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Brynnie took a bite from the tiny tomato. “Shoot.”
“Luke Gates knows the Sorensons. He said…” Her throat tightened, and she looked away. “He said that Dave is dead.”
Brynnie froze. “But he’s only about thirty.”
“I know, I know.” Katie shook her head and blinked back tears. “I didn’t get a chance to ask what happened, but I will.” She sniffed and looked away from her mother. “I can’t believe it. I always thought there would be time to talk to Josh, to tell him about his dad, have them meet.” Her voice cracked. “Oh, Mom, I really blew this one.”
“Are you sure? This could be a mistake.” Brynnie threw an arm around her daughter. “Maybe Luke got his facts wrong.”
Katie sighed and fought tears. “I doubt it, Mom. Luke Gates doesn’t strike me as the kind of man to spread idle gossip. I think…oh, God, I think Dave’s gone.” She took in a long, deep breath. “And someway I’ve got to tell my son.”
“Hold on a second, will ya? Don’t rush into anything. This could all be a mistake.”
“I doubt it,” Katie said. “But I thought I’d ask Jarrod to look into it for me, find out what happened and then…” She shuddered inwardly. “And then I’ll talk to Josh.”
* * *
“This won’t be cheap,” Bliss Cawthorne said as she rolled out the blueprints she’d drawn for Luke on a long low table in her small office. “But I think it incorporates everything you wanted in the most cost-efficient manner.”
Luke stared down at the drawings and nodded, but he had trouble concentrating. Ever since being with Katie the night before, he’d thought of little else than the fact that he’d impulsively kissed a woman for the first time in years. He prided himself in always being in control, in taking charge of the situation, in avoiding the pitfalls of getting involved with any woman.
Worse yet, Katie just might be the mother of Dave Sorenson’s kid. If, indeed there was a child at all.
“So…I enclosed the area between the two existing buildings for the dining hall and added an exterior as well as an interior stairway.” From the old blueprints and a quick look at the ranch house, Bliss had drawn a new set of plans according to his specifications and the latest building codes. And the blueprints looked good.
Bliss Cawthorne, Katie’s other half sister, was an interesting woman. Sophisticated and bright, with blond hair and blue eyes, she spoke and held herself well. Yet there was an earthiness to her, a down-home charm that was appealing.
Manicured nails slid across the pages as she explained how she’d created a large kitchen within a small amount of space, enclosed an area between the two buildings that would become an oversize dining room and dance hall when the tables where pushed aside, then incorporated three more bedrooms and accompanying baths on a second level. It would cost him every dime he owned. A big gamble. But then he’d been a gambler all his life.
“Looks good,” he admitted. Finally, a place of his own.
“I think it’ll work.”
“I appreciate you doing this so fast.” He’d only made the request ten days ago, and even though Bliss was planning her wedding, she’d found the time, energy and imagination to draw up exactly what he had in mind.
“Had to get it done before the big day.” She smiled, showing off perfect white teeth that he suspected had once been braced. “It’s this weekend.”
“So I’ve heard,” he replied. “The talk of the town.”
“Bittersweet doesn’t have much to gossip about.” She rolled the plans into tubes and snapped them closed with rubber bands. “Well, except for my family. I guess we keep the rumor mill in business.” She blushed a little as she slapped the plans into his open palm. “If you’d like to come, it’s this Sunday at the church in the square and we’re having a reception afterward at the Reed Hotel just out of town.” She grinned up at him and seemed to sense his unease. “I know that this is sudden, but you are my client, and Mason and I would love it if you’d attend.”
No way, José. “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll make it.” He knew the invitation was just because she felt obligated to hand it out. Besides, he wasn’t interested.
“If you change your mind, the wedding’s at seven, and the reception will probably last all night.”
A bell over the door to the office tinkled, and Luke looked up to see Katie, dressed in a white-and-blue sundress, dash inside. “Bliss, I wondered—Oh.” For a moment the red-haired locomotive stopped dead in her tracks. “Hi,” she managed, recovering herself as she spied Luke, and a rosy color invaded her cheeks as it had her half sister’s a heartbeat earlier. Her eyes held his, and in a second he remembered the kiss—the damned touching of lips that had kept him awake all last night. He’d thought of her, fantasized about her, then dreamed of making love to her. He’d woken up on fire and had taken the longest cold shower of his life.
“Get the car fixed?” he asked, and she shook her head, fiery red curls brushing her nape in a movement he found ludicrously sensual.
“Nope. You were right, it’s dead.” She hooked her thumb to the window overlooking the parking lot. “I’m borrowing one of John’s rigs.”
“So you two know each other?” Bliss asked thoughtfully.
“Luke helped me out yesterday,” Katie explained, giving her half sister the blow-by-blow of her evening.
Bliss’s forehead had wrinkled as Katie finished. “But Josh is okay—the ankle is all right?”
“He’ll be fine. For the moment he’s enjoying being king of the roost.”
