Hope Flames: Hope Book 1 (18 page)

Obviously, she wasn’t going to get to help Martha clean up the dishes, so she followed Luke out to his truck and climbed in. “Will the dogs be all right?”

“They’ll be fine. Ben’s going out to the barn. They’ll follow him out there. Once with the pack, none of them will wander off, and Ben will keep an eye on them. Trust me.”

“Okay.”

Luke took off down a gravel road with a fence on each side. No one was working today, but there were pens and gates.

“You work cattle here?”

“Well, Logan and his crew do, but yeah. They bring the cattle in from the other pastures and separate the herd, do inoculations, and whatever else needs to be taken care of.”

She stared out the window as they passed by some of the grazing cattle. Mothers and their young stayed close together.

“They’re beautiful.”

He laughed. “You wouldn’t say that if you had to get close to one.”

“Please. I did my large-animal rotation in vet school. I’ve had my hand in every cattle orifice there is. And I know how bad they smell. Doesn’t mean they aren’t pretty.”

“You think they’re pretty.”

She turned her gaze on him. “Yes.”

“You are one strange woman, Emma Burnett.”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “Shut up.”

He made a turn, taking her deeper into the ranch property. “This is where the wild horses roam.”

She saw them, hundreds of horses grazing across a hilly meadow.

He pulled the truck over so she could climb out. She leaned against the fence post and he came to stand beside her.

“Oh, wow. They’re gorgeous.”

“Now that I don’t disagree with. I always loved the horses. Of course we leave them alone other than providing feed for them in the winter, but I always wanted to get in there and ride with them.”

Their markings and colors were beautiful, from solid black to paints and chestnuts. “I don’t blame you.”

Suddenly, she felt his hands around her waist. “Go on, climb on up. We’ll sit for a while, and you can watch.”

While he steadied her, she climbed on top of the wood fence and took a seat. He hopped up and took a spot next to her.

“Logan, Reid, and I would come up here when we were kids and just watch the horses run. In the winter, we’d drive the feed trucks and drop feed for them. Though they’re wild, they’d come close enough when you were dropping feed that you could almost touch them. But they’re skittish, and we didn’t want to scare them, so we’d back away and go about our business. They sure are nice to watch, though.”

Emma was transfixed. She loved horses, and these were breathtaking. The horses grazed happily in the meadow, so still for the longest time as they ate. Then, suddenly, the herd took off and ran wild over the hill, disappearing from sight, their hooves thunderous in the quiet afternoon.

“Amazing.”

Luke hopped off the fence, then grasped Emma around the waist and helped her down. She noticed his hands lingered for a few seconds on her waist. And her gaze lingered on his. He looked like he might want to kiss her.

She waited, but then he let her go.

She pushed back the disappointment, trying her best to be logical about this.

They had both decided that one time was going to be the only time, so she had no idea why she was upset when he didn’t kiss her.

This was what she wanted, right? They were friends again, and nothing mucked up a good friendship more than sex.

They climbed back in the truck and Luke pointed out various working areas of the ranch.

“It’s sizeable,” she said. “A lot for Logan to handle.”

“I guess it was Logan’s lot to get stuck with the ranch, though he doesn’t see it that way. This is his life, what he says he was born to do. He loves living out here.”

“I can see why. It’s a beautiful way of life. Tough, of course, but it would be amazing to live out here.”

“So you’re saying I was crazy to give it up.”

Her gaze shot to his. “Of course not. This just wasn’t your calling, what you were meant to do. I spent a lot of time on ranches and farms when I was in vet school. You’re either born to love it or not. And if you’re forced into that life without it being under your skin—a part of you—then you’ll grow to resent it.”

He nodded. “That’s pretty much what Logan said to me when I told him I couldn’t live here anymore.”

“So he wasn’t mad at you.”

“No. It takes a lot to get him riled up. He’s usually a pretty mellow guy.”

“I don’t know. He looks fierce to me.”

Luke made the turn to head back to the house. “Oh, I didn’t say he couldn’t get mad, and once there, he’s got one hell of a temper. But it takes a lot to light his fuse.”

She liked that he stood up for his brother. She watched the scenery roll by. “It’s a really big ranch, Luke. Amazing that your brother handles it all.”

“He manages, and he’s got a good crew.”

“Do any of them live on the ranch?”

“Ben does, and a few of the guys have rented some property on the ranch. A couple live along neighboring land. We’ll hire a few extra hands during busy parts of the season. Our cousins will come help out then, too.”

She cocked a brow. “Just how many McCormacks are there?”

He laughed. “Just me and Logan and our youngest brother, Reid, but he lives in Boston. And we have a few cousins sprinkled around here and there.”

“Yeah, you mentioned Reid earlier when we were looking at photos. I don’t know much about him.”

“He hightailed it out of here after high school, scholarship to Yale in hand. We don’t see him much.”

“Yale? Nice. What does he do?”

“He’s an architect. Ranching wasn’t ever his thing. He was always the brainy one.”

She leaned back in the seat. “Oh, and I suppose you and your brother were the dumb country boys?”

“Not exactly, but Reid—now he was smart. Always the studious type. Logan and I used to make fun of him because he always had a book in his face. Logan would be plastered to our dad’s side, learning everything there was to know about ranching.”

“And you?” she asked. “What were you doing?”

“Down at the pond, fishing, trying to stay out of trouble and get out of doing any work.”

“I can’t imagine you got by with that.”

“Uh, no. My dad had a sixth sense about his sons. He always knew where we were.”

She laughed. “I can picture that. Though usually it’s the mothers who have their thumbs on top of their kids.”

Luke’s smile disappeared. “Yeah, she wasn’t much on keeping tabs on us. She was usually busy in the city, shopping with her friends or going to her exercise classes.”

Emma sensed the bitterness in that statement. “You didn’t get along with your mother?”

He didn’t answer for a few minutes. “She wasn’t much into having kids.”

“Yet she had three of them.”

His lips curved. “Yeah, she complained a lot about how hard she had to work at exercise class to keep her figure, and how having us boys had messed it up.”

Ouch. What mother would blame her kids for that? “She blamed you for the way her body looked?”

“Sort of. She still had a great body, always watched what she ate and worked out all the time. It was like an obsession with her. I think having me and my brothers freaked her out.”

“You would think if having children bothered her as far as her body image, she would have stopped after Logan.” When he shot her a look, she touched his arm. “Though I’m glad she didn’t, of course.”

His lips curved. “Yeah, me, too. Anyway, she wasn’t the best mother. She did the barest minimum, and then after my dad died, she remarried almost right away and hightailed it off the ranch and out of Oklahoma.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious. She always hated this ranch, hated being tied to it and couldn’t wait to get away from it.”

And from her sons? Something he hadn’t mentioned but surely felt. She squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry, Luke.”

He shrugged. “Don’t be sorry for me. She isn’t missed around here. My dad was the one who was always there for us. He’s the one who’s missed.”

“I’m sure he is. It seems like he was a great guy.”

“Yeah. He was. He was always hands-on with us. Taught us about ranching, but the important things, too, like focusing on our education, how to act like a man, how to be polite, how to treat a woman.”

His father could have been so bitter, saddled with a woman who hadn’t wanted to be with him. And yet he’d obviously raised respectful sons. Luke was warm and affectionate, and had been there for her when she needed him. And they weren’t even dating.

“I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet your dad.”

He smiled at her. “He would have liked you. Mainly because you like his ranch.”

She laughed. “I do like his ranch. I like your brother, too.”

“Eh. He’s prickly. He’s just on his best behavior today because, one, he’s trying to impress you, and two, Martha would kick his butt if he was rude.”

“I might like to see you two brothers go at it.”

“The real fun is when Reid comes to visit.”

“You don’t pick on him, do you?”

He pulled up in front of the house. “Not more than a lot.”

When she gave him a look, he said, “Come on. Tell me you don’t pick on your little sister?”

She unbuckled her seat belt. “I see her so rarely that when I do, I’m so thrilled that I spend all my time worshipping her.”

He arched a brow. “I find that hard to believe. It’s the
nature of siblings to argue. When was the last time you saw your little sister?”

She had to think about it for a minute as she climbed out of the truck and met Luke around the front of it. “Probably a year and a half ago. I was still living in South Carolina and she came to visit me. Molly is . . . interesting.”

“Now there’s a word.”

She shoved at him. “Hey, it’s a compliment. It means she’s quirky.”

“Sure it does. Is that like fixing a guy up on a date with your best friend and telling him she has a great personality, when in reality it means she’s a real dog?”

“No,” she said with emphasis. “That’s not at all what it means. Molly’s gorgeous, smart, and fun.”

He took a seat on the porch steps. “But?”

Emma sighed. “She has secrets.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“She left town after high school, and won’t come back home. And no one really knows why.”

They started walking down the dirt road. “Not even you?”

“Not me. Not my parents. No one.”

“Do you think something bad happened in Hope to make her leave?”

She tilted her gaze up at him. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve asked her time and time again why she won’t come home, but she says she craves adventure and new places, and she’s afraid if she comes back home she’ll never leave again.”

“But you don’t believe her.”

“Not really. Though she does move a lot. Every three to six months it’s a new job in a new city.”

“It might just be that simple, Emma. Some people are born wanderers, never setting down roots. They enjoy the thrill and adventure of new places and new experiences.”

“Maybe you’re right. I just worry about her.”

He put an arm around her. “We always worry the most about the people we care about. Does she seem happy?”

Emma had to admit she liked Luke’s arm around her shoulders. “She does.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry so much.”

She stopped. “You make it seem so simple. In my head, Molly is so complex and mysterious.”

He laughed. “Well, I remember her and Carter together. And that was a long time ago. And that ended kind of abruptly.”

“It did. Which was also mysterious. Has he ever said anything to you about her, or about why the two of them broke up?”

Luke recalled the conversation he had had with Carter last week. “No. Carter hasn’t said anything about Molly. I guess it was just a high school romance that ran its course.”

“That’s what Molly said, too.”

“So maybe you’re looking for some wild mystery that isn’t there, and your sister just likes to travel.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“And how are your parents?” he asked.

“They’re great, as you know. My mom’s a business-and-marketing genius.”

“Yeah, she did a really nice job on your adoption day at the clinic.”

Emma sighed and stared off into the distance. “Yes. She’s just full of wonderful ideas like that.”

“You sound like you’re not happy with her.”

“Actually, she’s an amazing woman. Two degrees, owns a company, and still manages to have date nights with my father.”

“She sounds like she juggles a lot.”

“She does. But she handles it all well. She always has.”

“And you feel like you don’t measure up.”

She tilted her head back to look up at him. “I didn’t say that.”

His lips curved. “You didn’t have to. I always thought my dad was the most incredible human being on the planet. I felt he could run this ranch single-handedly and live on no sleep. It wasn’t true, of course, but it had always seemed that way to me. I’m sure your mother is human, even though to you she seems like she has superpowers.”

“She’s just so energetic and full of amazing ideas. And she always has time for me, will sit down and talk to me about whatever’s on my mind.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“I guess not. Sometimes I just don’t think I’ll ever have it together like she does.”

He laid his hand on her shoulder. “Just be thankful you have a mother who loves you, cares about you, and is there for you when you need her.”

She saw it from his perspective. He’d had a mother who was more concerned about her own needs, who didn’t care at all about her children. And here Emma was, complaining because she had an overcaring, overachieving mother. That when she came right down to admitting it, she was jealous of.

“You’re absolutely right. My mother is amazing. And she also asked me to bring you over for dinner again sometime.”

He laughed. “I’d love to come for dinner again.”

“Sure. Until she comes up with a marketing or advertising plan for the Hope Police Department.”

When he gave her a look, she said, “Oh, she’d do it, too. There isn’t anyplace in this town that my mom doesn’t think can’t be improved.”