Scarlett closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, no, no,” she whispered. She didn’t want to find him better looking than ever, more appealing. Breathtakingly sexy. She didn’t want her heartbeat to race. All of that manifested itself, leaving her gasping as if she were sixteen again, lusting like a starry-eyed schoolgirl over the most irresistible boy in Texas.
Little reminders of Luke still popped up in her life, but for all these years since he’d left Royal, she had ignored them. So she had thought she was totally over him, but how wrong that was. All he had to do was step out of his pickup and stride up to the porch, and she was ready to either melt into a quivering mess, or run and throw herself into his arms.
She didn’t want him to come back to town and cause that kind of reaction simply by laying eyes on him. When he looked at her, he felt something, too. She knew him well enough to know he’d had a reaction to seeing her, which just compounded her desire for him.
Could she work a few hours with him on his ranch and keep a wall around her feelings? She never wanted to suffer through another heartbreak over Luke like she had when he’d left Texas all those years ago. She had cried herself to sleep every night for more than a month.
Scarlett hurried to the closet to grab her new jeans and a shirt she liked, and then she looked down at the clothes in her hands. Whoa...what had gotten into her? Dressing better because of Luke was just asking for trouble.
“Nope, not happening,” she said aloud and shoved the jeans and blouse back in the closet. She couldn’t resist looking at herself in the mirror, though, and running a comb through her short hair. She guessed there weren’t any women he took out in California who had freckles and pixie haircuts. She sighed because it wouldn’t matter how she looked, she wasn’t the woman for Luke. She wasn’t risking her heart a second time because he would never make her a permanent part of his life. She had little Carl to think of now and how what she did would affect him.
Hurrying to her office, she tried to focus on what she might need at his ranch as she grabbed her bag.
Before she left she paused, pressing her forehead against the wall. “Don’t let him break your heart again. Take care of the animals and then come home. Treat him as if you’re with a stranger,” she whispered and then shook her head as she hurried out of her room. Who was she kidding? She knew she couldn’t heed her own advice, but if she could just remember he was totally off-limits and keep her guard up, she might avoid more heartache. He hadn’t loved her before—now he definitely never would since he was completely out of her league. She knew he was the newest addition to Forbes’s billionaire list. Luke could have any woman he wanted, she was sure. In fact, she had seen his occasional picture in magazines or the news and knew he dated gorgeous celebrities and some very beautiful socialites.
Holding her bag of instruments, medications and ointments, she rushed out. Luke leaned against his pickup and was looking down at his phone. She couldn’t keep from stealing a glance down the length of him, admiring his broad shoulders, his narrow waist and his long legs. When he saw her, he jammed his phone into a back pocket. He straightened and his gaze drifted slowly over her as she approached him, and all her advice to herself to pay little attention to him evaporated.
Everywhere his gaze drifted over her, she tingled. Part of her wanted to turn around and go right back to the house and lock the door. Part of her wanted to yell at him to get off their property and go straight to hell because he had hurt her badly. Yet another, more urgent, part of her just wanted to rush into Luke’s arms, pull his head down and kiss him senselessly. She sucked in a breath, and her hand tightened on the handle of her bag while she struggled to think about something besides Luke, his hands and mouth and her pounding heart.
He opened the door to the truck for her, and when she came close, he reached to take the black bag from her. When his big, warm hand closed on hers, she thought her knees would buckle. It was the first time in years—since he’d left for college—that he touched her, and the slight contact sent a sizzling current racing to settle low inside her. Longing rocked her, and she had to take a deep breath and clench her fists.
“I’ll put your things in back,” he said, his voice raspy, which happened when he was aroused. She couldn’t answer him and merely nodded. They knew each other so well. He knew she was having a reaction to being with him, and she knew he was having his own reaction to her. That made the moment hotter and more intense, and kept dredging up memories of their lovemaking when he had lived in Texas.
Again, he took her arm to help her into the pickup—help she didn’t want or need. Help that made her quiver and have to fight more memories of his hands on her. When he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, she inhaled deeply and watched him. A breeze tousled his dark blond hair over his forehead. He looked sexy, more handsome than ever—something she didn’t want to acknowledge. Luke was tall, with scruffy stubble on his jaw, and he had gorgeous blue-green eyes, broad, powerful shoulders and well-shaped hands. Hands that could carry her to paradise. In short, Luke was a fantasy come to life.
He slid behind the wheel, closed the door and started the pickup, glancing at her. He sat too close, looked too enticing. “Thanks, Scarlett,” he said in a husky voice that still wasn’t his normal speaking voice and she knew it.
She nodded. “Let’s get this over with,” she said curtly, staring out the front window, fighting to ignore him as much as possible. What was happening to her? She was over him, over the hurt he caused when he left for California and said goodbye without a second thought. The old familiar anger and pain made her sit up straight and look out the window as he drove away from the house.
“Stop at the barn, and we can get some bales of hay,” she said.
“I did. They’re in the back of the truck. I loaded up hay and feed, and then drove back to your house to wait for you.” He spared her a quick glance. “I’ll reimburse you for everything. I appreciate not having to go back to town to get supplies. I’m guessing there’s nothing at the ranch—just on the drive in, the place looked abandoned. There were signs of vandals, and the animals have been left to die,” he said gruffly. “I was just there a few minutes, but it’s clear I have a catastrophe on my hands. I want to save what animals we can.”
Scarlett knew Luke so well that she could tell he was angry with his father. When they drove past the barn on her family ranch, she stared ahead, sitting stiffly, fighting yet another wave of memories.
“You still have the big barn,” he rasped.
“We’re not going down memory lane,” she snapped without looking at him. But she was already down it. Her fingers knotted and she fought the urge to glance again at the barn she saw every day of her life, yet it held special memories of an unforgettable night.
Her whole family had been away for a barn dance. Early in the evening, Luke had coaxed her to leave with him. They had gone back to her place because everyone had gone to the party. Instead of driving to the house, Luke had stopped at the barn. The minute they stepped inside, he pulled her into his arms to kiss her. Later, he spread a blanket on the hayloft and drew her to him again to make love to her, her first time.
Looking away from the barn, she tried to think of something else and forget that night so long ago, forget memories of his slow, sweet kisses that made her want him with her whole being, memories of his strong arms around her, his mouth on her, his seductive hands all over her body.
“How are your mom, and Toby and his wife?”
“They’re fine,” she answered, glancing at him. “Toby and Naomi have a little girl, Ava.” While Luke watched the road, her gaze swept over him, once again taking in the short stubble that covered his jaw, his tousled, dark blond hair that she could remember running her fingers through too many times to count. His shoulders were broader now,