Page 30 of A Rancher's Bride
Kelli held out a hand and gathered her chutzpah. “Kelli James. Yes, I’m with Luke. Luke Stone.”
Her mysterious woman arched a brow. Brightly painted full lips pursed slightly, not in a judgmental way, but in an intrigued andgoing to get to the bottom of this mysteryway. “Well, now, this week is going to be far more exciting than expected. I’m Diane Jakarta. I’m here at the Triple Crown with my boyfriend, Jack.”
“Nice to meet you. Sorry you caught me gawking. It’s pretty incredible.” She gestured at the over-the-top lodging.
Diane smiled and stepped in closer, wrapping an arm around Kelli’s waist and guiding her toward the check-in counter. “Sugar, you were not gawking at the wainscoting, and we both know it. There are things in life far more worthwhile to stare at than a bunch of pretty rocks.”
Kelli could agree with that. “Have you been here long?”
“Got in about five minutes before you, I think. We drove from the Calgary Airport. Glad we made it ahead of the storm.”
Diane’s accent was something southern and sweet, and Kelli could have listened to her talk all day long. “It wasn’t as long a trip for us. Silver Stone is just over an hour from here. At least it is right now with the pass open. If this snow keeps up, we’ll have to drive all the way around, through Calgary, to get home.”
Diane shivered. “I tell you the snow was nearly a deal breaker. I’m not sure why they decided to hold the gala this far north in January. At least I hear there’s a good spa where we can get the chill out of our bones.”
Kelli had been watching Luke out of the corner of her eye. A lanky black man about Luke’s age had exchanged handshakes with him, and they patted each other on the back the way guys did who knew each other.
But as Diane led her to a couch with soft cushions near the sign-in desk, both of the men had their full attention on the woman behind the check-in counter.
It didn’t appear things were going as smoothly as any of them hoped.
Diane glanced the same direction, clicking her tongue in concern. “Seems there’s a bump in the road.”
There was certainly some arguing going on. Polite, but still arguing, with very serious expressions on the check-in attendant’s part.
Jack laid a hand on Luke’s shoulder and turned him to face the room, his eyes shifting in a search pattern until he spotted Diane.
His smile widened. It was rather astonishing how easy it was to read the delight in his eyes. That expression was not fake,thatwas one hundred percent in love.
It made something inside Kelli tighten a notch as if a rope were being coiled up tight enough to shove in a small compartment.
A slightly haunted look shuttered Luke’s eyes as Jack guided him forward, but he hauled his best smile into place and held out a hand to greet Diane as she was introduced.
“Luke and I spent a weekend together in tight quarters a couple years back,” Jack told her.
Diane lifted an eye. “Is this something you want to talk about in mixed company?”
Kelli snorted before wiping her hand over her mouth as if she’d been caught in the middle of a sneeze. “Excuse me. Dust.”
A low rumble of amusement rose from Jack. “It was that time I got caught by a snowstorm, if you remember that story. And if you don’t, we’ll remind you later.” He turned his attention to Kelli. “And you’re the mysterious woman Luke’s been telling me about.”
He took her hand, turning it over so he could kiss her knuckles.
Kelli hauled her jaw off the floor. “Damn. Can you teach Luke how to do that?”
Delighted laughter rose from Diane. “Tell us, boys, why the long faces?”
Luke slid sideways, his hand coming around to rest gently on Kelli’s hip. Keeping her by his side without pulling her in too closely. “Trouble with the room bookings for the gala.”
“It’s nothing we can’t deal with,” Jack said with a hand wave before turning to Diane. “Burst pipes or something, but for a couple of days they’re short on rooms. Luke here was going to get shoved off into a double somewhere far from the action. I said there was no problem with them taking the second part of our unit. We’ve got one of the penthouse suites.”
“Of course, we don’t mind.” Diane laid a hand on Kelli’s wrist. “There’s plenty of room, so we won’t be underfoot with each other, but when we do want some company we won’t have to go hiking through the wilderness to find each other.”
Kelli glanced at Luke. She got zero clues from looking at his face. She assumed he desperately wanted her to turn down the offer, but then again, maybe this was one of thosetake advantage of the opportunitymoments.
It certainly was for her. Sliding into the next stage of her agenda would be far easier if they were shoved into close proximity.
Speaking of which…
