He stroked a hand down the side of her face. “No wonder you look so tired.”

She raised a brow. “You suck at sweet-talking women.”

That sexy grin came out again. “I’ll work on it. But right now I’m worried about you.” His thumb brushed her cheek and she couldn’t help leaning into his touch. “I didn’t expect you to be so thoughtful and caring after talking to Margaret.”

“Hearsay, Counselor. Inadmissible for good reason. It’s unreliable at best. Lies at worst.”

“Point taken. So tell me more. The company must be doing well if you can hand out twenty-five-thousand-dollar bonuses.”

She eyed him. “I’m surprised you haven’t dug up all those details.”

“I planned to,” he readily admitted. “And it’s not hard to discover the financials on a publicly held company. But like you, I got busy with lawyer work and ranch stuff and driving myself crazy trying to come up with a way to apologize to you.”

She ran her hand over the beautiful gift. “You did very well.”

“I’m just glad you haven’t kicked me out.”

“I understand work taking over your life. It’s why my companies are doing exceptionally well. The Spencer Software stock has been up every quarter and profits have increased considerably. My success with Spencer Software has allowed me to start another business. It’s extremely successful, too, which is why I work all the time.”

“Why do you do it? You could have sold the company or had someone else run it when Sean died. Instead, you kept it going and started another company.”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t let it go. At the time the company was in the midst of going public. Sean’s death worried the investors, but there were other problems I had to fix, or the company would have imploded. And I made a promise to Margaret.”

“What promise?”

“That no matter what, I’d keep the company going, so that when the boys grew up they’d have something of their father.”

“What if the boys grow up and don’t want any part of the business?”

“That’s fine with me. They can do whatever makes them happy. The money from the business will give them the opportunity to spread their wings and find that thing they love to do.”

“Yeah, but it won’t be a piece of Sean. It’s all you. You run the company, and you do the work that keeps it alive.”

“Try telling Margaret that. She’s so focused on Sean’s death and being angry with me, she hasn’t taken the time to even ask about the company. I suppose she doesn’t really care about the details. I love what I do, but sometimes the amount of hours I work feels like the punishment Margaret wants to inflict on me.” The loneliness of it overwhelmed her sometimes.

Luke brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. “Then take a break and spend the evening with me. Let me make everything up to you and show you that I really am a good guy. We’ll drive into town, I’ll take you to a great restaurant, and we’ll get to know each other even better.” Luke glanced into her room. “I hope Margaret can watch the boys. Otherwise, we’ll take them with us.”