* * *

Luke arrived with his entire family. The press snapped pictures of their arrival. Once inside the lobby, he and Jason got caught up with some old friends.

“We missed you guys at the Governor’s Ball last month,” Tom said.

“Jason has an excuse. He’s married with a kid, but where have you been hiding, Luke?” Brandon asked.

Luke shrugged. “It’s a long drive in from the ranch.” He didn’t go into any more detail about how his life had changed recently. He wasn’t the same man who’d meet these guys at the bar after work or on the weekend and pick up women just to pass the time and fill the void that never seemed to disappear.

“You never come out with us anymore,” Paul complained. “It’s no fun without you.”

“You mean without him picking up the tab,” Jason teased.

“Whatever happened to that waitress you were seeing?” Tom asked.

Paul shook his head. “No, she was a landscape architect.”

Brandon narrowed his gaze. “I thought you were seeing some Google girl.”

Jason grinned at him. “Wasn’t the last one the designer you hired to do your house?”

“She wanted to do me.” He got the laugh he expected from his friends, but Jason frowned at him. “And I wasn’t seeing her. I hired her to do a job.”

Luke caught sight of his parents and Michelle across the lobby seconds before they got swept up in the crowd of reporters and photographers coming out of one of the conference rooms. Hundreds of flashes went off as the photographers swarmed whoever was in the middle of the melee.

“If you turn into Farmer John, you’re going to lose your most-eligible-bachelor status,” Paul teased.

Luke didn’t respond. He stood transfixed as the sea of reporters and photogs split and his mom, dad, and Michelle greeted the woman in the middle. She had her back to him when she hugged his mom. Her red velvet dress had short cap sleeves and left her back completely exposed to her waist. She didn’t wear a long gown like most of the women here at the benefit. Her gown had a full skirt that ended at her knees and showed off a pair of gorgeous legs that ended in red satin ribbons tied around her ankles, her feet encased in red heels. Her hair was piled on top of her head and secured with a ruby and diamond clip. Long tendrils escaped in waves of mahogany. A pearl necklace circled her throat and one long strand hung down her back and ended with a large ruby that sparkled from all the flashbulbs going off.

His mother stepped back from her, caught his eye, and then said something to the beautiful woman, who slowly turned to face him and stopped his heart.

The back of her dress was spectacular, but the front was even better. The dress had a deep V-neck that showed off the swell of her breasts. It was skintight to her waist, where the skirt flared out.