If Luke didn’t claim his daughter, she’d become a ward of the state. A foster child. Unwanted. Deserted by the only two people who had cared for her.
He wouldn’t let that happen. Not if she were really his child.
Clutching the letter, Luke sat down on a desk chair that creaked in protest. Of all the things that could have happened to him, of all the twists and turns of his life, this was the most incredible.
He’d never thought about having children. And if he ever did decide to, he certainly would have expected them far, far into the future. Not this month, on a ranch that was barely functional. Not a girl, for pity’s sake, and one already eight years old.
He didn’t know what to do. Except that he would go to Florida to see her, and if she was indeed his daughter, he would claim her as his own.
Paul, Shelby and Marlena burst through the door, laughing and chatting, bringing Luke back to the present. He placed the letter, printed side down, on the desk.
“Say, we’re getting hungry. Is there a place to go out around here? Beer’s on me,” Paul said.
“Shultze’s Roadhouse is on the state highway, just a couple of miles from here,” Luke replied, still seated. He glanced again at Brittany’s photo, leaning against the lamp. She resembled him, he realized. That’s why she’d seemed so familiar. She had his coloring and his eyes. Her mouth and wavy hair were Shawna’s.
“Hey, who’s that?” Shelby asked.
“She’s…that’s Brittany.”
“Cute kid. A relative?”
Luke looked up at his friends. They were completely out of place here in Ranger Springs, just as he was completely out of place as a father. But still, that’s what he was—most probably—and he’d darn well better get used to it.
“She’s my daughter,” he said simply.
“Oh. Oh, wow.” Marlena appeared almost as stunned as he felt. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”
“A daughter. She’s eight.” He picked up the photo and stared at Brittany’s image again, a slow smile forming. “I didn’t know either, until today.” He got up from the chair and turned to Paul. “You guys go on without me. I have to get my ranch ready for a little girl.”
“You sure?” Paul asked. “We could have a good time.”
“I’m sure. It’s been good seeing you again, but things have changed.” He looked down at Brittany’s photo again, thinking about his ranch, his responsibilities, and his vow to live a quiet, low-key life. “Everything has changed.”
AS SHE STOOD on her small balcony watching the sun set over the trees between her brother’s property and Luke Simon’s ranch, Kate mentally kicked herself for her earlier behavior. She’d come across as an incompetent mother for not keeping Eddie at home, not to mention a klutz as she stumbled out of the tree line and into Luke’s little party. They might even think she was a snoop, since she had been listening and watching a private rendezvous. To top it off, she’d offended the grasping Baywatch-like blonde who had almost gotten her hands on Eddie. Kate couldn’t believe that when she’d faced Luke Simon up close, her brain had just stopped working, unable to communicate anything intelligent to her mouth. How she had to have seemed to him and his visitors!
Okay, so Luke Simon’s friends’ opinions of her shouldn’t matter all that much. But she really didn’t want to offend him, especially because Eddie consistently violated the neighborly boundaries. Having a child continually ignore his warnings, plus having that child’s mother invade his privacy, wasn’t any way to welcome a newcomer to town.
Not that she should be a one-woman welcoming committee. She certainly wasn’t on par with the other women in his life. The blonde and the redhead were stunning. They might not be natural beauties, but they were gorgeous nonetheless. He probably knew plenty of Hollywood actors and actresses, and they were far removed from regular people in a small town—except her sister-in-law, Jodie, of course, who was both famous and beautiful.
But Kate knew she was an ordinary-looking divorced mother, one who was barely coping on her own. The last thing—the very last thing—she should do was dwell on her unwilling fascination with their bad-boy neighbor.
Okay, maybe now he appeared more like a cowboy than a biker, but he projected a devil-may-care persona that was completely foreign to her. She’d never known anyone like Luke Simon. She’d never dated anyone remotely as daring and attractive as him. She’d always gone for proper and dependable—and look how well that had turned out!—so why did she think of him so often?
Probably because she was at the point in her life where she’d been forced to change. If Ed hadn’t misused his clients’ money and had an affair, she would have continued with the marriage, at least for Eddie’s sake. Her marriage to Ed hadn’t been even close to exciting in the last few years, but she’d grown accustomed to the blandness and the comfort. Now she was suddenly single and broke, over thirty and starting a new life, and why wouldn’t she be attracted to Luke Simon? He was, like a movie star or fictional character, compelling from afar. She had no intention of getting any closer than the boundary of his fence.
With a sigh, Kate pushed away from the railing at the top of the stairs. The sun was setting, the day almost over, and she had to talk to Eddie about his behavior. She had to make him understand that fences were important barriers—for children and their mothers!
AFTER PAUL, SHELBY and Marlena left the ranch for Shultze’s Roadhouse and to hopefully find a place to stay for the night, Luke got on the phone to check for flights into the Orlando area. Brittany lived in a small town nearby the theme-oriented center of Florida. He wondered if she liked Mickey and the gang, or if she cared more for the new characters he saw on television. Or if she liked video games or stuffed animals more, if she went to movies or would rather play outside.
Maybe there were things kids did that he couldn’t even imagine. He knew nothing of those new MP3 players, for example, and could barely operate a computer. There wasn’t much of a need for high-tech skills in animal training and stunt work. He happily left that stuff to the business types who invested in horses or breeding stock and the movie special-effects folks.
He picked up the phone and dialed his friend Hank, whose land adjoined Travis Whitaker’s to the west. Luke breathed a sigh of relief when Hank answered after the second ring.
“Hank, it’s Luke.”
“What’s up? You getting your zoo all settled in?”
“Yeah, the animals are doing great. Something else has come up, though, and I need your help.”
“Sure, buddy. What can I do for you?”
“I’m going to need some repairs and changes made to the house over here, and I’m going to need them fast. I don’t have any idea who to call.”
“What’s the rush?”
Luke ran a hand around his aching neck. The tension was getting to him. “I just got some news that changed my plans.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Apparently I have an eight-year-old daughter.”
“Wow. How did that happen?”
Luke chuckled. “The usual way. One man, one woman, faulty birth control.” He’d believed Shawna was on the pill when he’d revealed he had no protection. Now he wasn’t sure what to think.
“Yeah,