Madeline relaxed into his side, and Luke liked the way she felt against him. “Wow,” she said, looking out the window as rain whipped around them and trees swayed into one another. It was raining so hard now that they couldn’t see more than a foot in front of the Bronco. Madeline twisted around to look behind them. “I think we’re stuck,” she said.
Luke didn’t notice if they were or not—he couldn’t take his eyes off Madeline. Her white shirt was plastered to her, and beneath it, he could see a lacy blue bra, which was holding up a pair of perfect breasts. When he didn’t respond, she looked at him.
That thing dancing between them began to circle around, drawing them closer together.
“Stuck,” she said again, her gaze sliding down to his chest.
He wanted more from this woman than he ought to want. “For the moment,” he agreed. “When it stops raining, we’ll go down, even if we have to walk.”
A soft smile illuminated her face. “Bad shoes, remember?”
God, he wanted to kiss her. “How could I forget? Broken foot, remember?”
She laughed. “Too bad cell phones don’t work up here. We could call Libby to rescue us.”
Luke wanted to feel those lips against his, touch her skin. Madeline was talking, but he wasn’t really hearing her, he was watching her lips move, imagining how soft they would feel against his…
Until she said, “I can’t understand why she wants to stay here.”
Luke mentally shook his head. “What?”
“Libby. She wants to stay at the ranch.”
She said it so casually, and all Luke could do was stare at her.
“What’s wrong?” Madeline asked.
“Does this mean you guys have decided?” Luke asked, trying to keep his anger in check. They had no regard for the family history here, of the family displaced from here. “She’s going to move into my family’s house?”
“No, no, we haven’t decided anything. But Emma went back to L.A.—”
“What? When?”
“This morning,” Madeline said. “I was surprised too. No word, nothing, she just left. And Libby—Libby is convinced she needs to be here to manage the reunion.”
Loud thunder and a very bright bolt of lightning cracked overhead, and Madeline jumped. She rubbed her hands on her legs as if she was trying to create warmth. Luke sighed. He was angry, but he was still a gentleman. “Sit tight,” he said, and opened his door. He heard her shout after him, but he had already dashed to the hatch. He pulled it open and grabbed his emergency bag, then dashed back to the driver’s seat.
That short exposure to the elements had soaked him. He pulled out a blanket from the bag and spread it over her lap, then his.
“Oh my God, thank you,” she said, and bent her legs, kicking off her shoes and pulling her feet up onto the seat beneath the blanket. “You’re like a Boy Scout.” Luke reached into the bag and pulled out a package of peanut butter crackers and opened the package, offering her one before taking one himself. “I’m sorry,” she said between bites of cracker, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you knew Libby was staying.”
Luke had been upset by the situation with Homecoming Ranch since he’d called home after Patti’s initial call. He glanced at Madeline as he popped a cracker into his mouth. “I didn’t know. But I guess I knew it was coming.”
“I suppose Libby is right,” Madeline said thoughtfully. “We do have to do something about that reunion, right? But at least it’s not a permanent move. I don’t think.”
Luke feared that it was. He’d heard enough to know that Libby’s life was in flux, and he feared that if she got her feet down at this ranch, she’d be impossible to dislodge. He thought that of all of them, only Madeline might have a chance of persuading her differently, and only because she seemed so determined to get the hell out of Pine River—
A thought suddenly occurred to him. Madeline was the key to his predicament. She was a shrewd little puppy and she wasn’t going to let this drag out. He didn’t want it to, either. He could use her help, and honestly, he wouldn’t mind having Blue Eyes around for a few days. He liked quirky. He looked at her shoes, splattered with mud, her damp and tangled hair.
Yeah, he’d like her to stick around.
But how did he get her to do that?
By appealing to her ego, that was how. He didn’t know a person on the planet who was immune to a little ego testing. He said, “You know, I think the best course of action is just to get on with it and settle things between us. Then, if you guys want to sell the ranch, then sell it. Let Jackson figure out the reunion.”
Madeline blinked with surprise. “That’s what I’ve been saying,” she pointed out. “And I think it’s a little weird that now you’re suddenly saying it.”
“Well, I’ve had a few wet minutes to think about it,” he said with a smile. “Look, I know my dad has made it impossible. My only hope is to try and put the money together to buy the ranch back. I figure that while you and your sisters do the reunion thing, I have a little time to come up with the money, right? But I don’t want Libby to get too comfortable, you know?”
Madeline nodded. “I know. I don’t want that, either.”