“You’ve got a planning gleam in your eyes.”
“What?” She jumped, and glanced over to see Liam had walked up beside her and she hadn’t noticed. “You know, I’m starting to think you walk that quietly on purpose because you enjoy seeing me jolt.”
He shrugged. “Maybe that’s just a bonus.”
Well, at least he wasn’t irritated anymore. She pointed to where oaks, gathered together on gnarled trunks, formed a circle, as if just waiting for a group of girls to hold a campfire.
“I’d want to put the camp there. Close to the house but far enough away to ensure your privacy, too.”
“Decent of you,” he muttered.
Well, that sounded like regret. She looked at him. “You did say you’d give me the land for the camp if I proved myself.”
“I did.” He pulled his hat off and stabbed his fingers through his hair. “But that hasn’t happened yet, so don’t get ahead of yourself.”
The dismissiveness in his tone surprised her. Disappointed her. “Huh. The last two weeks mean nothing, do they? I haven’t proven myself to you. You still expect me to fail, don’t you?”
He took a breath, met her eyes and said, “Not expect so much as... Okay, yeah. I do.”
Slowly, carefully, she plucked windblown hair from her eyes, giving herself an extra moment or two to accept what he’d said. But it didn’t matter. She couldn’t accept it. Never would.
“Why?”
“You’re not built for this life, Chloe, plain and simple.”
“What am I built for then?” she demanded, and crossed her arms over her chest. “Shopping? Nightclubs? High tea with the dowager Queens of Houston?”
He threw both hands up. “How the hell do I know what you were made for?”
“You should know,” she accused, stepping into his space, fighting past the pain and instead reaching for righteous fury. “You more than anyone. You know what this means to me. You know how hard I’ve worked to prove myself.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said tightly. “But I have to look at more than that.”
“Really?” Her throat felt dangerously tight. She didn’t want emotions crowding this argument, so she fought past the hurt, the disappointment and clung to the fury. “What else is there, Liam? What hidden tests have I been failing?”
The minute she said it, she knew. “This is about my sister, isn’t it?”
He looked as though he might deny it, but then he nodded. “Partly, yeah. Hell, Chloe, you come from the same life that made her. And she could no more survive at ranching than I could trying to breathe underwater.”
Insult now mingled with her rage. “That works out well for Ellen, since she has no desire to live or work on a ranch. The difference is, I do. I walked away from that life, remember?”
He snorted and shook his head. “You may have, but that life hasn’t left you. The whole damn city of Houston is looking to rebuild, but your rich daddy swooped in and made sure your office was fixed first.”
“Seriously?” Eyes wide, she stared at him, stupefied. “It’s my fault that my father overpaid a construction crew to get work done in a hurry?”
“No, it’s not. But I notice you didn’t tell him not to do it.”
“You’re right.” Nodding sharply, she said, “I should have insisted on going to the back of the line. Heck, I shouldn’t have let them repair the building at all. I should have worked in a hovel to make sure I passed your ‘poor but proud’ test.”
“Here now,” he countered.
“Oh no, my turn.” She whirled around, took two or three long strides away from him, then came right back again. Shaking her index finger at him, she said, “You know what’s wrong with you, Liam? It’s amazing I never caught it before today. Oh, I noticed stubborn. Cranky. But this one slipped past me. The truth is, you’re a snob.”
His eyebrows arched high on his forehead. “Excuse me?”
“The worst kind, too,” she said. “A reverse snob. You’re so busy looking down on people with money, you don’t give them credit for being people at all.”