Paradise Valley (Virgin River #7)(2)

Walt ground his teeth. “You’re really pressing your luck.”

“Oh, you don’t know the half.” Luke chuckled before he could stop himself. “Almost thirty-nine years old and I’m buying into the whole program. It’s not even one of her conditions—it’s one of mine. General Booth, she’s everything to me. I can’t live without her. I thought I could and I tried, but it’s too late for me. I’m in love with Shelby. I’m going to be in love with her for the rest of my life.”

Walt was sitting straighter. He moved to the edge of his chair. “What about her education? What about a family? I think my niece wants a family and I heard you say that wasn’t—”

“You probably heard me say a lot of things I thought I meant and didn’t, sir. Shelby can have anything she wants, do anything she wants—I’ll support her. I’m not going to waste her time, sir. If she’ll marry me, I’ll give her everything I have, go anywhere she needs me to go. She won’t ever again leave my house thinking I don’t care about her. That could have been the biggest mistake of my lifetime.”

Walt smiled in spite of himself. “Learned your lesson, did you, boy?”

Luke didn’t mind so much being called a boy by this military icon, but the truth hit him pretty hard. “Oh, man,” he said, shaking his head. “You have no idea.”

Walt leaned back. “I like seeing you humbled a little bit, Riordan. What if I withhold my permission?”

“Oh, I’ll ask her anyway. I’ll tell her you disapprove and ask her to overlook that. But I’d like to do this right, sir. I’ve made enough mistakes—I don’t want to make one more.”

“Hmm,” Walt hummed. “I guess I can still be surprised….”

“Sir?”

“I didn’t figure you for intelligence.”

Luke just shook his head. Well, this was no less than he deserved. He’d taken the general’s niece into his bed, telling her he just wasn’t the kind of man who could settle down. He used every rationalization he could think of to make that all right, but he knew all along that was going to be real tough for the general to swallow. He also knew if Shelby were his niece, he wouldn’t have stood for it. Now Walt was obviously going to torture him for a while. Luke supposed it was his just due.

The front door opened and Shelby breezed in. Both men shot to their feet, but Luke got to her first, slipping an arm around her waist. “Take care of everything?” he asked quietly.

“Uh-huh,” she said, smiling up at him. “I got off easy.” Shelby had left Virgin River without saying goodbye to Luke’s helper, Art. That in itself wasn’t such a crime, but Art was a thirty-year-old man with Down syndrome and things like disappearing without an explanation or goodbye could seem like abandonment to him. “He wasn’t angry with me—just worried.”

Then she went to her uncle. “I’m sorry I didn’t call and let you know I was coming back, Uncle Walt. I had business to take care of with Luke first.”

Walt looked at her beautiful, shining face. Her hazel eyes glowed, her cheeks were flush with love. But looking at Shelby wasn’t the startling part. One look at Luke told the rest of the story. Luke had always had that bad-boy edge, an aura of danger and a short fuse. No more. All the rough edges had been ground down and his expression was docile as a puppy.

Walt just laughed as he pulled Shelby into his arms. He hugged her fiercely. “Shelby, Shelby,” he said. He held her away from him and, grinning, he said, “Looks like you’ve tamed him. He doesn’t have any fight left in him.”

“Thank God,” she said. “I don’t think I could take much more. He’s been a real handful. But Luke still needs a little work, so I’m going to be staying with him now. I’ll be over to help you with the horses every day, just like always.”

“That would be nice, honey,” he said. “There are a lot of horses. Muriel’s out of town and I’ve got the dogs and horses.”

Shelby reached down and gave each Lab a little scratch. “Where is she?”

“She’s gone back to Hollywood for a while. Going to make a movie.”

“Really?” Shelby asked, grinning hugely, her eyes lighting up. “Wow. How awesome.”

She would find that exciting news, Walt thought. He had told Muriel she had his devoted support in achieving everything her heart desired, but in fact he wasn’t feeling real supportive. He was feeling jealous and lonely and out of sorts. And this news about Shelby and Luke just added to his misery.

He shook it off. “Luke?” he asked, looking at the man. When he had Luke’s attention, Walt gave his chin a firm nod. And that was all it took to make Luke Riordan’s eyes light up as though beacons shone from within.

At 1:00 a.m. the phone rang next to Walt’s bed. He thought first of Shelby; she’d thrown her lot in with Luke and Walt hoped nothing had gone wrong. He thought next of Vanessa, Paul and little Matt, his grandson. Young Tom crossed his mind—but a middle-of-the-night phone call from West Point was highly unlikely.

“Walt?” came Muriel’s voice before he could gather his wits and say hello. “Darling, I’m sorry—I know what time it is.”

Darling? Did she call him darling? Oh, those Hollywood types probably called everyone darling. “It’s all right,” he said sleepily. “Are you okay?”