To Wed And Protect. Carla Cassidy
Luke looked at her once again, and she wondered if he had any idea that his eyes seduced by merely gazing at her. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“Well, no…” She felt breathless beneath the power of his bedroom eyes. “That is, unless the woman you’re charming takes you too seriously.”
He grinned. “I take my charming of women very seriously.”
She broke the eye contact with him and gazed to where the two kids stood at the jukebox, tapping their feet and wiggling their bottoms in the unself-consciousness of children.
He didn’t speak until she looked at him once again, then he smiled that sexy grin that released a million butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you fair warning before I attempt to charm you, and that way you won’t be caught unprepared.”
Despite the fact that Abby felt as if she had suddenly plunged into deep waters over her head, she laughed. “Okay,” she agreed. “That sounds fair to me.” Once again she broke their eye contact and looked at the kids. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to get home and get those two ready for bed.”
In actuality, it was time for her to get away from Luke Delaney’s smile, his body warmth and the heated light that shone from his eyes. He was making her feel things she hadn’t felt for a very long time.
She sighed in relief as he stood to allow her to slide out of the booth. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.
“Bright and early,” he replied, and in his smooth, deep voice she heard promise that had nothing to do with a new front porch.
She nodded, turned and walked to the cash register, refusing to follow her impulse to turn and look at him one last time.
The man was a definite temptation, but she knew the temptation he offered was not what she needed or wanted in her life at the moment. He could try his talent at seduction with her, but what he would eventually discover was that at this point in her life, she was absolutely, positively unseduceable.
Luke had been in a tailspin ever since learning that Abigail Graham had no husband and no boyfriend. It was as if fate had given him the thumbs-up to follow through on his initial attraction to her.
There was nothing Luke liked more than a challenge and the excitement of a new, fresh relationship. It had been several months since he’d even taken a woman on a date and months before that when he’d last been intimate with a woman.
He knew he had a reputation as a womanizer, and in truth had dated most of the single, eligible women in town. But since his father’s death, Luke had not been living up to his reputation.
As he ate, he thought about the lovely Abby, whose clean, lightly floral perfume still eddied in the air around him. A year was a long time to be alone, and there had been loneliness in her eyes, a loneliness that touched something deep inside him.
He shook his head as if to dislodge this thought. He certainly wasn’t lonely. His life was merely in a holding pattern until the seven months he had to spend at the ranch were over. And there was no reason he shouldn’t spend some of his holding-pattern time with a lovely woman named Abigail Graham.
By the time he’d finished his meal, the dinner rush had come and gone. Stephanie poured herself a cup of coffee and sank down across from him in the booth.
“I shouldn’t even talk to you,” Luke teased with an affectionate grin at Stephanie. “What are you doing maligning my good name behind my back to the new people in town?”
Stephanie snorted. “You don’t need any help maligning your name. I told that pretty lady the truth, that she needs to watch out for you. You’re a heartbreaker, Luke Delaney, and you’ve already broken half the hearts in this town.”
“But I’m good friends with every single woman I’ve ever dated,” he countered.
“And that’s part of your charm, dear Luke. You somehow manage to make every woman happy they got a moment of your time even though they wanted a lifetime.”
Stephanie took a sip of her coffee and shook her head with a smile. “But, mark my words, Luke. Someday you’re going to mess with the wrong woman and you’ll have one of those obsessive stalkers on your hands like in the movies.”
Luke laughed in genuine amusement. “Ah, Stephanie, you always did have a flair for the dramatic. I’m twenty-nine years old and I’m not cut out for marriage or family life. I play fair and make sure all the women I date know that ahead of time.”
Stephanie waved her hands to dismiss his statement. “If anyone in this town wasn’t cut out for marriage, it was your sister, Johnna. And look at her now, the picture of happily married bliss.” Stephanie finished her coffee and stood. “All you need Luke, is one good woman to tame you and you’re finished.”
Luke laughed, certain that no woman was ever going to tame and domesticate him. “Trust me, Stephanie. Growing up in my family gave me all the family experience I ever want in my life.”
Stephanie frowned. “You can’t judge marriage and family by what your daddy did to you kids. Every man needs a good woman, Luke. And that’s exactly what you need in your life.” With these final words, Stephanie turned and left his booth.
Luke sipped his coffee, thinking of Stephanie’s words. It had always amazed him that everyone in town seemed to know what a mean, hateful son of a bitch Adam Delaney had been as a father, but nobody had ever stepped in to help the four children who suffered at his hands.
He shoved away thoughts of his father. Thinking of Adam Delaney always caused a knot of fire to form in the pit of his stomach, a knot that only a good stiff drink could unkink. Instead, he focused on a vision of the lovely Abigail Graham.
Not only did she interest him on a physical level, but she intrigued him, as well. Along with the loneliness he’d thought he’d seen in her eyes, he’d sensed secrets. She certainly hadn’t been forthcoming about where they had come from.
Back east, she’d said, then had finally said they were from Chicago. But, when he had gone past the bedrooms, he’d noticed that Jason’s room was decorated in a Kansas City Chiefs motif. Why would a kid from Chicago want items from the Kansas City football team in his room? Why not the Chicago Bears?
Luke sipped the last of his coffee and wondered if perhaps he was making too much of nothing. Maybe the kid’s father had been a Chiefs fan, or perhaps he’d had a friend from the Kansas City area who had gotten him to follow the team. In any case, it didn’t much matter. He didn’t really care where she’d come from.
“More coffee?” Stephanie pulled him from his thoughts.
“No, thanks,” he replied, and reached in his back pocket for his wallet. “I’ve got to get out of here. I need to get out to the ranch for a couple of hours before I head over to the Honky Tonk.”
“Tomorrow is my night off, and I already told Tom that I want to go to the Honky Tonk and have a drink and listen to you croon a few tunes.”
Luke grinned at the older woman. “You and Tom come in, and your first round of drinks is on me.” He tossed enough money on the table to pay for his meal and a generous tip.
“Then for sure we’ll be in,” she agreed.
Luke left the diner, climbed into his pickup and within minutes was headed to the family ranch. He’d surprised himself by telling Abby of his plans to head to Nashville. That was something he hadn’t shared with anyone, not even his siblings, who he knew probably didn’t give a damn what he did or where he went. To say the Delaney heirs weren’t tightly knit was an understatement.
Still, he had a feeling he’d told Abby his plans for a reason. He was interested in her, but he certainly wasn’t interested in anything long-term. By telling her that in seven months his plans were to leave Inferno and never look back, he’d subtly told her that he wasn’t a man to