Page 14 of Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn 4)
He opened her kitchen door. Lucy would hide from him if he let her, and this time he wasn’t giving her a chance to find someone else. She wanted to deny the attraction between them. If his intention was to bed her and leave, he would have respected that, but seeing her again had confirmed his initial gut reaction upon meeting her: She belongs with me.
She felt the same. He’d seen as much in her eyes the night before.
She’ll come round.
David called out to Lucy. She didn’t answer, and he was turning to leave when an idea came to him. Could have been the way his stomach was protesting the length of time since his last meal, but making Lucy breakfast suddenly seemed like a good idea.
He started coffee and hunted through her fridge for eggs, bacon, and toast. He was no stranger to cooking for himself and prided himself on being better than most. His parents had made cooking a family event when he was young, and even though he didn’t talk to them nearly enough now, cooking was a way of remembering happier times.
He was sliding a second omelet onto a plate when he heard the familiar sound of a shotgun being cocked. He shut the stove off, set the plate down on the counter beside him, and turned. Lucy was pointing a shotgun in his general direction and shaking.
“You scared me,” she accused. “I thought someone had broken in.”
“Do criminals in these parts feed you before they rob you?”
Lucy uncocked the shotgun and lowered it. “I thought you might be—”
It was then that David felt like an ass for not realizing she might be afraid of her ex-fiancé. “Ted.”
Lucy shrugged a shoulder. “I wasn’t sure if he’d give being nice one more try.”
A thought occurred to David that he didn’t like one bit, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Did he make you breakfast often?”
Lucy held his eyes for a long moment. She knew exactly what he was asking. He should say it was none of his business, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to picture her with Ted that way. Which wasn’t fair since she’d been engaged to him. Of course they’d—
“Never,” she said, then wrapped her arms protectively around herself.
His relief was short-lived. Her stance opened the front of her nightgown enough to give him a glorious glimpse of cleavage so that he almost forgot he’d asked a question. He shook his head as her answer sunk in. “Never?”
Lucy dropped her arms. “Not even close. That, by itself, should have been a warning sign that he had other reasons for wanting to marry me. I saw only what I wanted to see, I guess.”
David stepped toward her. “Lucy . . .”
“Please. I don’t want to talk about it.” She waved a hand through the air, then looked at the table he’d set and the fresh pot of coffee. “What happened to you staying outside?”
David flashed a smile at her. He was having the damnedest time trying not to focus on how the sunlight was making her nightgown near transparent. “A man could starve out there, but I made enough for two.” He placed the plates on the table and held out a chair for her.
Lucy sat in the chair and frowned up at him. “You can’t just come in and out of my house.”
He poured them both a cup of coffee and took his place across from her. “Door was open. Try the eggs, Lucy.”
She blinked a few times quickly, then slowly did as he instructed. The moan she made was just about the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. “These are good. What did you put in them?”
“Family secret. If I tell you, I either have to marry you or kill you.” Lucy went white, and David cursed his idiot mouth. “It’s a joke, Lucy. Well, partly. My grandma used to say that to her dates after my grandpa died.”
That seemed to calm Lucy. She took a sip of coffee. “How old was she?”
“A young eighty-two, and believe me, she never had a shortage of suitors. She had a smile that lit up a room. When you have that, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re beautiful.” He sighed.
“It sounds like you were close.”
“We were. I miss her every day.”
Lucy rested her chin on her hand. “My grandparents died while I was too young to remember them, but I used to imagine what they’d be like. I shouldn’t miss what I never had, but I do sometimes. I miss the idea of having someone in my life like that. Does that make sense?”
There she was, the woman David could imagine spending the rest of his life loving. Although she didn’t see it yet, she was restlessly yearning for more—just as he was. They could be that more for each other. “It does. Do you have any family besides your brother?”
“Both of my parents were only children. If I have family somewhere, I don’t know them. How about you?”
David wasn’t used to talking about his family, but he wanted Lucy to know him. “My parents retired in north Texas by Amarillo. My father was a doctor. My mother was a teacher. They both wanted me to go to college and take over my father’s practice. When they pushed hard, I left and joined the Marines. Funny how important leaving feels when you’re young.”
Lucy nodded in understanding. “I went to college in Rhode Island and never pictured myself coming back, but here I am.” She took a bite of bacon, chewed, and then asked, “Are you close to your parents?”
“Not as much now as I was before I left. I’d like to say they got over the initial disappointment, but no matter what else I achieve, it wasn’t what they wanted for me.”
Lucy nodded again. “Wouldn’t it be nice if life came with a road map? Then we wouldn’t have to waste so much time being confused.”
David reached out and took one of her hands in his. “I’m not confused.” Their eyes met and held for a long sexually charged moment. He hadn’t imagined the yearning in her face the night before, because it was back, but she was fighting it.
She snatched her hand away and moved both hands to her lap. “I don’t want either of us to get confused by what you’re doing on this ranch. So we should set some ground rules.”
David sat back in his chair and kept his expression blank. She looked so serious; it was adorable. “Shoot.”
She laid one hand flat on the table beside her plate. “First, you need to stop looking at me like I’m an item on a menu, and you’re hungry.”
It took all the control David had not to smile at that. “I will if you promise to do the same.”
“I do not—” She stopped, took a deep breath, and narrowed her eyes. “I was emotional yesterday. If my expression of gratitude seemed like more than that, I’m sorry.” She played with the fork beside her plate. “I realize this is an awkward conversation, but it needs to be said.”
David nodded. She wasn’t asking him to leave, so it was progress.
“There
is nothing personal going on between us. You’re leasing my barn and outside grounds. This is a business deal. I’ll have papers drawn up today with an agreement on how I will pay off the balance. I’m heading to the bank today. I should be able to give you more than half of what I owe you.”
“Lucy, I told you, there’s no rush.”
“It’s important to me, so yes, there is. Second, don’t come in the house unannounced. I can understand today, but it can’t happen again. And at no time, no matter what you may need, do you ever go into my father’s office. If you can’t agree to that, then this won’t work.”
David arched one of his eyebrows but nodded again. What is she hiding? Instead of asking her a question he knew she wouldn’t answer, he asked, “Isn’t it your office now?”
She frowned as if that idea hadn’t occurred to her. “I guess it is. It’s hard to think of them as being gone forever, but they are.” She pressed her lips together and looked down at her plate as if gathering her resolve. “Once you settle in, there won’t be much reason for us to interact. The new business I’m starting will keep me busy, as I’m sure your horses will keep you busy once they arrive. I appreciate that you made me breakfast, but we shouldn’t do this again.” She looked up at him and then her eyes narrowed again. “What are you smiling at?”
David considered not sharing what he was thinking, but he was curious to see her reaction. “I’m imagining how we’ll laugh about this conversation when you’re waking up in my arms every morning.”
Lucy stood, nearly knocking her chair over as she did. “That’s not funny.”
David stood and leaned forward over the table, giving her what he hoped was his sexiest smile. “I’m not joking.”
Lucy stepped back. “It’s time for you to leave.”
David straightened. He remembered something an old-time trainer had told him when he’d first started working with horses. He’d said, “Son, there are two ways to get a fearful horse across a bridge. One way is to use a whip. It gets you across the bridge faster, but you end up with a horse who hates whips and bridges. Or you can take that horse to the bridge every day and invite it forward a little bit more each time, letting it decide when it’s ready to cross. When it finally does, you’ll have yourself a horse who’ll cross anything for you because you worked through it together.”
