Luke’s eyes swept from her head down to the gruesome bruise on her leg. She’d been lying on her left side, so he hadn’t seen the bruises that covered almost her entire thigh and disappeared under her shorts.

“What the hell happened to your leg?”

He knelt, grabbed her knee, and gently ran his fingertips over the dark bruises, studying them and the all too familiar pattern they made. A horseshoe.

“Your vet spooked Ace.”

Damn. He had no idea and wanted to kick the doc’s ass. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

“You were too busy snapping at me for being reckless with your prize horse and telling you how to run your ranch. Remember?”

He stared up at her, hoping she saw the remorse he couldn’t hide and the apology lodged in his throat because words didn’t seem enough.

Her eyes softened. “It hurts like hell, but I’m fine.”

“I really don’t know what to say.”

Jerry stepped forward. The other guys had already abandoned the pasture to get back to work. “Why’d you ask Luke if you were sleeping on his kitchen table?”

Sarah relaxed her stance and turned her attention to Jerry. “On one of my sleepwalking . . . adventures, I woke up to my neighbor cooking breakfast for her family. I had fallen asleep on their dining room table. The funny part is, it was their daughter’s seventh birthday. I had taken her beautiful birthday cake out of the fridge and used it as a pillow.”

Jerry busted up laughing.

Luke felt sorry for the little girl.

“What did your neighbors say when they found you?”

“Good morning.”

Anything could have happened to her. Where were the boys? Home alone?

Jerry went along with the amusement of it all. “Just, ‘good morning’?”

“It was the third time they’d found me on their property. Of course, this was the first time I’d picked the lock on their door and ended up on the dining room table with cake in my hair.” She waved that all aside. “They took it all in stride. I had a beautiful cake delivered that afternoon for the party. Pink roses and blue and lavender butterflies, just like their daughter wanted. Later, I also had a crystal-covered cake dish made for them with a Sleeping Beauty handle on top that looked like she was sleeping on top of the cake. They got a huge kick out of it.”

Jerry smiled, obviously a little in love with Sarah. Which irritated Luke to no end. “That’s a great story. The cake thing was clever and thoughtful.”

Luke thought so, too, but he wanted to know about something else she’d said. “How’d you know how to pick the lock?”

“Contrary to what most people think, you can do just about anything when you’re sleepwalking. I’ve even heard of people driving. Picking the lock was a snap. I acquired a great many unseemly talents as a teenager.” She eyed him. “I’m sure Margaret gave you all kinds of juicy tidbits about my sordid teenage years.”