Fire and Rain by Elizabeth Lowell Read Free Book Online Page B

she smiled at Ten and turned toward the kitchen without answering, not knowing how much her sad smile revealed of her thoughts. As soon as she was through the door she spotted Luke leaning against the counter, impatience and anger in every hard line of his body.
     "I was wondering when you'd remember that you were hired to cook, not to flirt with my ramrod."
     "I wasn't flir—"
     "Like hell you weren't," Luke said curtly, interrupting Carla. "Watch it, schoolgirl. Ten smiles and is handsome as sin, but that soft-drawling SOB has broken more hearts than any twelve men I know. He's not the marrying kind, but he's plenty human. If you throw yourself at him hard enough, he might just reach out and grab what's being offered. And we both know how good you are at throwing yourself."
     Carla went pale and turned away.
     Luke swore harshly beneath his breath, furious with her and Ten and himself and everything else that came to mind. He watched with narrowed, glittering eyes while Carla grabbed two pot holders and went to the kitchen range. By the time he realized that she was reaching for the wildly boiling kettle of spaghetti and water, it was too late. She was already struggling with the huge kettle, her whole body straining as she lifted at arm's length the weight of five gallons of water and ten pounds of pasta.
     Just as Carla realized that she couldn't handle the kettle – and hadn't the strength to lower it without splashing boiling water down her front – Luke's arms shot around her body. He covered her hands with his own and lifted, taking the weight of the kettle from her quivering arms. Together they gently set the heavy pot on the back burner once more. For a few moments neither one moved, shaken by the realization of how close Carla had come to a painful accident.
     Luke bent his head, brushing his cheek so lightly against Carla's hair that she couldn't feel it. When he took a breath he smelled flowers. The scent was dizzying, for it carried with it a promise of womanly warmth, a promise that was repeated in Carla's curving hips pressed against his body. She was trembling, breathing with soft, tearing sounds.
     Desire turned like an unsheathed knife in Luke's guts, hardening him with shocking speed. He lifted his hands and stepped back as though he had been burned. And he had, but by something hotter than boiling water.
     "My God, schoolgirl!" Luke exploded. "Don't you know better than to try to lift five gallons of boiling water off the back of this stove?"
     Carla shook her head and said nothing. Nor did she turn around.
     "Are you all right?" Luke demanded.
     Slowly she nodded.
     The line of her neck and shoulders tugged at Luke's emotions, reminding him of how vulnerable she was, how close she had come to hurting herself. The thought of boiling water scoring her soft skin made him feel as though he himself had been burned.
     "Sunshine?" Luke said softly. "Are you sure you didn't burn yourself?"
     The unexpected gentleness made tears burn beneath Carla's eyelids. She blinked fiercely, not wanting to cry in front of Luke, who already thought her a child. Schoolgirl .
     "I'm fine," she said, her voice husky.
     Carla took a steadying breath and inhaled the scent of Luke, a compound of leather and male heat and the clean fragrance of soap. She longed to turn and put her arms around him, to feel his arms around her, to hold and be held and never let go.
     But she hadn't come to the Rocking M for that. She had come to let go of something she had never held. "Thank you for saving dinner," Carla said, closing her eyes, trying not to breathe, for with each inhalation she took in the warmth and male scent of Luke.
     "Dinner?" he asked.
     "The spaghetti."
     Gently Luke turned Carla around and brought her chin up until he could see her eyes. His breath came in hard, bringing with it the promise of flowers and warmth.
     "You could have dumped that spaghetti all over the floor and I wouldn't have given a