This rancher is set in his ways. Until temptation changes everything...

Wealthy rancher Liam Morrow steers clear of Texas princesses. But when a storm strands him in Houston with Chloe Hemsworth, there’s no escape—from her business demands or the heat between them. So he reluctantly agrees to give her a chance to prove herself. And now Chloe’s on his ranch and in his bed. A lot can happen in two weeks...

MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon Desire line and can’t imagine a better job. A seven-time finalist for a prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is the author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on best-seller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill Award. She is a native Californian but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah.

Also by Maureen Child

The Baby Inheritance

Maid Under the Mistletoe

The Tycoon’s Secret Child

A Texas-Sized Secret

Little Secrets: His Unexpected Heir

Rich Rancher’s Redemption

Billionaire’s Bargain

Tempt Me in Vegas

Bombshell for the Boss

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Wild Ride Rancher

Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09222-7

WILD RIDE RANCHER

© 2019 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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To Kelly and Julie and Anna and Jan and Verna…

all good neighbors who pretend to be happy

when I bring them bags of fruit every summer!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

About the Publisher

One

Liam Morrow had better things to do than sit in on a meeting with some spoiled rich girl just because she’d found a new cause. But there was no way out and he knew it.

Irritation roared into life inside him, and Liam did his best to tamp it down. It did no good to get riled up at something he couldn’t change. No matter what, Liam believed in doing his duty. He’d been raised to believe that a man’s word meant everything. And he’d given his word to Sterling Perry a long time ago.

“This is what happens when you owe somebody,” he muttered.

At least that old debt was nearly paid. In a month Liam would be free and clear and running his own place rather than being foreman on one of the biggest ranches in Texas.

“What was that?”

Liam looked at the man walking alongside him. Mike Hagen was new to Texas—hell, new to the Perry Ranch. But he was catching on quick, and that was a good thing, since he was set to become the new foreman here when Liam left at the end of the month.

Mike was no-nonsense and all about the job. He had ranching in his blood, just like Liam, which was probably why the two of them had hit it off right from the start. The only real difference between them was that Mike was a family man, with a wife and a baby on the way, and Liam was alone. By choice.

“It’s nothing,” Liam said. “Just grumbling to myself.” He glanced up at the cloud-studded sky. “It’s that meeting in the city I told you about.”

“Ahh.” Mike nodded sagely.

“Yeah, I hate getting pulled away from the ranch. Especially when we’re busy. Hell, I’ve been trying to get out of this particular meeting for a couple of weeks.”

Mike snorted a laugh. “Of course you hate going to the city. Why else would we be working with horses and cattle rather than people?”

“Good point.” It was going to make it easier for him to leave the Perry Ranch knowing he was leaving the responsibility for it into good hands. Mike would take care of the land, the animals and the men who kept it all going. Sterling Perry, the owner, liked being called a rancher, but he did it from behind a desk, trusting his employees to do the actual work.

Not so different from a lot of the big ranchers in Texas, Liam told himself. In fact, the bigger the spread the less likely it was for the owner to be involved. Whether they had loved ranching when they first got into it or not, most of the owners were seduced away from the day-to-day workings by their own success, drawn into board meetings and investments and God knew what else. But that wasn’t how Liam was going to run his own place.

He’d waited too long for a ranch of his own. And just a year ago, he’d finally achieved that dream. It was almost time to start living it.

Now, Liam took a deep breath and scanned the familiar yard, the outbuildings, the barns and stables. It would be hard leaving. Even strange at first. The fact was, he was proud of this ranch and all he’d done here. But it was time to move on and claim his own dreams—so he was grateful that he liked and trusted Mike Hagen. It would make it easier to walk away.

While they walked across the yard, he saw Mike lean down to pick up a hamburger wrapper tumbling along the ground, driven by the sparking wind. Mike crumpled it in one fist and looked around as if he could identify the cowboy who’d let his trash get away from him. Liam nodded to himself in approval. If the man cared about the little stuff, he’d be on top of the big stuff, as well.

“You never did say—what made you decide to leave Montana for Texas?” Liam asked.

Mike shrugged and stuffed the wadded-up paper into his jeans pocket to throw away later. “My wife’s family is here and she was pining for them. With her pregnant and all, she wanted to be closer to her mother. So, being offered the job on a ranch like this one made the move easy.”

“It is a fine place,” Liam agreed, letting his gaze once again sweep the yard, the stables and the big main house that made up the Perry Ranch.

It was a damn showplace, but in his mind, Liam saw his own ranch. For the last year, he’d been doing two jobs—his responsibilities here and then putting his heart and soul into the future he was creating for himself. He had the land, he’d hired men and a foreman. He’d started stocking the ranch with cattle and the horses that would be the bedrock of his place.

All Liam had to do was hold on for one more month—even if that meant taking meetings with spoiled rich girls like Chloe Hemsworth. Sterling Perry had insisted Liam meet with the woman, and just remembering that conversation from a week ago could still put Liam’s back up. He replayed it in his head.

“I need you to talk to this woman,” Sterling had told him that day, tapping his fingertips against his desktop. “She’s been calling here nearly every damn day, and I’m tired of getting her messages. I finally told her that I was leaving the decision up to you.”

Not a surprise, Liam had thought then. He’d been tossed under the bus before by a boss who only wanted the money the ranch brought him, not the satisfaction of running it.

Striving for patience, Liam had kept a tight grip on the brim of his hat and said, “I’m your foreman, Sterling. I handle the ranch, not meetings with socialites.”

Sterling’s eyes had narrowed on him. “As my foreman, you handle what I say you handle. And until next month, you still work for me.”

Exasperated, Liam had huffed out a breath and slapped his cowboy hat against his right thigh. Frustration had swept through him, but he’d fought it down. One more month and he’d be his own damn man and call his own shots. “Fine. How do you want it handled?”

Instantly, Sterling had relaxed and an affable expression settled on his features. It was deceptive, of course. Sterling Perry was many things but affable wasn’t one of them. He was stubborn and ruthless in business, but he had a way of keeping his opponents off guard until it was too late for them to get the best of him. Sterling had amassed a fortune through diversification. To him, this ranch was nothing more than a place to live and lord it all over everyone else. Sterling was, as they said in Texas, all hat no cattle.

“Take the meeting, hear her out,” Sterling had said. “If her idea doesn’t seem workable, tell her no. Seems crazy to me, but I wouldn’t be running it. Mike Hagen would be in charge once you’re gone.”

“Well, hell,” Liam had argued. “Have Mike meet with her.”

“He hasn’t been here long enough to know what would work and what wouldn’t,” Sterling had pointed out and narrowed his gaze on him. “And you know it.” He’d picked up a pen and a sheaf of papers, effectively dismissing Liam. Then he’d glanced up again. “I’ve told her the final call is yours. You’re the one who knows the ranch best.”

A real rancher would have been embarrassed to admit that he didn’t know his own ranch as well as his foreman. Not Perry.

One more month, Liam had told himself that day. After that, whatever happened at the Perry Ranch wouldn’t matter to him. But even as he’d thought it, he’d known that wasn’t entirely true.

His own father had once been foreman here, and Liam had practically grown up on this ranch. It would always mean something to him even though it would no longer be his main focus. So he still would look out for the ranch’s long-term interests. Even while planning for his own.

“Fine. I’ll meet her in Houston,” Liam had said as he’d watched his boss. “I’ll give her a half hour. No more.”

Sterling had shrugged. “Works for me.” Then he’d busied himself with paperwork, and Liam took the not so subtle hint.

He’d stalked out of the big man’s office and closed the door behind him. Meeting Chloe Hemsworth wasn’t high on his list of things to do since here at the ranch they had two mares ready to foal and the vet coming to start inoculations on the cattle, not to mention the fact that Liam was busy training his own replacement. “How the hell am I supposed to work in a meeting with some society woman with too much time on her hands?”

“She’s not like that.”

Liam had stopped and turned toward the grand staircase that curved in an elegant sweep up to the second floor of the mansion. Esme Sterling had stood at the bottom of those stairs, and she smiled as she walked toward him.

Esme was tall, with long, straight blond hair, blue eyes that never missed much and an easy smile. In Liam’s experience, she was the one exception to the rule that rich, high-society females were useless. And she was a friend.

“Didn’t see you there,” Liam had said, grateful he hadn’t been complaining about her father out loud.

“Yes, I know.” She’d shrugged, tucked her hands into the pockets of her pale gray slacks and said, “I found out a long time ago that you can learn all kinds of interesting things if people don’t realize you’re around.”

Liam had grinned. “Sneaky, are you?”

“I prefer covert,” Esme had said, still smiling. “Look, Liam, I know my father can be...challenging.”

He snorted. As a PR executive at Perry Holdings, Esme spent most of her time explaining her father’s actions and guarding the family company. But of all the Perry kids, Esme had always been a friend.

“But he’s right in this. I know you don’t want to talk to Chloe, but she’s not what you think she is.”

Not convinced, he’d snorted again. “You mean she’s not the daughter of a rich man with more money than sense?”

“I didn’t say that,” Esme had allowed. “But Chloe’s more than that. She’s working hard to make a life for herself, and I would think you more than anyone could understand that.”

He could and that bothered him. Still, in his experience, wealthy women were mostly concerned with their hair and being seen at all the right parties.

“She’s really nice and very driven,” Esme had said, then paused. “Like you.”

“Driven?” Liam had been unconvinced. He and Esme had been friends for a long time, so he didn’t take offense at the word. But he also didn’t believe it applied to him.

“Oh, please.” She’d waved one hand as if wiping away his disbelief. “You’ve always known exactly what you want, and you’ve devoted yourself to getting it.”

All right, he’d silently conceded, maybe driven was the right word to describe him. Liam had planned out his life a long time ago, and finally that plan was becoming a reality. “Okay, I’ll give you that. But how are Chloe and I in any way alike?”

“Because she’s plotting her own course, too. She’s a friend, Liam, and all she’s asking is to be heard.”

“About a camp for little girls. On the ranch.”

One eyebrow had lifted. “So only little boys are allowed to dream of being a cowboy?”

Neatly boxed in, he’d bowed his head. “You got me. I’ll hear her out.”

“And give her a fair chance,” Esme had said.

“And give her a fair chance.”

“Thanks, that’s all I’m asking.” Esme had walked closer. She’d reached up, kissed his cheek and patted his shoulder at the same time. “Now, don’t pout because you gave in. It’s so unattractive.”

He’d laughed and left the house, shaking his head at the Perry family. Sterling got his way through intimidation. Esme did the same thing with a smile and reason. He preferred Esme’s way.

“Hey, man!” Mike elbowed him and instantly Liam came up out of his thoughts like a drowning man breaching the water’s surface. Memories of those conversations with Sterling and Esme washed away, and he faced the foreman-to-be.

“What?”

Mike laughed shortly. “You were somewhere else.”

“Yeah, too much on my mind,” he admitted, and couldn’t wait for the day when all he had to think about was his own ranch, his own life, his own damn future.

Until then, Liam would meet the Hemsworth woman, hear her out and then get back to the real world of ranching.

Liam and Mike walked across the ranch yard toward the corral where one of the men was putting a steel-gray stallion through its paces. The horse was stubborn as hell, didn’t like a bridle and pretty much thought running in circles in a corral was a waste of time. Liam couldn’t blame him. It was exactly how he felt about the last several years.

Mike, already comfortable in his new role as “almost foreman,” climbed the corral fence to lend the cowboy a hand. Liam watched the show, but his mind wasn’t on the horse or the men in front of him. Instead, he thought about his own place, and how damned eager he was to be there.

Liam threw a long glance over his shoulder at the big house that Sterling had inherited from his late wife. Sterling Perry might not be much of a rancher himself, but the man had always loved this place and he knew how to put on a show. The house was big enough for four families to live in. It gleamed such a bright white when the sun hit it, a man could be blinded. Not to mention the hot Texas sun glancing off the million or so windows on the place. It was showy and fancy and suited Sterling down to the ground.

On Liam’s own place though, the house he’d had built was a two-story log house with wide porches that wrapped around both the upper and lower floors. It was big enough for the family he might decide one day to have, but not so damn big a kid could get lost in it.

A flicker of shame slapped him as he told himself he shouldn’t be thinking badly of Sterling Perry. The man had his problems, but he’d given Liam a chance when he’d needed it. For that, he’d always owe the older man.

A distant rumble caught his ear, and Liam turned his head to the southwest. Thunderheads were gathering on the horizon, big and black and threatening. As if proving itself to him, the coming storm sent a gust of wind to slap at him. The scent of rain was on that wind, and everything inside him told Liam they were in for a hell of a storm. No surprise, he thought, the weathermen hadn’t forecasted it at all.

Shaking his head, he called out, “Hey, Mike!”

His replacement turned toward him. “Yeah?”

“I’m heading into Houston for that meeting. Going to try to beat that storm back home. If I don’t, you make sure the yearlings are locked down, you hear?”

He waved. “Don’t worry about it, Liam. I’ve got it.”

Nodding, Liam briefly lifted one hand and then headed for his black truck. Mike had already proved to him that he knew what he was doing, and that he’d be a good foreman once Liam’s time here was done. And if Mike needed help in the short time Liam would be gone, then the other cowboys could step in.

Soon, he told himself, this ranch wouldn’t be his problem. Soon, he’d be working at his own spread instead of simply checking in with his own foreman every couple days. He steered the truck down the oh so familiar drive and wondered how many thousands of times he’d driven this route over the years. Then he figured it didn’t matter. He hit the Bluetooth speed dial, listened to the ring and when the foreman at his own ranch answered, Liam started talking. “Joe, you get everything tied down over there? Looks like a beast of a storm headed in.”

“Just saw that, boss.”

Liam smiled to himself. If there was one thing you could count on with a man who worked the land, it was that he always kept a sharp eye on the skies. Hell, weather was the one thing a rancher—or a farmer—couldn’t control. So when there was a potential enemy always ready to rain down misery on you, well, that kept a man permanently on his guard.

“The boys are bringing in the mares now,” Joe said. “Looks like we’ve got some time yet. Heck, storm might pass us altogether. But if it doesn’t, we’ll have everything set before it hits. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not,” Liam lied. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his foreman or the other men working for him, it was only that he’d feel a hell of a lot better if he was there, taking care of things himself.

He’d worked most of his life toward getting a ranch of his own where he would call the shots. He’d made sharp investments years ago, patented a couple of ideas he and his friends had come up with while he was at MIT and now had enough money to do what his heart had always demanded.

Funny how that had worked out. Liam’s father had been the Perry ranch foreman for years, and when he died, Sterling had offered to put Liam through college with the understanding that once he graduated, Liam would come back to the ranch and work off the debt as foreman. With no other options, since his father had left more debts than money, Liam had gratefully accepted the deal.

And it was that college education and what it had enabled him to do that was allowing Liam to finally strike out on his own. He’d come out of MIT with a degree in genetics, and enough money to do what he wanted. Now he was set to undertake the breeding program he’d always dreamed of. By the time he was finished, people would be clamoring to buy mares from his herd.

There were four prize mares in foal on his ranch right now, the beginnings of that remuda he’d been working toward, and he sure as hell didn’t want some storm coming in and wiping it all away before he had a shot to enjoy it. “I’ll come by once the storm blows over,” he told Joe.

He hung up and noticed the wild oaks lining the Perry Ranch drive were beginning to do a dip and sway in the rising wind. Scowling some, he cursed Chloe Hemsworth for dragging him away from what was important for a meeting about some camp.

Liam had never met Chloe, but he knew her type of woman. Money. Pedigree. Always moving from some charity dinner to a luncheon at the “right” place with the “right” people. She’d run with high society until she’d up and decided to open a business in Houston. According to Sterling, Chloe was running her own event planning business out of the city now.

“Figures,” he muttered, steering his truck onto the road that would take him into the city. “The woman’s been doing nothing but partying most of her life. Who better to throw the damn things?”

He didn’t know much about her. Only that she’d been calling the Perry Ranch almost daily for weeks to pitch her idea for a cowgirl camp.

Liam had no problem with women as working ranch hands. Hell, he had a couple women working for him at the Perry place. What he didn’t like was the idea of a bunch of young kids running around a ranch where they would disrupt the workdays and, worse yet, get hurt. But Sterling had ordered him to take the meeting with Chloe and hear her out. If Liam approved her ideas, Sterling would go along with it.

“Just another good reason to stop being anybody’s foreman,” he muttered.

His tires whined along the asphalt, and in his rearview mirror, those clouds looked darker and bigger. “This is going to be the shortest damn meeting on record.”

By the time he hit Houston, Liam was on edge. The hairs at the back of his neck were standing up as the air felt electrified by the coming storm. Or maybe, he told himself, it was just this meeting that was riding him.

He didn’t much care for rich, useless women trying to carve out a name for themselves. This Chloe had probably never worked a real job in her life, and was no doubt setting up shop in some fancy office where she could pretend to be the boss while she ordered a bunch of minions around. Hell, Sterling should have taken the meeting himself.

He steered around slower traffic, mumbling to himself. “Just get in, hear her out, say no and get back to the ranch. That’s all you have to do.”

And it was more than enough. Liam was no stranger to rich women. Hell, before he’d had money of his own, he’d come across quite a few. In Texas, you couldn’t take a step without stumbling across an oil or cattle princess. He’d even hooked up with one for a while when he was in college. Liam had believed she was different. Had thought there was a future for them somewhere down the line. Until he’d had the rug pulled out from under him. After that knock on the head and heart, Liam had learned his lesson. Wealthy, self-involved females were like Christmas ornaments. Shiny, but empty inside.

He drove into the downtown, cursing every roll of the wheel. Cities were all right for some people, but give him the empty roads of the country any day.

“Too many damn people,” he muttered, and spotted the building that would be the new Houston home of the Texas Cattleman’s Club.

They were spreading out from the original site in Royal, and there was already a driving fight for leadership of the new club. As a wealthy ranch owner himself, he’d be joining as soon as the club was up and running, but Liam wasn’t interested in being in charge of the thing. Let the old lions of Texas fight over the club like it was fresh meat.

“Nice place, though.” Even if it was in the city. He’d been to the TCC in Royal, and it was a low-slung building filled with history.

This new TCC was once a three-story boutique hotel now being rehabbed by Perry Construction. Liam had a key to the place, since as Sterling Perry’s foreman he often had to come into the city with instructions for the construction crew.

When it was finished, it’d be impressive. The third floor was bedrooms for the club president and the chairman of the board. The second floor was going to be conference rooms and offices for the TCC officers. There was still a lot of work to do on the place, but Liam knew that at least one of the suites on the top floor was finished, because Sterling had insisted on having a place for either him or other board members to stay if they had to. Sterling’s insistence on his and his friends’ comfort was no surprise.

Still, he turned his head from the club to the old, brick office building across the street. Liam checked the GPS just to make sure, but yeah. That was Chloe Hemsworth’s address. Surprised, Liam studied the building. It had a lot of years on it, but looked sturdy enough. It wasn’t what he’d pictured. He’d imagined a rich girl would want some plush, sleek, penthouse office in a modern building.

But wherever the hell she was, he had to take this meeting. Frowning, he climbed out of his truck, and tugged his hat brim down low over his eyes. The wind was still kicking, and the sudden gusts were enough to snatch a man’s hat and send it to Albuquerque. Stepping around the people hurrying along the sidewalk, Liam headed for the office where the words It’s a Party were scrawled across a wide front window in bright pink paint. Shaking his head, he opened the glass door, stepped inside and stopped dead.

This he hadn’t been prepared for.

A woman—Chloe?—was bent over, picking something up off the floor. His gaze locked on that luscious curve of behind, showcased in a short, black skirt. She glanced at him over her shoulder, sent him a bright smile and said, “Hi! Can I help you?”

Slowly, she straightened up and the view only got better. She wore a dark blue, off the shoulder blouse, and her long, light brown hair lay in loose waves that kissed those bare shoulders. She wore sky-high black heels, and her gorgeous legs were tanned. Her amber eyes were wide, her mouth still curved in a welcoming smile, and all Liam could feel was the heat swamping his body.

He’d seen pictures of her of course. Like every other wealthy woman, Chloe’s face was in the society sections of the Houston newspapers, and splashed all across the news website he checked every day. But she was even more gorgeous in person. Every inch of him felt tight and hot, and when she talked, he realized he hadn’t heard a word.

“Sorry. What?”

She stared at him, and Liam saw a flicker of the heat that still had his body at a slow burn.

“I’m Chloe Hemsworth,” she said just a little breathlessly.

That voice conjured up all sorts of interesting images in his mind, and his body responded to them instantly. She was exactly the kind of woman he avoided—and he wanted her. Bad.

Liam knew he was in deep trouble.

Two

“What happened?”

I couldn’t believe it had gone so wrong so quickly. Pacing this stupid room wasn’t helping, but I felt like a caged lion or something. Nothing I could do to change anything and besides, if you thought about it, it really wasn’t my fault at all.

The Texas Cattleman’s Club was visible from here and I couldn’t keep staring at it. The rain started and I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. He was all alone in there. Did he still care? Should I have cared? No. I should have left. But I didn’t.

This all started years ago, and what happened today was just a part of it all. So really, they set it all in motion way back when. Today was just another link in a long, ugly chain.

I did what I had to. Now, I wanted my stomach to stop spinning and my brain to stop racing. Nothing could change it, and I’m not sure I would change it even if I could. I came this far, there was no going back, and really...didn’t they have it coming after all I’d suffered?

Was it fair that only I was affected by those decisions made so long ago? Was it fair that I’d been forgotten and my pain buried? None of this was my fault.

None of it.

* * *

The cowboy was tall and broad shouldered, and had sun-streaked brown hair that lay just over his collar. His blue eyes were as clear as a Texas lake, and filled with the same mystery of what lay beneath the surface. He was staring at her with a steady fascination that kindled awareness and something more inside her.

He wore the Texas cowboy uniform of faded jeans, scuffed brown boots and a long-sleeved white shirt, rolled back to the elbows, displaying deeply tanned, strong forearms. He had a tight grip on his dust-colored Stetson, and just standing there, he seemed to take up all the room in her small office.

Breathing was harder than it should have been, and Chloe made a deliberate effort to drag air into her lungs. Instant attraction roared to life inside her, but Chloe dialed it down. He was probably there to arrange a party for his girlfriend. Or wife. Still, there was something about him that was almost overwhelming. She had been born and raised in Texas, so she was no stranger to the “western man.” But this one had such a compelling aura it was hard to be unaffected.

Silently, sternly, she told herself to dial it down.

“You’re Chloe, right?” His gaze swept her up and down before settling on her eyes. “I’m Liam Morrow. Sterling Perry sent me.”

Stunned, Chloe stared at him for only a moment longer. She’d been expecting some gruff, older guy, with a comfortable belly. She’d never considered that the foreman of a ranch the size of the Perry place could be so young and...hot.

“Oh, well, hi. Thanks for coming,” she said, recognizing that she was starting to burble. She took a breath. Okay, he wasn’t there to book a party, but that didn’t mean he was single. “You want some coffee? Water? That’s about it on the refreshment front, I’m afraid. But there’s a diner just down the street. We could go there and—”

He held up one hand and, as if she’d been trained, she closed her mouth and stopped talking. Well, that was irritating.

“I’m not here for snacks,” he said. “Sterling wants me to hear you out. So if you want to tell me your ideas, show me your plans, we can get through this meeting and I can get back to the ranch.”

Okay, hot didn’t excuse rude. “Wow,” she said. “Thank you for your complete attention.”

His beautiful blue eyes rolled. “Fine. Sorry. I’m here to listen, and that’s what I’m going to do. When we’re finished, I’ll let Sterling know if I think it’ll work on the ranch or not.”

“Okay.” Chloe could tell from his body language and his expression that he’d already made up his mind to say no. So it would be up to her to convince him. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Chloe had had to fight for what she wanted.

She walked to her desk, one she’d taken from her old room at her parents’ house, and picked up a file folder. “Sterling actually told me that the decision would be yours because you know the ranch so well. I’m just hoping you’ll actually give me a chance and not dismiss the idea out of hand.”

He sighed, set his hat, crown down, on a tabletop, then folded his arms across his chest. He stood, feet braced apart as if ready for a fight and the move was so inherently sexy, she felt a fire kindle deep inside. Why she was reacting like this, Chloe had no idea. Maybe she just hadn’t been dating enough. Maybe this out of the blue wild attraction signaled that she should be getting out more and spending less time on her business.

But her burgeoning company was really all she was interested in these days. Chloe had worked really hard for a long time to break away from her parents’ expectations and plans for her life. She’d had other dreams that had dissolved under their scrutiny, but she was fighting for this one.

“I gave my word to hear you out. That’s why I’m here.”

The expression on his face told Chloe that he meant what he said, and that was good enough for her. He looked resigned, but she’d take it. If he was fair, then he would realize what a good idea she was proposing. And with his support, Sterling Perry would agree to give her the land she needed on his ranch to make this particular dream come true.

“That’s great.” She waved him to a chair, and he looked at it skeptically. It was a delicate, cane-backed chair with a small seat and narrow, hand-turned legs.

“Maybe I’ll stand,” he mused.

“The chairs are stronger than they look,” she assured him. Then, as if to prove it, she said, “When I was a kid, my friends and I used to stand on them to get out onto the roof so we could climb down the oak outside the house.”

Both eyebrows went up. Admiration? Disbelief? Who could tell?

“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head, “what were you, twelve? It’s not going to hold me, so I’ll stand.”

She shrugged, because really, what else could she do? Once her business started bringing in steady cash, she’d buy more furniture. Right now, that wasn’t high on her list of priorities. “Your choice. Now, what I wanted to talk to you about was—”

“A little girls’ camp set up on the Perry Ranch.”

Chloe stopped, tipped her head to one side and studied him briefly. “So Sterling told you about it.”

“Enough to know it’s a bad idea,” he said.

Chloe took a deep breath and bit back her first, instinctive response. She’d hoped that he would come into this with an open mind, but that hope was now crushed. Arguing with the man wouldn’t get her what she wanted. What she had to do was show him her plans and convince him that he was wrong. So she smiled, though it cost her.

“Not exactly prepared to give me a fair hearing, are you?”

He frowned. “I’m here. I’m listening. Convince me.”

His features were closed, his eyes shuttered, but he had a point. He was there, and she had this chance to show him what she could do. Chloe was used to having to fight for what she wanted, so today was no different. If she could stand up to her father and go against all of his many plans for her life, then she could certainly handle this.

“Okay, why don’t I show you my ideas, and then we can talk about it.”

He gave her a brief, almost regal, nod. “That’s why I’m here.”

But would he really listen? She’d have to take her chances and be damned convincing.

“Okay, that’s great.” She feigned bright confidence, then motioned for him to come around her desk. Once there, she opened up the file on her computer.

She got a quick thrill when she saw the title, the name of her soon-to-be-camp, Girls Can Do Anything. The man behind her snorted.

Chloe sent him a quick, hard look. Gorgeous or not, she didn’t like the attitude. “Do you disagree with my website design or the theme?”

If anything, his frown deepened. “I just think it’s crazy to have to tell a kid they can do anything.”

“Really? Even today, girls aren’t given the kind of opportunity that boys are.”

He snorted. “Please.”

Irritated, she snapped, “Are girls told they can be ranch hands? Raise and breed horses? Herd cattle?”

With a patient sigh, he asked, “Well...they’re not told they can’t, are they?”

“Some are,” she countered, remembering how her father had shattered her own dream of working a ranch, breeding horses. “And can I just say, you’re not exactly displaying to me how objective you’re going to be.”

He shrugged, but she could see she’d hit her target.

“Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry, but okay.

“Thank you.”

“Okay, show me what you’ve got.”

Chloe took a deep breath and probably shouldn’t have because he smelled really good. Not to mention that standing this close to him was making her body hum and her blood burn. Plus he was so tall. And broad shouldered. And—Keep your mind on business, she warned herself silently. But it wasn’t her mind that was veering out of orbit.

It was her body responding to the man, and there was no way to stop it. Chloe had never experienced anything like this. Attraction? Sure. Lust? Of course. But this bone-deep burning was something new, and she was finding it hard to breathe without shattering—or worse yet, climaxing—just thinking about him touching her. Oh, boy.

“Problem?” he asked, and his voice sounded like a whisper in the darkness.

She swallowed hard. Seriously, Chloe? “Nope. No problem.” She looked up at him and wondered if he’d moved even closer to her. How was she supposed to concentrate?

“Are you doing that on purpose?”

A knowing gleam shone briefly in his eyes. “Doing what?”

“Looming.”

“I don’t loom. I stand.”

“Really closely.”

“Worried?”

“No.”

“Then no problem, right?”

“Right.” All she had to do was get a grip on whatever was happening to her body. Nodding, Chloe turned back to the computer. “As you can see, I made up this website—it’s not live yet, but I wanted to be able to show you exactly what I have in mind and—”

“You did the website?”

She looked at him and clearly saw the surprise in his eyes. “Yes, why?”

Frowning, he shook his head. “Nothing.”

She knew exactly what he was thinking. How could Chloe Hemsworth have done something so complicated? Something that required talent, skills. This was not new. She was used to being dismissed. Her whole life had been spent convincing people that she was more than they thought her to be. Apparently, as gorgeous as he was, Liam Morrow was no different from anyone else she’d ever known.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Chloe said. “I’m used to being underestimated.”

“What?”

“You know how people are,” she said, looking him directly in the eye. “They take one look at me and think, useless daughter of a rich man. They never actually stop to think that maybe when I went to college I learned things. That I earned my degree in business.”

Something flickered in his eyes, and she was pretty sure it was respect. Well, good. Chloe had dreams and aspirations well beyond the next charity luncheon. But why should anyone else believe in her when her own father didn’t? And why did she care what Liam Morrow thought of her anyway? A question she couldn’t answer.

“I’ve come across the same kind of thing,” he said, and his voice was a low rumble that rattled along her nerve endings.

“Really?” Chloe smiled and shook her head. “People think you’re just pretty and empty-headed?”

He grinned briefly, and that quick twist of his mouth sent a flash of heat zipping through her. Oh, probably not good. But in her own defense, she didn’t think any woman would be immune to this man.

“No,” he said with a laugh. “But most people take one look at me and see a simple cowboy.”

She thought about that for a second as she stared up into his cool, blue eyes. “Nothing about you is simple, is it?”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “I wouldn’t say so.”

“Well, same here,” Chloe told him, squaring her shoulders. “People don’t underestimate me for long.”

He gave her a slow, up and down look of approval and finally nodded. “I bet they don’t.”

Why that acknowledgment touched her, Chloe couldn’t have said. She’d known him about ten seconds, right? Why should she care what he thought of her? What he saw when he looked at her? Why did she feel like her entire body was on a slow simmer?

Oh, she didn’t want to think about any of that at the moment.

“Okay,” she said briskly, once again turning back to the computer screen. “Back to my point. The idea is to introduce young girls—I’m thinking maybe eight to sixteen years old—to ranch life.”

He frowned. “Eight’s really young.”

“Not too young to dream,” she countered quickly. She had been eight when she’d first planned a future working on a ranch. “Every little girl I’ve ever known has dreamed of owning a horse. There’s a connection there that should be nurtured.”

“A ranch can be a dangerous place,” he warned, and the frown etched into the space between his eyebrows deepened.

“I know that, I do,” she insisted. “You can’t grow up in Texas and not know that ranch life isn’t easy. But accidents can happen anywhere. You can step off a curb in Houston and get run down by a bus.”

“True, but you don’t often stroll into a herd of buses.”

“Well, I promise I won’t let any of the girls take a walk in the middle of a herd. The fact that it might be dangerous doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go for what you want,” she insisted. “As for the kids, there would be adults to supervise.

“I’m planning to have camp ‘counselors’ for lack of a better word. College kids maybe.” She paused, then went on faster, her words tumbling over each other in a fight to be said before she lost his attention. “Anyway, I was thinking we could have a few horses—of your choice—that are gentle with kids and we can show the girls how to ride. How to care for the animals and clean up after them. Taking care of animals teaches us empathy and patience and—”

“I get it,” he said, nodding.

“Okay, well, the girls can do ranch work during the days and have cookouts and campfires at night.” She clicked to the next page on her website. “This can give them the satisfaction of working, completing a task, and the opportunity to build friendships with people they might not have met otherwise. They’ll learn how to do new things, get along with others and to appreciate everything they can accomplish.”

“Uh-huh.” He looked at the pictures of the Perry Ranch as if he were imagining a herd of girls running wild. He didn’t look happy, so Chloe started talking again. Fast.

“Like I said, there would be plenty of supervision of course—”

Liam cut her off. “And some of that supervision would have to be done by the ranch hands who already have plenty of work to do.” He shot her a wry look as if challenging her to dispute that.

Chloe took a breath and blew it out. Couldn’t he see what she was trying to do? Of course it wasn’t easy. Or simple. But how many great things were? “All right, yes, you’re right. We would need some help from the ranch hands. But surely there are a few guys there who could trade off showing the girls what ranch life is like without sending the whole outfit into bankruptcy.”

Outside, the wind was kicking up and spatters of rain began to pelt the windows, like dozens of fingers tapping, tapping, demanding to be let in. Inside, the room darkened, and Chloe leaned over to turn the desk lamp on.

Both of his eyebrows lifted at the sarcasm. “There’s a lot of liability involved here, too.”

“I realize that.” And now, her own temper was beginning to spike, and it threatened to burn as hot as her blood. He was deliberately trying to squash her before she’d even had a chance to convince him. “But parents would sign legal release documents before the camp, and the ranch would be completely covered.”

“I don’t know about that.” He shook his head, and folded his arms across his really impressive chest. If it hadn’t been a sure sign that he was closing down, shutting her out, she might have allowed herself an inner sigh of appreciation. “In my experience, you bring lawyers into anything, and it all goes to hell in a flash.”

Chloe sensed she was losing, and she couldn’t let that happen. The Perry ranch was the best place for her to try her experiment. Mostly because Sterling had been willing to let her use his land. Most ranchers weren’t open to anything that might interfere with the business. But also because she knew that ranch well, and there were a couple of female ranch hands working there too. If everything worked out there, she could start raising money to buy her own land. Of course, she’d come into her inheritance from her grandmother in five years when she turned thirty—but she didn’t want to wait. She’d already waited long enough.

“This isn’t about lawyers or liability,” she said, meeting his gaze and silently daring him to argue. “That could all be handled. It’s logistics. This is about the fact that you are simply determined to not like the idea.”

“I’m determined to see the reality while you’re looking at it all like a child’s fantasy.”

Hard to disagree, since he’d hit on the very reason she’d come up with this idea in the first place. All of her life, Chloe had been told what she couldn’t do. And she wasn’t standing for it anymore. Not from her family. Not from the hottest cowboy she’d ever seen.

“That’s because it was my fantasy as a child,” she admitted, staring at the images on the computer screen, letting herself imagine what might have been. “When I was ten years old, my father bought a ranch outside Galveston. He drove us all out there to look around, get a feel for the place.” She turned her face up to his. “I fell in love instantly. The foreman showed me the horses, let me feed them, then helped me ride for the first time in my life.” Her voice dropped, became a little dreamy, but there was nothing she could do about that. “I wanted to be a cowboy so badly. I had visions of growing up on that ranch, of having my own horse, of helping the cowboys...”

Silence followed when her voice trailed off until he quietly asked, “I’m guessing that didn’t work out for you?”

She laughed shortly and shook her head. “No. We went back home, and my father hired a construction crew to renovate the house. I was still dreaming, planning my room, naming my imaginary horse. Then he told us that once the renovations were done, he was selling the ranch at a ‘tidy profit.’”

She could still remember the disappointment, the crushing letdown she’d felt when she had learned that her father had never intended to move his family to that beautiful ranch. She’d felt betrayed, as if he’d allowed her to dream just to crush her.

“A few months later, he did sell it,” she said. “I never went back to the ranch.”

“So,” he said, “you’re trying to redo your own childhood? Is that it?”

“No,” she said softly. She wasn’t that foolish. But she was rewriting her adulthood far away from the plans of her father. “It’s just important to me to foster other little girls’ dreams. I want them to know that they can be and do anything. I know the Perry Ranch has several women working the herds—seeing that in reality would go a long way to showing the girls that anything’s possible. Why is it wrong for me to want to show young girls that their dreams can come true?”

“It’s that important to you.”

It wasn’t a question, but she answered it anyway. “Yes. It is.” Her dreams had been systematically flattened by her father, who instead wanted her to marry well, have children and run the various charities he approved of. Not that she didn’t someday want a husband and kids—but on her terms. And no matter what happened here with Liam Morrow, she was never going to surrender control of her life to anyone else.

Chloe took another breath and confessed, “This would be a test case, sort of. If it took off here, the idea could spread to other ranches, heck, other states.”

“Big plans,” he mused.

“You bet,” she agreed, flashing him a quick look and a smile. “At some point, I want to buy land myself. Set up a permanent camp. Buy horses, cattle, hire wranglers, and have a place where girls can go to dream.”

She watched him take her measure and saw that he wasn’t amused by her dreams, her plans. That was a step in the right direction.

“I can see how important this is to you,” he said. “But I’m not convinced yet.” He shifted his focus from her to the computer screen, then scrolled down the images she had posted.

“I haven’t finished my pitch yet,” she reminded him. And he hadn’t walked out yet, either. Good sign? “If you’ll check the map I posted, you’ll see where I want to set up the tents.”

“Tents,” he repeated. “And with all these girls there, what were you thinking of using for bathroom facilities?”

Chloe winced. This was one of the sticking points she was still working out. “I thought they could use the bunkhouse—”

“I don’t think the ranch hands living there would go for that.”

“It wouldn’t be easy, true.” Actually, she hated the idea of the girls using the bunkhouse bathroom. Because it would be awkward along with a host of other possible problems. “But if that doesn’t work, then maybe Sterling would let them use the bathroom off the kitchen.”

“Know about that, do you?” His gaze shifted to hers.

She smiled. “I’ve been to the Perry Ranch many times.”

“Yeah. For parties.”

“You say that like an insult.”

“I don’t have a lot of time for parties.”

“Well, maybe you should make time,” Chloe countered. “It might help you lighten up a little.”

“I don’t do light.”

She sighed. Seriously, the man was sex on a stick, but his personality was so prickly, she wondered if anyone ever got close enough to find out if he was as good in bed as she thought he was.

“All right then,” she offered. “We could bring in Porta Potties for the week.”

He snorted. “And portable showers?”

“These are just tiny details that I can figure out later,” she said, exasperation setting in. “You’re being deliberately confrontational. I wonder why.”

He unfolded his arms and tucked his hands into the back pockets of his faded jeans. “Because it’s my job to look out for the ranch.”

“It’s not like a handful of girls would be there to destroy anything.”

One eyebrow winged up. “Just the working routine for the ranch hands.”

“Briefly,” she reminded him. “I’m thinking camp would be a week long. And I’m sure we could work out the bathroom issue,” she insisted, and made a mental note to talk to the housekeeper at the Perry Ranch. Chloe was pretty sure the woman would allow a few girls to use her shower for a week.

“Look, this would be a test case. To see if there are enough girls interested.”

“And if there aren’t?”

“Then I drop it,” Chloe said, then added quickly, “but there will be. If Sterling goes along with this, we could hold one camp week a month. I could even pay to have a bunkhouse with bathrooms built on the land.” Inwardly she winced at the idea of taking money out of her savings to do it, but it would be worthwhile.

“So when you eventually move your camp somewhere else—”

Chloe shrugged. “Sterling will have a new bunkhouse he didn’t have to build.”

Outside, the world darkened and the wide front window rattled with a gust of wind. The rain against the glass was heavier now, a continuous assault, and pedestrians hurried along the sidewalk, looking for cover.

Liam straightened up, looked down at her and Chloe felt a rush of heat. Amazing that a man who irritated her so much could cause such a reaction.

“You said at some point you’ll be looking for a permanent place?”

“Well,” she said, amazed that he would ask, “yes. This isn’t a one-off thing. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and I really believe that girls will love it.”

“Uh-huh,” he answered wryly. “And you think Sterling will be willing to just donate you a piece of his ranch to have children running loose?”

Truthfully, she didn’t know if he would or not. That would be lovely, but she had plans if that didn’t happen. “I can buy land from him or maybe even another rancher not far from Houston.”

He snorted.

She was really getting tired of that sound.

“Of course you can.”

Chloe frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Ranchers don’t often sell their land. They’re more interested in adding acreage to their spread. But, then again, women like you are used to getting exactly what they want from men.”

“Women like me?” Irritation rose up and quickly bristled into temper. Okay, yes, she was wildly attracted to the man, but she wasn’t going to stand there and be insulted. “What exactly does that mean?”

“Hey, hey, rein in your temper. No offense meant,” he said, holding up one hand for peace. “I only meant that nothing comes that easy to most people. But a pretty woman can persuade a man to do most anything.”

“Wow.” She simply stared at him. “You’re not a cowboy. You’re a Neanderthal.”

“Might be, but I notice you’re not disagreeing,” he pointed out.

It would have been hard to, as much as Chloe wanted to let him have it. Hadn’t she seen it for herself most of her life? Heck, her own mother could still play Chloe’s father like a finely tuned piano. And in the social circles Chloe knew best, girls were practically trained how to do the same. Pretty women turned on the charm, and that usually worked long enough for them to get their way.

“All right, there may be some truth to what you said...”

He nodded.

“But,” she added, “pretty doesn’t last. I use my brain, Liam. I work for what I want, and I don’t use my looks or my name to take me where I want to go.”

He studied her for a long couple of seconds. “I can see that. So sorry. Again. Look, I’m not a caveman and I’m not stupid. What you’re trying to do is pretty tough, but if you can convince me that you can run this camp without interfering with the work on the ranch, then I’ll take it to Sterling.” He stopped, looked at her. “After that, it’s up to you and Sterling what you work out between you. But I will say I don’t see him selling you a piece of his spread.”

Chloe took a breath and let it out again. She hadn’t expected him to apologize or to give her respect. She just wished she knew if he meant it or if he was just trying to placate her. Either way, arguing with Sterling’s representative wasn’t going to get her anywhere, and the bottom line was, what he thought of her didn’t matter in the slightest. She’d been alternately dismissed, overlooked and had assumptions made about her for years. Those who stood outside a wealthy family and thought it was all cotton candy and carnivals were invariably wrong, but it was nearly impossible to convince them of that.

Chloe’s life had been easy as far as money went. But a soul could starve even if the body was well fed.

Yet she gave him a bright smile anyway and saw a flicker of something dart across those amazing blue eyes. It was there and gone again so quickly, she couldn’t be sure exactly what it was, but her body reacted anyway. Honestly, it was getting harder to keep her mind on the business at hand—in spite of the irritation he could spike in an instant. Still, she tried.

“Okay, like I said before, what I want to do is introduce the girls to ranch life,” she said, warming to her theme the second she started talking. “Most of them will be from the city and completely unaware of a world where there isn’t traffic and noise and so many lights you can’t see the stars at night.”

He gave her a thoughtful look. “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

“I grew up in Houston, and the only time I got to see the stars was when I visited my grandfather in El Paso.”

“Is that what fixated you on ranch life?’

“It is,” she said as memories flooded her mind. Smiling to herself, she admitted, “Once my father sold my ‘dream ranch,’ I spent lots of time with my grandfather. I’m sure I got in the way plenty, but I helped the men working for my grandfather whenever I was there. They taught me how to care for a horse, how to ride and that hard work was the only kind of success that mattered.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Your father was okay with that?”

“No, not really,” she admitted. “But my mom was. She’d grown up on that ranch, and wanted me to have the same experiences. Mom died when I was fourteen, so the visits to the ranch ended. My grandfather died a couple of years later, and my father sold that ranch too.”

Nodding, he asked, “So you’re doing all of this as a way of spitting in your dad’s eye?”

Surprised, she had to admit, “No. Well, in a way, that’s true, I guess. Hadn’t really thought about it, but yes. I’m a disappointment to him, I suppose, but my younger sister, Ellen, is exactly the type of daughter he wanted us both to be.”

One corner of his mouth lifted briefly, and Chloe felt a quick rush of heat.

“And what kind of daughter is that?”

“Malleable,” she said with the slightest twinge of sorrow. “I love my sister, but she’s more willing to let our father direct her life than I am. And wow, that sounded terrible, didn’t it?” Guilt roared into life inside her. “We’re not very close and I regret that, but I just don’t...get her, I guess.”

And why was she making this confession to a man she didn’t even know?

“I can understand that,” he said. “I don’t really get you, either.”

Chloe laughed. “Okay, that’s honest. I like honest. But seriously, what’s not to get?” She’d been completely forthright, and actually even more truthful than she’d determined to be. Why for heaven’s sake had she told him about her parents and her sister and her grandfather? That had nothing to do with this meeting. “I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m telling you things I had no intention of telling, so you probably know me better by now than my sister does.”

“All right,” he conceded with a nod, “maybe it’s not that I don’t get you—but more that you’re not what I expected.”

“You mean I’m not talking about manicures and my last trip to Paris?”

He shrugged, and that action made his chest shift and move in a really enticing way. Keep your mind on the camp, Chloe.

So she gave him a bright smile. “Well, then, I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“You really should,” he told her and his blue eyes flashed again, threatening her concentration abilities. “So show me more.”

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