Wild Ride Rancher

There was still plenty to clean up after that storm. Stock ponds had to be cleared of brush and dirt that had blown in, cattle rounded up from the canyons they’d tried to hide in and three of the cottonwood trees lining the drive had come down in the wind. And that was just the Perry Ranch.

Liam hadn’t had a chance to get to his own place in person yet, but he’d spoken to his foreman, Joe Hardy, every day. They were actually in good shape there. They’d only lost part of a roof on the stable, and a couple of fence lines had gone down when a few dozen cattle made a run for it.

The most disruptive thing caused by the storm was this thing with Chloe. Liam hadn’t expected it to go beyond the storm—and why would he? Being trapped together in an emergency was one thing. But in the real world, they were an unlikely pair to say the least.

It wasn’t the money thing, because hell, thanks to those ideas he and his friends had come up and then patented in college, Liam probably had more money than Chloe’s family now. But he hadn’t been raised with inherited wealth or the sense of entitlement that came along with it.

Chloe, on the other hand, was a damn Texas Princess. She might try to deny it, but she was used to nothing but the best. This ranching dream of hers was just that—a dream—and he was pretty sure that as soon as she got tired of it, she’d turn on a dime and run home to daddy. He’d seen it before, after all.

She caught his eye, leading a horse from the stable to the corral. Chloe had a smile on her face that could light up a city, but would it stay? Hell, Tessa had enjoyed simple things too—until she didn’t. Then she was gone and Liam had been left standing flat-footed, wondering what the hell had just happened. He didn’t intend to go through that again.

Having Chloe here was good and bad as far as he could see. The sex was amazing, but it wasn’t a relationship. God, he hated that word. So maybe he was worried about nothing. With Tessa it had been different. He’d let himself believe that what they had would last for the long haul.

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.