Country Brides - Debbie Macomber [105]
“Good.” Luke’s response was clipped, detached.
Kate hesitated. From the moment he’d walked into her father’s office, she’d felt something was wrong, but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it. “Luke, what is it?”
“Nothing. I’d prefer not talking about Clay and Rorie, all right?”
“I…suppose so,” she said, feeling hurt. After an awkward moment, she attempted conversation once more. “You’ll never guess who I got a letter from today.” If Luke didn’t want to talk about Clay and Rorie, then she’d try another topic that was sure to pique his interest. “Eric Wilson. Remember him?”
A slight smile touched Luke’s mouth. “I ’m not likely to forget him. What’d he have to say?”
“He’s moved back to Portland and is talking to his ex-wife. Apparently she’s been just as miserable as he has since their divorce. It looks as if they might get back together.”
“That’s good news.”
“He asked me to give you his regards, and sends his thanks.” Kate paused. “But he didn’t say what I was supposed to thank you for?” She made the statement a question, hoping Luke would supply an answer.
“We talked.”
“Oh.”
“I told him he was wasting his time on you because you’re in love with me.”
Kate was outraged. “Luke, you didn’t! Please tell me you’re joking.”
He smiled briefly, then his eyes took on the distant look he’d been wearing a moment earlier. Kate couldn’t ignore it any longer. “Luke, please, tell me what’s bothering you.”
“What makes you think anything is?”
“You don’t seem yourself tonight.” Something in his voice puzzled her. A reserved quality. It was as if he was distancing himself from her and that was baffling. After Clay’s wedding, Luke had actually insisted they get married, and now he was treating her like some casual acquaintance.
Kate took another sip of coffee while she collected her thoughts. Luke was sitting as far away from her as he could. His shoulders were stiff and his dark eyes a shade more intense than usual. Gone was the laughing devilry she adored.
“I’ll be out of town for a few days next week,” he said abruptly. “I’m hoping to pick up a few pieces of new equipment from a wholesaler in New Mexico.”
“When will the bank close the deal on the ranch?”
Luke paused and his eyes pinned hers. “Your father and I signed all the papers the day before he married Dorothea Murphy.”
Kate felt like bolting from her chair, the shock was so great. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, her heart racing. “Why didn’t my father? I shouldn’t even be here now. This is your home. Yours. Bought and paid for and—”
“Kate.” He set his mug aside and wearily rubbed the back of his neck. “You ’re welcome to stay as long as you need. If you insist on leaving, that’s fine, too, but there’s no rush.”
She brought her hands to her cheeks, which were feverishly hot one minute, numb and cold the next. “I ’ll be out as…as soon as I can find someplace to move.”
“Kate, for heaven’s sake, why do you persist in being so stubborn?”
She shook her head, hardly understanding it herself. All she knew was that this house, which had been a part of her from the time she was born, no longer belonged to her family. Despite everything Luke said, she couldn’t stay on at the Circle L, and she had nowhere else to go.
Eight
Kate had just finished correcting a pile of math papers when her friend Linda Hutton entered her classroom. Linda’s third-grade class had been on a field trip and the two friends had missed talking at lunchtime.
“Hi,” Kate said, smiling up at her. “How ’d the tour of the jail and fire station go?”
Linda pulled up a child-size chair and sank down on it, then started massaging her temples with her fingertips. “Don ’t ask.