“Call me Luke,” he murmured, taking her hand and drawing her toward the table. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you.” She blushed and gave him a quick glance from beneath those thick lashes. “So do you.”
It was the first time anyone had ever called him lovely. Ridiculous. But her words, though most likely no more than polite conversation, made him feel better about himself than he had in a long time.
He pulled out her chair, and she sat gracefully. He stood behind her, breathing in her scent, a light fragrance of roses and talcum powder. A few blond strands had escaped her chignon to curl along back of her neck, and he fought the urge to press his lips to that vulnerable spot.
Shaking his head, he stepped away. His fake foot clumped in the silence, bringing him crashing back to reality. Was he so starved for the sight of a woman that even one sent here out of pity by his brother would do?
To distract himself, he opened the oven and took out a platter of eggs and potatoes mixed with onions and peppers. He put the food in the middle of the table and then took his place across from her. “I’m not much of a cook.”
“It’s fine,” she assured him, taking a small helping.
He served himself, glad that he hadn’t fumbled this on top of everything else. “Well, there’s plenty, so don’t be shy.”
She took a bite and closed her eyes, savoring the taste with a look of sensuous pleasure on her sweet face that turned him inside out. “It’s delicious.”
He shrugged, embarrassed by her praise. “Well, my winning personality has driven away four housekeepers, so I decided I’d better learn to do things for myself. I’d rather be alone, anyway.”
She glanced up at him, sympathy in her eyes. “I find that hard to believe. Everybody likes a little company sometimes.”
“Not me.” He downed his glass of wine and reached for the bottle. He hadn’t asked for this. He didn’t need her to feel sorry for him.
Sarah gazed down at her plate, biting her lower lip. “I shouldn’t have stayed.”
Luke cursed under his breath, instantly contrite. “This is a wild place, Miss Montgomery. I may be an ass, but even I wouldn’t let a woman walk back to town alone at night. Forgive me. I’m rotten company. I’ve completely forgotten how to talk to people.”
She smiled a bit. “It’s all right. My showing up here hasn’t been easy on you. You’ve been a saint, given the circumstances.”
“Ah, the circumstances.” He frowned, wondering how to breach the subject of her future without insulting her beyond excuse. He felt responsible for her and hoped that wasn’t what Matt had counted on. “What made you decide to find a husband in such an unorthodox way?”
Sarah raised her head, her green gaze bright and defensive. “I lost my husband and my home to that cursed war. After my father died, I had nothing. The elderly aunt who took me in could barely afford to feed herself, and I couldn’t live off her charity forever. I had to make a new life, and this was the only avenue available to me.”
“I wasn’t criticizing,” Luke said, his tone gentle, surprised by her sudden show of spunk. He also filed away the information that she was not an innocent virgin but a widow. “I was just wondering what you’d do now, since things haven’t worked out the way you’d planned.”
“I don’t know.” The fire in her eyes went out. “Perhaps I can find a teaching position in Milton.”
Luke had donated some of the money to build the one-room schoolhouse in Milton, in an attempt to pacify the people who kept trying to get him to take an active part in the community. If he wanted to, he could probably get her the job.
For some reason, he was hesitant to do so. He didn’t want her so close.
Seeing her on a regular basis would remind him that his brother hadn’t thought him capable of getting a woman on his own. He was attracted to her despite that fact—a combination certain to prove lethal to whatever pride he had left.
“Do you have any teaching experience?”
She flushed. “No. But I’m certain I could do it. I’m well educated.”
“No doubt.” He polished off his potatoes and took another helping. “And what will you do if you can’t find a teaching position?”
“That’s really none of your business, Mr. Chandler. I’m sure I’ll find something.”
Luke had a vivid image of Sarah’s lovely face, changed in a month’s time into the hopeless mask of a whore. If she didn’t find a husband or respectable work right away, that would be her only option.
Colorado was a harsh place. Out here, women were either wives or prostitutes.
So marry her.
The thought was sudden and intense, like the thunderstorms that swept across the high, windswept plains he now called home. For a few moments, he let himself imagine it.
