but true. Yogurt and a piece of fruit usually made up her first meal of the day. Eaten in her car on the way to the restaurant. And that was because Russ had made so many comments about her tasting the food. Be careful. Too many bites will make you fat. She’d laughed it off at the time, but in retrospect, it made her slightly ill.
Rosa handed her a plate. “Of course, that’s not why you’re here. But you never know what might develop. If you close yourself off to possibilities, you might miss something special.”
Josie didn’t fully agree. She wasn’t concerned about missing something special. She intended to keep her heart under wraps for the foreseeable future.
* * *
Luke hadn’t bargained on the new cook.
Sure, Rosa had asked if her niece could take over while she spent some of her vacation time with her daughter, who was expecting a baby soon. Trusting the older woman completely, he’d said sure. He’d listened to Rosa explain with pride that Josie was a trained chef, and had owned her own restaurant in Los Angeles that people flocked to.
He hadn’t thought about her being a woman.
It had been so long since he’d looked—really looked—at a woman, that when she’d glared at him from her car with her blue eyes narrowed, the pepper spray can in her hand, he’d been shocked to feel the unwelcome rush of attraction. And she was a self-confessed city girl to boot, which was a huge no-no in his book. He’d married a city girl.
He was no longer married.
So to feel something for someone who wore three-inch spike heels to stomp across a muddy, wet road in the wilds of Montana wasn’t a good sign.
But damn, they’d looked good on her, even in the mud and rain.
“Don’t you think so, Luke?” Cade’s question broke into his thoughts.
Luke looked up from the sausage and gravy he’d been demolishing on his plate. “What was that?”
Cade stabbed the egg on his plate. “Josie. She’s a looker.”
Since she’d just been occupying his thoughts he shook his head, the denial as much for him as his brothers. “I wouldn’t know.”
Cade looked at Jake incredulously. “He’s blind.”
“Or stupid,” Jake suggested, but there was a glint of humor in his eyes.
“Or both.” Cade looked at him hard. “Luke. It’s okay to, you know, think a woman is hot.”
He shrugged. “She’s not my type.”
“Maybe she’s mine,” Cade said thoughtfully, and took a bite of toast.
Luke leveled a glare at him. “Don’t even. She’s our employee, not a plaything for you.”
A slow smile spread across Cade’s face and he pointed what was left of the toast in Luke’s direction. “You did notice.” He turned to Jake, who nodded as he chewed. “He sure as hell did. Well, well. That’s a first, isn’t it?”
He’d have to be dead not to notice Josie, but he wasn’t going to say that to either of his brothers. Ever. Before he could say anything, Jake held up his coffee.
“Leave him alone, Cade. He wants to ignore her, that’s his business and his loss. He’s hiding, remember?”
Luke bit back a groan. He’d stepped away from performing, from that life to avoid all sorts of entanglements. His brothers might accuse him of hiding, but he’d wanted to just focus on the ranch, to get it into the black and after years of his father running it on the edge of total ruin. To prove he was more than the kid who couldn’t wait to bust out of here with big dreams.
He kept his voice steady. “I’m not hiding. I’m retired. Big difference. We’ve got a lot to do today. I’ve got to get that car out of the ditch, so I can’t go all the way up to the ridge.”
The talk changed direction then, and Luke was more than happy to let it go. His brothers meant well, and they’d tease him, but they didn’t know just how destructive his marriage had been—and with the benefit of hindsight, how unprepared he’d been, not only for the spotlight but all it entailed.
He’d learned the hard way he was better off on his own, not caught in the bright lights of Nashville’s glare.
Finished with his meal, Luke brought his dishes into the kitchen along with his brothers, who then headed out the door. Josie was on the other side of the kitchen, spooning something into a container. Outside, he could see the peaks of the mountains turning pink with the sunrise.
“Josie,” he said, and she turned, spoon in hand, polite expression on her face. “I’m going to get your car. Do you have the keys?”
“I do. In my room. Hang on.” She set the spoon down and hurried out of the kitchen. His gaze tracked the sway of her hips as she disappeared from sight.
“Thanks for helping her,” Rosa said from her perch at the end of the island, and when he snapped his gaze to her, he realized from the bemused expression on her face that not only had he been staring after Josie’s slender figure, her aunt had caught him.
Damn.
He cleared his throat. “You’re welcome. Least I can do, after all you’ve done for us.”
Rosa waved his words away. “Nonsense. But, Luke? Be careful. She’s fragile. Even if she won’t admit it.”
Before he could either ask what she meant or deny any interest in her niece, Josie came back and handed him the keys. “Thanks for doing this.” Her tone was formal and polite, not the easy one she’d used with Cade and Jake. Just as well.
“You’re welcome.” A tendril of her short blond hair had escaped from her headband, and he curled his fingers around the keys so he didn’t tuck it back in. He added, “That car won’t do you much good in a few weeks, though. It can snow here as early as October.” It wasn’t likely, but she needed to understand where she was. He rubbed Hank’s ears when the old dog leaned on his leg.
She frowned, whether at his words or the dog, he wasn’t sure. “I know that. It was the only one they had.”
He gave Hank a last pat. “We’ll take it back. You can use one of the ranch trucks. It’ll save you money and be safer for you on these roads.”
Josie’s first instinct was to snap at him and say she was completely capable of making that choice on her own, thank you very much, but then she realized he was right. He knew this area and she, of course, didn’t, as she’d proved last night. She most definitely didn’t want to get herself in a situation where she needed him to fish her out of the ditch again. Or worse. She sighed. “All right. Thank you.”
“You sore or anything from yesterday?”
Surprised at his concern, she lifted her brows. Her shoulder was, in fact, a little sore from the seat belt. She touched the sore spot. “A little. It could have been much worse.”
His gaze sharpened as it landed on her hand. “Do you need a doctor?
