Wild Ride Rancher

by Maureen Child

  This time around, he wasn’t kidding himself.

  And still when this inevitably ended, he’d miss the damn woman. So no doubt, in letting this whatever it was continue, he was setting himself up for all kinds of misery somewhere down the line. Yet somehow, that knowledge wasn’t enough to keep him from her.

  The woman made him crazy. Her smiles. Her scent. Her kiss. The way she turned to him in the night, sliding one of her soft, shapely legs across his. Hell, the last few nights had been a damn revelation. Every time he touched her, it only fed the need to touch her again. He couldn’t get enough of her, and that was probably not a good thing.

  Liam’s body was all for this new situation, but his mind kept whispering warnings. Didn’t matter what she seemed to be like, he told himself. It was important to remember who she was at the core of her. She was a society woman, born and raised. Whether she fought against that or not, the truth was, she had blue blood and that wasn’t going to change.

  So he had to remember that this was a physical relationship and nothing more. He couldn’t start telling himself she was different. He had to remember that she was going to use him to get what she needed and then she’d move on.

  So would he.

  “Hey, Liam!”

  Grateful for the distraction, he turned toward the shout and saw Mike standing outside the stable, calling, “Looks like Starlight’s about to foal. Want me to call the vet?”

  One of Sterling Perry’s prize mares. Liam started for the stable to check things out for himself. When he got up to Mike, he said, “We’ll keep an eye on her. If she’s doing well on her own, we won’t worry about the vet.”

  “Right.”

  Getting back to work was the best way to keep his mind off Chloe, Liam told himself. Maybe he owed that horse a shiny apple for dragging him back to the real world.

  * * *

  The flood had been a gift.

  Yes, I felt bad for the people hurt by it, but those rising waters helped me. They still hadn’t found it. Maybe they wouldn’t. But even if they did, by the time anyone discovered the body, any evidence would have been destroyed by the flood itself.

  They would call it murder.

  And maybe it was, but I couldn’t think about it like that. I hadn’t meant to kill him, after all. I was protecting myself. It had to be done. What happened was just self-defense, and wouldn’t anyone else have done the same thing?

  I was so tired. It felt like my heart weighed a hundred pounds, and it was exhausting just carrying it around. I had been so hurt for so long, it felt like I was born in pain.

  None of this was my fault. Someone else started this, I was just finishing it. If things had been different, none of this would have happened.

  I wished I could stop dreaming about it, though.

  This revenge has been a long time coming, and one day soon, people will know my pain. People will feel what I’d felt for years.

  And when they knew the truth, I would finally be free.

  If only I could have slept.

  * * *

  “He’s beautiful.” Chloe leaned her forearms on the top bar of the stall door. Her gaze was locked on the brand-new foal lying in the straw beside his mother.

  The quiet was all encompassing. In the middle of the night, the silence was somehow...comforting. Especially since she and Liam were alone in the dimly lit darkness.

  She’d been in the stable for hours, helping where she could and so emotionally caught up in the mare’s labor, she couldn’t have left if someone had ordered her to. Chloe had watched Liam’s patience and kindness to the big animal. He’d spent most of the day kneeling in the straw beside the horse, stroking her long, sleek neck when she was distressed and whispering words of comfort, encouragement.

  It didn’t matter that the mare couldn’t possibly understand his words; she knew his gentle touch and the soft tone he used with her. And Chloe had been more deeply touched by it all than she’d ever been by anything else. Liam had simply dropped into her heart and carved out a place for himself.

  What that meant she’d worry about later.

  “He is a beauty,” Liam agreed, mimicking her position at the stall door.

  His arm brushed hers, and her stomach dipped and spun. She had to wonder if she would always respond to him like this. She certainly hoped so.

  They hadn’t had to call the vet after all, and Chloe had been so proud of the mare she had wanted to applaud. Instead, she’d cried when the foal was born and took its first wobbly steps on spindly legs.

  “It’s silly, but I don’t want to leave,” she admitted, resting her chin on her crossed arms.

  “Not so silly,” he said. “I know what you mean.”

  She turned her head to look up at him. “You get to see this all the time, don’t you?”

  “I guess so, yeah.” He pushed the brim of his ever-present hat back. “But it never gets old.”

  There was a faint smile on his lips as he watched the new arrival, and Chloe felt as though they were sharing a really special moment. Other men she’d known wouldn’t have been interested in the birth of a foal.

  Liam was different. In so many ways. He touched her heart as completely as he touched her body. He was stubborn and proud and completely devoted to building the dream he’d been planning for years. And she could understand that, since she was doing the same. In spite of what she’d told him only a few days ago, that she wasn’t looking for permanent, Chloe couldn’t help but feel that things were changing.

  She only wished she knew what to do about that.

  Shaking that thought off, she asked abruptly, “Do you have a name for him?”

  He gave her a long look. “Not yet. Sterling doesn’t really get into naming the animals.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe a man could be that disinterested in his own ranch. “So why don’t you do the honors this time?”

  Touched and pleased, Chloe smiled. “Really?” She looked back at the tiny black horse with the small white blaze on his forehead. “Okay, how about Shadow?”

  Liam thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Shadow. That’s good. I like it.”

  Chloe let out a happy sigh and turned her gaze back to the new baby. “Welcome to the world, Shadow,” she whispered.

  The foal dipped his head under his mother’s belly to nurse and Liam chuckled, the sound soft and warm in the darkness. “Looks like he doesn’t much care what we call him.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t,” Chloe said, laying one hand on his forearm. “But I do. This means a lot to me, Liam.” She sighed again. “Now I know that even after my time on this ranch is over, a memory of me will still be here.”

  His eyes darkened like a lake at night. He went perfectly still and then he said, “Yeah. Guess it does mean that.”

  And, she thought, he didn’t look happy about it.

  * * *

  A week later, Liam was still fascinated by her.

  She was walking that new foal around like it was a dog and damned if the little animal wasn’t following after her like a trusting puppy, too. And even with the extra time she’d been spending with the foal, Chloe worked twice as hard as anyone else and never asked for help. He respected the way she carried her own weight, but he was forced to keep reminding himself that a work ethic didn’t mean that she was built for this kind of life.

  He couldn’t get away from the fact that she hadn’t been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she’d been born with the whole damn set of silver. Her blood was as blue as the Texas sky, and sooner or later, that nature was going to show itself. At some point she’d get tired of being hot and tired. She’d want a manicure and a spa day or whatever it was idle rich women did with their days.

  Hell, Tessa had once spent six hours shopping for shoes and hadn’t bought a damn thing. It was a way of seeing and being seen, he’d finally figur
ed out. That’s what Tessa had been interested in. Being at the right place with the right people at the right time.

  And that was Chloe’s world, too, despite whatever she was claiming at the moment. He had to remember. Because he wasn’t going to allow himself to get dragged back into a relationship that was doomed from the jump.

  Just like he and Tessa, Liam and Chloe were from wildly different worlds. He understood his and didn’t have a clue about hers.

  As if to prove his point, a low-slung, bright red convertible sped up the drive, with a tail of dust streaming up behind it. He tore his gaze from Chloe, who was taking the foal back into the stable, and watched as the car careened around a turn and Tim Logan, one of the ranch hands, did a long jump to avoid being run down.

  “Hey, lady! Watch it!” Tim threw a hard look at the woman behind the wheel.

  The car came to a sharp stop outside the barn, sending another cloud of dust flying. “Sorry, sorry!” The driver shouted her apology and regally waved one hand at Tim, who cursed under his breath and walked away.

  Liam shook his head. He didn’t know who she was, but since he’d never seen her here before, he was willing to bet cold hard cash that she had something to do with Chloe.

  She seemed to glide out of the car, a beautiful woman in a short, summer blue dress with a full skirt, swinging her bare legs out first. She wore three-inch blue heels, and her light brown hair was like a cloud lifting around her head in the hot breeze.

  She slammed the car door, lifted one hand to shield her eyes from the sun and looked around until she spotted Liam. Giving him a well-honed smile, she sashayed toward him. Sashay was really the only word that could describe that hip-swaying, deliberately sexual walk. Liam decided that he could like the look of that walk, while at the same time, mentally labeling her as trouble.

  “Hi!” She gave him a wide smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m Ellen Hemsworth and I’m looking for my sister, Chloe.”

  “Of course you are,” he muttered. Actually, Ellen was exactly what he’d expected Chloe to be, back on that day when he went to have a meeting with her.

  “I beg your pardon?” She looked unamused.

  Liam’s eyebrows lifted. He felt them go and couldn’t stop it. This was Chloe’s little sister. Driving a car worth more than most men made in a year and looking like she stepped out of a fashion magazine. If he’d needed reinforcement about Chloe and the life she was born to, here it was.

  “Is there a problem?” Her tone indicated Queen to Servant, and there was no mistaking it.

  “No, ma’am,” he said, pointing. “Chloe’s in the stable. Right over there.”

  “The stable?” Ellen grimaced. “Are there horses in there?”

  “Yes, ma’am, it’s a stable,” Liam said.

  “You’re being rude.”

  “Am I?”

  “Do I look like a ma’am to you?”

  Liam grinned. “No, ma’am.”

  She scowled at him. “Stop ma’aming me!”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She frowned thoughtfully, but he knew she wasn’t thinking about him any longer. Women like her didn’t concentrate on anything other than themselves for very long. No doubt she was deciding she didn’t want to risk being close to animals if she didn’t have to. Then she turned to him again. “Please tell my sister I’m here to see her.”

  He laughed shortly. She was young and pretty and rich, and probably had never heard the word no in her life. He was happy to be the first. “No, ma’am, I won’t. I’ve got work. If you want to see her,” he added with a wave of his hand, “just go on in.”

  Shock etched itself into her features. “Do you know who I am?”

  Oddly, Liam was starting to enjoy this encounter. A couple of the guys were angling closer to listen in, and he couldn’t blame them. God knew, she was good to look at, but that’s where the appeal ended. At the Perry Ranch, there were wealthy guests coming and going all the time. Though not many of them looked like Ellen Hemsworth.

  Still, Liam was used to the dismissive glances she was shooting him. And he wondered if she might change her opinion of him if she knew he now had more money than her father. But even if he doubled his current net worth, damned if he’d ever be like the kind of people who’d raised Chloe and her sister.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, deliberately sounding slow and stupid. “I do know who you are, since you just told me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.” He turned to go, then spotted Chloe stepping into the sunshine from the hidden shadows of the stable. And he saw her expression when she spotted her sister. She didn’t look happy.

  “Well,” he said, deciding to stay right where he was, “there she is now.”

  “Thank God,” Ellen murmured and then shouted, “Chloe! Over here!”

  She walked on those ridiculous shoes and wobbled some since the dirt was still a bit sodden from the storm. Liam shook his head and hoped she didn’t land on her ass. Not that he cared, but he really didn’t want to listen to the screeching complaints.

  Chloe hurried over, and instinctively went to hug the woman. Ellen, though, skipped neatly out of reach.

  “Chloe, you’re filthy!” Ellen’s eyes were wide, and her mouth twisted into a grimace.

  “I’ve been working,” Chloe said, dusting her hands on the tight, faded jeans she wore nearly every day.

  “Doing what for heaven’s sake? Rolling in dirt?” Ellen looked her up and down, and Liam almost felt called to defend Chloe.

  Hell, she looked beautiful to him. Her skin had a honey-toned glow from her days working in the sun, and even her hair had a couple sun streaks. She wore a short-sleeved, bright blue shirt, those jeans that hugged her legs like an eager lover, and boots that looked a lot more dirty and scarred than they had when she’d arrived more than a week ago.

  “Doesn’t matter.” Chloe sighed, glanced at Liam almost apologetically, then asked her sister, “What are you doing here, Ellen?”

  “Oh, I wanted to tell you two things,” the woman said, happily bouncing on her toes again. “I’m saving the most important one for last, though. So, Daddy says to tell you your office is all finished.”

  “Already?” Chloe looked surprised and hell, so was Liam. With so much damage to correct after the storm and the flood, it was amazing that her office had been repaired so quickly.

  Ellen sliced one hand in the air, dismissing her sister’s surprise. “Daddy offered the crew a big bonus to finish the work fast, and you know how people are. Wave some money at them and they jump for it! Thank goodness, right?”

  Liam’s eyebrows went up again, and this time they stayed there. One of the cowboys behind him snorted a laugh. He saw Chloe wince a little and knew that though her sister might be clueless, Chloe wasn’t. Daddy’s checkbook to the rescue. Hell, it was such a cliché it was funny. Damned if Ellen Hemsworth wasn’t the walking, talking, poster girl for Texas Princesses.

  Even more than that though, for Liam, she was an echoing memory of Tessa. The woman he’d made a damn fool of himself over. It was as if the Universe had reached out to slap him with this living reminder of how badly things had gone the last time he’d tried being with a woman like this one. And standing there listening to Ellen, Liam felt a pang of shame again for letting himself get sucked into Tessa’s orbit.

  “Okay, thanks for letting me know,” Chloe was saying and as she tried to take Ellen’s arm to steer her farther away from Liam.

  “But I’m not finished. I have more news.” She deftly avoided Chloe’s hand. “You’re dirty. Remember?”

  “Fine.” Chloe took a deep breath, and sent Liam a look that clearly said, go away.

  He didn’t.

  Chloe shook her head, pushed her hair back from her forehead, leaving behind a streak of dirt, and said, “What else did you want to tell me?”

  El
len, too, shot Liam a quick look as if silently ordering him to walk away. He folded his arms across his chest, braced his feet wide apart and let her know he wasn’t going anywhere. She frowned, then ignored him again.

  “This!” She waved her left hand toward her sister, and displayed a diamond the size of Galveston. “I’m engaged! Isn’t my ring gorgeous? I swear, he just about knocked me over with this diamond. All my friends are so jealous—Well, Tina would never admit to it, but I saw her eyes go all wide when she saw my ring and I know it’s just killing her...”

  Liam shook his head. The stream of words and the high-pitched tone they were delivered in were like the scratch of nails on a blackboard. Idly, he thought Ellen might be worse than Tessa, though once upon a time he would have said that would be impossible.

  “I want you to help me find the perfect dress,” Ellen ordered, completely ignoring her sister’s shocked expression. “You’re good at sketching, and I’m actually thinking about designing it myself to be sure it’s one of a kind because I don’t want anyone else to have a dress like mine, because then it wouldn’t even be special. I’m thinking strapless with maybe some lace, and there has to be sequins so the light will catch on me while I walk down the aisle—”

  “To who?” Chloe asked.

  “What?” Ellen stared at her ring and sighed.

  “Who gave you the ring?” Chloe said each word clearly and slowly.

  “Oh.” Ellen laughed. “Well, Brad, of course. Brad Tracy. You know I’ve just been crazy for him for six whole months and he’s so perfect. Tall and handsome and he looks so good in a tux and you know how important that is. He’s working for his father in Dallas, so we’ll move there after the wedding and his father’s going to build us a house in the perfect neighborhood and I get to pick everything out because Brad doesn’t care, so...”