To Wed and Protect. Carla Cassidy
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kids,” Stephanie said as she lingered for a moment at their table.
“Thanks, I think so,” Abby replied.
“What’s your name, cutie?” Stephanie asked Jessica.
Jessica’s gaze instantly went to her brother. “She doesn’t talk,” he explained soberly. “She doesn’t talk to anyone but me.”
“Shy, huh. My oldest boy was like that,” Stephanie said to Abby. “He’s twenty-five now and still doesn’t talk much unless he’s got something really important to say.”
“Hey, Stephanie, how about some fresh coffee over here,” a guy hollered from the counter.
“No rest for the wicked,” she said with a wink, then hurried away.
Abby took a sip of her soda and settled back in the seat. She wished it were just shyness that kept Jessica silent. But she knew it was much more than that, and it ached inside her that after a whole year Jessica still didn’t trust Abby enough to speak to her, that the little girl trusted and depended solely on her brother.
Within a few minutes, Stephanie had served them their meals and they were all eating. It was only then that Abby allowed the conversation with the waitress to replay in her mind.
Sin walking on two legs. Yes, that was certainly an apt description, at least physically, of Luke Delaney. From the moment she’d seen him standing at her doorstep, with those gorgeous eyes and that drop-dead lean body with his mountain-broad shoulders, she’d been affected on a purely hormonal level.
But Stephanie’s words warned Abby away from what she knew would be foolishness in any case. She could not get involved with any man, not yet…not until she knew for certain they were safe and her secrets were secure.
Even if she was in the market for a relationship with a man, the last kind of man she wanted was a handsome charmer with seduction on his mind.
If and when she decided to invite a man into her life, it would be a man who had the capacity to parent two wounded children, a man who could be a source of strength, support and love for Abby. She certainly didn’t need a good-looking cowboy carpenter with a reputation of being a ladies’ man.
As they ate, the diner began to fill with people, and Abby was glad she’d taken Luke’s advice and come early enough to beat what appeared to be a dinner rush in the making.
She felt the curious gazes of other diners on her and the kids and knew that probably strangers in town were a topic for gossip. It wouldn’t be long and everyone would know she was Inferno’s newest resident, and not just a passerby who had stopped in for a meal.
“How about some dessert?” Stephanie asked when they had finished the meal. “I’ve got a fresh apple pie back there that’s still warm from the oven.”
Abby looked at the kids, who both shook their heads. “I’ll take a piece, and a cup of coffee,” she said, deciding she could enjoy the pie and coffee while the kids played the jukebox.
Minutes later, the kids stood at the music maker armed with a handful of quarters, and Abby nursed her coffee and cut into the luscious-looking apple pie.
She’d just taken her first bite when Luke Delaney walked into the diner. Instantly, she felt as if the air pressure in the room subtly increased.
He paused inside the door, his long-lashed eyes scanning the room. When his gaze landed on her, a slow smile curved his lips. As he sauntered toward her, she was aware of every other woman in the room watching his progress.
He stopped at her table and smiled. “I see you got here okay.” He flickered his gaze to the empty space beside her. “Mind if I join you?”
She wanted to tell him no but found herself scooting as close to the wall as possible to allow him plenty of room to sit next to her.
“Stephanie.” He raised a hand to the waitress.
“Bring me the usual.” The waitress nodded, and Luke slid into the booth next to Abby. “Where are the munchkins?” he asked.
She pointed to the jukebox near the door where the two were feeding in coins and punching buttons. “On the cross-country drive they discovered the joys of the jukebox,” she said.
“Do they know what they’re playing? I mean, can they read the titles?”
“Jason can read a little, enough to recognize all the Alan Jackson songs.”
He laughed. “At least the kid has good taste in music.”
“You like country music?” she asked, trying to ignore the clean male scent of him that seemed to wrap around her so effectively. His body warmth seeped to her even though their bodies weren’t touching.
He turned sideways so he could look at her, his thigh suddenly pressing against hers. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no other kind of music. What about you? What’s your listening pleasure?”
She tried to focus on what he was saying and not on the sensory overload of his nearness. Despite the material of his jeans and hers, she could feel the heat of his thigh intimately against her own. “I used to enjoy old rock and roll, but when we were driving across country, there were times when we could only pick up country stations, so I have to admit, I’ve grown pretty fond of it.”
“You should come down to the Honky Tonk one night.”
“The Honky Tonk?” She was intensely aware of speculative glances being shot their direction from the other diners, particularly the female diners.
“It’s a little tavern on the north side of town. I pick a little guitar and sing there most nights.”
“Really? So you’re a singing carpenter cowboy rancher.”
“Yeah, although I’m hoping eventually I can drop carpenter cowboy rancher from my résumé.”
She looked at him in surprise. “So, you want to be a performer?” He was certainly handsome enough. She wondered if he had any talent, other than the one of seduction that Stephanie had mentioned earlier.
“In seven months’ time I’m Nashville bound,” he said, his eyes sparkling with good humor. “And in the meantime, I’ve got a front porch to build.”
She returned his smile with one of her own. “Why seven months? I mean, if Nashville and fame are your dream, then why wait to chase after it?”
Abby knew all about the danger of waiting to reach for dreams. She knew that far too often if you waited too long, fate destroyed any chance of gaining the dreams you might entertain. No, fate hadn’t destroyed her dreams, Justin Cahill had seen to that.
She shoved this thought aside and listened as Luke explained to her about his father’s will. “Anyway, the short of it is that if I don’t want my brothers and sister to lose their inheritance, then I have to hang around here for the next seven months and put in twenty-five hours a week at the family ranch.”
He grinned, that slow, lazy smile that ignited heat in the pit of her stomach. “But, with a new pretty lady in town, hanging around here isn’t going to be so bad, after all.”
“I already warned her about you, Luke Delaney.” Stephanie placed a dinner platter before him and eyed him in mock sternness. “I told her to watch out for you, that you’re a charming devil without a heart.”
Luke laughed and turned to Abby. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She knows the only reason I don’t have a heart is because she stole it from me long ago.” He turned to look at the waitress. “You know you’re the only woman for me, Stephanie.”
She slapped him on the shoulder with her order pad. “And you are utterly shameless. You drink too much, you don’t take care of yourself and you never take anything seriously.” With these words and a wry shake of her head, she turned and left their table.
“She always gives me a hard time,” he