Temptation Ridge (Virgin River #6)(39)

“Thanks, Doc.”

“All my years here, all my years watching her go downhill, I never gave her that much hope. Glad someone did. Glad you did.”

She felt a small smile come to her lips.

Over the course of the previous three days, Luke had taken Sean over to the Booth house for a couple of morning rides. He hadn’t done it for Sean, certainly. But for Shelby, because it made her happy to have someone with whom to share the rides. And although it irked Luke, she found Sean amusing.

The rest of the time Luke and his brother worked together. They finished the floors in the house, then concentrated on cabin number one for Luke’s new tenant.

“We should have this ready for you in a couple of days, Art,” Luke told him. That put Art in a fever of excitement, that he was going to have his own little house. “Ever had your own house before?” Luke asked him.

“By myself?” Art asked. “Not by myself.”

“Think you’re ready for your own little house?”

“I am,” he said with a nod.

“So let me ask you, Art—at the group home, who did the laundry?”

He shrugged and said, “We had to sign up for it.”

Luke was perplexed. “Sign up? I don’t get it.”

“On the clipboard,” Art said impatiently. “You have to sign up on the clipboard when you want to use the washer and dryer.”

“No kidding? So you did your own?”

“We did our own.”

“And did you have other chores at the group home?” Sean asked him.

“Make the bed, put away the clothes, keep a neat room. Dishes. Vacuum. Bathroom cleaning.”

Luke lifted a brow. “I think you are ready for your own house. With some OJT on the washer…”

Art frowned. “OJT?”

Sean slapped him on the back. “On-the-job training, buddy. Come with me. I’m going to show you how to scrape the dead paint off the outside of this cabin so we can prime it.”

“OJT?” he asked.

“Exactly.”

When Art was settled into his chore outside, Sean went inside and asked Luke, “What are you going to do with him?”

“He just got here, Sean. He just needs to feel safe right now.”

“He’s going to get attached to you.”

“Maybe.” Luke shrugged. “Look, the guy had a job. And from what he says, he took care of himself. Sounds like all he needs is a little supervision. Since I’m not going anyplace, what’s it hurt if he just hangs out here?”

Art stuck his head in the door. “Sean? Can I have some more OJT?”

Luke looked at his brother. “He’s going to get attached to you.”

“I won’t be here long enough.”

Between the three of them, they managed to get a lot done. At the end of the day, Luke fixed Art a grilled cheese and some soup and then, at Luke’s insistence, he took Sean to Jack’s for dinner again. Shelby and her uncle, as well as Muriel, the Booths’ new neighbor, were there. Before leaving, he was briefly and wonderfully in possession of her lips. But Sean, unfortunately, had nothing to do with his lips but talk.

The next day Sean said, “Tonight we’re going over to the coast or at least Fortuna. I’m only here another day and I’m tired of entertaining your girlfriend for you.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, but I’m tired of you doing that, too.”

“I bet you’ve already got a girl someplace else—a girl with girlfriends. Do a brother a favor and make a call.”

“I’m not doing that, man. You go. Knock yourself out.”

“What is your deal, Luke?”

He took a deep breath. They had managed not to talk about this, though it was as obvious as a punch to the gut. “You know what my deal is, Sean. And I don’t need you to jam me up right now.”

“Come on, Luke. You can pick up your threads when I’m gone.”

“Not interested. I have things on my mind.”

“Yeah—Shelby things. Since we can’t share the girl, let’s go find some action. Besides, her uncle is watching her like a hawk.”

“I’m working that angle,” Luke said. “Brother, you have to get out of my way here. I have things to do with the girl.”

“You are heading for something not so good,” Sean said. “She’s young and innocent, anyone can see that. She’s sweet. And she’s got that look—like she’d bruise easily. You’d better think about this.”

“It’s under control,” he said. But it wasn’t. He felt about as far from control as he ever had. There was just no way in hell he could stop this now. He was like a runaway train where Shelby was concerned.

“She’s vulnerable. Maybe needy,” Sean stressed.

Luke knew this. Ordinarily twenty-five wasn’t too young, but Shelby, despite everything, seemed much more tender than the average twenty-five-year-old woman. Maybe it was the fact that she’d spent the years from nineteen to twenty-four held hostage, taking care of her mother, and had limited worldly experience. And he was more than a little aware of her vulnerability, that soft underside that a man like Luke, with his careless ways, could damage. And yet, even knowing all that, he wasn’t having any success at cooling himself down.