Country Bride: Country Bride / Woodrose Mountain

Kate felt good. The lethargy and depression she’d been feeling since Clay’s wedding had started to dissipate. She’d completely adjusted to the idea of her father’s impending marriage. And even the sale of the Circle L—to Luke of all people—no longer seemed so devastating. Clearing the air between them had helped, too.

“Evening, Nellie,” Kate called as she entered the small, homey café. She’d arrived home from school to discover a message from her father suggesting she meet him for dinner at Nellie’s at six sharp.

“Howdy, Kate,” Nellie called from behind the counter.

Kate assumed her father would be bringing Dorothea so they could discuss last-minute plans for their wedding, which was scheduled for Friday evening at the parsonage. Minnie Wilkins, Pastor Wilkins’s wife, and Dorothea were close friends. Kate would be standing up for Dorothea and Luke for her father in the small, private ceremony.

Carrying a water glass in one hand, a coffeepot in the other and a menu tucked under her arm, Nellie followed Kate to the booth. “I’m expecting my dad and Dorothea Murphy to join me,” Kate explained.

“Sure thing,” Nellie said. “The special tonight is Yankee pot roast, and when your daddy gets here, you tell him I pulled a rhubarb pie out of the oven no more than fifteen minutes ago.”

“I’ll tell him.”

“Nellie, I could use a refill on my coffee,” Fred Garner said. Sitting at the table closest to the window, he nodded politely in Kate’s direction. “Good to see you, Kate.”

“You, too, Fred.” She smiled at the owner of Garner Feed and Supply and the two ranchers who were dining with him. Glancing at her watch, Kate realized her father was a few minutes late, which wasn’t like him.

To pass the time she began reading the menu; she was halfway through when the door opened. Smiling automatically, she looked up and saw Luke striding toward her. He slid into the booth across from her.

“Where’s your dad?”

“I don’t know. He asked me to meet him here for dinner.”

“I got the same message.”

“I think it has something to do with the wedding.”

“No,” Luke muttered, frowning. “I’ve got some bank forms he needs to sign.”

Nellie brought another glass of water, then poured coffee for both of them.

“Evening, Nellie.”

“Luke Rivers, I don’t see near enough of you,” the older woman said coyly, giving him a bold wink as she sauntered away with a swish of her hips.

Astonished that Nellie would flirt so openly with Luke, Kate took a sip of her coffee and nearly scalded her tongue. Why, Nellie had a good fifteen years on Luke!

“Does she do that often?” Kate asked, in a disapproving whisper.

“You jealous?”

“Of course not. It’s just that I’ve never known Nellie to flirt quite so blatantly.”

“She’s allowed.” Luke gazed down at his menu and to all appearances, was soon deep in concentration.

Kate managed to squelch the argument before it reached her lips. There wasn’t a single, solitary reason for her to care if a thousand women threw themselves at Luke Rivers. She had no claim on him, and wanted none.

The restaurant telephone pealed, but with four plates balanced on her arms, Nellie let it ring until someone in the kitchen answered it.

A minute later, she approached their table. “That was Devin on the phone. He says he’s going to be late and you two should go ahead and order.” She pulled a notepad from the pocket of her pink uniform. “Eat hearty since it’s on his tab,” she said, chuckling amiably.

“The roast-beef sandwich sounds good to me,” Kate said. “With a small salad.”

“I’ll have chicken-fried steak, just so I can taste those biscuits of yours,” Luke told the café owner, handing her the menu. “I’ll start with a salad, though.”

“I got rhubarb pie hot from the oven.”

“Give me a piece of that, too,” Luke said, grinning up at Nellie.

“Kate?”

“Sure,” she said, forcing a smile. “Why not?”

Once Nellie had left, an awkwardness fell between Kate and Luke. To Kate it felt as though they’d become strangers, standing on uncertain ground.

Luke ventured into conversation first. “So how’s school?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good.”

She laughed nervously. “I’ve started washing down cupboards at the house, clearing out things. I’ve got two piles. What Dad’s going to take with him and what I’ll need when I move.”

Instead of pleasing Luke, her announcement had the opposite effect. “You’re welcome to live on the ranch as long as you want,” he said, his dark eyes narrowing. “There’s no need to move.”

“I know that, but the Circle L belongs to you—or it will soon.”

“It’s your home.”

“It won’t be much longer,” she felt obliged to remind him. “I’m hoping to find a place in town. In fact, I’m looking forward to the move. You know what the roads are like in the winter. I should have done this years ago.”

“You wouldn’t have to move if you weren’t so damn stubborn,” Luke muttered from between clenched teeth. “I swear, Kate, you exasperate me. The last thing I want to do is take your home away from you.”

“I know that.” She hadn’t considered relocating to town earlier for a number of reasons, foremost being that her father had needed her. But he didn’t anymore, and it was time to exhibit some independence.

Nellie brought their tossed green dinner salads, lingering at the table to flirt with Luke again. He waited until she’d left before he leaned forward, speaking to Kate in a low, urgent voice. His eyes were filled with regret. “Kate, please stay on at the ranch. Let me at least do this much for you.”

She thanked him for his concern with a warm smile, but couldn’t resist adding, “People will talk.” After all, Luke had pointed that very fact out to her when she’d made her foolish proposal. The night of Clay’s wedding...

“Let them talk.”

“I’m a schoolteacher, remember?” she whispered. She felt genuinely grateful for his friendship and wanted to assure him that all this worry on her behalf was unnecessary, that she was fully capable of living on her own.

Their dinner arrived before they’d even finished the salads. Another silence fell over them as they ate. Several possible subjects of conversation fluttered in and out of Kate’s mind as the meal progressed. Her fear was that Luke would divert the discussion back to the ranch no matter what she said, so she remained silent.

A sudden commotion came from the pavement outside the café.

“It’s Harry Ackerman again,” Fred Garner shouted to Nellie, who was busy in the kitchen. “You want me to call the sheriff?”