Montana Hearts (17 page)

“She says she wants to marry me,” Luke said, standing firm.

Andy scowled. “She can do better than marry a cripple whose guest ranch is on the verge of going bankrupt. She only
thinks
she wants to marry you because she's known you longer than anyone and she's comfortable with you. But she doesn't love you. She just wants to marry to get her grandma's inheritance and figures . . . you'll do.”

Luke did a double take and old fears from the past rose up to laugh at him and tell him he'd been
played
. Unwilling to believe it, he eyed Sammy Jo's father with suspicion. “Inheritance? What inheritance?”

Andy hesitated. “Her money won't save your ranch if that's what you're thinking.”

That's
not
what he was thinking at all. His chest squeezed tight and for a moment he couldn't breathe. Had Sammy Jo tricked him? Had she only been
pretending
to care about him after all? She
had
brought up the subject of marriage pretty quick.

“I'd never marry for money,” Luke assured her father.

Andy gave him a rueful grin. “Sammy Jo
would
. She'd give anything to be fully independent and get her own place instead of living with me. But she can't touch the money her grandmother left her till the day she marries.”

“You're wrong,” Luke said, his throat tight. “Money has nothing to do with our relationship.”

“Are you sure?” Andy challenged. “Did she ever want to date you before you came back to town? Did she ever show
any
sign that she was interested in you before? Or did she treat you like a . . .
younger brother
?”

Luke's gut twisted around as he chewed on her father's bitter words. He didn't want to believe him—­he
wouldn't
believe him—­until he talked to Sammy Jo himself. Still it was hard to quiet the questions raging within his head. One side of his brain said the guy was a liar, just trying to keep him and Sammy Jo apart. A logical move by a desperate father. But a small cold voice rose up from the other side and whispered,
What if it's true?

Andy must have guessed from his expression he'd touched a nerve for the man gave him a broad smile. “Like I said, Sammy Jo doesn't love you. She's using you, just like you used her to get the permits your family needed to build the cabins. Isn't that the deal you made her?”

“Feelings
change
,” Luke insisted.

“Yeah,” Andy Macpherson scoffed. “Money does that to ­people.”

 

Chapter Fourteen

S
AMMY
J
O STOOD
beside Bree in the center of Collins Country Cabins' brand-­new gazebo looking up at the tall, peaked, wood-­shingled ceiling.

“Can't you just see it?” Bree crooned. “This will make a wonderful stage for my engagement party.”

“You'll want teal streamers, of course,” Sammy Jo said, writing the item down on Bree's shopping list.

“Oh, yes,” Bree agreed. “Teal and white, wrapped around each of these side pillars. The wedding invitations, bridesmaids' dresses, and the men's corsages will all be teal.” She let out a happy sigh. “Ryan and I agreed we'd wait to marry early next summer, but now that I've been making plans, I wish it were sooner.”

“Let's concentrate on your
engagement
party right now,” Sammy Jo said, trying to get her friend to focus. “And you still have to get through that big one-­hundred-­guest wedding party coming in next week.”

“We're ready for them,” Bree said, spinning around with her arms flung wide. “Everyone has pitched in to help Devin, Luke, and my dad finish the cabins over the last few days. Even Ryan and his brothers, though it's time to harvest hay at their own ranch.”

“Maybe now that the cabins are done, Luke will have more time to spend with
me
,” Sammy Jo said with a smile.

“Maybe you're right,” Bree teased. “Looks like he's coming for you now.”

Sammy Jo turned her head, and sure enough, Luke had his gaze focused solely on her as he made his way forward. She gave him a big smile, but as he drew closer, she saw his clenched jaw and knew something wasn't right.
Not
more trouble with the rustlers, I hope.

“Bree, can I borrow your friend a minute?” Luke asked, his tone too tight for teasing.

“Only if I can have her back when you're done with her,” Bree said, hands on her hips. “My engagement party is this weekend and I need my future maid of honor's help with the food list.”

“I'll be back in a few minutes,” Sammy Jo promised, and followed Luke over to the river where they could be alone. Maybe steal a few kisses?

The clear water trickled softly over the stones and she breathed in the clean earthen scent of the moist riverbank while waiting for Luke to greet her properly. But he didn't kiss her.

Instead, he demanded, “Do you have to marry before you can touch your inheritance from your grandmother?”

Sammy Jo froze. “Who told you that? My
father
?”

Luke nodded. “Is it true?”

“Yes. But . . . that's not why I'd marry.”

“No?” He looked skeptical.

“For me it's all or nothing,” she assured him. “I'll only marry for love.”

“Your father has a different opinion.”

“I bet he does,” Sammy Jo said, and raised her chin. “But you didn't believe him, right?”

Luke didn't answer.

She gasped, a hole forming in her chest. “You
didn
'
t
!”

“No,” he said at last. “If I did, I wouldn't be here. But why didn't you tell me about the conditions for your inheritance?”

“Maybe because you never asked,” she said, arching a brow.

“And flirting with me and kissing me has nothing to do with money?” he pressed.

“
‘
Money can
'
t buy me love,
'
”
she quoted from the famous Beatles song.

“Money can't buy your father either,” Luke said, his tone bitter. “Although I tried.”

“You tried to bribe my father?” She stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on. “When?”

“About a half hour ago when he had the building inspector fail our cabin's final inspection for occupancy.”

“Oh, no,” she moaned. “Why would he
do
that?”

“Probably because I told him I wanted to ask you out on a date.”

Her heart kicked up a beat and she smiled. “You did?”

Luke's expression relaxed. “Yeah. He didn't take it very well.”

She smiled wider. “I bet he didn't.” Then the gravity of the situation settled in her mind. If the Collinses didn't pass their final inspection, they wouldn't be allowed to use the guest cabins, which they
needed
in one week's time for the incoming wedding party or they'd be ruined. She pressed her lips together, then asked, “What can I do to help?”

Luke shook his head, then gave her a subtle half grin. “Persuade your father to change his mind?”

Sammy Jo stepped forward and took both his hands in hers. “Didn't we have this conversation before?”

“Yeah,” Luke said, and his grin faded. “I guess we're back where we started.”

“Not quite.” Sammy Jo wrapped her arms around his waist. “Last time I couldn't do this.” She reached up and touched his mouth with her lips. “Or this.” She ran her fingers through the back of his long, honey-­brown locks. “Or . . .”

“No way,” Luke said, but although his tone remained hard, that warm, familiar gleam she loved returned to his eyes. “You are
not
cutting my hair.”

S
AMMY
J
O
'
S PROMISE
to talk to her father didn't do much to alleviate Luke's fear that he'd ruined his family's chances of getting the final inspection on the cabins approved.

Of course his father didn't offer much support.

“Why on earth did you have to confront him now of all times!” Luke's dad shouted, waving his hands in the air. “Everyone around here worked their backsides off trying to get those cabins finished in time and then you go and blow it. You and Sammy Jo haven't dated for twenty-­seven years. Couldn't you wait a little longer? At least until our inspection passed?”

Luke's guilty conscience dove down deep and left a sickening ache in the pit of his stomach. “You're right.”

“Of all the half-­brained, foolish things to do! What were you thinking? That he'd let you—­” His father paused in the middle of his tirade and stared at him. “What did you say?”

Luke swallowed his pride and repeated the words he never thought he'd ever say to him. “You're right. I was wrong. And what I did was stupid.”

His dad stared at him a moment as if thrown off track and not sure how to respond. “Well,” he said after a moment, his voice gruff. “At least we got that cleared up.”

After his father stormed off, Luke walked over to the cabins, the fresh scent of the wood shingles they'd used to side the exterior walls filling the air. And the scene with the building inspector replayed itself over again in his mind.

The county official had made a show of pulling out his measuring tape and glancing at the building plans. Then he grinned, his face smug, as he announced, “Sorry, but these cabins haven't been built to code.”

Luke knew as soon as the inspector spoke that the accusation was false. He and his family had triple-­checked the measurements to make sure they met all code requirements.

“Why don't you try it again?” Luke suggested, trying to keep his temper under control as he nodded toward the man's measuring tape. “Maybe you read the numbers wrong.”

“Nope. I didn't,” the inspector said, stashing the tape in his pocket. “Looks like you'll have to tear the whole cabin down and start over.”

It was at that moment that Luke realized Andy had given them the permits to build the cabins, but
never
intended to let them pass inspection so that his family could use them.

All their efforts had been for nothing.

His ma came toward him, hand in hand with Meghan. “Luke, don't let your father upset you. He means well, but his manner isn't always . . .”

“Appropriate?” Luke prompted.

She sighed. “He's a wonderful man with a big heart locked up inside. I just wish you'd get to see it more often. I try not to get in the middle of these disputes. But that doesn't mean I don't care.” His ma put her arm around his shoulders and said, “Sometimes I think you must wonder why I married him, but your father's a good man. Not only does he work hard to put food on the table but he protects us . . . or tries to, the best he can.”

“Ma, you haven't always agreed with Dad's opinions, have you.” It wasn't a question, but a statement.

She smiled. “No. Not always. I don't always approve of the way he treats you three kids. I didn't approve of his feud with Andy Macpherson when it first started, and I still don't.”

“Dad said the feud had something to do with an old love triangle?”

Ma nodded her head and sighed. “Andy and I dated for a while in high school. Then I met your dad, who was Andy's best friend at the time. One day they were walking me home, when a car ran off the road and hit a power pole right in front of us. Sparks came showering down and lit the neighboring field on fire. As you can imagine, since I'd barely escaped the fire that killed my parents when I was younger, I panicked.

“And while Andy tried to put out the flames, your dad did his best to comfort me and make me feel safe. I never went out with Andy again, and he got angry. He accused your dad of taking advantage of my emotions. All I know is that I fell in love with your dad that day and I've loved him every day since.

“But he and I started dating—­your father never should have punched Andy in the face for bringing me flowers and trying to win me back, and neither one of them should have held a grudge against the other over something so silly for so long. After all, we're
neighbors
!”

Ma let out another sigh. “I expected them to forgive one another when Andy married and then had Sammy Jo, but . . . I guess they'd gotten so used to hating each other that they forgot how to be friends.” She shook her head. “The point is . . . if anyone's to blame for this mess we're in, it's
them
, not you.”

Luke leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Ma.”

“Onkle Uke,” Meghan called, tugging on the bottom of his pants. “Can you play with me now?”

Luke glanced down at his niece and grinned. “Yes, I sure can. In fact, I have a present for you.”

“For me?”

Meghan giggled with delight as he fetched his old marshmallow shooter and a small bag of homemade marshmallows out of the first cabin and proceeded to show her how to use them. She had trouble at first, then as Luke knelt beside her and guided her hands, Meghan was able to shoot a marshmallow at Ryan and Cody as they walked past.

“Hey, what's that?” Cody asked, his interest piqued.

“Meghan, why don't you show him?” Luke said, nodding toward Ryan's seven-­year-­old boy.

Luke watched his niece stick the extra marshmallows in Ma's jacket pocket. Then Meghan took the marshmallow still in her small hands, placed it in the plastic tube, and showed Cody how the shooter worked as if she'd turned pro.

“Teaching her young,” Ryan commented with amusement.

“Every kid should have one,” Luke said, and his mind returned to the failed cabin inspection.
Just like every kid should be able to grow up in a place like this and not have to worry about where they'll be in another year or two.

If they had to sell, Luke knew he'd be okay. He'd never needed much to survive. He could buy a new tent to sleep in. And Bree would be fine. She'd be gone soon anyway after she married Ryan. But what about Ma? Dad? Luke's grandma, who had lived here three-­quarters of her life? What about Del and little Meggie who had nowhere else to go and no way to support themselves?

When he'd promised his family he'd build the cabins, what he really meant was that they could count on him. That he would pull his share to make the ranch succeed.

“Hey, watch out for the flying marshmallows,” Ryan joked, pulling him back out of range. “Now look what you did. I'll have to get Cody one of those things. Just as soon as you agree to stand up with me when I marry your sister.”

Luke leaned to the side to dodge another wayward marshmallow. “Be in your wedding party?”

“We'll pair you up with Sammy Jo,” Ryan promised.

Luke frowned. “But if she's maid of honor, then that would make me—­”

“My best man,” Ryan affirmed.

“I'd be honored,” Luke said, “but shouldn't you give that role to one of your brothers?”

Ryan gave him a look like he was crazy. “And risk dividing the Tanner household by choosing one over the other two? No way. I told them they'd all be groomsmen.”

Luke grinned and slapped Ryan on the back. “Well, okay, then.”

The tension in his body eased, and as Luke watched the kids play, he thought of Ryan and Bree's wedding, and Sammy Jo, and realized no matter what happened, there were still many things for them all to look forward to in the future.

Like his grandma liked to say,
“If ya don'
t like what's behind you, don't look back. If ya don't see something in front of you worth looking at, keep going till you do.”

He'd find a way to save Collins Country Cabins from financial ruin, even if they lost the use of their cabins, and the big incoming wedding contract.

Somehow,
he
, like his father, would make sure his family remained safe.

“Luke! Ryan!”
Delaney shouted, running toward them and waving her hands. “Come quick. Bree and I watched the video surveillance tape from the other night and we've got something to show you!”

S
AMMY
J
O FACED
her father by the tack shed, unwilling to give him an inch of ground in their argument over the Collinses.