Joan Hohl – In the Arms of the Rancher: In the Arms of the Rancher / His Vienna Christmas Bride (страница 5)
Vic’s slip tightened as if to suppress a smile. She could tell he knew exactly how ambiguous she felt about spending the evening with Hawk…or with any other man, come to that.
Fortunately, Vic changed the subject and Kate managed to maintain her composure until quitting time.
Monday, 7:25 p.m.
Kate stood next to the hostess station, chatting with Bella. She was early. She had arrived at the restaurant soon after seven. She was also nervous. She felt foolish about her anxiety, but there it was, like it or not.
Bella was seating customers. Kate was casting quick glances at the doorway, chiding herself every time she did, which by now was too often.
Kate glanced up as Bella returned to the station, just in time to see the young woman’s face light up with a bright smile.
“Hi, Hawk,” Bella said, quickening her step to launch herself into his open arms.
For an instant, a heartbeat, Kate felt the strangest emotion. She couldn’t describe it exactly, but then, she didn’t want to examine it, either, refusing to even think the word
She allowed another word into her mind.
Kate was relieved that she had taken extra time with her own attire. She had chosen a frilly-collared, long-sleeved sage blouse, a long, swirly nutmeg skirt and three-inch heels. While the days were still warm and even sometimes hot in October, the evenings dropped into the fifties and even the forties, so she had brought the same smooth fleece shawl that she had worn at work the previous night.
Bella swung out of Hawk’s arms as a party of two entered. Hawk switched his dark gaze to Kate.
“Hi.” His voice was soft, enticing.
Kate had to swallow before she could manage a rusty-sounding response. “Hi.”
He slid a long glance the length of her body. “You look lovely.”
She swallowed again. “Thank you. “Y-you look lovely, too.” Good grief, Kate thought, feeling foolish. Had she really said that?
Hawk strolled to the hostess station, a smile flickering on his temptingly masculine lips. “Hungry?”
Watching his lips move, Kate felt as if the bottom had fallen out of her stomach. And in that moment she was hungrier than she’d ever been in her adult life. Yet the last thing on her rattled mind was food.
“Yes.” She tried to unobtrusively wet her parched lips. “Are you?”
His eyes narrowing, he watched the slow movement of the tip of her tongue. “You have no idea,” he murmured, reaching out a hand to take hers.
“W-where are we going?” Kate felt a flash of annoyance, not at Hawk, but at herself for the brief stutter again. Damn, she didn’t stutter. Never had, not even briefly.
Hawk grinned. “Right here. Vic’s creating something special for us.”
“Here? We’re staying here for dinner?” Kate had to laugh. “Why?”
His brows drew together in a dark frown. “You don’t like Vic’s cooking?”
“I love Vic’s cooking,” she protested. “It’s just, well, I thought you would want to…”
“What I want, Kate,” he declared, “is for you to feel comfortable with me, and I figured you would here.” He smiled, then added, “With Vic to defend you.”
“Right,” Vic drawled, leading them to the same corner table for two that Hawk had been given a few days before. “As if I could defend her against you. I’m a chef, not a warrior.”
“Cute. You’re the one who works with knives.” Hawk shot Vic a wry look as he held a chair for Kate. “Wine?” he asked, folding his long body onto the chair opposite her.
Pondering their odd exchange, Kate nodded. “Yes, thank you.” She glanced at Vic. “What do you recommend with the meal? White or red?”
“White for you,” Vic said. “I think nothing too dry, nothing too sweet. You’re both at my mercy with the meal tonight.”
Hawk smiled dryly. “Right. I’ll have the red. Room temperature.
“You know each other very well, don’t you?” Kate said as Vic retreated to his kitchen.
“Hmm.” Hawk nodded, taking a sip of his water. “We roomed together at college.”
“Did you serve in the military?” Her question, seemingly coming out of nowhere, brought his eyebrows together in a brief frown.
“Yeah, after college I served in the air force. What made you ask that?”
Kate shrugged. “Vic called you a warrior, so I assumed that’s what he was referring to.”
His brows smoothed as he gave a soft chuckle. “I flew a Black Hawk chopper, but that wasn’t what Vic was referring to,” he said. “The warrior reference was to my heritage. You see, my father is Scottish, but my mother was a full-blooded Apache Indian.”
“Was?”
“Yes, my mother died giving birth to my younger sister, Catriona.” His smile was bittersweet. “I was two and never got to know her. All I have of her are pictures of her lovely face.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said, at a loss for any other words of sympathy.
The bitter tinge vanished, leaving only the sweet. “Kate, it was a long time ago. I’m thirty-six years old. Though I’d have loved to have gotten to know her, I’m over it.”
Somehow Kate doubted his assurance, but she didn’t push. “Catriona. That’s different,” she said, changing the subject.
“It’s Scottish for Catherine.”
“What about your father?”
“He, with help from my mother’s parents, raised me and Cat. After college I joined the air force. And after Cat graduated two years later, she moved to New York, and then Dad moved back to Scotland, where he owns several business holdings.” A server appeared and Hawk took his glass. “He and his second wife raise Irish wolfhounds.”
“Oh,” Kate said. “They’re really big and kind of mean, aren’t they?”
Hawk’s head was shaking before she finished. “They are big, but certainly not mean. I have one. His name’s Boyo, and he’s a pussycat.” He hesitated before clarifying. “Of course, he can get ferocious if I’m in any way threatened. The breed is very protective of his people.”
Kate had to laugh. “His people?”
“Oh, yeah.” He laughed with her. “Boyo believes I belong to him.”
They grew quiet when their meal was served, enjoying the sumptuous dinner Vic had prepared for them.
“Dessert? Coffee?” Hawk asked when they had both finished eating.
Kate shook her head. “No thank you. I’m too full for even coffee.”
“Good.” Hawk drew a quick breath. “It’s nice here, but…” He took another breath. “I have tickets for a show on the strip. Would you like to go?”
Kate was quiet a moment, stilled by a little flicker inside, a combination of anxiety and expectation. As she had before, she drew a quick breath and made a quick decision. “Yes, thank you. I would.”
Hawk shot a look at his watch, pushed back his chair and circled around the table to slide Kate’s chair back for her to rise.
“We’d better leave. It’s after nine and the show starts at ten.” Hawk waved for their server. He said, “Check, please,” when the server hurried over.
“No check,” the server said. “Vic said this meal is on the house.”
“Tom, you tell Vic I said he’s a sweetie,” Kate said, smiling as the young man’s cheeks flushed.
After quick goodbyes to Bella, they exited the restaurant.
Chapter Three
Taking Kate’s elbow, Hawk steered her to the first parking space in the parking lot. Noting the makeshift Reserved sign tied to the light pole in one corner of the lot, Kate raised an eyebrow and looked up at him.
Hawk grinned at her. “It’s good to be the king,” he declared quoting from an old Mel Brooks movie.
The car he guided her to was midsize. After she was seated, Kate watched, a slight smile on her lips, as he crammed his long body into the seat behind the wheel. Settled in, he slanted a look at her.
“This king needs a bigger carriage.”
“You do appear a bit cramped in that seat.”