The Rancher's Virgin Acquisition(22)

His words shocked Emma out of the sexual stupor she had fallen into as pleasure exploded within. She tried to turn in his arms to face him. "But--"

She was interrupted by a loud voice coming from the front of the barn. "Boss? You in there?"

She heard Luke swear under his breath, and his hands dropped from her. "Yeah, back here."

Cody walked to the opening of the stall and tried to see while his eyes were still trying to adjust to the dimness of the interior of the barn. "We got trouble, Luke."

Emma was still standing close and she felt a different kind of tension enter his body as he steeled himself for the news. "What's wrong?"

"Jesse's down. That bull from Monroe's finally got him."

"Shit. How bad?"

"Don't know. He got it in the thigh, and it's bleeding pretty bad, but it don't look like it hit an artery."

"Where's he at?"

"Bunkhouse was closest. Miss Maria's with him now and seems to have a good hand on it."

"I'll be there in five minutes." Luke dismissed the other man as he turned back to Emma. "I'm sorry, we'll have to go out another day."

"Yes, of course." Emma couldn't even feel disappointed at the prospect of not going riding. She was too worried about Maria and Jesse. "Can I help?"

"You know anything about stitching wounds?" He asked her as he began leading her from the barn.

"No, I don't. I don't want to get in the way, but you might need me to help. I'm not scared of the sight of blood."

"Maria won't want to leave his side. You'll be a help to her if I can tell her you have everything handled at the house. Feeding me, keeping the house clean for the next few days, that stuff."

"Yes, of course. I'll see you later, then." She began to walk in the direction of the house but he continued to follow her when she expected him to turn and go toward the outbuildings.

"I'll get you home first."

"Don't be silly. I can get there by myself."

"I'm not ever silly, Emma. I won't be able to concentrate on what needs doing if I don't know you're safe."

"But I--"

"Shut up and walk." Emma gasped and stumbled as Luke reached out and slapped her on the bottom as he made that statement.

"Damn it! I'm sorry." He reached out with his strong arms and Emma thought he was going to steady her, but he swung her up in his grasp and began walking with quick strides toward the house.

"Put me down. I can walk. You don't have to carry me."

"Maybe I want to carry you." His voice was deep and held a degree of what could have been surprise.

"Maybe I don't want you to carry me," she argued just for the sake of arguing. She couldn't deny she loved the feel of his arms around her.

"You know darlin', any other time you want to squabble with me about inconsequential issues I'll be happy to oblige you, but Jesse needs me and I got somewhere to be so just shut those pretty lips and hang on."

Emma did as she was told and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Within minutes, and much faster than she could have gotten there on her own steam, he dropped her to her feet in front of the back door and opened it for her.

"Can you cook?" He questioned as she stood in front of him.

"Better than some. I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

His demeanor became serious. "Don't go outside and don't burn the house down." He lifted her chin with one finger and stared down at her with molten eyes. "I don't want to have to worry about you. Not when you still owe me." With that, he turned and walked off.

It took Emma only a moment to figure out what he meant and by that time, he was already gone. She watched him for a long moment, hoping against hope that Jesse would be all right, that Maria did indeed have it under control, and with a small streak of guilt, that Luke would be home in time for supper.



Luke wasn't home in time for supper, and after storing the meal away in the ice box that was as fancy as any she'd seen in the city, Emma went to her room for the night. She paced the floor until her leg began to ache. The doctors had always told her that exercise was good for it, so she paced some more.

And then finally, she had no choice but to stop.

She left her door open, turned the lantern down as low as the wick would allow, and crawled under the sheets in her nightgown. She said her prayers, and then some extra ones for Jesse, and then tried to fall asleep. Her mind kept imagining what the gash in Jesse's thigh looked like, and then she'd start thinking about the way Luke had made her feel in the barn. She tried everything to fall asleep. She counted backwards from one hundred, but that was incredibly boring and she gave up at eighty-five. She tried counting sheep. But that didn't work and she gave up trying to sleep and just let her mind drift.

Over and over her mind played back the moment when Luke's hand pushed between her thighs and cupped her intimately.

It was late by the time she finally fell asleep.

She thought she was still dreaming when she felt Luke's lips against hers. But she knew she wasn't when the side of the bed sagged where he sat down beside her, his body turned toward hers. His arm reached across her and fell lightly on her stomach.

She was groggy, still half asleep, but she knew he was there.

He leaned in and kissed her again. His lips were soft but firm, and they never tried to penetrate the interior of her mouth. They brushed against hers, back and forth. "Good night, Emma," he said in a whisper.

"Good night," she mumbled against the lips that had returned to hers.

He lifted his hand and ran his finger down her cheek, then down to her chin, and then slowly to her neck, until it landed in the valley between her breasts. His fingers spread out, his thumb touching her right breast, and his fingers touching the left one.

His lips continued the slow stroke back and forth as he gently kissed her again and again. "Goodnight," he whispered.

"Goodnight," she softly responded, not quite awake enough to understand he was claiming part of his bet.

With great reluctance, knowing he needed to let her sleep, Luke stood up and walked to the door. He had his hand on the knob when she lifted from her pillow.

"Is Jesse all right?" Her voice was groggy, but coherent.

"Yeah," he rasped out. "We got him stitched up. Cody was right, it didn't hit an artery, thank God. He's running a low fever, but with any luck, Maria should be able to keep it down."

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" his voice sounded grim.

"I--I don't know." Her words were hesitant.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep." His voice was deep, hypnotic in the late hours of the night.

He studied her from across the room, and the terrifying realization washed over her, that although he hadn't voiced the exact words earlier when they were in the barn, he was right; she was in danger of giving her heart to him. She tried to steady her racing pulse. "I made your supper, but I put it in the ice box."

"I ate at the bunkhouse. We can have it tomorrow."

The matter of fact words didn't give her much to go on. "Goodnight, Luke."

His eyes ran over her in silence for another few pulsing seconds. "Goodnight, Emma."

Luke shut the door and she lay back down on her pillow and shut her eyes. The strong cadence of his voice still ringing in her ears, the taste of his lips still on hers, and the memory of him telling her that there would never be a future for them together was a direct warning that was causing pain in her heart.

It was a long, long time before she finally fell back into a restless sleep.



Emma didn't expect to see Maria the next day and she was right. Luke slept in later than she did, obviously tired from the day and night before. She wasted no time and after her quick ablutions, went to the kitchen where she made him a large breakfast.

Her mind was still occupied with what she'd acknowledged the night before, and she knew that in order to protect herself, she needed to leave his ranch as soon as she could.

But now Jesse was down, and Emma needed to take Maria's place in the kitchen for awhile. She owed it to the other woman to do so, she'd been friendly and had welcomed Emma with open arms.

But even though she'd be taking care of Luke's house for awhile, she knew she needed to put it in his mind that it was time she left.

Maybe if the sheriff knew she didn't want to be here any longer, he would somehow be able to find her a way to Denver. Or maybe she could find a position in Burnet? No, her mind almost immediately shied away from that idea, because she knew she needed a clean break from Luke. If he was anywhere in her radius, she knew she'd never be able to put this episode of her life behind her and move on.

With that plan in mind, it was the first thing she mentioned to him as he sat down for breakfast.

Her hand shook as she poured his coffee, and she bolstered herself to say what needed to be said. "As soon as Jesse is well and Maria can cook for you again, I think I should go to town."

Luke looked up from where she had sloshed coffee onto the table and narrowed his eyes on her. He purposely mistook her meaning. "What do you need from town? Cody will be going on Tuesday, I'll have him pick up whatever you want."

"I don't need anything. I think--I think I should move there." Emma didn't look at his face when she made that statement. She picked up a dishtowel and went back to wipe up the spill. When she was within reaching distance, his hand reached out and caught her wrist.