Page 13 of Heart of Stone

For a moment, it seemed as if Luke had nodded off, but when Stone jostled him a little, he began to talk, rambling from one thing to another, beginning with his first day working for Priss and moving on to tell Stone about how he was there when Mist was born. By the time they made it back to the barn, Stone knew more about Luke than he’d ever thought to know about a single person, but at least he’d kept Luke from falling asleep.

The barn door opened a crack as they rode up, and then it was pushed wide enough for him to ride inside. A couple of the hands were within, tending to the horses they had rounded up from the field.

“Was hopin’ you’d make it back, boss.” Shorty grinned up at him as he untied Mist’s reins. “Luke okay?”

“He’s been better,” Stone replied. A couple of men helped to get Luke out of the saddle, and then Stone dismounted. “Can you take care of the horses? I need to get him into the house and warmed up.”

“I’m okay.” Luke batted away the men who were helping him stay upright, but when he tried to walk and nearly fell flat on his face, he didn’t protest a second time. “‘Cept for not bein’ able to feel my feet,” he added, sounding sheepish.

Shorty shook his head. “When you do start feelin’ them, you’ll wish you couldn’t. Go on, boss. We’ll take care of this. You need any help gettin’ him to the house?”

“No, I can manage, thanks.” Stone lifted Luke’s arm across his shoulders and slid his arm around Luke’s waist. “You’ll be home in no time, cowboy. Just hang in there a few minutes longer, okay?”

True to his word, he got Luke into the house, sighing with relief as the door slammed closed behind them and the warmth of the kitchen blocked out the wind. He lowered Luke carefully into a chair. Luke was a lot paler than Stone would have liked, and he knew he had to get Luke warmed up quick.

“I need to get your shoes and gloves off and have a look, all right?”

Luke slumped in the chair, still seeming drowsy, but he wasn’t so out of it that he couldn’t muster up a cheeky response. “You can take off whatever you want, boss. I don’t mind you lookin’.”

“I’ll look, all right. You just better hope I like what I see.”

He got Luke’s boots and socks off, and then leaned in to peer closely at Luke’s toes. They were pale and cold, and Stone removed his gloves and gently touched them, pleased that he couldn’t see any damage. Then he did the same thing with Luke’s hands, finally sighing with relief as he pressed Luke’s cold fingers gently between his palms to warm them. “Looks like we won’t be callin’ you Stumpy, after all. But I need to get you upstairs and out of those wet clothes. You aren’t going to want to be on those feet when the feelin’ comes back.”

Ten minutes later, he had Luke upstairs, undressed, and tucked between the covers of his bed. He went downstairs and rummaged in the cabinet until he found a bottle of whiskey. With a little help from a blurry Luke, he managed to get a good amount of whiskey down Luke’s throat, and he hoped it would help blur the awful, stinging sensation once feeling started coming back to Luke’s numb feet.

Each of the ranch’s bedrooms had a fireplace, and before long, it was almost too warm. Stone looked closely at Luke, but he seemed to have gone to sleep, and so he shrugged out of his own coat, took off his boats, and sat down in the chair by Luke’s bed. Stone closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, and then he started to tremble as his own emotions kicked in now that Luke was safe.

Luke had come within minutes of losing his fingers and toes and within maybe a half hour of dying, and it was all because of him. This wouldn’t have happened if Stone had been out there with Luke and doing his part like he should have been. He’d let his own fear stand in the way of doing his duty, and Luke had nearly paid a terrible price because of it.

Guilt made Stone want to cringe with shame. Luke was probably going to be angry at him for what had happened, but he couldn’t be any angrier than Stone was at himself. It didn’t matter that Luke was the foreman and was just doing his job. Stone was theboss, and that made him responsible for everyone, even Luke. Perhaps especially Luke.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, opening his eyes and looking at Luke’s face, relieved to see his cheeks beginning to lose their pallor as he warmed up. Luke didn’t move, and Stone reached out and rested his hand against Luke’s cheek.I’m just checking that he’s warming up, he told himself, even though he knew it was a lie. He’d been lying to himself a lot lately, it seemed, about a lot of things, and it made him hurt in a way he’d not felt in a long time.

Luke moved, and Stone snatched his hand back, not wanting Luke to catch him in a moment of weakness. Then his eyes fell on the whiskey bottle, and he shivered. He was cold, too, and not just from the weather. One sip couldn’t hurt, right? He was at home, and Luke was sleeping. Just a little sip of whiskey to help dull his own pain.

He picked up the bottle, sloshing the liquor into the same glass he’d used for Luke, and then he tilted his head back and downed the alcohol before he could think better of it. It burned all the way down his throat, but it felt good, too. It warmed him, and soon enough, it would blunt the edges of his guilt and help him get through this night so he could face whatever happened tomorrow.

Would Luke be angry enough to leave? Stone stared into the glass and shivered again. He didn’t want Luke to leave. He couldn’t do anything about the attraction that seemed to be pulling them together, but he didn’t want Luke out of his life. But if Luke wanted to leave, what could Stone do to stop him? And Luke had a right to be angry, whether he realized it or not. He poured more whiskey; he wasn’t numb enough yet. The second glass burned less, but warmed him more.

“That’s all,” he said, putting the glass back on the table. He looked at Luke again and shifted the chair closer to the bed. He needed to close his eyes for a few minutes, but he wanted to make sure he would hear if Luke woke up. So he lay his head down on the mattress by Luke’s shoulder, and as the guilt was dulled by the alcohol, Stone drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER9

The feeling of someone stroking his hair roused Stone, and in the twilight state between sleeping and waking, he thought it was his mother, soothing him once more as she had so many times when he was a boy. But then he roused enough to remember she was gone, and he lifted his head to find Luke watching him with what seemed to be affection, not the expected anger and recrimination.

“You could’ve gotten in here with me,” Luke drawled, the teasing gleam appearing in his eyes. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

Stone was relaxed, his worries about everything seeming to fade before the warmth in Luke’s eyes. “Yeah?” He gave Luke a lazy smile. Why had he fought the attraction between them? He couldn’t remember, and he really didn’t care. “And what would you do if I did?”

Luke’s smile took on a decidedly wicked tilt. “Whatever I could get away with.”

“That sounds like it could be interestin’.” Luke was irresistible when he smiled like that, and Stone licked his lips, wondering how that smile would taste. “What would you do first?”

Luke was silent for a moment, a questioning look in his eyes. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah.” Stone sat up straight and stared at Luke challengingly. “What would you do with me, cowboy? If I said you could do anything you wanted.”

“Oh that’s easy.” Luke’s voice was low and husky, and Stone could see a heated gleam in his eyes. “I’d want to kiss you first. I’ve been dyin’ to know if you taste as good as you look.”

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