Wild Ride Rancher

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.”

Three

Clinging to hope, Chloe went through her sample pages, one at a time. The Perry Ranch was well-known in this corner of Texas, and had been photographed hundreds of times. All she’d had to do was use some of those photos that had been in countless magazines and have her friend Curtis Photoshop girls into the images.

Outside, the day got darker, the rain hammered the window like tiny fists demanding entry, and the rising wind rushed down the street with gleeful abandon.

But for the next half hour, Chloe didn’t notice. She gave her spiel on how great the ranch camp would be for girls, and Liam listened. He paid attention. He asked great questions and even made a suggestion or two. She assured him that she would be there herself to keep the girls out of the working cowboys’ way. In fact, Chloe was starting to feel more than hopeful. One corner of her mind began to plot and plan, sure that he would come down on her side. That he would talk to Sterling and her dream camp would become a reality. If he said no now, she’d be crushed. “I’ve really thought it all out. It’s been building in my head for years.”

“I can see that,” he said, nodding.

“And not only would this be great for the girls, but it’s a publicity treasure for the Perry Ranch,” she added, dangling that thought like a worm on a hook. “Think of the goodwill Sterling would get for hosting and funding this ranch camp.”

He was still nodding, so Chloe took that as a good sign.

“Really, the funding would be just a drop in the bucket to Sterling Perry, and he would be the talk of Texas.”

“He’d enjoy that,” Liam murmured.

She grinned. “The funding would be mostly on covering food and the tents where the girls would stay. I’d want the camp itself to be free to underprivileged kids and maybe a modest cost to those who could afford it.”