Deceived (14 page)

“If you needed money, Mel, you should've told me.”

“Why?” Melanie shot back. “So you can continue to throw money at a ranch that offers you nothing in return? You give every cent of profit to Dad.”

“It offers me more than you know,” he assured her.

“Look, Luke,” Melanie said on a sigh, “I appreciate all you do for us. I know you paid far more for this land than it was worth just so Dad would have some security. It's not about the money. You're not
here
all the time. Stuff comes up, things need to be repaired. You have a mare getting ready to foal any day. But you know Dad can't handle things anymore, not since his stroke. I'm managing both ranches, and I can't do it on my own.”

“How many more hands do you need to hire?” Luke asked. Sarah could hear in his voice that he wasn't a fan of that option.

“Three,” Melanie said. “I've already posted the jobs, and I'll start interviews in a few days. But, more importantly, I need to hire another ranch manager who can help me out with your place when you're not around.”

Luke cursed under his breath. “How are you vetting these people?”

“Same way as always. No one is hired without a complete background check through whatever organization it is that you use.”

At that moment, Luke turned his gaze toward where Sarah stood, and she got the impression that he'd known she was standing there all along. His eyes narrowed a little as if he was studying her, silently trying to determine whether she was going to be okay after the bombshell he'd dropped on her.

She offered him a tentative smile. “Sorry to interrupt. Should I come back?”

“No,” Melanie said, sending Luke a pointed look. “I need to get back to work. Davis and Dad will be here for dinner, by the way. I'll bring dessert.”

Luke's mouth compressed into a grim line. “Melanie—”

But before he could finish his sentence, his stepsister had slipped out the kitchen door. Sarah immediately missed the other woman's presence as an awkward silence fell between them.

Finally, needing to break the tension, she said, “So, I've been thinking about what you said . . . about Eli needing to feel empowered.”

His gaze snapped toward her. “Yeah?”

“And I've decided I'm okay with you teaching Eli how to defend himself,” she told him. “I just want you to discuss it with me first, okay?” When he gave her a terse nod, she cleared her throat and took a couple of steps further into the kitchen. “And I'd like you to teach me as well.”

He studied her for another moment then slowly nodded. “Okay. But why the change of heart?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. “Because I'm tired of everyone else treating me like I'm too precious and delicate to handle the truth. It seems you're the first person who's had the . . . the
balls
to actually be honest with me, Luke.”

He grimaced a little at her statement and dropped his gaze. “Sarah . . .”

She closed the space between them and took his hand in both of hers, not willing to let him back out. “I want you to teach me everything you know.”

His gaze came up at this, oddly tortured. “You don't want to know everything I do. Trust me.”

The sorrow and regret she saw in his eyes was heartbreaking. “Okay,” she said. “Then just teach me what you can in the time we have.”

“We'll start tomorrow,” he said.

She frowned at him. “Why not today?”

He heaved a sigh. “Because it looks like we're going to have to go into town today. Apparently, we're having guests tonight.”

Luke could feel his muscles growing tenser with each mile as they drew closer to town. He'd been able to avoid making many trips in since building his haven, depending on Mel to get what he needed as the caretaker for the ranch and ordering all the rest online, then having it shipped to another property the Alliance owned a few miles away.

“You okay?” Sarah asked, startling him out of his thoughts as they drove down Main Street.

He shifted in his seat and shrugged. “Yeah, I'm good. I just don't come here often anymore.”

“Why not?” Eli asked.

The back of Luke's neck began to ache. “I got into a lot of trouble when I was a teenager. Let's leave it at that.”

“A lot of trouble” was an understatement. It was damned lucky for Luke that his stepfather was so well-respected or Luke's ass probably would've ended up rotting in prison with a record that would've doomed his future before it'd even gotten started.

“But that was years ago,” Sarah pointed out. “I'm sure they've forgotten about that by now.”

Luke grunted. “You'd think so. But local police in a small town aren't about to forget about a kid who was picked up for trespassing, underage drinking, destruction of property ... take your pick. And that was before my mom died. It got worse after.”

To his surprise, Sarah reached across the space between them and briefly squeezed his hand. “But not now. You're a different man.”

He pulled into one of the few parking spots that lined the street in front of the town's only grocery store. It was little more than a convenience store really. Most folks drove an hour or more to one of the larger towns in the area and stocked up, and as soon as Luke got out of the SUV, he immediately regretted not doing the same.

“Well, I'll be damned! Luke Rogan.”

Luke clenched his jaw as he helped Sarah out of the vehicle and tried to keep his expression neutral when he gave the sheriff a terse nod in greeting. “Ellis.”

The man had gone completely gray since Luke's last visit to town and had added probably twenty pounds. “Been a while.”

Luke took Sarah's hand in his and started toward the store. “Yep.”

“Aren't you going to introduce your lady friend?” Sheriff Ellis called. “Don't recall the last time I saw you with a woman who wasn't—”

“This is Sarah and her son Eli,” Luke interrupted, giving the man a warning look.

Sarah left his side and immediately stepped toward Sheriff Ellis, extending her hand and offering him a bright smile. “It's so lovely to meet you,” she said. “Luke was just telling me about how much of an impact you had on his life. It sounds like your concern and guidance were invaluable in helping him get on the right path.”

Sheriff Ellis blinked at her for a moment, then narrowed his eyes a little, studying her as if trying to determine whether she was being sincere. “We do what we can to help the youth of our town,” he said, his tone cautious. “But I gotta say, I never expected Rogan to turn into a family man.”

Sarah turned back to Luke, reclaiming his hand and urging him back to her side. “He's one of the best men I've ever known.”

Luke's conscience nut-punched him at her praise. “It was good to see you, Ellis,” he said, urging Sarah back toward the store's entrance and jerking his head at Eli to follow.

“You see Jim yet?” Ellis called after them. “When you do, give him my best.”

Luke ground his teeth together to keep from telling the sheriff to mind his own fucking business. The last thing he needed was to get into it with the guy when he was trying to keep a low profile. Instead, he called back, “You bet.”

“What was that about?” Sarah asked sotto voce as they made their way into the store.

Luke shook his head with a covert glance toward Eli. “I'll fill you in later.”

Sarah let the subject drop and helped him come up with ingredients for a decent meal that evening; within half an hour, he was stowing the groceries in the back of the SUV. “We've got one more stop to make,” Luke told Sarah. “I need to pick something up.”

“Hey, Luke, could we go take a look at that store?” Eli asked, pointing across the street. “I want to get something for Master Chief.”

Luke grimaced when he saw where Eli was pointing. It was a gourmet bakery for pets—one of the town's few concessions to the trendy. “You named the dog after a character in
Halo?
”

“Not just
any
character,” Eli pointed out. “It's Master Chief. He's totally bada—I mean, he's totally cool.”

Luke sighed.
Yeah, he was definitely getting a dog.

“You go ahead and pick up what you need,” Sarah told him. “Eli and I can check out the bakery.”

“Mine can wait,” Luke insisted. And it probably should. Picking up condoms from the local drug store—just in case—was probably asking for trouble. At least if he didn't have any protection on hand, he'd have a reason not to allow himself to give in to temptation with Sarah. Plus, it was damned presumptuous of him to think she'd even be willing. Still waging an internal debate, he added, “I'm not letting you go alone.”

Sarah cocked her head to one side and gave him a chastising look. “Luke, seriously. What is going to happen? No one knows where we are. It'll be fine.”

He surveyed the street, searching for anything suspicious, anyone who didn't look like they fit in, any cars that seemed out of place. But before he could respond, Sarah added, “Luke, I need a few minutes of normalcy. Please.”

He exhaled a sharp breath, not wanting to deny her that, all things considered. “Fine. Ten minutes. I'll meet you back here. Don't go anywhere but the bakery.”

He watched them cross the street and waited until they were in the bakery before he turned up his collar against the cold and snow that was falling again and made his way down the street.

* * *

“Come on, sweetie, make a decision,” Sarah prompted, offering an apologetic smile to the woman behind the counter.

“I want to make sure it's something Chief will like,” Eli reminded her.

Sarah strolled around the little bakery, browsing the shelves to fill the time. As she passed the window, she happened to catch a glimpse of their SUV. A man in a denim jacket was checking it out, trying to look nonchalant. In fact, had she not been looking for danger ever since the Fall Festival, she probably wouldn't have even noticed.

“I'm going to get these, okay, Mom?” Eli called.

Sarah fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed the first number programmed into it. Luke answered almost instantly. “Sarah? What's wrong?”

“There's a man in a denim jacket checking out the Expedition,” she told him. “Where are you?”

“On my way back,” he said in a rush, his voice sounding like he was already in motion. “Stay where you are.”

Sarah pocketed her phone just as Luke came into view, his broad shoulders rolling as he stalked forward. In the next moment, he tackled the guy against the hood of the SUV and had him in a headlock. Out of the corner of her eye, Sarah saw a woman who was heading to a nearby car take a few stumbling steps backward and frantically fish her phone out of her purse.

Sarah cursed under her breath, calling over her shoulder as she threw open the bakery's door. “Eli, stay here!”

She raced across the street toward where Luke was wrenching the guy's arm behind him. As she approached, the woman with the cell phone was yelling hysterically at whoever was on the other end of the line.

“Who's the ‘One True Master'?” Luke growled at the man as she reached his side.

“Hell if I know, man!” the guy yelled.

Luke wrenched his arm higher. “
Who is it?
”

“Shit, man, I don't know!” the guy whimpered. “
You
are?”

“Luke, stop!” Sarah cried. “It's a mistake! I made a mistake!”

Luke released the man and took a step back, his expression deadly, his body still at the ready to take the guy out should he make even the slightest move toward Sarah.

“What the fuck?” the guy spat.

“It's my fault,” Sarah told him, turning to the terrified woman, who came rushing to check out the man. “I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I thought you were breaking into our vehicle. I'm sorry. He was just protecting us.”

Luke raked a hand through his hair and let fly a juicy stream of curses, then raised his hands and laced his fingers behind his head before getting down on his knees. Confused, Sarah turned to see two sheriff's cars arriving.

“On the right path, huh?” Sheriff Ellis drawled a few moments later as his deputy cuffed Luke and dragged him to his feet so he could pat him down.

“Got a gun,” the deputy remarked, removing a handgun from the small of Luke's back.

“Permit's in my wallet,” Luke assured him.

“This is all my fault,” Sarah pleaded. “I saw this man looking in our car—”

“Jesus, lady!” the guy cried, holding the woman close. “We're having a baby and are thinking about getting an SUV. I was just checking it out.”

Sarah covered her face with her hands for a moment, feeling like a paranoid idiot. “I'm terribly sorry.
Please,
don't arrest Luke, Sheriff Ellis. I'm begging you.”

The sheriff looked at the man Luke had assaulted, his brows lifted in silent question. The guy muttered under his breath, then said, “Fine. Whatever. But, shit, dial it down a notch, dude.”

The sheriff jerked his chin at his deputy. “Go ahead and take their statement so we can file our reports.”

As soon as they were out of earshot, the sheriff pegged Luke with a pointed look. “I've known you a long time, Rogan. Seen you through some serious shit—especially after your mom died. But what the
hell
is going on? You could've broken that guy's arm.”

“Just a misunderstanding,” Luke said, shrugging off the sheriff's concern. “Won't happen again.”

“That's a bit more than a misunderstanding, son,” Ellis told him.

Sarah stepped closer to Luke, taking his arm. “Thank you for understanding, Sheriff,” she said, offering him her sweetest smile but feeling it waver under his scrutiny. “If it's all right with you, I'd just like to get my son and go home.”

Not waiting for his reply, Sarah hurried back to the bakery to find Eli standing at the window watching the entire incident, wide-eyed. “How much do we owe you for the dog cookies?” she asked the woman behind the counter.

But the woman waved her off, giving her a sympathetic look. “It's okay, honey. They're on the house.” Then she subtly nodded toward the window. “You have any more trouble, you know you can come to anyone in town for help. Or ask for me. My name's Nancy.”

Sarah gaped at the woman's implication. Did the woman seriously think Luke would harm her? “I'm fine,” Sarah assured her, offended on Luke's behalf. “There's no need to be concerned. But thank you for the treats.”

Sarah grabbed Eli's hand and pulled him from the store, her heart hammering. She'd screwed up. It was that simple. Luke had wanted them to keep a low profile, to not draw too much attention to themselves. And what had she done? Overreacted like some freaking drama queen, and he was the one whose reputation was paying the price.

But, to his credit, when she got back in the SUV, Luke didn't make a single rebuke. In fact, he didn't say a word during the entire ride back to the ranch. It was only after they'd finished unloading and putting away the groceries that Luke finally spoke.

“Hey, Eli, why don't you take Chief outside to play for a few minutes,” he suggested. “I need to talk to your mom.”

Eli bolted toward the front door, the gangly-legged puppy bounding after him. As soon as she heard the front door slam, Sarah said in a rush as he strode toward her, “Luke, I don't even know what to say. I'm so sorry about what happened today—”

But her words were abruptly cut off when Luke took her face in his hands and claimed her mouth in a harsh kiss—the kind of kiss she'd imagined the first time she'd seen him stalking through the crowd at the festival. She was too stunned to respond at first, but then she was kissing him back, her lips clinging to his in the all too brief moment before he lifted his head.

He cursed softly, letting his gaze drop. “Jesus, Sarah. When you called and I thought another one of those assholes had found you and Eli . . . I kinda lost my shit. But I'm sorry—I shouldn't have kissed you earlier today or just now. It's a dick move. I just . . . I'm sorry.”

“I'm not,” she said, the words coming out before she could stop them. She added in a rush to explain, “I mean, it's been a long time since anyone has kissed me. Not since my husband . . . and it was . . . nice.”

He lifted his eyes at this, and her breath caught in her lungs as she forgot to breathe. He wanted her. She could see it in his eyes as he gazed down at her, could feel it in the heat between them, in the tension building in the air in the small space that separated them. But she could also feel his restraint, his determination not to give in to the desire they clearly both felt. And based on the conversation with Eli they'd had the other day on the way to the ranch, she realized Luke wasn't going to give in to that desire—not without her permission. And somehow that made her want him even more.

“So,” she murmured, stepping closer, “I guess what I'm saying is that I
want
you to kiss me.”