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  “It would be a lot easier to do that if we had a manager for the lodge.”

  Luke raked a hand through his hair, his chest tight with frustration. “You know I’m doing my best to find one.”

  “Well, I’ve got the perfect person. Why don’t you hire Josie?”

  Luke’s gaze flew to Josie’s face. Her mouth was open, her eyes round and wide. She looked as stunned as he felt.

  “I…I don’t have the experience to be a general manager,” Josie sputtered.

  “Experience—bah!” Consuela dismissed the concept with a wave of her hand. “We’ve had three managers through here who had experience, and what did they do for us?” Consuela leaned forward and turned her black eyes on Luke. “Josie’s got a college degree in hotel and restaurant management, and she went through a fancy training program at that big Chicago hotel. She knows everything she needs to know. Just because she’s never held a big title before doesn’t mean she isn’t qualified. Why, she’s already got the staff coming to work and doing their jobs ten times better than before. It’s miraculous. Besides, she already knows the lodge.”

  Luke looked again at Josie. Her face was scarlet, but her eyes were bright and hopeful.

  For just a second he allowed himself to feel the same way. Was there a chance it might actually work? Was it possible she’d want to stay on the ranch for keeps?

  The next second he was annoyed at his reaction. He was getting soft, he chided himself—soft in the head as well as the heart.

  She’d stay just long enough for him to get even more attached to her than he already was, then she’d get bored and leave. The reason she’d been so taken with summer camp as a child was because she’d had limited exposure to it. Her attraction to the ranch would be the same. Once the newness wore off, she’d be anxious to make tracks back to the city.

  Josie turned to Consuela. “I appreciate your vote of confidence, but I’m sure Luke wants someone with more references.”

  “References, schmeferences.” Consuela shook her head. “They mean nothing. Luke needs someone who can run the lodge, starting right away. Luke needs you. And since you need a job, well, it’s a perfect match.” She nodded as if the matter were settled, then reached for her crutches. “Now, if you two will excuse me, I must make sure the buffet is all set.”

  “I’ll check it for you,” Josie said quickly. “You don’t need to get up.”

  Consuela turned to Luke, her eyebrows curved in an I-told-you-so arch as Josie scurried from the room. “See?”

  “Oh, I see, all right,” he muttered. “I see that I’ve been set up.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The old minx knew exactly what he meant, but Luke had been around her enough years to know it was pointless to argue. Heaving a sigh, he lowered himself into a chair across the table from her.

  “Hiring Josie is the perfect solution,” Consuela said.

  Luke scowled. “There’s nothing perfect about it.”

  “Give me one good reason it wouldn’t work.”

  “She’s a city girl. She doesn’t know the first thing about ranching.”

  “She doesn’t need to know about a ranch. She needs to know about a lodge. About that, she knows plenty.”

  Luke’s frown deepened as he raked a hand through his hair. “She knows a lot of management theory. I don’t know how good she’d be at handling the actual day-to-day operation.”

  “She’ll be magnifico,” Consuela said confidently.

  “She’ll leave as soon as she lands a better job.”

  “So?” Consuela turned both hands up. “At least we’d have her in the meantime. We need someone right now, while my ankle heals.”

  Luke gazed at the thick elastic bandages wrapped around Consuela’s ankle and ran his hand across his chin. She was right, of course. There was no logical reason not to hire Josie, at least on a temporary basis. And there was no logical reason for the gut-clenching anxiety that gripped his stomach at the very idea, either.

  No reason at all, unless he counted the fact that less than two hours ago he was holding her in his arms as she slept, his body aching, his heart rampaging with wild, incoherent emotions that had left him dazed and confused. Hell, he couldn’t even walk into the same room with her without feeling like he’d taken a fist in the gut.

  “Besides,” Consuela continued, “you have no one now. If she leaves, you’ll be in no worse shape than you already are.”

  He had a sinking feeling he was already in worse shape than he’d been when she’d arrived. The housekeeper might not know it, but she’d just voiced his deepest fear about Josie staying: what would it be like when she left?

  But he couldn’t explain that to Consuela. Not unless he wanted her to jump to a lot of unwelcome conclusions.

  “The lodge is large. It’ll be hard for me to check all the rooms on my crutches.”

  Ah, hell, Luke thought with a pang of guilt, Consuela needed help, and Josie could provide it. Just because he was irrationally, insanely attracted to the woman was no reason to deny the housekeeper the assistance she needed.

  But if Josie stayed, there would have to be some ground rules, he told himself firmly. Their relationship would have to remain strictly professional: no socializing, no trail rides, no cookouts, no moonlight encounters of any kind. And definitely, most definitely, no overnight camp outs.

  “If you’re going to ask her to stay, you better go do it,” Consuela advised. “Otherwise she’ll think you’re repugnant.”

  “Repugnant?” He stared at her, puzzled, wondering what the heck she was trying to say and if the malapropism was deliberate. It was a question he’d often asked himself over the years. “You must mean reluctant.”

  And boy, was he ever. But the way he saw it, he had no choice. Injured ankle or not, Consuela would work herself to death if he didn’t round up some help, and round it up fast.

  He heaved a heavyhearted sigh, placed his hands flat on the table and hauled his long frame to his feet. “All right, Consuela. To help you out, I’ll offer her the job on a trial basis. But if it doesn’t work out for any reason, she’ll be sent packing, and I don’t want to hear a word about it.”

  “Oh ¡bueno! Wonderful!” Consuela clapped her hands together, her round face beaming like a full moon.

  Luke slowly headed toward the dining room, as enthusiastic as a dog headed to.a flea bath. He sensed movement behind him, and at the kitchen door he paused and looked back.

  Consuela was on her feet, moving away from the table. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw her take a step on her injured foot. She stopped, gave an odd, sheepish grin and leaned heavily on her crutches.

  For a woman with an injured ankle, she was getting around awfully fast. Luke’s brow furrowed, his doubts from the night before crowding his mind. He stared at her, his hand on the door. “How long did the doctor say you’re supposed to stay off that ankle, Consuela?”

  “Until it stops hurting.”

  “And how long might that be?”

  Consuela shrugged. “Maybe a few days. Maybe a few weeks.”

  Maybe until Josie was safely ensconced in her new role. Luke frowned. If he said something along those lines and he turned out to be wrong, he’d feel like a heel. If he said nothing and turned out to be right, he’d feel like a chump. Consuela was no doubt counting on the fact he’d rather be a chump than a heel.

  She knew him too well. Hellfire and damnation, he thought darkly, blowing a forceful blast of air through his teeth. With a heavy heart and strong suspicions he was being conned, he stalked off to find Josie.

  “This was the last thing in your car,” Luke said, placing a small sewing machine on the floor next to a stack of cardboard boxes and suitcases. “Anything else I can do to help you get settled?”

  The offer sounded halfhearted at best, and the eager-to-flee expression on his face spoke far louder than his words. He’d sounded equally reluctant when he’d offered her the job, Josie thought. Well, he’d be
singing a different tune in a few weeks. She couldn’t wait to get to work and show him he hadn’t made a mistake in hiring her.

  She looked around her new home. Attached to the rear of the lodge, the manager’s apartment was small but cozy, furnished in the same rugged style as the rest of the lodge. The quarters came with its own tiny kitchen and a wood-burning fireplace. With the addition of some curtains and a few throw pillows, the place could be charming.

  Josie smiled. “I can take it from here. Thanks for helping unload my car.”

  Luke shook his head as he moved toward the door. “I didn’t know a car that size could hold so much stuff.”

  “I wanted to make the move in one trip so I wouldn’t have to run the family gauntlet again.”

  Luke paused, his hand on the doorknob. “They gave you a hard time?”

  Josie shrugged. “About what I expected. I had to listen to all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. Mom begged me to stay in Tulsa. My father tried to persuade me to go to law school so I could take my rightful place in his firm. My sisters rolled their eyes and were full of dire predictions, but in the end, they all hugged me and wished me well. I think they all expect to see me back when my three-month trial period is over.”

  Luke’s brow furrowed. “Well, we did agree that the job is only temporary. At the end of three months we’ll both reevaluate the situation.”

  Josie grinned. “At the end of three months I hope to have landed a permanent job at another resort or hotel. It’s always easier to find a job when you’ve already got one.” She widened her smile. “On the other hand, who knows? At the end of three months, you might be begging me to stay.”

  That was exactly what he was afraid of. She might not think so now, but three months was probably the outside limit of how long she’d want to stay. Making the job temporary at least gave him the illusion of being in control.

  So did setting definite boundaries. He gave a wan smile. “There’s something else we need to get straight. I don’t believe in mixing business with pleasure. From here on out, our relationship will be strictly professional.”

  “Good.”

  Good? What kind of remark was that? When he heard her give a sigh of relief, it sounded like his ego deflating.

  “Believe me, I have no interest in jeopardizing the first job I’ve managed to land in the hospitality industry after half a year of job hunting,” she said. “I want to focus on work and earn a good job reference so I can get my career back on track.”

  His jaw twitched. He gave a quick nod. “Glad we understand each other.”

  “Me, too. Good thing we had this little talk.”

  “Yeah. Good thing.”

  Yeah, right. If it was so all-fired, cotton-pickin’ good, he thought as he closed the door behind him, why did he feel so all-fired, cotton-pickin’ bad?

  * * *

  Josie pulled the last page out of the computer printer, tucked it in a file folder and headed out of the lodge office to find someone who could tell her Luke’s whereabouts. She knew better than to expect to find him at the lodge; he’d made himself scarcer than hens’ teeth during the week since she’d been on the job.

  They’d agreed to keep their relationship strictly professional, but Luke was taking this to extremes. Not socializing was one thing; avoiding her entirely was quite another. He was her boss, and she couldn’t do her job without at least occasionally consulting him on business matters.

  She found Consuela in the main hall, a crutch slung under one arm, dusting the mantel of the gigantic fireplace under the star-patterned quilt. Josie gazed up at it, her thoughts flying to Luke and their conversation during the camp out. Despite her resolve, the memory churned up a host of very unbusinesslike feelings.

  She deliberately thrust them aside. “Consuela, do you have any idea where I can find Luke this morning? I have a stack of things I need to go over with him.”

  The housekeeper nodded. “He said he had some paper-work to do. That means he’s at his office.”

  “At his house?”

  “Si.”

  The idea of visiting Luke at his home made Josie’s stomach clench. “Maybe I should wait for him to come here.”

  Consuela gave a lopsided grin. “The way he’s been avoiding this place, you could still be waiting come next July.”

  So she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Luke’s sparse appearances at the lodge, Josie thought grimly.

  “Everyone goes to the house to discuss business with Luke,” Consuela said. “It was the ranch headquarters long before this lodge was built. Manuel goes there to see him about ranch business all the time. So did the other lodge managers before you.”

  She had questions that needed answers, projects that needed his approval, Josie firmly told herself. She couldn’t allow her personal feelings to prevent her from getting her work accomplished. “All right. Can you tell me how to get there?”

  The house was a mile from the lodge, but it was such a beautiful day that Josie decided to walk. Following Consuela’s directions, she set out along a narrow gravel road through the woods.

  The fall foliage was rapidly dropping from the trees, completely changing the way the scenery had looked when she’d first arrived at the ranch. So many things had changed since then, she mused. Two weeks ago she had no faith in her own judgment, she’d given up on her career and she was about to marry a man she didn’t even know she didn’t love. But another event loomed in her mind as an even bigger change.

  Two weeks ago, she hadn’t met Luke O’Dell.

  The thought rattled her like the wind on the dry leaves. Blowing out a harsh breath, she increased her pace. Luke had stayed on her mind as persistently as a flea on a dog ever since she’d first met him, but her thoughts about him had taken on a new dimension ever since the camp out. Since then, she’d felt something uncomfortably close to tenderness.

  It was all perfectly understandable, she rationalized. Hearing him talk about his mother’s death had given her an insight into him that would have touched anyone’s heart. She wasn’t a psychologist, but it didn’t take one to realize he was struggling with some deep-seated feelings of abandonment. His mother had died, his father had emotionally withdrawn from him, his wife had left him. It was no wonder he tried to keep his emotional distance from people, Josie thought. He was probably afraid to open his heart to anyone.

  Which was exactly why it touched her so that he’d opened up and talked to her.

  She was reading too much into it, she told herself. Under similar circumstances, with moonlight, solitude and a cozy campfire, he probably would have confided in anyone.

  Besides, it didn’t matter, anyway. He was her employer now, and there was no room in a business relationship for the kind of thoughts and feelings she’d been having about him. She had her work cut out just trying to convince him she could manage the lodge.

  He sure hadn’t seemed any too eager to hire her. When he’d offered her the job, he’d prefaced it with all the reasons she probably wouldn’t want to take it. When she’d accepted it, anyway, he’d looked less than elated.

  She knew he’d only hired her to placate Consuela, but she’d jumped at the offer. Working at the ranch would give her the chance to earn a job reference and allow her to get on with her career. It would help her establish her independence and give her a place to stay.

  And it would allow her to continue to have some contact with Luke, a tiny voice deep inside reminded her.

  Josie shook her head, trying to dislodge the troublesome thought. Accepting the job had been a good, solid decision based on good, solid logic, and she wasn’t going to second-guess her judgment in making it, she thought firmly. Her parents had done more than enough of that for her when she’d gone to Tulsa to pick up her belongings. As she’d explained to them, the job was an ideal opportunity, and she intended to make the most of it.

  Filled with fresh resolve, she rounded a curve in the trail and spotted an imposing two-story structure at the end of a lo
ng, tree-lined drive. Made of whitewashed brick, the old plantation-style house was wrapped with upper and lower covered galleries, each lined with six pairs of French doors flanked by long, black shutters.

  A swarm of butterflies fluttered in Josie’s stomach as she mounted the wide steps of the porch and raised her hand to the large brass door knocker. The door stood slightly ajar and swung open as she knocked on it.

  “Come in,” Luke bellowed from deep inside the structure.

  Josie hesitantly stepped into the foyer, taking in the polished hardwood floor, the chandelier over the curved stair-case, the classic furnishings. Josie didn’t know exactly what she’d expected the house to look like—maybe a smaller version of the lodge—but this was far more elegant than anything she’d imagined.

  Clutching the folder she’d brought with her, she headed toward the center of the house, peering into open doorways until she found him seated behind a massive desk in a large, book-lined room, his head bent over a stack of papers.

  “Manuel, have you seen the invoice for the—” Luke looked up and blinked in surprise. “Josie.”

  He pushed himself out of his chair, his heart unaccountably picking up speed as he stared at her. He had a hard time recalling exactly why he’d gone to such lengths to avoid her all week. In that tailored red dress, she looked hotter than Consuela’s five-alarm chili.

  Suddenly remembering his manners, he rounded the desk and pulled out a chair for her. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to discuss a few business matters with you,” she said, adjusting her skirt as she sat in the chair.

  He watched her cross her knees, following the motion like a man in a trance. Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, she had great legs. He’d never seen them before, he thought distractedly. But then he’d never seen her in a dress before, either—not counting her mud-plastered wedding gown.

  The thought reminded him of all the reasons he had no business sitting here ogling her. She was already hounding his thoughts like a hunting dog, making it hard for him to think straight or get a decent night’s sleep; the last thing he needed to do was gather more material for his imagination.