The Maverick's Midnight Proposal

As a child, she’d had seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm, and she’d found joy in every aspect of life. Of course, that was a lot of years before their parents were killed, sucking all the joy out of all their lives.

Before he could go too far down that dark path, he stepped out of the truck and made his way toward the entrance. He lifted his arm to reach for the handle, then hesitated again. Over the past dozen years, he’d never let himself think about a potential reunion with his siblings because he never believed he would come back to Rust Creek Falls. Now that the moment was here, he was paralyzed by his own doubts and fears.

Apparently his sister felt differently, because the door he was staring at suddenly flung open.

“You’re here!”

Those two words were the only warning Luke got before Bella launched herself into his arms. He caught her—a reflex action—and she pressed her cheek to his, covering his face with kisses and tears.

The unexpected outpouring of affection made his heart swell inside his chest, so much that his ribs actually ached.

“You’re really here,” she said again.

“I’m really here,” he confirmed.

“I know you said you were coming,” she acknowledged, “but I’ve been waiting for so long that it feels like forever.”

His arms tightened around her. It felt like forever to him, too. And though he’d had more than a few reservations about returning to Rust Creek Falls, right now, with Bella in his arms, he was certain that he’d made the right decision.

All too soon, she was drawing away again. “Come on,” she said, tugging on his arm. “I want you to meet my husband.” Her eyes sparkled as her lips curved. “We’ve been married for almost six months, and I still get such a thrill every time I say that.”

“I feel a shock to hear you say it,” Luke confessed. But he was eager to meet Hudson Jones—and to thank him for hiring the PI who had tracked him down.

When he stepped into the building, he was immediately enveloped by warmth—a welcome reprieve from the bitter winds blowing outside—and assailed by various sounds and scents: crying and cooing and singing; baby powder and Play-Doh and fresh gingerbread.

“We’re baking cookies for the toddlers to decorate today,” she explained. “And to eat, during snack time.”

“I guess day care isn’t all about story time and building blocks,” he mused.

She laughed. “You have no idea.”

He took a minute to catch his breath and survey the space. The tiles beneath his boots were multicolored, the walls were painted sunshine yellow and decorated with artwork that he suspected had been done by children who attended the day care. “How did you end up working here?”

“The facility was opening at a time when I was desperate for a job,” she admitted. “Jamie’s wife died after giving birth to their three babies, so I came home from college to help him with Henry, Jared and Katie.”

He’d thought nothing could surprise him more than discovering that Bella was married, and now she was telling him that his youngest brother had also married—and been widowed—and was a father. “Triplets?”

She nodded.

“And you left school to be his babysitter?”

“He’s family,” she said simply, as if that explained everything. “And the only brother I had left after you, Bailey and Danny took off.”

“Bella—”

“We’ll talk about that later,” she interjected, hooking one arm through Luke’s and raising her other hand to knock on a partially open door beside the main reception desk.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door open the rest of the way. “Hudson, there’s someone here that I want you to meet.”

The man behind the desk slid his chair back and stood up. The smile that lit his eyes when he looked at his wife assured Luke that he was just as much in love with Bella as she obviously was with him.

Then his gaze shifted, and cooled noticeably. “You must be Luke.”

He nodded and shook the proffered hand. “It’s nice to meet the man who won my sister’s heart.”

“She won mine first,” Hudson said. “And I’d do anything for my beautiful bride, so I was pleased to hear that David Bradford was successful in tracking you down in Wyoming.”

“I’m grateful for your efforts,” Luke said sincerely.

“I just want Bella to be happy,” Hudson said.

Luke understood what the man was saying—and what he wasn’t. Hudson had hired the private investigator to find Bella’s siblings because it was what she wanted, but he wouldn’t tolerate anyone—even her family—hurting his wife. Although Hudson’s demeanor made him a little wary, Luke couldn’t help but respect his new brother-in-law for wanting to protect his bride.

“I am happy,” Bella assured him. “And I know this is going to be the best Christmas ever, not just because it’s my first as Mrs. Hudson Jones—” she sent an adoring look toward her husband “—but because Luke is finally home and Danny is planning his Christmas Eve wedding.”

Luke opened his mouth, intending to tell her that he wouldn’t be staying in Rust Creek Falls for Christmas, but the last part of her statement pushed everything else from his mind.

“Our Danny?”

Bella nodded.

“He’s here—in Rust Creek Falls?”

“You didn’t know?”

Luke shook his head. “We kind of lost touch a few years back,” he admitted.

“He’s been here since October,” Bella told him now. “After he saw an interview with Jamie on The Great Roundup, he realized he missed his family and finally decided to come back.”

“What’s The Great Roundup?”

His sister seemed surprised by the question. “Don’t you watch TV?”

“Not a lot,” he admitted.

“The Great Roundup is a reality show, similar to The Amazing Race but with a Western theme,” Hudson explained. “There are various challenges of skill and survival, and the winner gets a million dollars.”

“And you watch this?” Luke asked, his tone dubious.

“Travis Dalton and Brenna O’Reilly are on the show,” his brother-in-law explained.

“And they’re engaged!” Bella exclaimed.

Although Luke didn’t know Travis or Brenna, he knew the Daltons and O’Reillys were longtime residents of Rust Creek Falls. But he was more interested in what she’d said about their brother than the details of a reality show. “And you said Danny’s engaged, too?”

“To Annie Lattimore,” she said, naming their brother’s high school sweetheart.

“I should have known,” he realized. “Danny never wanted to leave Rust Creek Falls—or Annie.”

“Then why did he?” Bella wondered. “Why did you?”

He answered with the truth—or at least part of it. “Because we couldn’t stay. The grandparents made it clear they didn’t want us hanging around, that even four kids were too much of a burden.”

“Not long after you left, they sent Dana and Liz away, too,” Bella told him.

Hudson slid an arm across her shoulders—a wordless gesture of support and comfort—while Luke just looked on helplessly.

“I’m so sorry,” he told her. “We—I—honestly thought it was the best decision at the time.”

“Well, you’re here now,” she said again, blinking away the tears that had filled her eyes. “And Dana’s been found, too—she lives with her adoptive family in Portland—so I’m confident that we’ll all be together again soon.”

Luke shifted his gaze to his brother-in-law. “Has your PI succeeded in tracking down everyone else?”

“Not yet,” Hudson admitted. “But he’s got some leads and I’m sure we’ll see results soon.” He glanced down as his cell phone buzzed. “Sorry—that’s a business call I need to take.”

“Of course,” Bella acknowledged, nudging Luke back toward the door, then closing it softly after she’d followed him out. “I need to get back to work, too,” she said apologetically.

Luke nodded. “Maybe we can catch up some more later.”

“We’ll definitely catch up later,” she immediately responded. “But now you’re probably exhausted after your long drive, so why don’t you go back to our house, put your feet up and relax? Even have a nap if you want.”

“A nap?” he echoed.

“Nap time isn’t just for preschoolers,” she assured him, pressing something into his palm.

He stared at the key, wondering how it was so easy for her to not only accept his sudden reappearance in her life but even open up her home to him after so much time had passed. “I don’t want to impose,” he told her.

“It’s not an imposition,” she insisted. “We’re happy to have you.”

He believed that she was happy, but he didn’t think her husband was overjoyed.

“You and Hudson are still newlyweds,” he protested. “I should get a room at the boarding house so you aren’t tripping over me.”

She laughed. “Obviously you haven’t yet seen the house. When you do, you’ll realize that there’s plenty of room and no reason to worry about anyone tripping over anyone else.”

Still, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of staying with the sister he’d had no contact with for more than a decade. Or maybe it was the prospect of staying in Rust Creek Falls at all that made him uneasy.

“Please,” she added, and with that single word, the last of his resistance melted away.

“Okay,” he relented. “I’ll stay for a couple of days.”

“That’s a good start,” she agreed.

Chapter Two

Luke was smiling and shaking his head as he walked out of the day care and headed back to his truck. He’d forgotten how sneaky his sister could be—and how he’d never been able to refuse anything she asked. But he was grateful for her invitation and looking forward to the opportunity to catch up with her and Jamie and Danny.

He was also curious to check out Bella and Hudson’s house, but he wasn’t quite ready to put his feet up. What he was, his growling stomach pointed out, was hungry.

Earlier, his gut had been so twisted up in knots over the impending reunion with his sister that he hadn’t been able to eat anything. Now that the initial meeting was over, he realized he was famished.

He hadn’t forgotten about the Ace in the Hole—or the thick, juicy burgers that were served with a mountain of crispy fries. In fact, the memory alone was enough to make his mouth water and, when his stomach rumbled again, he steered his truck toward Sawmill Street.

But for reasons he couldn’t fathom, he abruptly turned off Sawmill onto North Broomtail and pulled up in front of Daisy’s Donut Shop again.

* * *

After graduating from high school, Eva had wanted to follow her passion and pursue a diploma in baking and pastry arts. But following her heart had led to heartache more times than she could count, so she’d listened to the urging of her parents and opted to study accounting instead. She’d just completed her first year when her father was diagnosed with lymphoma, so she’d returned to Rust Creek Falls to support her family and postponed the rest of her studies.

She’d been fortunate to get a job at Daisy’s Donut Shop. The part-time hours had allowed her to earn a little bit of income while also providing the flexibility she’d needed to take her father to his various doctors’ appointments and therapies. When Ray Armstrong had finished his treatments, she’d been able to increase her hours and now she was working full-time. Since the doctors had officially declared her dad to be in remission, he’d been pressuring his daughter to return to school and complete her degree. In the spirit of compromise, she’d been taking some online courses and was now only a few courses shy of completion, but she was still happier baking than studying.

Her friends liked to tease that she would be the perfect wife and homemaker, but she hadn’t yet met a man who agreed with their assessment.

Maybe having her heart stomped on time and time again should have taught her to be wary, but there wasn’t anything she wanted more than to fall in love, get married, fill her home with babies and her kitchen with the sweet scents of baking, so she was trusting fate to put the right man in her path.

In the meantime, she kept busy filling Daisy’s display case with mouthwatering goodies. Since the morning rush had passed and it was still early for lunch, Eva took advantage of the lull to brew a fresh pot of coffee, then sipped a cup while she took inventory of the goodies that remained. The white chocolate cranberry cookies had sold out, which made her feel pretty good. Her boss had protested that there was no need to expand their offerings beyond the tried-and-true muffins and doughnuts, but Eva had been playing around with some of her grandmother’s recipes, tweaking here and there, and the residents of Rust Creek Falls—most of them creatures of habit—had overcome their reluctance and started to look forward to daily specials.

Today’s pumpkin spice muffins had been gone within the first two hours of the shop’s opening, the sticky buns had sold out shortly after and there were only two eggnog biscotti remaining in the jar on the counter. She pulled an empty tray out of the case—the cheesecake-stuffed snickerdoodles had also been decimated by the morning crowd—replaced the liner and set out neatly decorated gingerbread boy and girl cookies.

She glanced up when the bell over the door chimed, and her heart immediately skipped a beat.

He was back.

The handsome cowboy with the sexy voice and troubled eyes.

She’d hoped to see him again, but she hadn’t expected that her wish would come true so quickly.

“You’re back,” she said, because her brain couldn’t seem to focus on anything else.

He seemed surprised that she’d remembered him from earlier—or maybe he thought he should remember her from years ago—but he only said, “I’m hungry.”

“Then you’ve come to the right place.” She smiled, wanting him to feel welcome, and wishing she could ease the tension that was evident in the line of his jaw and the set of his shoulders. “Breakfast or lunch hungry?”

“Huh?” He looked at her blankly.

She didn’t know where he’d gone after he’d left the doughnut shop earlier, but it was apparent that his mind wasn’t occupying the same physical space as his body.

“Are you hungry for breakfast or lunch?” she asked again.

“I don’t even know what time it is,” he admitted, glancing at the watch on his wrist.

“It’s definitely time to get you some food,” she decided. “How does a roast beef sandwich with steak-cut fries sound?”

“Delicious.”

She smiled again as she filled a mug with coffee and set it on the counter, then gestured to the chair. “Sit.”

He sat, then lifted his eyes to meet her gaze. “Are you always this bossy?”

She winked at him. “Only when the occasion warrants.”

She left him with his coffee while she slipped into the kitchen to get his food, pausing first to pull out her lip gloss and quickly swipe the wand over her lips.

“He’s back,” she told Tracie, tucking the tube into her pocket again.

“Who’s back?” the cook asked.

“Luke Stockton.”

“That’s old news,” Tracie said, continuing to chop cabbage for the coleslaw she was making. “Half the town saw him in here this morning.”

“I don’t mean he’s back in town,” Eva told her, piling thinly sliced beef onto bread to make his sandwich. “I mean he’s back here. Sitting at the counter.”

“Is that why you’re loading up that plate?”

“He said he’s hungry.”

The cook chuckled. “And the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” she agreed.

Eva felt her cheeks flush. “I’m not interested in his heart.”

“Just his body?” Tracie teased. “Can’t blame you for that—the man is spectacularly well built.”

Eva’s cheeks burned hotter. He certainly was that, but that wasn’t why she wanted to feed him. Or not entirely.

“He looks a little...lost,” she said, adding fries to the plate.

“He hasn’t been home to Rust Creek Falls in twelve years,” the cook reminded her. “He’s probably feeling a little lost.”

Twelve years.

Eva couldn’t imagine being apart from her family and friends for more than a decade. Even the few months that had passed between visits when she was in college had seemed like an eternity. “I wonder why he stayed away for so long.”

“There was a lot of speculation about that,” Tracie mused. “But if you want the truth, you’d better ask the man himself.”

“I just might do that,” she decided.

“Wait,” the cook said when she started out of the kitchen.

Eva held back a smile as the other woman added a couple of sprigs of parsley to the plate.

“Presentation matters,” Tracie reminded her. “You know it, or you wouldn’t have retouched the gloss on your lips.”

Unable to deny that she had done just that, Eva silently took the plate and returned to the counter.

“Thanks,” Luke said when she set the meal in front of him.

“Enjoy,” she said, and busied herself tidying up the arrangement of mugs as he picked up his fork.

She was glad that he was early for lunch, so that he was the only customer in the doughnut shop and she was able to focus exclusively on him. Although she suspected that even if she’d had a line all the way to the door, she would have found her attention solely on the handsome stranger.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked when he’d polished off the sandwich.

He looked up, obviously surprised by the question, but immediately shook his head.

She gave him another minute before she asked, “Where did you go when you left here this morning?”

He dipped a fry into the ketchup he’d squirted on his plate. “To see my sister.”

“I can only imagine how excited Bella must have been when you showed up.”

Thick brows drew together over his dark blue eyes. “How’d you know Bella is my sister?” he asked warily.

“I heard Ben Dalton call you Luke,” she confided.

“It’s quite a jump from my first name to my family connections,” he pointed out.

She shrugged. “When someone returns to town after a dozen years, people are bound to talk.”

“No doubt,” he admitted, his tone grim.

“All good stuff,” she told him.

He lifted his mug, swallowed a mouthful of coffee. “It seems that you have me at a disadvantage.”

“How so?”

“You obviously know my name—and apparently a lot more—but I don’t know yours.”

She touched a hand to the bib of her apron. “Oh. I forgot my name tag today,” she realized. “Eva Rose Armstrong.”

He set down his mug and proffered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eva Rose Armstrong.”

She felt a tingle through her veins as her palm slid against his. His hand was wide and strong, with calluses that attested to a familiarity with manual labor. It was a man’s hand, and every womanly part of her responded to the contact.

“Eva,” she said. “My friends call me Eva.”

“Are we going to be friends, Eva?” he asked, releasing her hand.

“I think so,” she said, not daring to admit that she already hoped friends was only the beginning of what they would be to one another.

“I could probably use a friend,” he admitted, dredging another fry through ketchup. “I don’t think I have any left in this town.”

“You haven’t stayed in touch with anyone here?”

He shook his head and shoved the fry into his mouth.

“I have to admit that piques my curiosity,” she told him.

“You know what they say about curiosity.”

She ignored the warning. “Twelve years is a long time to stay away from your family.”

“I was working.”

The abrupt response and clipped tone cautioned her to back off, but she pressed on anyway. “You didn’t get any time off?”

“Ranching is a full-time job.”

She nodded an acknowledgment of the fact. Though her parents both worked in education, no one who lived in Rust Creek Falls was oblivious to the arduous demands of working the land. “No time to make a phone call?”

“How do you know I didn’t?” he challenged.

“Did you?”

He pushed his now-empty plate aside. “No.”

“Well, you’re here now,” she said. “That’s a start.”

“Maybe,” he allowed, lifting his mug again, only to discover it was empty.

“More coffee?” Eva offered, wanting to give him an excuse to linger at the counter awhile longer.

Although the lunch crowd would soon fill up the tables, she didn’t want to watch Luke Stockton walk out the door because she didn’t know when—or even if—she would see him again. And maybe it was unreasonable and irrational, but she couldn’t help feeling that the man sitting in front of her was going to change her life—but only if she could get him to stick around long enough to do so.

“No, thanks,” he said. “Just the check.”

“How about dessert?” she offered as an alternative. “I made the pies fresh this morning, and the coconut cream is a favorite of many customers.”

“Actually, I’m more of an apple pie kind of guy.”

“We have apple, too.”

He rubbed a hand over his flat belly and shook his head. “That sandwich was more than enough to fill the hole in my stomach.”

She reluctantly wrote up his check and slid it across the counter.

His fingers brushed hers as he reached for the slip of paper, sending little sparks dancing up her arm and making her wonder how she would respond if he ever really touched her.

Unfortunately, he seemed completely unaffected by the brief contact.

“Thanks,” he said. “For the meal and the company.”

“My pleasure,” she told him.

He retrieved his wallet from the inside pocket of his sheepskin-lined leather jacket, then selected some bills and tucked them under the check before he slid off the stool and rose to his feet.

Her heart sighed as her gaze skimmed over him again. She guessed that he was at least four inches taller than her own five-foot-eight-inch frame, with broad shoulders that tapered to a narrow waist and long legs encased in well-worn denim.

She wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay, that whatever had caused him to stay away for so long was water under the bridge, that his siblings were all going to welcome him back—because Rust Creek Falls was where he belonged. And she wanted to tell him that she was glad he was home—because she’d been waiting for him her whole life.

But mindful of the brevity of their acquaintance, she wisely kept those thoughts to herself.

Instead, she reached for his check again and impulsively scribbled her cell number on the back of it. “In case you ever need pie...or doughnuts...or...anything.”

* * *

Luke looked at the hastily scrawled digits, then at Eva.

Pie...or doughnuts...or...anything.

Anything?

Was she hitting on him?

As if she could somehow read the thoughts that circled in his mind, her cheeks flushed, the pink color adding a natural blush to her creamy skin.

Eva Rose Armstrong really was a beautiful woman and maybe, under different circumstances, he might consider what she was offering. Hell, there was no might about it. If he’d come to town for any reason other than to reconnect with the family he hadn’t seen in a dozen years, he would already have asked when her shift ended and made plans to meet her later.

But he was in town to reconnect with his family and he had no time—and even less inclination—for anything else. He’d proven adept enough at messing up his own life; he wasn’t going to mess with a pretty young thing who wasn’t smart enough to be wary of strangers.

But she’d been kind to him, so he carefully folded the check in half, then tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket with his wallet. “See ya.”

“I hope so,” she replied, her lips curving into another sweet smile before he turned away and headed to the exit.

Because that sweet smile seemed to promise all kinds of things that he wasn’t sure she meant—and that he couldn’t accept even if she did.

Still, as he turned his truck toward Bella and Hudson’s house, it was Eva’s pretty eyes and warm smile that lingered in his mind.