“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.”