On the third day, when she was sure Houston would move on without her, Chloe packed a bag and headed for the Perry Ranch.
* * *
Five days later, she was forced to admit—at least to herself—that ranching was a lot harder than it looked. She’d never been more tired, yet at the same time, she felt a sense of satisfaction she’d never known before. Finally, she was living out what her ten-year-old self had dreamed of.
She’d agreed to Liam’s conditions for a couple of reasons—one, she wanted more time with him. Two days in a storm simply weren’t enough. But second, she’d wanted to prove to herself that she was up to the task. That she was completely capable of doing the ranching work her father had laughed at her over. And yes, maybe she was trying to prove something to Liam too.
He had a way of looking at her that told her he was half waiting for her to complain about her manicure or about getting dirty or tired. Well, she might have been raised to be a dainty princess, but that wasn’t the real Chloe and it was important to her—for reasons she didn’t want to think about—that Liam know that. She wanted not only his desire, she wanted his respect. And the only way to get that was to earn it.
Of course, using a pitchfork to clean out a horse’s stall wasn’t the way she’d have chosen, but at least the double doors at either end of the stable were open to let the breeze slide through, and Chloe was grateful. It was as if that massive storm hadn’t happened at all. April in Texas was already hot, steaming toward a blistering summer.
“And speaking of blisters...” She set the pitchfork aside, tore off her left glove and sighed.
“Problem?” Liam walked down the wide aisle to join her.
She jolted, surprised at his appearance. He moved so stealthily sometimes she didn’t know he was there until he spoke. Now she turned to look at him. Even in the stable’s shadows, those blue eyes of his seemed to burn.
“Nope. No problem.” Chloe put her glove back on. She refused to complain about any task he gave her, and she’d be damned if she’d whine about a stupid blister, when she knew darn well that’s what he was expecting.
“Let’s see it,” he said, and grabbed her hand, tugging the leather glove off to inspect her palm. “Yep, that’s a big one.”
“I’m fine,” she said stiffly, desperately trying to disregard the heat pumping through her from the simple touch of his hand on hers.
Since she’d been on the ranch they hadn’t been together once. She’d been sleeping in his guest room, catching glimpses of him every night and early in the morning as they passed each other on the way to the coffeepot. He didn’t talk so much as grunt. He left her training to Mike, the new foreman, and mostly seemed to be deliberately avoiding being near her.
Chloe could only think that he was regretting what they’d shared during the storm, and that just made her furious. Those two days had been magical for her, and she knew damn well he’d been affected too. But to have him now trying to brush it all aside as if it had never happened made her both sad and livid.
Especially annoying was that just standing this close to Liam had her body humming and her breath shortening into what sounded like gasps even to her. This was humiliating, because apparently Liam was having zero trouble being beside her.
Had he really felt nothing during the storm?
“Come on,” he said, keeping a tight grip on her hand so she couldn’t get away. “There’s some ointment in the tack room.”
“I’m fine,” she argued, trying—and failing—to pull free. “I haven’t finished the last stall, and Mike wants them done before dinner.”
“Yeah, you’re done. One of the boys can finish.” He pulled her along behind him, not giving her any choice but to run to keep up. Once inside the tack room, he closed the door behind them and flipped a light on.
There were shutters closed over the single window, giving the place a cave-like feel. It was a small room in the back of the stable, filled with supplies for the horses, and plenty of leather items being repaired. Halters and saddles, she knew, wore out just like anything else, and back here they were repaired or replaced.
It was as tidy as a church, Chloe thought, everything in its place. There were shelves with creams and soaps, and glass-fronted cabinets that held medications. She knew there were plenty of times a rancher would dose his own animals if he knew what the trouble was. For anything serious, the vet would be called out. The room was small, efficient and it smelled like... Liam. Like the outdoors and horses and leather and—Oh, for pity’s sake.
Getting a grip on her obviously wayward mind, she said sharply, “I don’t need one of ‘the boys’ to do my work for me.”
“That’s not what your hands are telling me,” he muttered.
Liam let go of her, walked to a heavy wooden cabinet on the far wall and opened it. She tucked her hands behind her back like a child. When she realized it, she let her arms drop to her sides. “I’m doing the work and I don’t want help.”
“That’s too bad,” Liam said, glaring at her over his shoulder. “Because you’re going to have help anyway.”
“I don’t take orders well,” she told him stiffly.
“You’ve been taking them from Mike,” he reminded her.
“That’s different. That’s work. I thought I was here to prove myself,” she said. “To learn about ranching and to show you that I can do what has to be done.”
He grabbed a small tin and palmed it. “You are.”
“Well, then let me do it.”
“Damn it, Chloe!” He slammed the cabinet door and it crashed shut. Whipping around to glare at her, he shouted, “I didn’t bring you out here for you to wear yourself out or to scar and blister yourself.”
“For God’s sake, a blister isn’t fatal.”
“Not the point. I don’t want you hurt. That’s not why you’re here,” he muttered darkly.
“Why am I here then, Liam? To prove I can make the camp for girls work?” She stared at him and tipped her head to one side. “Or was it because you thought I’d fail, and that way the camp idea would die and you wouldn’t be the one killing it.”
He snapped a hard look at her. “Where the hell did you come up with that?”
“All on my own,” she said. “Believe it or not, I can think.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t, but you’re thinking wrongly on this.”
“Am I?” she demanded, letting her temper run free after having been bottled up since she got to the ranch and realized how he was going to be treating her. “You’ve hardly spoken to me in the five days I’ve been here. I’m staying in your guest room, and the only time I see you is at the coffeepot at dawn. Heck, I don’t even see you at dinner.”
“What did you think was going to happen?” he muttered, flipping the lid off the tin he held.
“Honestly?” she answered frankly. “Sex. I thought sex would happen. A lot of sex.”
“Damn it, Chloe...” He tore his hat off, set it aside and stabbed his fingers through his hair.
“Well, why wouldn’t I?” Chloe pulled her other glove off and said primly, “We were stranded in the flood and couldn’t stop touching each other. Here, we’re in the same house, but we might as well be on separate ranches. If you’re not interested anymore, just tell me—”
She hadn’t heard him move. Hadn’t seen him practically jump the distance between them, but all of a sudden, there Liam was, yanking her close. He bent his head and took her mouth with a hunger she hadn’t even felt from him the first time they were together.
Chloe wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on, kissing him back with every ounce of need that had been building inside her for days. He kissed her harder, grinding their mouths together while his groin pushed against hers. She felt him, hard, solid, and wanted him more than ever.
When he tore his mouth from hers, she nearly shouted at him t
o come back. But he took a step to the door, flipped the dead-bolt lock, then was back with her a half second later.
“No interruptions.”
“Good idea,” Chloe muttered, mouth dry, heartbeat racing. “So I’m guessing you’re still interested after all.”
His mouth quirked. “You could say so. Damn, Chloe, I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” She cupped his face with her hands. “So get busy already.”
“I really like you...”
“Same,” Chloe muttered. Then she didn’t say one more word when his fingers worked the button fly of her jeans and then pushed them down past her knees. She tried to step out of the damn things, but her boots were in the way and he was touching her, and suddenly she could hardly stand in the wash of sensation pouring through her.
She didn’t have to think or do anything to save herself because Liam was there. He pulled her boots off and slid her jeans free, then lifted her and turned for the wall, slamming her back up against it.
“Nice later,” he ground out, undoing his jeans and freeing himself. “Fast now.”
“Yes,” she agreed, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her gaze locked with his, and she saw the flames in those lake-blue eyes and knew the passion was burning inside her, as well.
He pushed inside her and Chloe gasped at that first, intimate invasion, then gave herself over to the wonder of it. Her mind raced, her pulse jumped into a gallop, her body shook and shuddered with each of his thrusts. What he could do to her should have been illegal, and she was grateful it wasn’t. Her head tipped against the wall, she stared blindly at the ceiling as Liam claimed her fast and hard.
Expectation rose up inside her as her body tightened, clenching around his. It had been days since she’d felt this good. This right. Trembling, holding her breath, she leaped into the fire and tightened her grip on him as she reached that elusive peak. Chloe bent her head and buried her face in his shoulder, muffling the helpless scream that rattled through her throat as her body shattered.
And what felt like an instant later, Liam groaned through gritted teeth and shuddered in her arms, his body rocking, rocking, as he found the same magic that he’d shown her.
Breathless and achingly aware of just how good it felt to be joined to him, Chloe took a long breath and let it out again. When she lifted her head and looked at him, she whispered, “I’m starting to think of this against-the-wall maneuver as ‘our thing.’”
He snorted a laugh and shook his head. “You are the damnedest woman. I swear I don’t understand you at all.”
She tipped her head to one side and met his gaze squarely. “So many people say that, and I don’t know why. I’m completely upfront about what I want. Why’s that hard to understand?”
He lifted her off him, then set her on her own two feet again. While they dressed, he said, “I keep expecting you to be one thing but you’re not. Then I forget and you surprise me again.”
“That’s a lovely thing to say.” She liked surprising him. The way his eyes fired when he looked at her always surprised her with a jolt. It was nice to know she could return the favor.
“Figures you’d like that.”
“See?” She grinned. “You understand me better than you think you do.”
He buttoned his jeans, then walked up to her. “Look, when you got here, I didn’t come to you because I didn’t want you to think I brought you here for sex.”
“Why not?” Shaking her head, she asked, “Did it seem to you that I didn’t like what we did in Houston? Why wouldn’t I want more of it?”
“Surprised again,” he muttered. “Most women would have been pissed that I’d assumed we’d be sharing a bed.”
“I’m not most women, Liam,” she reminded him. “And we already shared a bed—and a floor and a wall—so what’s the problem?”
He pushed both hands through his hair, and Chloe had begun to recognize it as a move he made when he was giving himself a little extra time to figure out just what he wanted to say. She gave him that time as she struggled to pull her boots on, then stamped her feet into them.
“This isn’t going anywhere but a bed, Chloe.”
She looked up at him. He’d taken time to think and that’s what he’d come up with? “I’m sorry?”
“I’m not looking for a wife.”
Chloe shook her head. “I’ll make a note.”
“Now you’re pissed.”
“Getting there,” she admitted, staring at him. One minute, she was sure he was seeing her for who she really was. And the next, it was clear he didn’t. “Liam, I’m not looking for a husband. I’m looking for a campsite. Remember?”
“Not likely to forget that, am I?”
“Well then, stop tacking other things onto what was a simple deal,” she said. “I do this for a few weeks, prove to you I’m willing and able, and you give me the land for the camp.”
“Yeah...”
He dragged that one word out into about fifteen syllables.
“You know, women are allowed to like sex as much as a man does.”
“Oh yeah, believe me I know,” he assured her. “And I’m grateful. I just don’t want any misunderstandings between us.”
“Okay, I give you that,” she said. “And it’s decent of you to be straight and upfront about how you feel.”
He frowned a little.
“That said, I’ve been upfront too.” She trailed her fingertips down the front of his shirt. “I want that camp. That’s what I’m concentrating on right now. So I’m here to work. To learn. And, at the end of every day, we get to have sex and there’s no strings. For either of us.”
“In theory, it sounds perfect,” Liam mused as he caught her hand in his. “Like every single man’s dream.”
“And single woman’s, trust me,” Chloe told him. “Not every woman needs hearts and flowers to enjoy sex. And we’re not all looking for a husband.”
He grinned. “Is that right?”
“It is. I’m not looking for promises of forever, Liam, so why don’t we both just relax and enjoy what we have, okay?”
“I’ll make a note,” he said wryly, throwing her words back at her.
Chloe’s lips twitched. Honestly, the man touched her on so many levels. He listened when she talked. He smiled at the most intimate moments. He touched her, and she alternately exploded or melted. He made her laugh, made her angry, made her feel so much.
There were too many feelings for Liam Morrow rattling around inside her. He was important to her, but if she told him that right now, he’d go pale and walk away. If she was starting to care more for him than she’d planned on, well, that would remain her little secret. As she’d said, she didn’t need hearts and flowers, but she was starting to think she’d actually found them without looking.
Shutting down that train of thought fast, she said, “I’ve got to go finish the stalls.”
“Chloe—”
She held up one hand to cut off his argument. “It’s my job, Liam, and I can do it.”
“Hardheaded woman,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t know why I like it so much. Okay, if you’re going to do it, give me your hand.”
She did, then he picked up the tin of salve he’d tossed onto the desk before their encounter. Carefully, he rubbed a thick, pale ointment onto her palm and the reddening blister. Chloe didn’t know which felt better—his touch or that soothing cream. He put her glove back on, looked her directly in the eye and said, “Go on then. I’ll see you at the house after work.”
She reached up, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his head down to hers. Then she kissed him, hard and fast, and gave him a wide grin. “That’s a date, cowboy.”
Seven
She moved into his room that night, and they’d been together ever since. Liam’s brain swam with images of how the two of
them had spent the last few nights, and his body turned to stone. The woman was going to kill him.
There was still plenty to clean up after that storm. Stock ponds had to be cleared of brush and dirt that had blown in, cattle rounded up from the canyons they’d tried to hide in and three of the cottonwood trees lining the drive had come down in the wind. And that was just the Perry Ranch.
Liam hadn’t had a chance to get to his own place in person yet, but he’d spoken to his foreman, Joe Hardy, every day. They were actually in good shape there. They’d only lost part of a roof on the stable, and a couple of fence lines had gone down when a few dozen cattle made a run for it.
The most disruptive thing caused by the storm was this thing with Chloe. Liam hadn’t expected it to go beyond the storm—and why would he? Being trapped together in an emergency was one thing. But in the real world, they were an unlikely pair to say the least.
It wasn’t the money thing, because hell, thanks to those ideas he and his friends had come up and then patented in college, Liam probably had more money than Chloe’s family now. But he hadn’t been raised with inherited wealth or the sense of entitlement that came along with it.
Chloe, on the other hand, was a damn Texas Princess. She might try to deny it, but she was used to nothing but the best. This ranching dream of hers was just that—a dream—and he was pretty sure that as soon as she got tired of it, she’d turn on a dime and run home to daddy. He’d seen it before, after all.
She caught his eye, leading a horse from the stable to the corral. Chloe had a smile on her face that could light up a city, but would it stay? Hell, Tessa had enjoyed simple things too—until she didn’t. Then she was gone and Liam had been left standing flat-footed, wondering what the hell had just happened. He didn’t intend to go through that again.
Having Chloe here was good and bad as far as he could see. The sex was amazing, but it wasn’t a relationship. God, he hated that word. So maybe he was worried about nothing. With Tessa it had been different. He’d let himself believe that what they had would last for the long haul.
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