35
After putting Malik and Nia to bed, Edye and Luke stepped into their bedroom across the hall.
The house had finally settled.
Mostly.
Nia had argued for one more story, then one more song, then one more hug because, according to her, hugs did not count if a person was already halfway out the door.
Malik had wanted Gordon’s hat, then Luke’s hat, then no hat at all because hats were apparently not comfortable for sleeping.
By the time both children were tucked in, kissed, prayed over, watered, and warned not to get out of bed unless the house was on fire or somebody was bleeding, Edye felt like she had finished a full day’s work after dinner.
She crossed the bedroom, already reaching for the tie of her robe as she headed toward the bathroom.
Luke caught her hand.
Edye stopped and looked back.
He stood near the foot of the bed, sleeves rolled up, boots already off, his dark eyes studying her with the kind of attention that always made her feel known before she had said a word.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
His brows lifted.
Edye sighed. “I am too tired for that look.”
“I saw you at dinner.”
“I ate dinner.”
“You moved food around your plate while pretending to listen to Nia tell us why Malik should not be allowed near crayons.”
“That was an important argument. He did draw on the wall.”
“He drew one line.”
“With purple crayon.”
Luke’s mouth twitched. “Edye.”
She looked away.
He squeezed her hand gently. “You were distracted all through dinner.”
For a moment, she wanted to keep moving. To tell him she was fine and take her bath and avoid saying the thing out loud. But marriage to Luke Stanley had taught her that avoidance was rarely worth the energy. He would simply wait. Quietly. Patiently. Like a mountain with arms.
She squeezed his hand back.
“I’m worried.”
“About?”
She gave him a look.
His expression shifted slightly. “Gordon and Talia.”
“Yes.”
Luke exhaled through his nose and tugged her closer. “I wondered when that was coming.”
“So you knew I was worried?”
“I know you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It is usually close.”
She rolled her eyes, but she did not pull away.
Luke ran his thumb over her knuckles. “What part is bothering you most?”
“How close they’re getting. How quickly.
” Edye glanced toward the door, lowering her voice even though the children were across the hall and hopefully asleep.
“Gordon is just starting to open up to the fact that he belongs here. He just moved into that cottage. He just started talking about his future like he’s allowed to have one.
I do not want to see him slide back into being that lonely boy who thinks needing people is dangerous. ”
Luke’s face sobered.
“I have concerns too,” he said.
“Then why are you so calm?”
“Because one way or another, this will run its course.”
Edye pulled her hand from his. “That is supposed to comfort me?”
“It’s the truth.”
“It is a terrible truth.”
“Most of them are before you get used to them.”
She turned away, pacing toward the dresser. “If she leaves and he shuts down again, I do not know if I can watch that.”
Luke came up behind her but did not touch her right away.
Edye stared at their reflection in the dresser mirror. She saw herself with her hair loosened from its pins, her face tired, her worry too plain. Behind her, Luke stood solid and quiet, the man who had once made her believe strength could be gentle if it chose to be.
“He cares about her,” Edye said.
“Yes.”
“More than he should this soon.”
“Feelings do not ask permission to arrive.”
“That sounds like something Eli would say.”
Luke’s mouth twitched. “I can be poetic.”
“You can be stubborn in complete sentences.”
“That too.”
She did not smile.
Luke finally stepped closer and pulled her against him.
Edye went without fighting it. She rested her head on his chest, closed her eyes, and let the steady thump of his heart calm the restless ache in hers.
His hand moved slowly over her back.
“She might not leave,” he said.
Edye snorted against his shirt.
Luke looked down at the top of her head. “That was unattractive.”
“I did not mean for it to be attractive.”
“She could realize what she has with him.”
Edye pulled back enough to look at him. “The woman lied her way onto this ranch.”
“And you liked her when you first met her.”
“That was before I knew she was lying.”
“You liked her instincts. Her questions. The way she watched people.”
“I do not fully trust her.”
“I don’t either.”
“Good.”
“But I trust Gordon.”
Edye stared at him.
Luke continued, “He knows what he wants. He may not know what to do with it yet, but he knows his own mind. All we can do is be there for him if she does not return his feelings the way he hopes.”
Edye folded her arms. “You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t.”
“You make it sound like we stand back and watch him possibly get hurt.”
“We cannot love him by living his life for him.”
Her mouth tightened.
She hated when he was right in that steady, annoying way of his.
Then something else clicked into place.
She narrowed her eyes. “Wait.”
Luke’s expression became too neutral.
Edye pointed at him. “You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“You knew they were getting close, and you never said anything.”
His gaze shifted away.
“Oh, no,” she said. “Do not look toward the window like the pasture suddenly needs your attention.”
Luke sighed and dropped his head.
“Luke Stanley.”
“There was a conversation.”
“A conversation?”
“With the men.”
Edye’s eyes sharpened. “What men?”
“Dwight, Cody, Travis, Earl, Eli, Gordon, and me.”
“Where?”
“In the stable.”
“When?”
“The night Talia left dinner.”
Edye’s hands went to her hips. “And what, exactly, was discussed in this stable meeting?”
Luke rubbed the back of his neck.
That was how she knew it had been bad.
“Gordon told us he was interested in Talia beyond the article,” Luke said carefully. “He said she thought he was too young and that it was unprofessional.”
Edye stared at him.
“And?”
“And the men offered advice.”
“Oh, Lord.”
Luke’s mouth moved like he was fighting a smile.
“Do not dare grin at me,” she warned. “What advice?”
“Dwight was reasonable.”
“I expected that.”
“Cody was protective but fair.”
“Fine.”
“Earl told him to ignore most of what we said and ask the women.”
“Earl is the only one with sense.”
“Eli was Eli.”
“That means either charming or dangerous.”
“Both.”
“And Travis?”
Luke hesitated.
Edye closed her eyes. “I do not want to know.”
“Probably not.”
She opened them again. “And you never thought to mention this?”
“I was going to.”
“When? Their wedding day?”
Luke gave her a look. “Edye.”
“No. You had a secret stable meeting about Gordon’s romantic interest in the reporter who lied her way into our ranch, and you decided I did not need to know?”
“I did not decide that.”
“You failed to correct my ignorance.”
“That sounds like something Daniel would say in court.”
“Daniel would be right.”
Luke reached for her again, but she stepped back.
He stopped, wise enough not to push too soon.
“Gordon is in love with her,” he said.
The words quieted the room.
Edye’s irritation faltered.
Luke looked at her, all humor gone. “The way I was with you.”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
He took a slow step closer. “Do you remember how hard it was for us to get out of our own way and let things happen?”
Edye looked down.
Of course she remembered.
She remembered coming to Sunset Springs determined to retrieve her sister and leave.
She remembered telling herself Luke Stanley was too arrogant, too settled, too impossible to trust with her life.
She remembered the pull between them, the arguments, the heat, the way he looked at her as if he could see through all her reasons and still wanted her anyway.
She remembered trying to keep control until love made control look foolish.
Luke’s voice softened. “Every couple on this ranch had drama before they figured out there was no real life without the person they loved.”
Edye glanced up. “Every couple?”
“Yes.”
“Even Amy and Brad?”
“Especially Amy and Brad.”
She smiled despite herself.
Luke’s mouth curved. “Wyatt would have been happy to admire LaRiah, but she knew what he was worth. Eli and Rose had enough secrets to drown a man. Cody had to wait for Sierra to get over her hatred of white men. Dwight had thirteen years of truth waiting on him. Sterling and Brenda had a whole lifetime between them before they found their way back.”
Edye sighed. “And Gordon and Talia have a newspaper article and an age difference.”
“And fear.”
Her smile faded.
Luke nodded. “Mostly fear.”
Edye looked toward the hall, where the children slept, then back at him. “Fear can make people cruel.”
“It can.”
“I do not think she means to be.”
“I don’t either.”
“But she could still hurt him.”
“Yes.”
The honesty cut, but she appreciated it more than false reassurance.
Luke stepped closer. This time, she let him take her hand.
“We will watch,” he said. “We will not interfere unless we have to. And if she leaves him broken, we will help him stand again.”
Edye swallowed.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“You should have told me about the stable.”
“Yes.”
“I am still annoyed.”
“I know that too.”
He was close now.
Too close for her to hold onto irritation with any real strength.
Then he added under his breath, “Typically, it is the women who make it hard, but they all come around eventually.”
Edye’s eyes widened.
“Excuse me?”
Luke’s face went far too innocent. “I said nothing.”
“You said something.”
“I might have breathed.”
“You said the women make it hard.”
He took one slow step toward her.
Edye stepped back.
A smile tugged at her mouth before she could stop it.
Luke saw it.
His eyes warmed with that dark, wicked amusement that still had the power to make her knees remember they were only decorative.
“Well,” he said, moving toward her with the patient focus of a man stalking something he already knew belonged in his arms, “I remember one woman in particular who made it very hard.”
Edye backed toward the bed, lifting one hand between them. “Luke Stanley, choose your next words with care.”
“I am.”
“Are you saying I made things difficult?”
“You made things impossible.”
“I was being sensible.”
“You were being stubborn.”
“I was protecting myself.”
“You were running.”
Her back met the bedpost.
Luke stopped in front of her, close enough that she had to tip her chin up.
“And what were you doing?” she asked, arching a brow. “Being noble?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I was trying to get you in my bed so you would get with the program.”
Edye gasped, then laughed. “Luke!”
He grinned, and the years slipped away so easily that for one heartbeat they were back at the beginning, all sparks and stubbornness and hunger too big to hide.
“So you seduced me into falling for you?” she asked.
His eyes dropped to her mouth. “Yes.”
She barely had time to laugh before he lunged.
Luke caught her around the waist, lifted her over his shoulder, and turned from the bedpost like she weighed nothing.
“Luke Stanley!”
He smacked her backside once, not hard enough to hurt, just enough to make her gasp through her laughter.
“And maybe,” he said, carrying her toward the bed, “you need to be reminded why you’re wearing my ring and my last name.”
Edye giggled, holding onto the back of his shirt. “You are ridiculous.”
“I am your husband.”
“You are both.”
He lowered her onto the bed with surprising gentleness considering the caveman display that had gotten her there. Then he braced one hand beside her hip and leaned over her.
For a moment, the laughter faded into something softer.
Something familiar and cherished.
His eyes searched hers. “Still worried?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“About Gordon?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll help him if he needs us.”
“I know.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Her hands slid up his chest. “Then I suppose we let him find his way.”
Luke bent and kissed her, slow and deep, stealing the last of her argument with practiced ease.
Edye let him.
Because sometimes he was infuriating.
Sometimes he was too calm when she needed him to be alarmed. Sometimes he kept stable meetings from her and thought he could get away with it. Sometimes he said exactly the wrong thing and then had the nerve to make her laugh.
But he was also the man who had loved her through every fear.
The man who had given her a ranch, a family, a life, and a table big enough for every wounded soul who needed a place.
So when Luke kissed his way along her jaw and murmured something wicked against her ear, Edye closed her eyes and let him seduce her all over again.