Luke looked baffled. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ve been so sweet.” She laid her hand against his clean-shaven cheek. “Any other man would’ve laughed in my face when I made him promise to marry me, but you agreed and now, out of consideration for my pride, my feelings, you claim you’re going through with it.”
“Kate,” he said, guiding her to the table and gently pressing her into a chair. “Sit down. I have something important to tell you—something I’ve been trying to tell you since the night of the wedding.”
“What is it?” she asked, once she was seated.
Luke paced the floor directly in front of her chair. “I should’ve told you much sooner, but with everything else that’s going on in your life, finding the right time has been difficult.” He paused and frowned at her as though he was having trouble choosing his words.
“Yes?” she coaxed.
“I’m buying the Circle L.”
The kitchen started to sway. Kate reached out and gripped the edge of the table. She’d hoped it would be months, at least, before a buyer was found. And it had never occurred to her that Luke might be that buyer. “I see,” she said, smiling through her shock. “I… I’d have thought Dad would’ve said something himself.”
“I asked him not to.”
Her troubled gaze clashed with Luke’s. Despite her shock she felt curious. How could Luke afford to buy a ranch, especially one as large as this? She knew he’d been raised by an uncle, who had died years before. Had there been an inheritance? “Luke,” she ventured shyly, “I know it’s none of my business, but…”
“How did I come by the money?” he finished for her. “You have every right to ask. I inherited it from my uncle Dan—I’ve told you about him. He owned a couple of businesses in Wyoming, where I grew up. There was also a small sum left to me by my grandfather. I invested everything, together with most of what Devin’s paid me over the years, and I’ve got enough now to buy the ranch outright—which’ll leave your dad and Dorothea in good financial shape for their retirement. I’ll be able to expand the operation, too.”
Kate nodded absently. She hadn’t known much about Luke’s background, apart from the fact that he had very little family, that he’d lost his parents at an early age. She supposed those losses were the reason he’d been so sympathetic, such a comfort to her and Devin, at the time of Nora’s death.
It still seemed too much to take in. Her home—it was going to belong to Luke. He’d move his things from the small foreman’s house, though she knew he hadn’t accumulated many possessions. But it meant that soon she’d be sorting through and packing up the memories of a lifetime… She bit her lip.
He knelt in front of her, grasping her fingers with his warm, hard hands. “I realize you’ve been through a lot of emotional upheaval lately, but this should help.”
“Help!” she wailed. “How could it possibly—？”
“There’s no reason for you to be uprooted now.”
For a stunned second she didn’t react. “I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
“Once we’re married, we’ll live right here.”
“Married!” she almost shouted. “I’m beginning to hate the sound of that word.”
“You’d better get used to it, because the way I figure, we’re going to be husband and wife before Christmas. We’ll let Devin and Dorothea take their vows first—I don’t want to steal their thunder—and then we’ll wait a couple of weeks and have the Reverend Wilkins marry us.”
“Luke, this is all very sweet of you, but it isn’t necessary.” Kate was convinced that this sudden desire to make her his wife was founded in sympathy. He felt sorry for her because of all the unexpected jolts that had hit her recently. Including this latest one.
“I can’t understand why you’re arguing with me.”
Her hand caressed his jaw. How square and strong it was, and the eyes that gazed at her had never seemed darker or more magnetic. She smiled sadly. “Don’t you think it’s a little…odd to be discussing marriage when you’ve never once said you love me?”
“I love you.”
It should have been a solemn moment, but Kate couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, Luke, that was terrible.”
“I’m serious. I love you and you love me.”