“Hope I’m not interrupting,” the intruder drawled lazily.
David released his hold on her, and Elizabeth sunk her head in her hands. She didn’t need to see who stood in the doorway, the rusted twang of his voice gave him away.
“Fix your hair, Miss Wells.”
Miss Wells. Such formal words, and this from the man whose eyes had emanated love and concern in the school hallway that afternoon, who had held her in his arms and let her tears dampen his suit two nights ago. What must he think of her? Kissing him the other night, speaking privately with him today, and found in another man’s embrace this evening?
“Miss Wells.” Luke spoke her name so firmly her head shot up. “The girls are waiting behind the building. They wanted to thank you for your speech. So unless you fancy parading around with your hair tangled and hanging every which way, I’d suggest you put it back up.”
She flew into action, kneeling on the floor to retrieve her hat and pins, shoving her snarled tresses up beneath the too-small creation, and squishing it into place. She jabbed pins randomly through her locks. Now if only the arrangement would hold for the ride back to Valley Falls.
“And you,” Luke said. She didn’t need to look up to know he pointed a finger at David. “I trust she’s given you an answer about your marriage proposal.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” David’s smooth politician’s voice filled the room. “We’ve decided—”
“Good. Don’t come near her again.”
Don’t come near her? Luke was protecting her? After finding her in David’s arms? She stood slowly and glanced at him, but he’d trained eyes so fiercely on David he didn’t notice. Somehow he knew she’d been forced, knew she hadn’t wanted David’s kiss. Maybe her struggle had been obvious when he opened the door, even more obvious than her fallen mass of hair.
“This is the room we were in, isn’t it?” A woman’s words floated in from the hallway.
“Yes, I must have left it just in here.” Mother, her mother, answered.
All moisture leeched from her mouth, and her hands grew icy even as they started to sweat. What was Mother doing back here?
“It’ll only take a moment to retrieve it.” Mother appeared in the doorway with Mr. Taviston and his wife.
Elizabeth’s body turned cold, but she could only stare at the trio. Mr. Taviston’s eyes locked instantly on her, then ran slowly down her body in that uncomfortably familiar manner.
“Oh, dear, sorry to bother you,” Mrs. Taviston exclaimed, oblivious to the look in her husband’s eyes and the tension radiating between Luke and David. “We’ll only be a moment.”
“I do hope we’re not interrupting.” Mother came farther into the room, her shrewd eyes surveying everything. “Elizabeth, I didn’t expect to see you back here. I just needed to get my hat. I left it before the rally, silly me. But what are you doing in this room, and with two gentlemen, no less?”
“No,” she whispered, more to herself than anything. Beside her, David shifted subtly closer, and she began to shake. Mother and David couldn’t have set her up. They wouldn’t do such a thing. Mother was family, after all. And if David wanted to marry her, he had to care somewhat for her reputation.
But if Mr. and Mrs. Taviston had opened the door to find her in David’s arms with her hair undone, she’d have lost her job and found herself in the middle of a scandal. A scandal that would have only stopped if she married David.
“Elizabeth.” Mother inched closer, plucked a stray hairpin—from where, Elizabeth didn’t know—and held it up, her eyebrows raised.
Heat rushed to her face, so forcefully she’d surely turned the color of a turnip. And all with the head of the school board still watching her.
“I hope you know how this looks, you being alone with two gentlemen.” Mother sniffed.
“Miss Wells was just leaving.” Luke’s words, hard and controlled, permeated the room. “Some of her students came tonight and are waiting to speak with her outside. I believe Miss Wells was concluding a brief conversation with Mr. DeVander. Likely something to do with a business offer she’s turned down.” Luke nodded at her and extended his arm. “Now, Miss Wells, might I escort you to your students?”
She stared at his offered elbow. Two steps and she’d be at his side. But still standing next to David, with her knees trembling and her stomach tying itself in knots, she may as well have been on the opposite side of the Hudson River.
And then he was there, beside her and placing her hand on his arm, the hard muscles beneath his sleeve radiating strength and confidence. “Just hold your head up and leave,” he whispered against her ear. “We’ll settle the rest later.”
So she sucked in a breath, straightened her back and went with him.
* * *
He loved her.
Luke sat in the train, one seat behind the students surrounding Elizabeth, and stared at the back of her auburn tresses and fancy hat. She laughed when her students said something funny, nodded as they asked questions and thanked each of them for going to hear her speak. He didn’t need to see her face to imagine the way her eyes lit when she smiled or sparkled with understanding as she answered questions.
Yep, he loved the woman, all right. And if he had any doubts before, tonight had shot them down. She’d had every excuse not to show up at the town hall and give that speech for her father and DeVander. But what did she do? She didn’t run. Didn’t make excuses. Didn’t gracefully bow out. Nope, she fulfilled the promise she’d made and stood composed before three hundred people. And she hadn’t lied. She hadn’t convinced them to vote for her father or DeVander; she’d convinced them to vote for the children. It would be interesting to know how many of the people present tonight would vote for the opposing candidates a year from now.
Wells and DeVander had followed Elizabeth’s speech by throwing out platitudes, empty thanks and trite sayings about education in New York State. Elizabeth had captivated the crowd’s heart and probably still held it.
And her family had thanked her by setting her up. He clenched his jaw. If he hadn’t brought a group of students tonight and headed off to find her, she’d have been caught alone in that room while DeVander forced her to kiss him.
He’d nearly plowed his fist into DeVander’s stomach when he’d opened the door to find Elizabeth struggling in the rat’s arms, would have broken DeVander’s nose had he not heard the voices in the hall. Even then, he hadn’t realized who the voices belonged to, or what Elizabeth’s mother and DeVander had done.
He’d figured it out a second before Elizabeth. Then she’d given him that stricken look, and he’d wanted to wrap his hands around DeVander’s throat. How dare he treat Elizabeth that way? How dare anyone treat her that way?
Luke blew out a breath. I love you. I’ll protect you. The words had nearly poured out of his mouth when Elizabeth had looked at him with all that hurt shimmering in her eyes. But with four others crammed into the little room, it was hardly the time to start spouting his devotion.
He shifted and smiled as a tendril of hair slipped from the back of Elizabeth’s hat and down her neck. Several locks had already fallen from their hastily crammed positions. She’d probably have to put her hair back up before she got off the train in a few minutes.
And he’d enjoy watching.
Yep, he loved the woman. He’d have to tell her. Maybe even tonight after the girls left. When a man decided he loved a woman, that wasn’t something to put off.
But say he told her how he felt, what happened then? He would return to the Teton Valley in another month or so, and where would that leave her? He swiped a hand over his mouth. Hang it all. He’d known getting too involved would cause a mess from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.
But knowing hadn’t stopped it from happening.
When the train finally ground to a halt in Valley Falls, he herded the girls into the waiting carriages. The students, content to ride in two carriages on the way to the train station, all swarmed into Elizabeth’s conveyance now, leaving Luke alone on the ride to the academy. But as soon as the girls headed inside, he ushered them up the stairs to their rooms.
And he was alone with Elizabeth.
At last.
“Let me walk you home.” He extended his arm.
She looked away. “Not tonight, Luke. Perhaps you could just lend me use of your second carriage.”
“I could, if we didn’t need to talk.”
She shook her head and took a step back from him. “We can’t. Walking outside after dark is just as inappropriate as being in a carriage alone with you. Or in a room. Or even standing in this hallway. Please...” Her voice quivered. “Just let me go home.”
“Look at me, Elizabeth.” He stepped closer, peering into her pain-clouded eyes, and touched a hand to her cold cheek. “I can’t let you go home like this. What will you do? Climb into bed and lie awake stewing until dawn? You can’t hide from what your mother and DeVander tried to do. You need to talk about it.” He knew. He’d have been a lot better off if someone he loved had forced him to face his problems after Blake died.
“I’m not hiding. Needing time to think and sort through my feelings isn’t hiding.”
“Then sort through them with me.”
She seemed undefeatable standing there, her back stiff and chin high even with half her hair falling about her shoulders. But sadness haunted her eyes. Sure, she was strong, could handle almost anything she faced—at least on the outside. Inside, the woman seemed ready to shatter.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” He brought his hand down to cradle her neck. “Did DeVander hurt you when he had you alone?”
Her eyes turned flat. “I’m fine.”
But she didn’t seem fine, and she was shutting him out, much like Samantha had when he’d first arrived in Valley Falls. “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
She jerked back as though he’d slapped her. “No. Don’t touch me. Don’t ask me to talk, and don’t look at me that way. Just leave me alone.”
“I only want to help. What your mother’s trying to do... Elizabeth, you can’t handle it on your own. Think. What if I wouldn’t have come looking for you earlier tonight? You could have found yourself engaged to DeVander come morning.”
She took another step back, shaking her head as tears pooled in her eyes. “I can’t do this. I don’t want this.”
“You can’t do what? Talk to me? Let me support you?”
“Be alone with you like this.”
Confound it! Were all women this impossible? Her mouth said she didn’t want his help, but her eyes begged for it. He’d have had her home by now, half the incident with DeVander and her mother talked out, if she would stop backing away from him and simply walk toward him. “Why can’t you be alone with me? Because of what Miss Bowen said to you?”
“Because I—I...” Her gaze drifted to his lips, then back to his eyes.
“You want to kiss me.” He closed the space between them.
“No.”
He leaned down until mere inches separated his mouth from hers. “You do. Why else would your eyes get sleepy and your breath catch when I’m this close?”
She pushed at his chest, her hands as firm and unyielding as iron bars. “You’re wrong. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
“Hang it all, Elizabeth. Stop pushing me away and talk to me for a minute. I want to walk you home tonight. I want to see you tomorrow and the next day and the next. I want to court you. I’m in love with you.”
* * *
Elizabeth wrapped her arms around herself, a sob catching in her throat. Luke still stood too near, his body radiating heat and strength and confidence, issuing that subtle message that he’d carried with him since the first moment she’d seen him: Trust me. I’m safe. I’ll protect you.
But she couldn’t latch on to him. Not now.
I’m in love with you. She’d heard those words from a man before. How many times had David told her that he loved her? Held her in his arms? Stolen a kiss from her? And then strode from her parents’ house straight to the mistress he kept?
She stepped farther back from Luke, even though doing so trapped her against the wall. “No, it doesn’t matter if you’re in love with me.”
Perhaps she loved him. But that would remain a secret. There would be no declaration of her feelings, no public courtship, nothing but the silent ache of her heart when he walked into a room.
He didn’t approach her again but stood back, his arms crossed and hip cocked, watching her far too closely. “You’re terrified of me.”
Not of him. Of love. He claimed to love her now, and probably did, at least a little. But how long until Luke lost interest the way David had?
“What have I done to scare you? Is it because I’m going back to Wyoming? Because I wasn’t raised to be a fancy eastern gentleman? We can work through those things, Elizabeth. I don’t have all the answers tonight, but give me half a chance to dig some up.”
“It’s not where you live or how you were raised. It’s got nothing to do with you.” Indeed. She’d never met a more wonderful, trustworthy man.
But was he trustworthy enough to love her ten years from now and not just today?
Was any man?
Marriage lasted until death, and Luke hadn’t even known her two weeks. “I told you before, I don’t want to get married.”
“Every woman wants to get married.”
She shook her head. “Not me.”
“What’s this about? Teaching? Are you so afraid I’ll make you give up teaching that you won’t let me walk you home or take you to dinner? Good grief, Elizabeth, I haven’t proposed. I’m just asking for a chance.”
If only the reason was that simple. If only she could easily claim she didn’t want to give up her students for a family. But as much as she loved the girls who walked into her mathematics classes every day, they only made up half the problem. “Luke, please. Just let me go home.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine. I’ll send for the carriage, but at least let me take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
She nearly groaned. “No. It isn’t wise.”
“Samantha can come. We’ll invite along a gaggle of her friends, and I’ll pay for the lot of them. Call it a school outing, if you want.”
Oh, how unfair. Her students had been so sweet tonight, nearly making her forget the disaster with David, and now Luke offered an opportunity for her and the girls to have some special time together. She simply had to trust him.
She looked into his eyes, that deep, honest blue that seemed to promise the world, and had to ask. “Do you...do you have a mistress?”
He went deadly still, his face turning pale, as though his veins had been slit and every drop of blood drained from it. She expected blustering rage and a haphazard denial like David had displayed when she’d accused him all those years ago.
But Luke barely seemed able to breathe. “A mistress? You think I have a mistress?”
She stared at the floor. “I...I have to know.”
He came close, moving slowly, the way one would if trying to catch a butterfly. And indeed, she probably would have flown from the building had he moved any faster. But he soon stood in front of her, pinning her against the wall while she stared at the buttons on his coat.
“No.” Softness permeated his rusty voice. “And I never plan to, either, if that’s what this is about.”
She drew her gaze slowly up his buttons, to his strong neck and firm jaw and chiseled cheeks, before finally staring into those trustworthy blue eyes. “I...I believe you.”
The words twisted something inside her. Perhaps they freed her, or maybe they further chained her. Either way, they hurt, and she just wanted to go home, make a cup of tea, curl up on her bed.
And cry until the sun came up.
“My butler told me why you called off your engagement to DeVander.” His breath brushed her face, warm and sweet and with the barest scent of mint mixed in. “I’ve known since the night I first asked about why you weren’t married.”
She ducked her head. At least she hadn’t needed to voice her shame, to admit aloud she hadn’t been woman enough to keep her last fiancé. “So you understand why I can’t let you court me. I can’t take a suitor, Luke. Any possibility of me marrying ceased the night I ended my engagement to David. If I opened up myself that way again and got hurt, I’d shrivel up and die inside.”
He didn’t back away but stayed close, so close she only need raise a hand to touch him, so close the subtle heat emanating from his body warmed her skin. What she wouldn’t give to rest her head in the crook of his shoulder as she had that night in the carriage. To draw from the strength and steadfastness of Luke Hayes.
“Lizzie.” He pressed his palm, warm and callused, against her cheek. “Do you have feelings for me? Tell me you don’t. Just say it, and I’ll back away.”
She pressed her eyes shut. She should say she felt nothing. Then he’d let her go, and life would be easier for both of them.
But she couldn’t lie, not to a man as honest as him.
“You’re leaving.” They were the only words that came out. “Whatever you feel for me, whatever I feel for you, it doesn’t mean anything. It can’t, unless you stay here and manage your inheritance. I won’t leave my students.”
“I’d never ask it.” He smoothed a strand of hair off her forehead. “But I’m not requesting your hand tonight. I’m asking you to dinner. I’m asking you to be my friend. I’m asking for a chance to earn your trust. Please, Lizzie. Have dinner with me tomorrow evening, and let’s see how things go.”
She swallowed. Trust and marriage loomed ominously before her but giving him a chance? She gave her students a chance every day when they walked into her classroom.
How could she do any less for the man she loved?