Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,105

a scene. The man is drunk."

Luke finished his own whiskey. "Nothing like alcohol to force a man to reveal his true feelings."

Lettie could see the burning anger in his eyes. He nodded to Will and Billy, who walked over to Nial and started a conversation with him, suggesting they go outside for some fresh air and talk about Herefords. When they got him to the door, she saw that Tex stood quietly at the entrance. He followed the other three men out.

"Luke, what is going on?"

Luke braced himself on his crutches. "I'm just going to have a little conversation with Lord Bentley."

"You aren't going to hurt him, are you? Don't get in a scuffle, Luke. Your leg!"

"Don't worry. Everything will be just fine."

"Don't let the men gang up on him. That would be so unfair."

He scowled. "Jesus, woman, don't you know me better than that? Nobody is going to hurt him, and nobody fights Luke Fontaine's battles for him. I'll take care of this in my own way. I intend to set Bentley straight very calmly, that's all." More people had joined the celebrating over the course of the evening and in all the commotion no one noticed what was going on. "You get the kids together. Will and Henny are going to take them home with them in a few minutes. I'll be right back."

Lettie knew there was no use arguing. She left to gather up the children, and Luke headed outside, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness. There were others outside smoking and drinking, and Luke made his way through the small groups of men, stopping to talk casually to a few of them. He searched for his own men, heard a woman laughing somewhere in nearby bushes. Some young girl had apparently come out here to have some fun out of sight of her parents. Luke moved around to the side of the barn where Tex, Will, and Billy had lured Nial Bentley per his instructions. He did not want this confrontation witnessed by someone who might take it wrong and spread dirty rumors about Lettie. She bore no fault here, and he would not have her talked about. His men had Nial completely at ease, Will handing the man a bottle of whiskey. Nial took a swallow, then noticed Luke approaching.

"Well, Luke!" he greeted. "Join us!" He raised the bottle, then sobered at the look in Luke's eyes.

"Did you enjoy the dance with my wife?" Luke asked.

Nial moved his gaze from Luke to the other three men, smiling nervously. "I was just being friendly." He looked back at Luke. "I thought that since you were on crutches and couldn't dance, maybe she'd like to dance at least once."

Luke raised one of his crutches, and Nial grunted when the end of it was poked against his chest and shoved hard, slamming Nial against the outside wall of the town hall. Nial dropped the bottle. "Maybe you should have asked her husband first if he minded, or asked her if she minded!" Luke growled.

Nial held up his hands and looked down at the crutch, barely able to breathe from it being pressed so tightly against his breastbone. "I, uh, I apparently took a little too much for granted, probably because of too much whiskey," he answered. "My apologies, Luke."

Luke released the pressure on the crutch but kept it against the man's chest. "Don't think that a bad leg would keep me from stepping in when I see it's necessary, Bentley! You stop bothering Lettie, you hear? It upsets and embarrasses her when you make it obvious to everyone around you that you've got an eye for her." He lowered the crutch and stepped closer. "I didn't ask my men to come out here to fight my battle for me. I fight my own battles. I just wanted you lured out here so we could settle this without others seeing. For reasons you wouldn't even know about, I don't ever want my Lettie gossipped about, you understand? It would devastate her! From here on you won't give her more than a first look when you're in public. You'll stop ogling her and stop drooling your compliments in front of others; and you'll keep your goddamn lily-white hands to yourself! God knows I appreciate her beauty and her worth, and I'm not stupid enough to think other men don't notice; but they know better than to show it in front of me or to try moving in on