Sunset Seduction - By Charlene Sands Page 0,39
she opted to bypass the kitchen and skip breakfast this morning. She strode out the front door and headed straight for the barn. She had horses to exercise and groom and she’d promised Ward to look over the feed order, to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.
She waved at Boyd and Jimmy, two of the hands working in the corral, and bounded inside the barn. She stopped short when she saw Luke in the middle of the barn. He held a besotted Jewel in his arms and was spoiling the cat by scratching her under the chin. Jewel purred loudly. Audrey could swear the cat’s mouth curved up into a smile.
“Mornin’,” Luke said, walking over.
Heavens. She’d hoped to avoid him today.
“Morning, Luke.”
“You missed breakfast. Ellie made bacon, eggs and biscuits.”
Her empty stomach jerked at the mention of food. The Slade housekeeper was back. She’d heard she was a great cook. And now her stomach rumbled. “I wasn’t hungry.” She’d been queasy.
Luke glanced at her old jeans, sloppy blouse and straw hat. She’d been wearing clothes from Sunset Lodge’s gift shop but today she’d opted for ultimate comfort rather than style.
“You don’t have to work 24/7, Audrey. You already put in your five days.”
“I don’t consider it work. I enjoy caring for the animals.” She shrugged. “Besides, what else would I do?”
Luke stared at her. His throat worked as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. A moment passed between them. Then he sighed. “Whatever it is women do with their spare time.”
“I’m not like most women.”
Luke bent to put Jewel down and when he came up, he was inches from her face. His voice dropped an octave. “I know, Audrey.”
She held her breath. Being near Luke did things to her equilibrium and she’d already had one bout of dizziness today. “Then you know I’d rather be with them than anything else.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “But I’m giving the weekend staff time off in honor of Logan and Sophia’s engagement party. Most of the hands are invited and they could use the time.”
Darn. She’d almost forgotten about the party. She wished it was any day but today, though. She hadn’t started the day off on a chipper note.
“I haven’t gotten daily reports from you about Trib,” he said.
“That’s because you’ve been right there, watching me.”
“I can’t see a darn thing from where I’m standing and you know it, Audrey Faith. And if I’m in the area and see you over there, there’s no harm in me being nearby. The horse doesn’t know I’m there.”
Audrey wouldn’t argue the point. “He’s coming around. I see some progress. He’s lonely in there, Luke. I think he needs company.”
“Female company?”
Audrey blushed down to her toes. She wasn’t usually prone to turning five shades of red at the mention of sex, but with Luke’s expression of surprise as if he should’ve been the one to think of it, Audrey couldn’t keep the color from her cheeks. “It’s not his time, Luke. I meant that he’s isolated in there. We need to give him some freedom. He needs to be around other horses.”
“He’ll try to lord over them. The horses here are all high-strung. They’re pretty good one-on-one and they manage to get along, but I don’t know if Trib’s ego could take it. I’m afraid of what he’d do.”
“We have to trust him sometime.”
Luke spoke through thinned lips. “You’re big on trust, aren’t you?”
Jewel rubbed against her legs and Audrey bent to pick her up. She rocked her like a baby and the cat purred quietly this time. “Yes. I’m big on trust.”
Unfortunately, Luke wasn’t. Not when it came to Trib and not when it came to her. He didn’t have much trust in himself, either. He always did the honorable thing; that was Luke. But he didn’t trust enough to free up his feelings. He wasn’t a man who would let down his guard when it mattered most. He didn’t trust his own instincts.
“I’ll give it some thought.”
She nodded and there wasn’t anything more to say at the moment.
They stood facing each other in awkward silence. Audrey kept her eyes focused on him. If he wanted to turn away, he could do so, but she held firm.
Luke’s eyes narrowed until they were only slivers of blue. His lips tightened and he huffed out on a breath, “I guess I’ll see you later on tonight. About five o’clock?”
His enthusiasm wasn’t ego-boosting. He sounded like he was going to his own hanging. Her chin went up and