Free Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux Page B

house, Luke left the stables and cleared away his tools. His truck was parked in
    back and he tossed shovels and loppers in with a bang. If she came out and had something to say about…about
    anything, he’d tell her he was quitting.
    He got in the truck, started it, and drove to the road that went out the back of the property, the servants’
    exit. But on impulse, he turned toward the front of the house.
    Just as he got to the gate, Ramsey pulled in in his black Mercedes sedan and blocked the exit. Luke just
    wanted to leave, but he could see that Rams wasn’t about to let him pass. When his cousin put his window
    down, Luke stuck his head out the truck window.
    “Have you seen her yet?”
    “Who?” Luke asked.
    “Miss Edi’s ghost. You know who I mean. Have you seen her?”
    “Maybe.”
    “So what’s she look like?”
    “Bad. Real bad. She’s so ugly I had to use a mirror to look at her,” Luke said.
    “That good, huh?” Ramsey said. “I was hoping so. I was a little worried about…Nothing. I wasn’t worried
    at all.”
    “Would you move that gas guzzler of yours and let me by?”
    “I need your help,” Ramsey said. “Aunt Ellie said Sara’s with Jocelyn, so I want you to get Sara to keep
    Jocelyn busy for twenty minutes while I set up.”
    “Set up?” Luke asked. “What are you talking about? Are you planning fireworks?”
    “Maybe,” Ramsey said with a grin. “She knows I’m coming and I’m bringing dinner, but I don’t want her to
    see me lugging this stuff out of the car and hauling it into the house. Hey! I know. I’ll go talk to Jocelyn and you
    set up for me. You know how to chill champagne, don’t you?”
    “Put it in the creek with the beer,” Luke said as he backed up his truck. What the hell was up with this
    whole town? he wondered. First his mother tells him to stay away from this woman, then Ramsey wants him to
    play butler.
    When they got to the wide, graveled area in front of the house, they parked their vehicles by Jocelyn’s
    silver Mini Cooper and got out. Ramsey was in black trousers, white shirt, and blue tie. He pulled the tie off and
    tossed it onto the front seat of the car. “What a day! I planned to be here an hour ago, but old man Segal nearly
    drove me crazy. He and his son had another fight, so the old man changed his will again.”
    Ramsey opened the back car door, pulled out a huge picnic basket, then looked up at the windows of the
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    house. “You don’t think she’s watching, do you?”
    “Why are you asking me? You obviously know more about her than I do.”
    “What’s wrong with you?” Ramsey asked. “You have a falling-out with your latest girl?”
    “Never has happened, never will. Can you tell me why you’re so interested in this woman?”
    “I think she may be the one.”
    “Not again,” Luke said with a groan.
    “This girl spent most of her life with Miss Edi. She spent her weekends at the ballet. She can play the piano
    and dance a waltz. And she has a brain.”
    “So that means she’s someone you can show off at the country club and at those benefits they give over in
    Williamsburg.”
    “If by that you mean I’d like to meet someone with an education, who also happens to be beautiful, yes.”
    Luke glanced up at the windows. “Sounds like I should get to know her.”
    Ramsey snorted. “You’d probably scare her to death. Or she’d faint at the smell of you.”
    “A lot of those girls like bad boys.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself. Bad boy. Give me a break. Just go to Sara’s, knock on the door, and tell her to
    keep Jocelyn busy for about twenty minutes. I’ll ring the bell when I’m ready. Think you can do that?”
    Luke started to tell him that Sara wasn’t home, and that Jocelyn was in her own house, but he didn’t. His
    mother had asked him to be nice to the new owner. She didn’t say anything about driving