Page 70 of A Rancher's Bride
Tamara nodded slowly. “People who work remotely don’t mind living a little bit farther out. I’ll write it down. It’s not something I thought of because it’s not my first choice, but we should consider everything.”
Conversation continued, but the first chance Kelli found, she stepped from the room, stealing away as if she were headed to the washroom. She nabbed her boots as she went, sneaking down the hallway Dustin had stomped off.
She closed the front door carefully to keep it from slamming and paused on the front stairs only long enough to slip her feet into her boots. She grabbed her suitcase from where Luke had placed it back in his truck then crossed the yard to her room.
In the distance, Dustin was leaving the barn. He mounted his horse and headed toward the hills. She figured she knew what he felt like. That sense of being out of control wasn’t a pleasant one.
Her room was cold and empty, as if all the happiness of the past week had been boxed up and shoved very, very far away. She’d had that brief moment of perfection, but it was over and now she had to do the next thing.
She dumped her suitcase in the corner, grabbed her things and headed to the shower room. After putting up her spa sign to warn people off, she stripped and stepped under the water.
And if she happened to be a little teary-eyed right about then, no one was ever going to know. The water running down her face was just from the tap.
That was her story, and she was sticking to it.
* * *
Tornbetween what he knew was an important meeting that deserved his full attention, and the dire need to chase down Kelli—Luke shifted on the spot like a restless kid.
He’d only realized Kelli was gone when he’d glanced toward the door and discovered her boots were missing. Caleb asked a question, and Luke’s urge to leave was reined in for another ten minutes.
Until his restlessness got too pronounced.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Walker leaned in close and spoke softly. “Did you catch fleas while you were out of town? Stop fidgeting.”
“I just—” Damn. What was he supposed to say? Blurting out the truth was fraught with danger.
Walker slid forward slightly, frowning as he looked around and rapidly put two and two together. “Where’s Kelli?”
“I don’t know.” Which pissed Luke off way more than it should.
His brother glared harder.
“Why are you asking me?” Luke demanded, forcing his volume down when Tamara frowned in his direction. Ashton and Caleb continued to go over the notes the foreman had written up, so Luke hissed an angry retort at Walker. “Maybe Kelli had something else to do, did you think of that?”
“You two having a private meeting?” Caleb interrupted. “Because you know, this is only our livelihood we’re trying to save.”
Dammit.
Luke dragged a hand through his hair. “Sorry,” he ground out.
Tamara eyed the room, craning her neck as she looked around him. “Where’s Kelli?”
“She was here a minute ago.” Ashton looked up from his papers and turned to Luke. “Where’d she go?”
That was the last straw. Luke all but snarled an answer. “How the hell am I supposed to know? The damn woman seems to have lost her fucking mind in the past two hours. I’m obviously the last person you should ask since I can’t even figure out what I did to make her turn tail and run when…”
He suddenly realized he was not only babbling, he was bitching about things he most definitely shouldn’t be discussing in public. In front of his family.
In front of the man who Kelli said had basically adopted her. Pseudo-parental figures tended to be protective, and his brothers no less so—
Lisa Coleman beat them all, and she hadn’t even been in the room the last time he’d looked.
The woman was up in his face, twisting the front of his shirt tightly in her fist. “Luke Stone, did you do something to upset Kelli?”
“No,” he retorted, catching hold of her wrist and wiggling free “I mean, maybe. I mean, hell, if I know.”
“Luke, what’s going on?” Tamara demanded. “I thought things went well at the gala.”
