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“Yes, ma’am, it’s a stable,” Liam said.
“You’re being rude.”
“Am I?”
“Do I look like a ma’am to you?”
Liam grinned. “No, ma’am.”
She scowled at him. “Stop ma’aming me!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She frowned thoughtfully, but he knew she wasn’t thinking about him any longer. Women like her didn’t concentrate on anything other than themselves for very long. No doubt she was deciding she didn’t want to risk being close to animals if she didn’t have to. Then she turned to him again. “Please tell my sister I’m here to see her.”
He laughed shortly. She was young and pretty and rich, and probably had never heard the word no in her life. He was happy to be the first. “No, ma’am, I won’t. I’ve got work. If you want to see her,” he added with a wave of his hand, “just go on in.”
Shock etched itself into her features. “Do you know who I am?”
Oddly, Liam was starting to enjoy this encounter. A couple of the guys were angling closer to listen in, and he couldn’t blame them. God knew, she was good to look at, but that’s where the appeal ended. At the Perry Ranch, there were wealthy guests coming and going all the time. Though not many of them looked like Ellen Hemsworth.
Still, Liam was used to the dismissive glances she was shooting him. And he wondered if she might change her opinion of him if she knew he now had more money than her father. But even if he doubled his current net worth, damned if he’d ever be like the kind of people who’d raised Chloe and her sister.
“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, deliberately sounding slow and stupid. “I do know who you are, since you just told me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.” He turned to go, then spotted Chloe stepping into the sunshine from the hidden shadows of the stable. And he saw her expression when she spotted her sister. She didn’t look happy.
“Well,” he said, deciding to stay right where he was, “there she is now.”
“Thank God,” Ellen murmured and then shouted, “Chloe! Over here!”
She walked on those ridiculous shoes and wobbled some since the dirt was still a bit sodden from the storm. Liam shook his head and hoped she didn’t land on her ass. Not that he cared, but he really didn’t want to listen to the screeching complaints.
Chloe hurried over, and instinctively went to hug the woman. Ellen, though, skipped neatly out of reach.
“Chloe, you’re filthy!” Ellen’s eyes were wide, and her mouth twisted into a grimace.
“I’ve been working,” Chloe said, dusting her hands on the tight, faded jeans she wore nearly every day.
“Doing what for heaven’s sake? Rolling in dirt?” Ellen looked her up and down, and Liam almost felt called to defend Chloe.
Hell, she looked beautiful to him. Her skin had a honey-toned glow from her days working in the sun, and even her hair had a couple sun streaks. She wore a short-sleeved, bright blue shirt, those jeans that hugged her legs like an eager lover, and boots that looked a lot more dirty and scarred than they had when she’d arrived more than a week ago.
“Doesn’t matter.” Chloe sighed, glanced at Liam almost apologetically, then asked her sister, “What are you doing here, Ellen?”
“Oh, I wanted to tell you two things,” the woman said, happily bouncing on her toes again. “I’m saving the most important one for last, though. So, Daddy says to tell you your office is all finished.”
“Already?” Chloe looked surprised and hell, so was Liam. With so much damage to correct after the storm and the flood, it was amazing that her office had been repaired so quickly.
Ellen sliced one hand in the air, dismissing her sister’s surprise. “Daddy offered the crew a big bonus to finish the work fast, and you know how people are. Wave some money at them and they jump for it! Thank goodness, right?”
Liam’s eyebrows went up again, and this time they stayed there. One of the cowboys behind him snorted a laugh. He saw Chloe wince a little and knew that though her sister might be clueless, Chloe wasn’t. Daddy’s checkbook to the rescue. Hell, it was such a cliché it was funny. Damned if Ellen Hemsworth wasn’t the walking, talking, poster girl for Texas Princesses.
