Hope Flames: Hope Book 1 (16 page)

“So now that you know how I spend my days, tell me about your job. How’s the cop business?”

Luke shrugged. “Keeping me busy enough that I’m not bored.”

“Good enough. Hope’s not really a high-crime kind of town. You still crave the excitement of a big-city police force?”

“Kind of. But I like protecting my hometown. So I’m torn.”

“Understood. How’s the love life?”

Luke snorted. “Don’t have one. And I like it that way.”

“Word on the street is that you’re seeing Emma Burnett.”

“I’d like to know where this ‘word on the street’ shit is coming from.”

Carter smiled. “Oh, you know how it is in a small town. I get my tidbits of gossip here and there. And how is Emma?”

“Gorgeous. Hot. Skittish.”

“Not exactly your type. You much prefer them sexy, available, and not interested in commitment.”

“Well, she is sexy.”

“One out of three isn’t very good odds.”

The one annoying thing about Carter was his persistence, no matter the topic. “I’m also not dating her.”

“But you want to.”

“I don’t
want
to date anyone. We’re friends.”

Carter snorted. “Luke, you’re not friends with any woman.”

“That’s not true. I’m friends with a lot of women.”

“Sure you are. After you screw their brains out, they stay friendly with you. Not sure how you manage that, but you do. So is that the way it is with you and Emma? You got her into bed, and now you two are . . . friends?”

“No.”

“No, to which part? The getting-her-into-bed, or the you-two-are-friends part?”

Luke didn’t answer the question.

“Huh. Interesting.”

“You’ve got this all wrong. We really are friends. It’s just . . . complicated.”

“Definitely not your kind of woman. Or . . . exactly the kind of woman you need.”

“This coming from a man who hasn’t had a serious relationship since Emma’s little sister Molly in high school.”

A shadow crossed Carter’s face. “That was a long time ago. Molly and I were kids.”

“And I still remember how broken up you were when Molly left. You cared about her.”

“As much as an eighteen-year-old boy could care about someone. I told you. We were kids. It was young love. And it was over a long time ago.”

There was something in his voice, in the way Carter didn’t make direct eye contact with him that told Luke it had been way more than just young love between him and Molly. As a cop, Luke knew how to read body language. And when someone couldn’t look you in the eye when they were talking, that usually meant they were lying. Maybe Carter was still mixed-up over how he felt when Molly had run off. They might have been young, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. And maybe time didn’t heal everything.

Luke and Carter went way back to elementary school. They’d shared a lot of secrets and had been through a lot of shit together. They’d always been honest with each other,
but if there were truths being withheld, how Luke felt about Emma was probably one of them.

Hell, even he didn’t know what was going on in his own head about Emma. How could he explain it to his best friend?

Luke stood. “I’m going to head out and let you get some work done.”

“Do you need a ride somewhere?”

“Nah. I need to walk off that cinnamon roll. I’ll hang around town for a bit and run some errands.”

Carter nodded. “We’ll give you a call when your truck is ready.”

He shook Carter’s hand. “Thanks for figuring out the problem.”

Carter grinned as they walked to the front door. “My mechanics could have done that. They’re good at their jobs.”

“Yeah, it’s just your bodywork guys who suck.”

“Smart-ass. I’ll talk to you later.”

It wasn’t often that Luke had a chance to take a stroll around Hope’s main part of town. And he really did need to walk off all the calories he and Carter had taken in at Bert’s. The police station was two blocks away, so he made his way over there and stopped in to see what was going on. The captain on duty gave him a hard time for coming in on his day off. He laughed, but visited for about a half hour, then took off.

Emma’s clinic was another block down the highway. He decided to stop by, surprised when he saw Logan’s truck in the parking lot.

He went inside. Rachel spotted him as soon as he walked through the door.

“Officer Luke. How are you doing?”

“Fine, Rachel. How about you?”

“Great. You don’t have Boomer with you.”

“Off duty today. I was in town doing a few things, so I thought I’d come by. I see my brother is here.”

“He is. With Whip. The poor dog got some wire stuck in him, so Dr. Emma’s taking it out. You can go on back. They’re in room three.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He headed left and down the hall, knocked on the door, and opened it. Logan was sitting in there alone.

“What are you doing here?” Logan asked.

“I saw your truck when I was walking by.”

Logan arched a brow. “Walking?”

“My truck has fuel-injector issues, so it’s over at Carter’s garage.”

“That sucks.”

Luke stepped in and closed the door. “Rachel said Whip got snagged in some wire?”

“Yeah,” Logan said. “We were replacing some fence on the south property, and Whip had come along. While we were puttin’ up the new row, he got tangled in the old fence we’d taken down. I tried to get him untangled, but he got scared and fought me. Some of the discarded pieces got wedged too deep in his skin for me to pull out, so I brought him in here for the doc to take care of him.”

“And how’s that going?”

“Fine, I guess. Doc has Whip in the surgery room now. She said it’s not too bad. He ground some loose pieces fairly deep, but they needed to anesthetize him because he wasn’t too damn happy about having that wire pulled out.”

“I imagine he wasn’t.”

Luke took a seat on the bench next to Logan.

“So . . . fuel injectors, huh?”

“Yeah.” He told Logan about his morning with Carter.

Logan laughed. “Got him to get his hands dirty, anyway. That was a win.”

“True. I don’t imagine Carter has much opportunity to work on cars like he used to.”

“No, now that he’s busy owning all those shops, he has to take care of business. I’ll bet he enjoyed getting under the hood today.”

“Speaking of taking care of business, how come you brought Whip out here yourself? You could have sent one of the hands or had Martha bring him.”

“What? And miss checking out Dr. Emma, the woman who has your balls in a knot?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “She’s not doing anything to my balls.”

“Yeah, that’s why they’re in a knot.”

Logan laughed at his own joke. Luke didn’t find it amusing.

Fortunately, Emma walked in then, sparing him from more of Logan’s awful humor. She looked pretty today with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and her blue scrubs on.

Her brows rose when she saw Luke.

“Oh. Hi, Luke. I didn’t know you were here.”

“I saw Logan’s truck, so I wandered in to see what was up.”

“I see. Day off?”

“Yup.”

She gave him a sweet smile. “How nice for you.”

She turned her attention back to Logan. “Whip’s fine. All the wire is out. He has a few spots that needed stitches, so you’ll have to watch those. I assume you can take those out yourself.”

“Not a problem, Doc.”

“All right. I’m going to send you home with some antibiotics and pain meds, though I doubt he’ll need the pain medication, but just in case. Keep him quiet for a couple days and keep the stitched areas clean.”

Logan stood. “I know the drill, Doc. Thanks.”

“No problem. He’s a really cute dog.”

“Yeah, we kind of like him. So do the other dogs.”

She walked out with him to the reception area. “Do you have a veterinarian for your other dogs? Are they all up on their shots? Have they had a checkup recently?”

Luke loved the way Emma was concerned about Logan’s dogs. From the smirk on his face, so was his brother.

“Dr. Burnett, are you hitting me up to become one of your clients?”

She gave him a grin. “Well, to be honest, I was concerned
about your animals. But, yes, I’d love your business. I realize we’re not close to your ranch.”

“You’re close enough. And I like the way you treated Whip. I’ll have Martha, our housekeeper and general keeper of the animals, bring the others by next week for a checkup.”

Luke crossed his arms. “Won’t Martha love that?”

Logan gave him a look. “Not so much.”

Logan turned to Emma. “I think it’s been a year or two since they had shots. I don’t know where the hell their records are. We have six ranch dogs.”

Emma’s brows raised. “Six? Maybe it would be easier if I came out to the ranch and took care of things?”

“That would be great.” Logan turned to Luke. “Why don’t you have Luke bring you out on Sunday? Martha makes a great pot roast on Sundays. You can eat with us.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I can always come by after work one night.”

“No reason for you to make one of your long days even longer. Come hang out with us. You can see the horses and the cattle, get a tour of the place, and see where Luke grew up.”

Emma looked at Luke. “Now that might be fun. I’d love to. Thank you for the invitation.”

“No problem.”

Leanne brought out an awake but slow-moving Whip. “Here’s your boy.”

Logan took the leash. “Hey, fella. Have a good nap?”

Whip leaned groggily against Logan’s side.

Emma gave the chart to Rachel. “Well, it’s back to work for me, guys. Nice seeing you, Luke. I guess you’ll call me about Sunday?”

“I guess I will.” He gave Emma a smile. She blushed and said good-bye to Logan.

“You set that up,” Luke said to Logan after Emma disappeared.

“Set what up?” Logan asked as he took out his checkbook to pay the bill.

“Me and Emma coming to the ranch on Sunday.”

“Believe it or not, Luke, everything isn’t about you. I thought maybe you’d want to show Emma the ranch, and this way, Martha doesn’t have to drag all the dogs in here, which you know she’d grumble about. It works out good for me, Martha loves having company—and she loves to see you, because you don’t come for Sunday dinner all that often. See what a great plan that is?” He slapped his brother on the back.

“I guess.” Though Luke was still convinced Logan had manipulated him.

Logan tucked the checkbook in his pocket and grasped the leash. “See you Sunday, brother.”

“Yeah. Sunday.”

Logan walked out, leaving Luke leaning against the front counter.

“So, you and Dr. Emma have a date at the ranch on Sunday, huh?” Rachel asked.

“Not a date. I’m just bringing her to the ranch so she can treat my brother’s dogs.”

“Sure you are,” Rachel said, busying herself at the computer. While smiling.

Shit.

Chapter 13

AS THEY PULLED through the massive and oh-so-impressive scrolled gates of the L&M Ranch, Emma shifted in her seat to face Luke.

He’d been mostly silent on the way over there, and Emma was certain he was bringing her reluctantly. His brother had kind of wrangled him into accompanying her, and really, she could have come on her own. Still, he had agreed, when he could have said no. So, did he want to come with her, or was he just being a gentleman?

She had no idea. His expression gave away nothing, so Emma focused her attention on the massive sprawl of land in front of them.

“You grew up here?”

“Yeah.”

She all but plastered her nose to the window, miles of tall, honey-colored grass waving in the wind as they drove down the gravel road.

“All of this is yours.”

“Mine and Logan’s and our younger brother, Reid’s, yes.”

She tore her gaze away from the majestic panorama of trees and scrub and you-can-see-forever to look at him. “This is amazing.”

His lips finally curved. “You think so?”

“Yes. Oh my God, Luke. I had no idea you owned this much land. Oh my God again, look at the horses.” She rolled her windows down as they approached the property.

“You’re kind of cracking me up here, Emma.”

“Shut up. I’m a city girl.”

They pulled up to the house. Excited, Emma punched the button on her seat belt and climbed out of the truck. Their dogs scampered out and were greeted by a pack of barking dogs of all shapes and sizes, Whip being one of them. Emma crouched down to meet and pet them all.

“Hey, Whip, how are you doing?” She smoothed her hands over his sides. He was healing up just fine, despite his exuberance. She knew he wouldn’t be lying calmly on a bed of pillows in the house. Ranch dogs rarely sat still for a minute.

Logan had quite a pack of dogs. There was Whip, the border collie, an Australian shepherd mix, a beagle, a Labrador mix, a terrier mix, and a pit bull like Annie. And they were all friendly to Daisy and Annie. Boomer joined the fray, too. It was one enormous dog party.

“You’re walking better,” Luke said.

She lifted her gaze to his. “I’ve been sleeping a lot. Apparently falling down makes me sleepy.”

“It was a rough injury.”

“I’m feeling a lot better now, though. Thank you for asking. And again, thanks for that night.”

“You’re welcome. I’m sorry you got hurt.”

She shrugged. “It was my own fault for not looking where I was going. I should know better. I’ll be a lot more careful in the future.”

“I’m just glad you weren’t hurt worse. Are your knees healed?”

“Yes. Scabs and everything.”

He laughed. “Scabs are good.”

“I’m sorry. Probably not what you want to talk about.”

“I’m not squeamish about scabs, Doc. You can’t scare me away.”

She studied him. “Apparently not. You’re tougher than most men.”

“I’d like to think so, but you can feel free to put me to the test if you’d like.”

He was teasing her. And she blushed, so aware of him all the time it was embarrassing.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I believe you.”

Logan came outside.

“Hey, Doc. Glad you could make it.”

She smiled at Logan. “Thanks again for inviting me.”