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“Hey,” Jeremiah said, reaching for the book. “I have a test next Monday. I need to study.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “That’s what Sunday night is for. It’s Friday, for Jesus’ sake. Take a load off.”
Jeremiah got out of his seat and lurched for the textbook but Liam jerked it out of his grasp right before he could close his fingers around it.
“Christ, can you not take one day off from being an entitled son of a bitch?” Mack asked from across the table. “We don’t all have a daddy who can bail us out if we bomb our classes.”
Liam ignored Mack. He grinned magnanimously at Jeremiah. “But lucky you, you have me and I’m happy to throw away money on your education any time. Just say the word.”
Jeremiah glared at Liam, his jaw locking. Yikes, Isobel could tell that was the wrong thing to say.
“We don’t take charity.” Jeremiah yanked his book back from Liam.
“Fucking rich people,” Mack muttered under his breath, mopping up some gravy on his plate with his biscuit and shoving the rest of it in his mouth.
Liam narrowed his eyes at Mack. “You’ve got a little something.” Liam motioned to his eyebrow. “Just there.”
When Mack lifted his hand to his own eyebrow, Liam launched the rest of the biscuit he was eating straight at Mack’s forehead, smacking him right between the eyes.
Mack shot to his feet, pushing his chair back. “You better watch it, pretty boy. I’d hate to have to rearrange your face.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Reece said, getting up and putting a hand on Mack’s chest. “He was just joking around. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
Mack smacked Reece’s hand away from his chest but Reece just lifted it back, though without touching Mack’s chest this time.
Mack glared at Liam—who was smirking back like he couldn’t be more amused by Mack’s display.
“Hey guys, come on,” Reece looked back and forth between Liam and Mack. “Is this any way to welcome a newcomer to the ranch? Poor Isobel is going to think we’re a bunch of barbarians here. Look, you’re putting her off her dinner.” He pointed down at her plate, where she’d barely touched her food.
Damn it, why did he have to be so observant? She shoved a bite of squash and zucchini in her mouth. She even managed not to cringe when she realized the vegetables weren’t steamed, but had been cooked in what tasted like butter.
Mack left his own mostly empty plate behind and stormed off in the direction of the stairs.
“What crawled up his arse?” Liam asked.
Jeremiah leaned behind Isobel to smack Liam on the back of the head.
Reece sat back down at the table, looking at Isobel apologetically. “I’m sorry about all that. I swear we’re not all that bad. We usually get along great.”
“Reece here is what we call an optimist,” Liam said, shaking his head and stabbing his fork in the direction Mack went. “I’ll get along with that arsehole the day hell freezes over.”
“So, Isobel,” Reece said brightly, obviously trying to cover the bad manners of the rest of his tablemates. “You said you drove here from New York?”
Isobel nodded, dabbing a big chunk of cauliflower against the side of her plate to try to drain off the butter that had collected on it.
“Which part?” Reece asked.
She put her fork down, giving up on the cauliflower. It was like a little sponge. There was probably a half a tablespoon of butter in that single bite. “I live in the city. But I go to college upstate in Ithica.”
“So what brings you to our neck of the woods?” Jeremiah asked. He’d closed his books, apparently giving up on studying after all.
Crap. She should have anticipated this question. Why hadn’t she thought up a good answer for it? She swallowed as she tried to think of something to say. God, her throat was dry. She smiled and held up a finger as she reached for the water pitcher in the center of the table and poured herself a glass. After taking a long sip, she still didn’t have any better idea what to say.
“Um, I was just… in the mood for a change of pace.”
“What about you two?” She gestured at Jeremiah and Reece. When in doubt, deflect. “Where are you from? You grew up in Texas, is that right? How’d you end up here?”
“Oh we were just in Texas for a year. We’ve been all over.” Reece leaned back in his chair. “The question is—do you want the long story or the short?”
