Sunset Seduction - By Charlene Sands Page 0,21
on this ranch. I’ve seen the way you look at Luke.”
“Luke?” She gulped air. Was she busted? “Luke and I aren’t…anything. I mean…sure, he’s been my brother’s friend for ages, but—”
But what? She wasn’t ready to divulge her secret to anyone, much less Luke’s best friend. Oddly, Sophia didn’t pry. She didn’t try to get any further explanation out of her. She listened and nodded and then placed the box in her arms.
She had an uncanny feeling that Sophia Montrose was wiser than her years. The alternative was that Audrey wasn’t fooling anyone about her feelings for Luke. She preferred to think Sophia had especially sharp perception. “Please accept this as my personal gift to you.”
“It’s very kind of you.”
“Wear it well and knock his socks off.”
“I’m not knocking anyone’s socks off,” she said mildly, but her throat caught with the comment as an image of making love to Luke in that negligee popped into her head.
Sophia shrugged. “Then someone like Kat Grady might just turn Luke’s head.”
“I—I wouldn’t know,” she said, feeling glum. “I’ve only been upright about ten seconds in her presence.”
Sophia’s gaze stayed on her and a little smile emerged. “Luke was worried about you all evening.”
“He feels responsible for me.”
“He likes you.”
“He thinks of me as a younger sister.”
“Men can change their minds in the blink of an eye.”
She was speaking of her experience with Logan. He’d hated Sophia and hadn’t wanted her at the ranch. The irony wasn’t lost on Audrey. She had the opposite problem. Luke had always liked her and had made her feel welcome here, giving her a job and offering his friendship. In a weird and crazy way, she had just as high a mountain to climb to make Luke look at her differently as Sophia had with Logan. “Who is Kat, anyway?”
Sophia shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know much about her. She’s new to the county and settled in the next town, Silver Springs.”
“She’s very pretty, in a flashy sort of way,” Audrey said.
“Luke’s seen her a few times, but he won’t get serious about her. She’s got a little baby.”
“That doesn’t sound like Luke. I thought he liked kids.”
“He loves kids. You see how he is with Edward. But he doesn’t want to start up something he can’t finish, and getting involved with a single mother could hurt her little boy when it ended.”
“How is he so sure it would end?”
“That you’d have to ask Luke about. But I will tell you that he’s got this thing about long-term relationships. He says he’ll know pretty quickly when it’s right, and so far, that hasn’t happened. He’s usually the first one to walk away.”
Audrey didn’t want to read too much into it, because hope that faltered and died was worse than no hope at all. And Luke had topped her No Hope list for a long time. If she dared to hope, she could come out scarred for life, but then, wasn’t that the whole reason she took the job here? To have some sort of chance with Luke? Sophia knew Luke better than anyone. Didn’t she? And she seemed to be encouraging Audrey to muster up, dig in her heels and make a stand.
Yet, deep down she didn’t think Luke would ever see her as anything but a friend. Maybe he thought of her in the same way he thought of Sophia. There was a line he wouldn’t cross with their friendship. Just like the line he refused to cross with the Grady woman.
Oh, who was she kidding?
Audrey, you are making excuses for your cowardice.
It was true. She was a coward.
She hadn’t fessed up to Luke about seducing him and then running off like a frightened juvenile. She hadn’t spilled the truth to him when she’d first arrived at the ranch. She hadn’t been brave enough to look into Luke’s trusting blue eyes and tell him what she’d done or why she’d done it. There’d been a few really good opportunities to bring up the subject, like when Luke had accidentally kissed her or when he’d come to her bedroom door this morning to check on her.
“And you think I’m right for Luke?”
Sophia gave her shoulder a lift and Audrey held her breath waiting for her reply. What would be worse, if Sophia said no or if she said yes? “You could be. But if you don’t give it a chance, you’ll never know.”
Sort of like, if you don’t try, you can’t fail, but then you’re left with years