Chapter 6
6
Liam
“ I t’s not much, but you should have seen it a couple years ago.” Liam chuckled as he opened up the back of the trailer. “If it wasn’t for Brielle?—”
“Brielle? You don’t mean Brielle Callahan, do you?” Margot’s voice squeaked. “Liam, I was just kicked to the curb by a Callahan. You can’t expect me to believe that Brielle would allow me to keep the horse here.”
“It’s not up to her,” Liam assured her. “And besides, she’s different than the others.”
Margot folded her arms, her disbelieving expression all it took to set off another chuckle.
“Brielle is married to Wade. And if anyone would understand what you’re going through, it’s my brother. He’s not going to leave Prada without a place to stay.” Liam pulled the horse from the trailer and jerked his chin toward the barn. “It’s over there.”
Margot held up a hand. “You’re sure that Brielle won’t mind?” The uncertainty in her voice broke his heart. As confident as she tried to be, Margot had her own insecurities. Liam couldn’t help but be surprised that no one else could seem to see that side of her. Maybe they weren’t looking hard enough.
He reached out to her and patted her upper arm. “I’m sure she won’t mind.”
“And your brother?”
“The worst Wade would do is tell you that you need to help out a little around here. There’s always work to be done.”
She tilted her head. “Why don’t you work here? With your family? I would have thought that’s where all the Keagans would want to be.”
Liam shrugged. “I guess when I started working for Zeke back in high school, I just never thought about going back. Wade has a lot of help from my brothers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get behind, so I still pitch in occasionally. And Zeke offered me something that no one had before. It wouldn’t be right to walk away from something like that, you know?” He nodded to the barn once more. “Let’s get Prada settled, alright?”
Margot followed him, almost reluctantly. Her eyes darted all over the place. Each time one of his brothers emerged from the house or the barn, she’d look in their direction and then toward him as if she were asking him to confirm that everything would be okay. But by the time they made it to the barn, she’d lost that concern and had returned to the confident woman he’d been crushing on since they were kids.
Her back was straight, and her eyes shone with excitement. “This place is actually pretty nice—not as nice as the Callahans’, but still nice.” She offered him a half-smile. “You guys really made something of yourselves out here.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Liam murmured. She didn’t have to say it, but he knew she was referring to the time when he didn’t have any money to feed himself. While it had been the moment when he’d known he liked her, it was also something he chose not to dwell on.
With Prada settled into the stall, Liam retrieved some oats from a food bag hanging on a nearby hook. “She’d probably like a treat so she knows everything will be okay. I don’t know if you know this, but Prada doesn’t exactly take to change very well. It took me a whole month for her to trust me to run her through exercises when the last guy Zeke hired moved away.”
Margot bit back a smile, dimples appearing on her cheeks. “Yeah, that sounds like her.” She reached through the stall door and rubbed Prada’s nose. “She can be a little bit of a diva, too. And I would know.” Her smile appeared to be sadder than before, more thoughtful.
He couldn’t fathom what might be causing that sadness. Margot had it all. She had the looks, the confidence, the smarts, and the personality that made her shine brighter than anyone else he’d met. She was perfect.
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to realize it.
Liam stepped forward but then caught himself. What was he going to say? That she was amazing, and anyone would be lucky to have her? How would she even take something like that? It would sound more like he was pitying her. No, he couldn’t tell her that. But he could take this moment to tell her exactly how he felt.
There was a small part of him tethered to holding back. He needed more time before he said something. Then again, he’d spent his whole life stepping out of everyone else’s way. Maybe it was time to get out of his own way.
“Margot? Can I tell you something?”
She turned her wide eyes to him, her face a mask of curiosity.
For a second he thought about backing down. He’d never told anyone he liked them as anything more than a friend—certainly not Margot Bennet. It was time to make a change. Now was that moment.
Liam moved closer, his voice lowering so that no one would be able to overhear him if he were to make a complete fool of himself. He took a deep breath, then released it slowly. Liam fidgeted and then rubbed the back of his neck. “I…” Boy, this was harder than he thought it would be.
“It’s okay,” Margot said softly. “Whatever it is, I can take it. I know there might be a chance that Prada will need to be put somewhere?—”
“No, that’s not it,” Liam hurried on to say. “I like you.”
Her shock was the first thing he noticed, but then an easy smile spread across her face, and he could breathe again. That wasn’t so bad.
“I like you too, Liam.”
And just like that, the relief drained from his body and landed in a puddle on the floor.
“You’re such a sweetheart. You’re the reason why this place is so wonderful.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I hope you know that.”
He could already see where this was going, and for some reason, he couldn’t stop himself from pushing forward. “No, you don’t get it.” He pulled her hand from his shoulder and placed it within both of his. “I like you—a lot.”
Her smile faltered.
“I like you—like you. I have since we were children?—”
“Liam,” she murmured, shaking her head.
“You’re the most beautiful?—”
“ Stop .”
He choked on his confession.
“Just… stop,” she whispered. Her eyes lifted to meet his. He couldn’t tell if she was upset about what he’d said or if she simply pitied him.
What was he thinking? Of course she pitied him. She could have anyone in the world. Why would she want a lowly cowboy like him—a man who had been raised in squalor and only recently had found a way to dig himself out? He looked away, but she brought her hand up to his cheek and forced him to look at her.
“You’re sweet, Liam, but it… just wouldn’t work.”
“How do you know?” he asked, his voice catching in his throat.
She glanced away in thought, then brought her focus right back. “Because I don’t know how long I’m staying. This—these feelings you have for me—they’re not real.”
“You don’t know that,” he said, pulling away from her. “You don’t know what’s in my heart.” This had been a mistake. He’d gone and ruined everything. Margot would probably put distance between them after this, and he’d be stuck seeing her but not being able to speak to her.
Margot shook her head and offered him a sad smile. “It’s just infatuation. We haven’t seen each other in so long and we’re… just familiar. The novelty will wear off, and you’ll see, just like when we were in high school, that there isn’t anything growing between us. There never has been.”
He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. Any argument he might make, she would shut down. The evidence was written all over her face. At least she was being nice about it. She wasn’t actually telling him he wouldn’t have hit the broad side of a barn with this shot he’d taken. There was that.
Liam released a heavy breath. Maybe she was right. The feelings he had for her had lasted since he was a child, but that didn’t mean they ran as deep as the feelings his brothers had for their wives. It was entirely possible he’d allowed himself to get hung up on what he thought he wanted. When he glanced up at her once more, she was giving him that smile—the one that said he shouldn’t feel embarrassed.
And he hated it.
Whatever, he’d gotten off easy.
“Still friends?” she said.
His eyes cut to meet hers, surprised at her question. “What?”
Margot moved closer to him, placing both hands on his shoulders. “I don’t want to lose the only real friend I have in this place. You’re the guy I can count on when stuff hits the fan, you know?”
Liam wanted to ignore the warmth that permeated his shirt where she touched him. He wanted to pretend that the curling heat and desire in his gut was just indigestion. But he couldn’t. Why wasn’t his body listening to his head?
“Liam?” she asked again.
He nodded sharply and pulled away. “Of course. Friends.” That one word tasted like poison in his mouth. He wanted to spit out the bitterness and get a tall drink of water to wash out the taste. But he couldn’t.
“What’s going on in here?”
Both Margot and Liam jumped.
Caleb stood with his arms crossed as he glanced from Margot to Liam, then to the horse. “Did you get her to sign a contract?”
“Contract?” Liam moved to stand in front of Margot as if he could shield her from his brother. “She doesn’t need a contract.”
“Well, that horse isn’t staying here without one. We don’t have the money to feed another mouth.” Caleb didn’t move; his unwavering gaze remained fixed on Liam.
“You’re not in charge,” Liam spit back. “So it’s not up to you who we welcome here.”
Caleb scowled at Liam. “You do realize that money doesn’t grow on trees, right? That horse might be just one animal, but it’s going to cost us just as much as one of our own. We have to feed it and groom it?—”
“You can’t tell me that you think it’s going to be hard to add one more mouth to the schedule. That’s ridiculous.” Liam huffed. “Margot was invited, and that’s all that matters.”
His brother’s face turned a shade darker. If Margot wasn’t in that barn with them, Liam wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam shooting out of Caleb’s ears. “If you don’t clear it with Wade?—”
“I think I can solve this,” Margot jumped in. She moved around Liam and blocked him from Caleb’s wrath. “I’ll talk to Wade.”
“You don’t have to do that. I made the offer. He’s going to be fine with it,” Liam assured her. “He’s not going to turn you away.”
She turned around and faced Liam, her gaze full of appreciation. “I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s okay. I can make this work. I don’t have the cash to handle things, but I’m a hard worker. I’m sure Wade wouldn’t mind having an extra pair of hands on board for when things get busy. I can help with feeding the animals and brushing them down. I’m not completely helpless, you know.”
Caleb snorted, and Liam threw him a warning look over Margot’s shoulder. He brought his focus back to Margot and lowered his voice so Caleb wouldn’t eavesdrop. “Really, you don’t have to?—”
“Let me do this,” she said, as close to pleading as he’d ever heard her get. “It will get me out of the house, and I’ll be able to see Prada more often. It’s a win-win.”
Why would she want to get out of the house? That didn’t matter. What mattered was that Margot had an excuse to come visit.
There was no complaining about that.