“There’s a table in the other room,” he added.
She turned to look up at him, for a dizzying instant their gazes locked, and then she found herself following him across the room and into the adjoining portion of the cabin she had not yet explored.
There were already two steaming bowls of stew on the rough-hewn table when Luke pulled out a chair and offered it to her with an almost gentlemanly gesture She couldn’t quite resist dipping a finger into the thick stew and pulled it out hastily; like the room itself, it was certainly not lacking in warmth. The old-fashioned wood-burning stove that was the room’s primary feature seemed more than adequate to heat this portion of the cabin, at least; Joey wondered idly why the cabin had been so cold before.
As she waited for the stew to cool, she allowed her gaze to drift around the room. Another impressive rack of antlers hung above the small table, and she resolved to ask Luke about them later, she’d seen no guns or anything else to indicate that he was a frequent hunter, though it made sense that a man living as he did would have to track down his meals from time to time.
There was a basin set into a wooden counter on the other side of the room, and a small pump seemed to serve as the equivalent of a faucet. Before she could ask Luke about it, he was demonstrating it for her, pumping water into two earthenware mugs and setting them down beside the bowls. The water was icy cold and sweet when she sipped it.
Cupboards lined most of the remaining walls, and a very few cooking implements hung in the vicinity of the stove, but it was fairly obvious Luke didn’t indulge in a great deal of culinary experimentation. Reminded abruptly of her considerable hunger, Joey picked up the plain wooden spoon Luke had provided and dipped it into the stew. The first bite assured her that while Luke might not be a fancy cook, he could produce something adequate to the purpose.
She smiled up at him as he sat down opposite her. “It’s good,” she mumbled through a mouthful of venison and vegetables. Her reward was the first real smile he’d displayed since he’d appeared out of the lake that afternoon; it had a remarkable effect on the harsh lines of his face and a surprisingly devastating one on her own unbalanced emotions. The smile was the most genuine and warm she’d ever seen from him, and it was directed entirely at her.
Then he rose, his own stew untouched, and began to move restlessly about the room. Joey concentrated on filling her most immediate needs, finishing her portion quickly. As she looked up to thank him, Luke ladled more stew into her bowl from a large cast-iron pot; she briefly considered not making a glutton of herself and then decided it was too good to pass up.
When the last spoonful had disappeared, Joey leaned back in her chair and was grateful for the extra room in her borrowed jeans. Luke was hovering in the vicinity as he had done throughout her meal—never quite looking at her, never quite speaking, but always very much there. Only Joeys hunger had prevented him from completely unnerving her, now she didn’t have that distraction. She noticed that he hadn’t touched his own stew.
“That was delicious, Luke,” she said with real sincerity. He stopped his pacing to meet her eyes. She dropped hers to study her empty bowl ruefully. “I can’t quite believe how much I ate. Thank you.”
“Do you need more?” he said, sweeping her bowl away before she could take it to the sink. “I don’t have much here right now. I need to go into town for more supplies.” His tone was gruff with what she guessed to be embarrassment, like his earlier smile, it touched her unexpectedly.
“It was fine—I couldn’t eat one more bite,” she assured him. Feeling at loose ends and very much aware of her own uncertainty, Joey got up to join Luke at the sink.
He rinsed her bowl and set it aside, responding to her inquiring look, “No hot running water here. It has to be heated.” He gestured at the stove, a large open tank was attached at the side of it, warming water as the stove itself warmed the room He retrieved his own untouched bowl, dumping the contents back into the pot This he took with him through a door at the side of the kitchen, one that Joey presumed led outside, he was gone for several minutes, and he returned with an empty pot, which he rinsed and set with the bowls. Joey realized with a start that no electricity and no hot running water meant no refrigerator, either, the implications of Luke’s lifestyle were beginning to make an impression.