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“No, of course not.”
“Good. Just checking,” Dean said.
“I gotta go. You still coming out in the morning to help me feed those cows in the south pasture?”
“I’ll be there.”
“See ya then,” Luke said.
“See ya. Don’t forget, I want a full report.”
Luke shook his head, hoping there wouldn’t be much to report on, as he ended the call and pushed the phone back into his pocket. He had work to do and would be happy if she spent the whole time sequestered in her room with her laptop.
He stayed where he was, observing the newcomer as she got out of the car and opened the back door. “Get a load of that outfit,” he told the golden retriever who’d been stretched out asleep in a warm patch of sun, but was now up and wiggling at Luke’s feet, anxious to run out and greet the new visitor. “Hold your horses,” he told the dog. He wanted another minute to watch what she would do.
What in the world is she wearing?
That hot pink shirt was practically neon, and the sun glinted off all the sparkly rhinestones on the belt circling her waist. She reached into the back seat and pulled out a light pink cowboy hat. She put it on and regarded her reflection in the car window. Her shoulders slumped, and she took it off and started to put it back in the car. Her lips were moving, and she appeared to be holding a conversation with herself as she paused and pulled it out again then lifted her chin and pushed the hat firmly on her head.
She turned around, and Luke got his first good look at her as she peered around the ranch. Her brown hair was shoulder length and curly, the ends forming wings around the crown of the cowboy hat. The outfit screamed city slicker, but he caught himself admiring how well her jeans hugged her curvy figure. Her face seemed open and friendly and carried almost an expression of awe as she took in the barn and the farmhouse. Even with her small, upturned nose, she didn’t actually look all that snooty. In fact, with her obviously new cowboy hat tilted jauntily on her head, she looked kind of cute.
Cute?
Yeah, cute. And a little bashful as she shifted from one foot to the other, looking nervously from the house to the barn. She rubbed her palms on the front of her jeans then snatched the cowboy hat off one more time.
“I can’t watch this anymore,” he told the dog and headed out the door.
Her back was to him as he came out of the barn. He grinned as he noticed the hat was back in place as she reached into the backseat and pulled out a white bakery box.
“Hey there,” he called. The dog raced ahead of him then sat obediently at the newcomer’s feet, his tail wagging furiously as he whined to be pet.
“Aren’t you the sweetest?” the woman said, bending to give the dog’s chin a scratch. Straightening, she turned to him, a smile already in place. “Your dog’s adora—” She stopped midsentence, her chin dropping as her smile fell.
Her hands fumbled the cake box, then she gripped it tighter as she tilted her head and stared at him, her mouth open like a gaping fish. “Duke?” she asked, an incredulous tone to her voice.
Duke?
“Nope,” he said shaking his head. Maybe shewasmore aloof than he’d thought if she hadn’t even taken the time to learn his name. “Luke. Luke Montgomery. And you must be Kaylee.”
She shook her head as if to clear it, and he could see her visibly trying to collect herself. “Of course. Luke, yes. Absolutely. I knew that.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, and he wondered if he still had some leftover lunch on his face. “I’m sorry,” she said, tilting her head the other direction. “You just look exactly like…well…like someone else I know.”
With the way her face had paled, and the way she was eyeing him, he wondered if the person he reminded her of had maybe passed away. She sure looked like she’d seen a ghost.
“Well, it’s good to meet ya,” he said. “My sister speaks real highly of you.”
“You too.” She shifted to her other foot and gazed around the ranch as if searching for something to say. She held out the cake box towards him as if she just remembered she was holding it. “I brought you a cake.”
“Great. I love cake. As long as it isn’t carrot. Never understood why someone would think grating a vegetable into a dessert would be a good idea.”
Pink tinged her cheeks as she peered down at the box.
Oh, dang. He had a feeling there was a vegetable cake inside it. They were off to a great start. He was acting like a dork. Why would he say that about the cake?Andhe’d already embarrassed her. Although itwaskind of cute the way her cheeks flushed.
There he went again. What was with him and thiscutenonsense? And why was she making him feel like he was in junior high again and unable to talk to a girl?
He was saved from saying anything else by a mother goose who walked out from behind the barn, her three goslings waddling along behind her. They headed toward Kaylee, but only because they had to pass behind her car on their way to the lake.
Kaylee’s face lit with excitement. “Oh, how sweet,” she cooed, taking a step toward the mother goose.
