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She’d been keeping up with her event planning business, but her heart really wasn’t in it anymore. It was hard to care about monogrammed napkins and silver lace tablecloths when she could be outside working with the horses, talking to the cowboys, riding out with the other hands to inspect the fence line. Life here was real. Immediate. She’d been there for the birth of Shadow, and she’d never experienced anything like that before. It had been...life altering.
In the last couple of weeks, all of the dreams she’d had as a kid had come true. She was living the way she’d always wanted to now, and she didn’t want to lose it. Lose any of it.
And that included the cowboy who was, at the moment, refusing to look at her. They hadn’t really talked since Ellen dropped by the day before, and just remembering her sister’s entrance made Chloe groan inwardly. Liam’s expression had told her that he’d taken one look at her sister and lumped the two of them together. He saw Chloe as he did her silly, superficial sister—and that hurt.
“Don’t get attached,” she repeated thoughtfully. “Is that how you do it?”
That got his attention. He snapped his gaze to hers. “Do what?”
“Go from hot to cold so quickly.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Wow. That’s the first time you’ve lied to me,” Chloe said.
He just looked at her.
“We haven’t talked since Ellen was here.”
“You made it pretty clear you didn’t want to,” he pointed out.
“That’s fair,” she admitted, remembering how embarrassed she’d been by, well, everything Ellen had said. “But I’m not like my sister. But then, you should know that already.”
“Didn’t say you were,” he reminded her.
The sun was shining out of a brassy, clear blue sky. Dappled shade from a nearby tree waved across them, but didn’t stay long enough to lower the temperature. Even the air was still, as if the Universe was holding its breath, waiting to see how this conversation was going to go.
“Yeah, you didn’t have to say it.” Chloe swiped her hair off her neck and wished for a clip. “The fact that you’re not talking to me—is that your way of not getting attached?”
He straightened up, tugged his hat brim down until his lake-blue eyes were partially hidden from her. To protect himself? Or her?
“There is no attachment, Chloe,” he said, keeping his voice low. “There won’t be, either. We agreed to that when this whole thing started up.”
Her heart took another hit, but she fought past it to say, “We did. But sometimes things change.” They had for her, anyway. This man had crept into her heart, her soul, her mind. It felt as if he were a part of her now, and ripping him out just might kill her.
“And sometimes they don’t.” His voice was still low, but clipped as if letting her know he wasn’t going to discuss this much longer.
“And sometimes they do and we just pretend they don’t,” Chloe said.
He narrowed his eyes on her, and she met his steady gaze without flinching. Humming tension stretched out between them, as if it were an actual, electrical cord arcing back and forth. Seconds passed, and the only sounds were from the cowboys in the corral and snuffling from the tiny horse.
Finally, Liam simply said, “I’ve got to get going.”
Moment shattered, Chloe stopped him by asking, “Where are you taking this load?”
“To the shelter in Houston,” he said shortly, and knotted the rope holding the white tarp down over the donated supplies.
She smiled to herself. Perfect. If she went with him, they’d have some time. Time to talk. To figure out what they were doing and where they were going—if anywhere.
“I’ll ride with you,” she said, and his head snapped up.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. You’ve got work here, remember? Learning ranching, following Mike around?”
“Oh, I know.” Chloe stroked one hand across the top of Shadow’s head and smiled as she shrugged. “But Mike’s taking the day to go with his wife to visit her family, so he said I could take the day too.”
