it was probably more important to talk to his father first. As Luke pulled out onto the main road, a little Honda turned onto the ranch road, and behind it, a truck hauling Port-
A
-Johns. Odd. There was rarely any traffic on this road—just the ranchers who lived out this way. Maybe old man Kaiser was finally going to build that new house his wife had talked about for years.

He drove on down to the valley floor, coasting into Main Street. Two rows of western-style wooden buildings faced each other along one long strip. The business names were all designed to appeal to tourists: Grizzly Lodge and Café and Rocky Creek Tavern.

Luke stopped at the Blue Jay Grocery and Tackle Shop.

The grocery portion of the shop was small and close, and carried only essentials like toilet paper and milk. If a person needed more than basics, they could drive out to the Walmart on the old Aspen Highway.

Luke walked back to the junk-food aisle and squatted down to have a look. Cookies, that would do. He grabbed two boxes. What he didn’t eat, he knew Leo would. He picked up some tortilla chips and salsa, then swung by the cooler to pick up a twelve pack of Coors, because he had a feeling he was going to need it.

With his booty paid for, Luke walked outside, his keys jangling in his hand. He hadn’t quite reached the Bronco when he heard someone call his name.

He turned around, felt the shock and glance of pain at once.

“Luke Kendrick,” the woman said. She smiled, and it went through Luke like it always had, sloughing off the years that had passed as it sank deeper into him.

“Julie Daugherty,” he said. How long had it been since they had split? Three years? Maybe not quite. Julie was the woman Luke had intended to marry. She was the woman he’d bought the ring for, had gotten down on one knee for, the whole nine yards.

She was the one who had broken his heart.

“What a surprise,” she said, walking cautiously forward.

She looked as gorgeous as ever, her blond hair cut stylishly short, her figure trim and athletic, only a few months past bearing her first child. “How are you?” he asked.

“Good,” she said, and stopped at his bumper, her gaze flicking over the Bronco. “Still running, huh?”

“Better than ever.” Luke turned to look at his Bronco, but a movement caught his attention. It was a tiny car with a donut spare driving
slowly past. Blue Eyes was leaning forward, squinting up at the signs above his head.

“You look good,” Julie said, not noticing the car. “But then, you always did.” She laughed, and touched her earring. It was a simple but familiar gesture that took Luke back a few years. They would sit on the porch swing out at the ranch, talking about everything and nothing, and she would idly play with her earring.

“Thanks,” he said. He didn’t know what more he should say. All he could think was that if everything had gone according to plan, he and Julie would be married, and her child would be his. If it hadn’t been for Mom and Leo—

“Are you still in Denver?” she asked.

“Yep. I just came home to check in with Dad and Leo.”

Julie nodded. She smiled coyly. “Girlfriend?”

He hated that she felt she had the right to ask. He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

She laughed. “I bet you have them falling at your feet, Luke. So how is Leo? I haven’t seen him around.”

Luke’s breathing hitched a tiny bit. “He’s good,” he lied. “Doing great. And Brandon?” he asked, referring to her husband, although he could care less how that ass was doing. Did he hope it, or did a slight shadow glance over Julie’s face when he asked about her husband?

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “He’s a proud papa.” She didn’t say more than that. They stood there, looking at each other, maybe looking past the weeks and months and years since it had ended between them.

Fortunately, Luke was saved from saying something stupid or inappropriate by the little car, which caught his attention once more. It drove by again, but in the opposite direction.

“Well,” Julie said. “Tell your Dad and Leo I said hello, will you?”

“Sure.”

She smiled warmly. “It was really good to see you, Luke. Really good.”

There was something in her voice, something he didn’t quite understand, but that he felt in his gut. He stood there a moment too long;
he could feel himself softening. Luke made himself move first. “You, too, Julie.” He turned around, walked to the driver side of his Bronco.

Julie Daugherty had let him down in the worst way, and somehow, Luke had picked himself up and gone on with his life. He wasn’t going to go backward now.

He looked back over the hood of his truck. She was still standing there, her hands tucked into her back pockets, biting her bottom lip, almost as if she was trying to keep from speaking. Her gaze was full of yearning and it sent a shiver of disturbing familiarity down Luke’s spine. He got into his truck and turned the ignition before he made the mistake of asking her why she was looking at him the way she was.

If Pine River had a backwater part to it, Elm Street was it. On this street, the houses were smaller and a little more run-down than elsewhere in town.

Luke found the house where his dad and Leo were staying easily enough—it looked just as Dad had described it when he explained he and Leo were temporarily renting a place. It was a little green clapboard that sat in the middle of a square patch of manicured lawn, surrounded by a chain-link fence. The detached garage was only big enough for one car. A doghouse that looked new sat under a towering elm tree in the yard, but there was no sign of any dogs.