Page 82 of Luna

“I love her, sir, with all my heart and then some. It was my mistake in not telling her sooner.”

“Well, you’ll have a captive audience with her now. Go on in. My daughter is in there keeping her company right now.”

Tully walked over and opened the door to the jail cells.

Hunter nodded politely to a pretty young woman sitting in a chair outside one of the cells with a checkerboard set up on a small table.

“Nice to see you, Miss Barrett,” Hunter said, nodding politely to Tully’s daughter.

“You as well, Mr. Douglas.” The girl stood and smiled.

Luna dropped the checker she held and stood. “Hunter! What on earth are you doing here?”

He smirked at her. “I might ask you the same question, Luna Moona. How did you go from helping me clean out my attic yesterday to sitting in jail in Baker City this afternoon? I think a lot must have transpired since I bid you good night on Tony’s porch steps.”

“Come on, baby girl.” Tully motioned to his daughter to join him.

The young woman winked at Hunter, leaned toward him to whisper, “good luck,” then picked up the checkerboard and left.

Hunter studied Luna for several moments. She wore the traveling suit she’d had on the first day he’d set eyes on her, which had been when he’d boarded the train right here in Baker City. The irony of that wasn’t lost on him as he reached through the bars and took her hand in his.

“Why did you run away, Luna? You didn’t even tell me goodbye. Do you think so little of me? Of our friendship?”

“I did tell you goodbye, last night.”

Hunter shook his head. “No. That doesn’t count. I had no idea what you had planned. If I’d had even an inkling that you intended to run off today, I would have slept on Tony’s porch and stopped you on your way out the door.”

Luna almost smiled before she pulled her hand from his and stepped out of his reach. “It’s better if I leave, Hunter.”

“Better? For whom? Certainly not for me, and definitely not for you. Just who, exactly, do you think is going to benefit from your absence?”

Luna turned her back to him and stood unmoving for several moments. “You,” he heard her whisper.

“Me? You think this is better for me? Are you crazy, woman!” Hunter couldn’t help it that he’d raised his voice.

Luna spun around and glared at him. “You don’t need to yell, Hunter Douglas. I’m not crazy, but you are if you think a relationship between the two of us will ever work. You’re like the Thoroughbreds your family raises, and I’m more along the lines of Riley Walsh’s old mule. There is never, ever going to be a time or place when we belong together. You come from wealth and elegance and class. You deserve far better than a woman who might faint or fly into an attack of anxiety at the most inopportune moment. Besides, I’m an orphan who grew up in a tiny apartment in New York City, and don’t have the slightest idea what to do if there are more than two forks around my plate.”

Hunter couldn’t help it. He began to laugh. In fact, he laughed so hard he had to sit in the chair outside the cell until he yanked his composure together.

When he’d started on this unplanned journey, he was convinced he’d done something to insult or upset Luna. He had no idea how to fix that.

But this? Her fear of his upbringing? Her worry over his wealth?

That was something he had no problem handling.

It struck him then, the vast difference between Katherine and Luna. Katherine had only wanted him because of his money and ability to elevate herself socially. Luna didn’t want him because of it. Wait until Cousin Billy heard this story. He’d never believe it.

Hunter took a calming breath, stood, and looked into the cell to find Luna glowering at him. He was certain if bars hadn’t separated them, she would have gladly punched him right in the nose for laughing at her.

He grinned and stepped closer to the cell, resting his hands on the cross bars.

“You ran away from me because you know I care for you, but you think you aren’t good enough to be part of my family. Is that it?”

She shrugged as her cheeks flushed with color, then nodded. “Yes,” she said quietly.

“Let me tell you something, Luna Campanelli. No one, and I mean no one, in my family thinks money, social status, who raised a person, or where they grew up matters. It doesn’t matter a whit to us. You know my mother was raised right there on the B Bar D Ranch. When she was orphaned, she was left with nothing. Nothing. She ended up in North Carolina as a mail-order bride.”

“Dally told me the story. It’s like something from a fairy tale come true.”

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