Page 6 of Heart of Stone
“It wasn’t the same.” Luke shook his head. “She only got married because it was what everyone said she ought to do, but it wasn’t what she wanted. She said she loved her husband, but she was in love with Sarah.” He paused, thinking about what Priss had gone through in her youth. “It’s sad,” he mused. “Men can stay single all their lives, and no one thinks badly of them, but women are expected to get married and have babies. We’re lucky, I guess, that no one’s goin’ to expect us to settle down and start a family.”
“I suppose.” Stone seemed distracted, obviously still trying to wrap his mind around everything Luke had told him. Or at least that’s what Luke assumed, since it didn’t appear that Stone even realized what he had just admitted in response to Luke’s comment.
Luke hid a triumphant grin, pleased that he’d managed to wring the truth out of Stone, even if it was indirectly, and he resisted the urge to make a comment about apples not falling far from trees. “Anyway, don’t believe nothin’ you hear about Miss Priss and me. Ain’t none of it true. She only had eyes for Sarah, and me...” He smiled lazily. “Well, I’m particular about who I tell my secrets to.”
That pulled Stone’s attention back to him. “Must not be too particular, if you’re tellin’ your boss.” Stone raised a brow. “Not to mention you don’t even know me. How do you know I’m not goin’ to to use this against you?” He scowled. “The point of keepin’ secrets is so that people can’t use them to get at you. And you do that by not spillin’ them to every man jack what comes along.”
“I don’t spill them to just everyone,” Luke protested. “Just to you. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m thinkin’ you know a little something about keepin’ secrets yourself, and I’m thinkin’ I can trust you with mine. If you’re like your aunt at all, you’ve got a lot of honor in you, and you won’t go around blabbin’ just because you can.”
Stone looked at him, then shrugged. “I ain’t goin’ to blab. Just don’t go expectin’ me to start tellin’ you any secrets I might have. I learnt a long time ago that trustin’ people don’t work out so good.”
“Fair enough.” Luke briefly considered pointing out that Stone had told him a secret, but considering Stone probably hadn’t meant to, he decided to keep it to himself. Drawing attention to Stone’s inadvertent admission might make Stone angry and defensive, and Luke didn’t want that.
Oh no, he wanted Stone in a more amiable mind, not on guard against him. The more at ease Stone was, the easier it would be for Luke to wriggle under all those defenses – and if he was lucky, maybe he could wriggle his way right into Stone’s bed.
“We’re goin’ to be workin’ together real close, so I reckon we got plenty of time to get to know each other,” he added casually. “Maybe one day, you’ll even start trustin’ me a little bit.”
“Maybe.” It seemed Stone had reached his limit with personal talk, because he suddenly waved toward the mountains impatiently. “We goin’ to chatter all day, or are you goin’ to to show me that copper mine?”
“I’ll be glad to show you whatever you’ve got a mind to see, boss.” Luke was unable to resist teasing a little even though he doubted Stone would pick up on it. “If we pick up the pace, we can be there in about an hour.”
“Fine.” With that, Stone kicked Raider up to a trot, too fast for easy conversation.
Chuckling quietly to himself, Luke guided Mist to a fast trot as well, keeping a little space and distance between Stone. He could tell that seducing Stone was going to be akin to taming a skittish horse, which meant he’d need a lot of patience. Slow and steady would do it, and Luke had nothing but time. Somehow, he already knew Stone would be worth the effort.
CHAPTER5
Stone stared at his reflection in the glass nervously and adjusted his bolo tie. He had bathed, and his dark hair was still damp, but he’d combed it neatly. His clothes were clean, thanks to Mary, but nothing could be done about the fact that they were pretty old and had been mended over the years. Still, it was the best he could do, at least for the moment, since he’d only been a simple cowboy only a week ago, and they’d been good enough then. Maybe they’d be good enough, he hoped, for the church-going people of the little town of Serenity, Nevada.
Stone wasn’t a religious man; it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in a higher power, but he’d seen too much violence between the whites and his mother’s people over religion to know exactly what he should believe. But he didn’t want to be the subject of gossip, so he went to church like everyone else. It was just easier that way.
He picked up his hat and left the bedroom, heading down the stairs toward the kitchen. Mary had the day off, of course, but there was plenty of food in the kitchen for breakfast, if he could manage to eat anything with the way the butterflies were fluttering around in his stomach. He never liked being in a crowd of people he didn’t know, not when he was hiding things about himself that he knew would make some people want to string him up from the nearest tree simply for existing.
Entering the kitchen, he put his hat on the table and went to the ice box, deciding that ham and toast might be something he could get down.
A few minutes later, Luke sauntered into the kitchen, looking quite different than usual; he was wearing a blue serge suit with a crisp, white shirt and a bolo tie, and his light brown hair was damp and neatly combed. His strong jaw was clean-shaven with nary a hint of stubble, and his dress boots were shined to the point of gleaming.
“Mornin’, boss,” he drawled, offering Stone a friendly smile. “Want me to make some coffee?”
Stone went still, arrested by the sight of Luke looking so different. He’d not wanted to admit to himself that since Luke’s admission about his preferences that he’d been noticing just how handsome Luke was, but it was even harder to ignore now. Damn it.
He didn’t want Luke to get the wrong idea, so he nodded. “Please.” He gestured to the bread he was slicing. “Want some toast?”
“If you’re fixin’ it, I’ll sure eat it.” Luke flashed a playful grin at him. For whatever reason, Luke seemed to enjoy teasing him, although it never seemed mean-spirited; Stone got the feeling that Luke was trying to make him laugh or smile for some reason. Which perplexed him; people tended to leave him be once they realized he wasn’t much of a talker and preferred to be by himself.
He nodded, cutting a few more slices of bread and putting them in the toasting rack, before sliding it into the oven of the big iron stove. He forked another piece of ham into the skillet, and then he moved out of the way so that Luke could put the coffee pot on.
Despite his effort to get out of the way, he felt Luke’s arm graze against his, their shoulders brushing, although Luke didn’t seem to notice as he prepared the coffee pot. He doubted Luke even realized he was crowding Stone’s space, but Stone could smell the scent of the shaving soap Luke had used, and suddenly the kitchen seemed very small.
“’Scuse me,” Stone said, taking a step back. He’d just wait until Luke moved away before dealing with the rest of the food.
Luke gave him an ingenuous look. “Am I in your way? Sorry, boss, I don’t mean to crowd you, but I reckon there’s plenty of room over here for both of us.”
Stone looked at him narrowly. Sometimes he couldn’t tell when Luke was joking and when he was being serious, which kept him off balance. He’d known a lot of cowboys, but he’d never met anyone quite like Luke, and he wasn’t quite sure how to act in return.
He shrugged. “’S okay. But you’re goin’ to have to move so I can open the door and get the toast before it burns.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Luke’s smile didn’t seem quite appropriate for Sunday morning as he looked at Stone with a wicked gleam in his eyes, and he moved just enough to let Stone open the door, standing with his hip cocked and right at eye level when Stone bent to open the door.