Free Luke’s Runaway Bride by Kate Bridges Page B

the first piece of pie. With a dark intensity in his mischievous eyes, he seemed to be studying her just as closely as she was him. She shot him an angry glare.
    Their fingertips brushed beneath the plate and she shuddered. Quickly dropping the plate to the table, she was suffocated with the memory of their kiss. Engaged to one man, and being kissed by the other. Even now, her throat burned where his lips had brushed it.
    She squirmed on the chair and sat up straighter. All right, she rationalized, it wasn’t a kiss on the mouth but a kiss on the neck. It wasn’t anything, really.
    Oh, yes, it was.
    It had been more erotic than a kiss on the mouth. That was the most sensual response she’d ever had to any suitor. Flushing, she toyed with the blue gingham napkin in her lap, refolding it for the third time.
    With a gap-toothed smile, Adam stepped to her side. The boy had cleaned up for lunchtime, washed his hands and slicked back his hair. It made him look young and vulnerable. Her heart went out to him at losing his mother. Although her own vague memories of losing her mother to cholera were those of a two-year-old child, she knew what it felt like to yearn for a mother’s embrace. She begrudgingly admitted that Luke was very kind to look after Adam while he tried to reach the boy’s father.
    “Here’s a fork for your pie, Miss Jenny.”
    “Thank you.”
    Jenny watched Adam pass cutlery to Luke. The boy was so eager for Luke’s attention and praise. Luke seemed to be trying his best, but didn’t always notice the lad. During the meal, he’d helped Adam cut his steak into smaller pieces, but hadn’t mentioned the untouched peas and greens Adam left behind. Jenny stifled her own urge to remind Luke to take more notice. It wasn’t her place. It wasn’t her concern.
    Where was Adam’s father at a time like this? How had the child’s mother died? She had a list of questions for Luke.
    But the longer she waited to ask, the more complicated it was becoming. Daisy had already asked a dozen prickly questions concerning Jenny’s upcoming wedding day and preparations, about her family in Boston, about how she’d first met Daniel.
    Through it all, Luke hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t offered a smidgen of support. He’d carefully listened to her every answer, as if she were here to entertain him!
    Well, she was here against her will.
    So was Olivia. The thought of Olivia penned up somewhere with a complete stranger while Jenny was enjoying a slice of pie made her stomach churn. Where was her friend?
    Jenny pulled her shoulders back and wriggled on the hard seat. Why not ask him? She dug into her pie and swallowed. “Where’s Olivia spending the afternoon?” she asked brightly.
    Luke snapped to attention. That was more like it.
    Daisy poured out more coffee. “Olivia? Who’s Olivia?”
    Jenny smiled at Luke as she tilted the cup to her lips and sipped. How would he get out of this one?
    “A friend of Jenny’s,” he answered calmly, studying her with that smug look of his, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “They’re going to do some sight-seeing together.”
    Sight-seeing? Huh! “Your friend Tom took her,” said Jenny, raising her brows, “but I didn’t get a chance to ask where exactly they were galloping off to.”
    “He took her to town. Travis is going to look after her.”
    “Travis? He’s such a nice fella,” said Nathaniel, gulping his coffee. “Always busier than a hornet, but he’s nice.”
    “Where in town and who is Travis?”
    Luke leveled his twinkling gray eyes at her, then in an annoying display of confidence, he winked. “Travis is my right-hand man, and he’s making her comfortable at the saloon.”
    Saloon? She slumped back in her seat. A saloon was no place for a lady. Jenny had heard all about saloons. They were full of drinkers and fighters and gamblers and painted women.
    “What saloon?” she demanded.
    “ My saloon.”
    Stunned for a second, she stared at his dark