The Maverick's Midnight Proposal

“Not what but who,” Bella said, lifting her face for his kiss. “And, fingers crossed, the who is Bailey.”

“New Mexico is a pretty big state,” Hudson noted, glancing at Luke. “Any chance you can help narrow down the search?”

Luke shook his head. “Sorry. At the time, I was so baffled by his decision that I didn’t ask many questions.”

“No worries,” Hudson said. “If he’s still there, Bradford will find him.”

He set the boxes on the table.

Luke sniffed. “Is that...pizza?”

“And wings,” Bella told him.

“There’s a pizza and wings place in Rust Creek Falls?”

“Wings To Go recently expanded their menu to include pizza.” She pushed away from the table and moved to the cupboard to retrieve plates.

“And Daisy’s Donut Shop is more than doughnuts now, too,” he noted.

“You’ve been to Daisy’s?” She grabbed a handful of napkins and set them on top of the plates.

“Twice,” he admitted. “For coffee on my way to the day care this morning, then for lunch afterward.”

“Did you have dessert?”

He shook his head. “The huge roast beef sandwich and mountain of fries filled me up.”

“You should have had dessert,” Bella said, setting the plates and napkins on the table.

“The woman behind the counter did say that the coconut cream pie was popular,” he told her.

“All of the pies, cakes, cookies and pastries are popular,” his sister said. “Especially if Eva did the baking.”

“Eva?” he echoed, surprised. “The waitress?”

“She sometimes serves customers,” Bella confirmed. “But she does most of the baking at Daisy’s. I don’t know if she has any formal training, but no one who’s tasted any of her creations would question her qualifications as a baker.”

“Now I’m sorry I skipped the pie.”

“But you got to meet Eva,” she noted.

“I guess I did,” he agreed.

“She’s very pretty, don’t you think?”

“I think you need to work on your subtlety,” Hudson said to his wife, opening the lid of the pizza box.

“I wasn’t trying to be subtle. I was trying to ensure Luke appreciates everything that Rust Creek Falls has to offer.”

“I’m not looking for any kind of romantic entanglements while I’m in town,” Luke said firmly.

Hudson grinned. “That’s what I thought, too, when I first came to Rust Creek Falls.”

Chapter Four (#u77eabab8-e960-508d-aff2-140c49d477e7)

Eva had just hung up her apron when the bell above the door jingled. She glanced at Karen, a single mother who worked part-time at the doughnut shop while her kids were in school. “I have to take off,” she told her coworker. “I’ve got my final exam tonight and I want to review my notes.”

“Yeah, I just need a sec,” Karen said, not looking up from her phone as her thumbs tapped the keypad. “Sally’s at my mom’s today, home from school with a fever.”

Eva looked longingly toward the promised escape of the back door but, unable to fault the woman’s concern for her child, she returned to the front counter.

Her forced smile widened naturally and her heart gave a happy bump inside her chest when it recognized the customer: Luke Stockton.

“Are you here for food or just coffee today?”

“Coffee,” he said. “And... I was hoping to see you.”

Her heart bumped against her ribs again. “You wanted to see me?”

“Hudson and Bella are both at work today, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the past few hours, and they’re really not the best company.”

“What were you thinking about?” she asked, filling a ceramic mug from the pot.

“Everything. And nothing.” He picked up the mug she set on the counter. “Any chance you can take a break and have a cup of coffee with me?”

“Since I just finished my shift, there’s a very good chance,” she told him, reaching for a second mug.

Luke carried their beverages to a booth near the window.

Eva slid into the seat across from him. “Do you want to talk about the everything or the nothing?”

He smiled, just a little. “The one very big thing.”

“Which is?” she prompted.

“My sister—and my brother, Danny—have asked me to stay in town until his wedding,” he confided.

Eva knew—because there were very few secrets in Rust Creek Falls and because the bride had asked her to make the wedding cake—that Danny Stockton and Annie Lattimore were getting married on December 24. “It makes sense that he’d want his family to share the occasion,” she noted.

“But Christmas Eve is still three weeks away.”

“And you have to be back in Wyoming before then?” she guessed.

He shook his head. “No. For the past couple of years, I’ve been working on a huge spread outside Cheyenne—there are plenty of hands to cover the work, especially this time of year.”

“So you could stay...but you don’t want to?” she asked, seeking clarification.

“I’m not sure what I want,” he admitted. “Bella and Hudson have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, but it still feels strange to be back after so many years. And I haven’t even seen my brother Jamie yet.”