by Liz Isaacson
He turned when he heard her footsteps, and Callie burst into tears.
“Hey, whoa,” he said kindly, abandoning his phone and his food to hurry over to her. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Oh, she was hurt all right, and she had no idea how to make the pain go away. He gathered her into his arms, but there were no sparks. No heat building in her. No desire to kiss this Walker brother. Miah was her best friend, though, besides her sisters and Liam, and it was nice to have his support.
“I’ve really messed up, Miah,” she said, pulling away and remembering her promise to Liam. “Where’s Liam?”
“In his office, I think.” He stepped back, the concern still plain in his eyes. “You’re going to marry him, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Callie said, a vision of how Miah had gone nuts when he’d found out about Rhett and Evelyn’s marriage running through her mind.
Miah’s jaw jumped, but he just nodded. “He’s in the office.” He went back over to the microwave, his shoulders definitely more tense than before. Callie left him in the kitchen, because while she’d confided in him a lot over the past few years, ultimately, he wasn’t the one she wanted to be with.
Liam sat in a huge desk chair, a pair of headphones on as he clicked and worked. He had four screens in front of him, and she didn’t understand a single thing on any of them. He muttered something to himself, reached over with his left hand and tapped on the furthermost left screen, and said, “I said, light him up.” He moved both of his hands, one of which held a drawing stylus, as if completing a complicated magic spell as he made a loud whooshing noise.
He wasn’t wearing his cowboy hat, and Callie remembered the feel of his hair between her fingers. She wept, which was an improvement over the debilitating sobs from earlier, and entered the office.
She put a delicate touch on Liam’s shoulder, but he still startled and almost stabbed her with that stylus. He hurried to pull the headphones off his ears as he said, “Oh. Callie.” He rose from his chair, that same concern that had filled Miah’s face entering his. “What’s wrong?”
“I have another huge favor,” she said, wondering if she’d loathe herself forever.
“Okay,” he said, not agreeing to it immediately. She knew this man liked her and had for a long time. So the fact that he wasn’t willing to just agree to anything before he heard it testified that he had an operational brain and he was using it. He could say no. He wasn’t letting her use him for his bank account.
Or maybe he was.
Callie was so, so tired of thinking about it. But she could be brave for thirty more seconds. She could.
“The ranch will likely still go into foreclosure,” she said. “And yes, there will most likely still be an auction. I could still lose the ranch, because the bank has labeled my loan as high-risk.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed it, his nonverbal way of asking her what the favor was.
“I’m wondering if you can open an account at my bank and put enough money into it to show them that we can pay the loan payments.” She drew in a shuddering breath but held back her tears. Thankfully. She was so tired of feeling weak and crying over this situation. “I need that account linked to mine.”
Ten more seconds.
“And I have two accounts that are basically overdrawn, and I need money in both of those too.”
There. Done.
She kept her eyes on Liam’s, because she didn’t want to be ashamed in front of him. She simply needed help, and God had brought him into her life. It seemed wholly unfair that He couldn’t have spread the wealth out a little bit, but Callie was willing to bury her pride to save her ranch.
“Oh, one more thing,” she said. “I know you would never do this, and that you don’t think this, but it’s something that’s been tormenting me, and I just have to say it.”
“Say it,” he said quietly.
“I am not a prostitute. You don’t own me because you paid my bills.”
There. Now she was done. The ball was in his court, and whether he could throw it or bounce it or punt it, she didn’t care.
Well, she did. She really hoped he’d take it, hold it, and then say, Let’s go to the bank right now.
She waited, watching the perfect storm brew into something dark and dangerous in his eyes.
Chapter Eight
Liam had so many thoughts and feelings moving through him at the same time, he didn’t know which one to isolate and grab onto.
He’d heard everything Callie had said, and he was willing to open a bank account at her institution. That was easy. Transferring money could be done with an app, in less than five seconds. So moving money into her two accounts—also easy.
Dealing with a prostitution comment? Not so easy.
No, he didn’t think of their arrangement like that, and he hated that she’d been tormented with such thoughts.
“You’re angry,” Callie finally said.
“Kind of?” He shook his head and pulled his hand away from her, unsure of how to label the emotions inside him. “I don’t think I own you.”
“I know that,” she said quickly, before he’d even finished his sentence. “I said that. I know you don’t think that or feel that way. I just…I feel that way, because I feel so stupid, and so guilty, and so, just—I hate myself.” Her chin quivered, but she didn’t let the tears out. “I want you to respect me. I want you to think highly of me. Out of anyone, I don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t want you to resent me. I—” She cut off and turned away from him.
In that moment, Liam fell a little harder for Callie Foster. “I’m falling in love with you,” he said simply, and love was complicated, and confusing, and Liam hadn’t been in this position for a very long time.
Callie spun back to him, those beautiful brown eyes wide. “That’s what you say?”
“What do you want me to say?” When she said nothing, Liam attempted a smile. It didn’t quite sit right, but then again, nothing between him and Callie was exactly right at the moment.
Except that kiss.
Oh, that kiss. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, and while the woman had plagued his thoughts for at least a couple of years now, having tasted her lips was a new form of exquisite torture he wanted to repeat as often as possible.
“I think highly of you,” he said. “I know you’ve been doing the best you can, with the limited resources you have. I respect you and your sisters. I’ve already told you to stop apologizing and stop feeling guilty.” He threw up his hands in a quick display of I don’t know what else to say. “So let’s go to the bank.”
Callie stepped into his personal space, those eyes so hopeful as she searched his. “I believe you.”
“Good,” he said. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Cal.”
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him, a sweet, chaste union of their mouths that was as erotic as the deeper kiss they’d shared by her horse pasture earlier. “Thank you, Liam,” she whispered against his lips. “I’m falling in love with you too.”
She settled back onto her feet, removing her hands from his face. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, because her words were just too much for him to handle while he looked at her. “You wouldn’t lie to me either, would you?” he asked, finally opening his eyes.
She looked right at him, right into his soul. “Of course not.”
That was good enough for him. He took her hand and said, “My keys are in the kitchen. Do you want to wait here while I get them?”
“Yes,” she murmured, and Liam left her in the doorway of his office so he could go down the hall to the kitchen. He knew Jeremiah had come in from the ranch, because the scent of sugary ham and rich gravy had filled the house a few minutes ago.
“I’m running into town with Callie,” he said to his brother, who looked up from his phone.
“Yeah? Is she okay?”
“I think she will be,” Liam said, opening the drawer where the brothers kept their car keys. “Do w
e need anything for the weekend? What are you making for Sunday dinner?”
“As a matter of fact,” Jeremiah said. “I have a grocery list, and I’d love it if you’d go. I have those rascally goats to deal with this afternoon. They broke their hay basket again. I’ll text you?”
“Sure,” Liam said, reaching up to tip his hat only to realize he wasn’t wearing his cowboy hat. He looked at Jeremiah for an extra moment, trying to see in him what Callie did. They’d been instant friends since the moment Jeremiah had arrived on the ranch, and Liam didn’t begrudge them that. “What did Callie say to you when she got here?”
Jeremiah looked at him again, alarm in his eyes now. “Nothing. She burst into tears and asked where you were.”
Liam hated that he needed this reassurance from his older brother. But Tripp wasn’t here, and Callie and Jeremiah had always been so close…. “Okay,” he said. “See you in a bit.”
“Yeah.”
Liam left Jeremiah in the kitchen and went to retrieve his hat. He may not be a born and bred cowboy like his brother, but he sure did like dressing the part. “Callie?” he asked when he arrived in the office and she wasn’t there. He turned as if she’d be hiding in the corner, but she wasn’t.
He grabbed his hat and stuffed it on his head before walking out the front door. But she wasn’t waiting for him on the porch either. Confused, he turned back to the house just as she came out of the bathroom across the hall from the office. “Hey,” he said. “Everything okay?”
She drew in a long breath that didn’t shake. “Yeah.” She smiled at him. “Yes, I’m going to be okay.” She slipped one arm around his waist and looked up at him. She’d washed all the evidence of tears from her face and slicked her hair back into a ponytail. She looked put together and refreshed, but Liam could see the turmoil just below the surface. He wanted to ease as much of it as he could, and he honestly didn’t expect anything physical from her in return.
He did want her to talk to him. Confide in him. Trust him. He wanted her to let him spoil her and to share her life with him. He was falling in love with her, and he really wanted to keep doing things that contributed to that.
“Ready?” she asked, and Liam led her out onto the front porch.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think I’m ready.”
Two hours later, she said, “I need to call Simone.”
“Get ‘er done,” Liam said as he clicked the button to unlock his truck. She didn’t get in right away, but wandered a few feet down the sidewalk as she made the call.
He’d been surprised at how long it took to open an account and move money around. But there had been so many questions, from “How much is the balance on her loan?” to “Are you related to or affiliated with anyone having ties to the Middle East?”
He was moving a very large amount of money, and the woman at the bank had said it could take three days to clear. He didn’t mind. Moving a couple hundred thousand dollars from one place to another left him plenty of money to do other things—like buy groceries, their next stop.
As he waited for Callie to talk to her sister, he wondered how often she checked her loan. He could pay it off tomorrow and save a ton in interest—but he didn’t know how she’d react. He told himself to go slow, so she wouldn’t get scared away.
She finally climbed in the truck, and Liam asked, “All set?”
“Yep.” She flashed him a grateful smile. “What are we having for Sunday lunch?”
Liam had gotten a text from Jeremiah only a few minutes after they’d left the ranch. “I honestly don’t know what all of the things he sent make,” he said. “It might be sausage and tortellini soup.”
“Ooh, I love that stuff,” she said.
“I’m going to make chocolate covered caramel pretzels.”
“You know a way into a woman’s heart,” she said with a giggle, and Liam was just glad he had the real Callie Foster back.
“Oh, is that one of your favorites?” he asked innocently.
“You know it is.” She gave him a playful look that made him think of kissing her again and faced the front again.
“Tell me some of your other favorites,” he said.
“Men in cowboy hats.”
“Check.”
“Men who can sing.”
“Oh, that’s a strike for me. Tripp is a great singer though.”
“I’ve heard you sing.”
“You have? When?” He glanced at her, enjoying this new game between them. Everything had been made of tension and corded steel in the bank, and Liam didn’t like it.
“At church,” she said.
“Again, that’s Tripp,” he said. “We just sound the same.”
“I don’t think you sound all that similar.”
“We’re identical twins,” Liam said.
“But you’re different.”
Of course, Liam knew he was different than Tripp, but everyone outside of the family still had trouble telling them apart. “Anyway,” he said. “What else?”
“Sunsets.”
“Nice.”
“Horses. Dogs. Cream in my coffee.”
“Love all of those,” he said, making a turn that would take them to the organic market that Jeremiah liked. He knew she was out of cream for her coffee, and he hoped he could buy her some groceries too. “I’m going to call about the Internet at your place on Monday.” He glanced at her. “Okay? I have to have screaming fast Internet to work.” He looked back at the road. Back to her. “They might have to come rewire.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile.
Liam wanted to reach over and take her hand in his, but the bulky console between them didn’t allow him to. She hadn’t argued with him over what he wanted to pay for, and he really liked she was keeping one of the rules they’d set for their marriage. “Thanks,” he said. “And you’ll be getting some groceries at the store too, right?”
“I…think we have what we need.”
“Callie,” he said, plenty of warning in his voice. “I opened your fridge this morning. You didn’t have cream, and you literally just said one of your favorite things was cream in your coffee.”
She looked at him, but he couldn’t hold her gaze for long and keep them in the right lane. “This is one of those things you don’t want me to argue about, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
“Fine.” She folded her arms. “Then I guess I’m going grocery shopping too.”
“Great,” he said in a falsely cheery voice. “Oh, and do you want to sit by me at church on Sunday? I mean, then you’ll know what a terrible singer I am, but you seem to like knowing about the things I’m bad at.”
“Sit by you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And if you wear the diamond, we’ll really be able to stir up the rumor mill in town.” He kicked a devilish grin in her direction, thrilled when her laughter filled the cab of his truck. He wanted to bottle the sound and listen to it whenever he worried if he was doing the right thing or not. Let her listen to it when she felt like crying, so she’d know she was happy once. They were happy once.
He’d already been through plenty of hard things with Callie, and he sent up a prayer that perhaps God could try to make their path a little easier from now on. Just a little, he thought as he pulled into the organic market.
“Okay,” Callie said. “I’ll sit by you and wear the diamond.”
“Now we’re talkin’.”
Liam left for church before the other brothers, hoping to make a clean getaway. They usually all rode in together, but since Micah was still here, as well as their parents, they’d have to take two vehicles anyway.
“You’re leaving already?” his mom asked, startling Liam as he headed for the front steps. He skidded sideways, seeing a fall in his future. He grabbed for the porch railing and managed to keep from toppling down the steps. “Momma,” he said, his heart pounding in his chest. “You scared me.”
“Mm hm,” she said, rising from the rocking chair on th
e porch. She was already dressed for church, her hair perfectly curled and poofed. “Looks like you were sneaking out.”
“I wasn’t,” Liam said, wondering how his mother could make him feel like he was twelve years old again—when he had actually snuck out to see a girl he liked. “Plus, I’m forty years old, so I can kinda do what I want.” He smiled down at her.
She grinned at him and reached up to cup his face in her hand. “Going to see Callie?”
“We’re going to church together,” he said. “You want to sit by us?” He really hoped she’d say no. He loved his mother, but sitting by his fiancée and his mother in one day felt like a lot.
“If there’s room,” his mom said. “But we’re not leaving for a few more minutes.”
“So I’ll see you over there,” he said, starting down the steps. The homestead had an attached three-car garage, but Liam never parked in it. Jeremiah did, and the rest of the space was filled with tools and boxes and anything else the brothers didn’t know what to do with. Skyler had brought a fridge and a microwave with him, for crying out loud. As if the enormous kitchen wasn’t big enough and didn’t have the proper appliances.
Liam drove the half-mile to Callie’s, only to find her waiting at the gate. “Hey,” he said, rolling down the window. “You lost, ma’am?”
“Very funny,” she said, trying the door. “Unlock it for me.”
Chuckling, he did, and Callie climbed into his truck. “You look pretty,” he said, drinking in the sight of all those curves in the little black dress she wore.
“Thanks.” She smiled at him, and all traces of the weepy, worried woman he’d spent yesterday with seemed to have disappeared. They didn’t talk much on the way to church, which had Liam’s nerves a bit on-edge for a reason he couldn’t name. He’d spent a lot of time with Callie where they didn’t talk.
He hadn’t checked for the diamond ring, and he didn’t want to be obvious about it. They finally reached the church, and Liam practically shot out of his seat so he could round the truck and help Callie down. They hadn’t arrived too early or too late, and there were several people walking into the little white building with the cross on top.
