The man was living in the dark ages. “Sam—”
The old man cut him off again, anger in his eyes. “Forget it. I’m sorry I pressured you. You’re right, you should be able to choose the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. If you don’t like Rusty, well, I’ll try to accept that. I promise I won’t ask you again. You have my word on that.”
Sam was cagey, but he’d never lied to Luke. And he’d never gone back on his word. Luke was grateful when Sam changed the subject.
“So, what did Becky say when she left?” Sam asked, scratching at his beard.
Luke looked at him pointedly. “Something about shooting you, I think. What did you tell her?”
“I told her I had a rare disease.”
“What kind of rare disease?”
“I told her it was called Rekop. That’s poker spelled backward. I couldn’t think of anything else.”
“For Chrissakes, Sam! Becky’s not stupid.” Luke ran his hands through his hair. Could Sam possibly be insane?
“Well, what the hell was I supposed to do? You let her come barging in here. I wasn’t prepared. Besides, I don’t think she believed me.”
Luke choked back a laugh. “You stupid fool. Of course, she didn’t believe you. What did she say?”
“That’s private.” He grinned naughtily. “I think she likes me. Or at least she did, until I tried to convince her I had Rekop. Now she’s probably wondering why in hell I’m pretending to be dying when I’m not.”
“And she’s not the only one,” Luke muttered under his breath. “Look, Sam. Don’t you think this joke has gone far enough? Rusty can’t stop crying, and now Becky’s so mad at you she wants to kill you herself. Let’s end it. Just tell your daughter the truth.”
Sam sat up in bed. “No way! Promise me, Luke. Damnit, I want your promise that you won’t say anything to either of those girls. Rusty’s here because she thinks I’m dying. And not ten minutes ago, a beautiful woman told me she loved me, because she, too, thought I was dying.”
“You are one sick bastard.”
Sam ignored him. “Promise me.”
Luke shoved his hands into his pockets and blew out a long breath. “I promise.”
Leaning his head back against his propped up pillow, Sam said, “Thanks, Luke. I owe you one. Now, I’m starving. What are you making for lunch?”
Luke grinned nastily. “I’m making a thick, juicy cheeseburger.”
“That sounds great.”
“Yeah? Well, sorry to disappoint you, old man, but the cheeseburger is for me. Rusty’s cooking up something special for you. Hope you like wheat germ.” Snickering, he opened the door and left a whining Sam behind.
Luke poked his head around the corner and held his breath. He saw Rusty sitting Indian style on the living room rug, eyes closed and a faint smile on her lips. She looked totally relaxed. Slowly, she rotated her head, first in one direction, then the other. He heard her long intake of breath and then the slow release. She wore a skimpy, form fitting, black leotard, matching tights on her legs, and all that curly red hair stuffed into a pony tail.
Twisting her body around with her back to him, she began stretching in ways he didn’t think humanly possible. Just thinking about doing those moves caused his body to ache. He groaned silently, or so he’d thought. He must have made a sound because she suddenly spun around, her green eyes wide with surprise when she saw him lurking in the hallway.
He knew she was about to accuse him of staring at her again. And she’d be right. He was staring, but damnit, he couldn’t help looking at her. “I,” he started, then cleared his throat. “What are you doing?”
“Yoga. It’s relaxing. You should try it.”
“I think I’ll pass.” He continued to stare at her.
Cocking her head to one side, she asked, “Did you want something?”
“I just wanted to tell you not to bother with dinner tonight. I’m going to order some pizzas and wings. Sam’s going crazy cooped up in that bed, so I invited a couple guys in for a poker game later.”
“That’s a great idea.” She smiled as she got to her feet. “Maybe that will cheer him up.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “What, you’re not going to lecture me about the pizza and wings? About how all that grease is bad for him?”
Reaching over the back of the recliner, she grabbed a black thing with strings on it and tied it around her waist. Not that it did much to hide anything. It was so sheer he could see right through it, but he concentrated on keeping his gaze on her flushed face instead.
“No, I’m not going to lecture you. You can dump whatever poison you want into your body. I’ll make something nutritious for Sam and me.” She brushed past him and headed for the kitchen.
Luke shook his head in frustration and followed her. “Sam happens to like greasy foods. Besides, they certainly can’t hurt him any, since he’s already …”
She glared at him over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen, letting him know not to bother to finish that statement. Abruptly she stopped. “What’s all this?”
“Party food.” Luke dug into one of the blue plastic bags on the kitchen table and started emptying it.
He saw Rusty peek into several of the bags before placing her hands on her hips and whirling on him. “Four bags of potato chips? Three jars of peanuts? Two cases of beer? Candy?”
“They’re M and Ms. My one weakness.” Besides you, he thought. He reached for the bag of candy and tore it open. “Here, have some. They might change your disposition a little.”
Swatting his hand away, she said, “There’s nothing wrong with my disposition.”
“Hmmph.”
Ignoring his insult, she opened the refrigerator, snagged a yogurt and ripped the top off. Reaching in the drawer, she withdrew a spoon and started eating. He watched her pink tongue dart out to meet the spoon. With that pony tail and no make-up, she looked like a teenager.
When Rusty realized he was looking at her, she paused, spoon in midair. “Well, since you’re obviously going to tell me anyway, you may as well start.”
Just the challenge he was looking for. He enjoyed her spirit. Sometimes. “You’re stubborn,” he began.
“I’m not stubborn.”
“You’re afraid to try new things.” She’d been about to argue that point as well when he held the bag of M and Ms in front of her again.
She placed her yogurt on the kitchen table, jabbed her fingers in the bag, took two candies out and popped them in her mouth. “There. Satisfied?”
“You didn’t get any red ones.”
Her face twisted. “What?”
Luke dug his fist in the bag and grabbed a handful of candies. “Here, try a red one.”
Jack sidled over to his empty water dish and sat down in front of it. He let out a small whimper and stared up at Rusty. She pretended not to like Jack, but Luke had caught her petting him when she thought Luke wasn’t looking.
Rusty moved past Luke, careful not to touch him, went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottled water. “They’re all the same,” she argued.
“See what I mean? Stubborn.”
Walking over to Jack’s water dish, she twisted the cap off the bottle and poured the contents into his bowl. Now his dog was drinking bottled water. Pretty soon Jack would be turning his nose up at steak bones and demanding caviar. Luke shook his head.
“Oh, for goodness sakes!” With a glint of humor in her eyes, she reached in his outstretched hand, plucked two red M and Ms from the bunch, placed them in her mouth and chewed. “Happy?”
Luke tossed back the remaining handful, chewed and swallowed. “Yeah. I told you the red ones were better.” She rolled her eyes in response. When she went to leave the room, he said, “I wasn’t finished telling you what was wrong with your disposition, Princess.”
He heard her sigh before she turned around to face him. She smiled sweetly, but it was anything but sweet. Crossing her arms, she said, “Please forgive my rudeness. Do go on, Mr. Galloway.”
So, she was back to Mr. Galloway. Leaning his hip against the kitchen table he went on. “You have an air about you, like you’re too good for things. Me, for example.”
A shadow of annoyance crossed her face. “I didn’t realize you were so insecure. From now on, I’ll try to be more sensitive to your feelings.”
“And you have a smart mouth,” he added.
She tapped her foot on the hardwood floor. “Is that it?”
“No, I was just getting started. You’re presumptuous, naive, arrogant, spoiled—”
She uncrossed her arms and flapped them in the air. “Really, Mr. Galloway. This is getting a little childish. It’s obvious you don’t find me very appealing.”
He raised his brows, straightened his posture and ran his gaze seductively down the front of her. “Honey, I never said that.”
“I don’t like it when you call me names like that.”
“Names like what?”
“Honey. It makes me feel cheap.”
He went back to emptying the bags. “Well, now, I certainly didn’t mean any disrespect, Princess.”
“Stop it. I don’t have time for your little games. In case you forgot, my father happens to be very ill, and I have things I need to do.”
Luke laughed. “Like what? Finding someone to knock you up? Or maybe you weren’t serious about wanting to have a baby. Maybe that was all just a little show to make Sam happy.”
She lifted her chin defiantly. “I was very serious. I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. But having a child isn’t something I want to take lightly. My child needs a decent father. So I need to concentrate on finding the right man.”
“Hell, with all your money, I’m sure there are lots of guys out there who would love to jump your bones.” He opened the pantry and shoved the snack bags inside. When she didn’t respond, he looked over his shoulder at her.
She looked offended, and hurt. She swallowed hard, and her voice broke miserably. “What does money have to do with it?”
“You think some guy is going to want to get you pregnant on purpose? For what reason? You’ll just run off somewhere and take the kid with you. What’s in it for him? Unless he’s paid well for his services, I can’t see any guy cooperating.”
Rusty dropped into a kitchen chair, looking disappointed. “I thought maybe there’d be a decent man in town who might understand my need to please Sam. And that once we were married and expecting a child together, our friendship would grow. I didn’t have any intention of running away with his child.” She looked up at Luke, studying him for a long time. “So, you think I should offer to pay him? Is that it? Is that what you’d expect?”
Luke pulled out the chair across from her, flipped it around and straddled it. “I’m not a sucker. I wouldn’t deliberately get a woman pregnant. I wouldn’t let some broad use me like that for all the money in the world. No matter how beautiful she was.”
“Who said anything about using anyone? Maybe there’s a nice man out there who wants a wife and a child.”
“Yeah, honey, keep telling yourself that.”
“I think you’re wrong. And since I know how much you and Sam love to gamble, maybe you’d like to make a bet with me.”
Luke clenched his mouth tight. “What kind of bet?”
“I’ll bet you a million dollars that in two weeks, or less, I can find a man to marry me who won’t be doing it for the money. I’ll bet there’s someone out there who would love to form a friendship with me, someone who would respect me. Someone who would love for me to have his baby.”
Sneering, he said, “Well, I’d love to take that bet, but all my millions are tied up at the moment.” He ran a hand through his hair and avoided her smug look. Jesus, what the hell did she think? Even if he had a million dollars, he certainly wouldn’t bet it. Even on a sure thing like that.
“I understand if your cash flow is tight at the moment. So what do you have that’s worth a million dollars to you?”
“Nothing, besides this ranch and the horses. But I wouldn’t risk them for anything.”
“Not even when you’re so sure of yourself?” she taunted.
“No.” Not even then. They were all he had, besides Sam. He placed his palm forcefully on the table top and got to his feet. “Look, Rusty, I don’t want your money, okay? You want to screw up your life and marry some guy who you don’t love—who doesn’t love you—and have his kid, go right ahead.” He pointed a finger at her. “But if Sam gets hurt in the process, you’ll have to answer to me.” With that said, he stalked off.
Was she crazy? Rusty wondered. Could she really make a relationship work if she and her partner had nothing more than mutual respect for each other and a satisfying friendship? Or could Luke Galloway be right? Was she really going to screw up her life, as he had so eloquently put it, if she married someone other than for love?
Natalie had had dozens of relationships and had married six of the men she’d been involved with, but she hadn’t found true love with any of them. What if Natalie’s expectations had been too high? Or what if true love didn’t really exist?
Could Natalie have made one of her relationships work if she’d expected nothing more than friendship and mutual respect? Rusty wanted so badly to believe she could have. Because Rusty’s future was going to depend solely on that type of miracle.
RUSTY KNOCKED SOFTLY ON the door to Sam’s room. Her father’s gruff voice invited her in. Just as she’d thought, Galloway and his poker buddies had been smoking cigars. The room reeked of nasty smelling smoke, but she refused to ruin the party by condemning everyone. Besides, Galloway had made a point earlier that day. What difference could it possibly make what Sam ate or drank? She supposed it couldn’t make much difference if he smoked an occasional cigar either. Right now, all she cared about was making Sam happy.
She’d disposed of the pizza boxes and messy chicken bones earlier. And she’d filled and refilled bowl after bowl of chips, nuts and candy.
“Hey, Rusty. Come on in, and have a seat.” Sam patted his hand on the bed beside him. His legs dangled over the side of the bed and under the card table Galloway had set up.
Hank Garvey, the foreman, politely nodded his head at her, then studied the cards in his hand. And Tyler Richman, the handsome blond gentleman with the bright blue eyes, who she’d only met a few hours ago, smiled up at her as she made her way toward them.
But Luke Galloway only glanced at her briefly. And he’d done so with a deep scowl on his face and a fat, smelly cigar between his lips. As if he were deliberately defying her.