Page 13 of The Rancher's Second-Choice Wife

Oh no.

The next twenty minutes seemed to last forever, and Heather quickly called for a cabin boy as soon as she saw Poppy untie the barber cape layered over Valerian's broad shoulders. "Could you escort Ms. Cortez to the saloon below?" She mustered a smile for Poppy, saying, "I'll join you in a bit."

Heather waited until she was alone with Valerian before confronting him. "You know. Don't you?"

Valerian's face turned expressionless, but this didn't fool her at all.

"I saw the look on your face. How long have you—-"

"From the start."

Heather's jaw dropped. "And you're okay with it?" The Valerian she knew would've gotten rid of Poppy right away, if only to avoid unnecessary complications.

"Don't look so surprised. You knew from the start as well, but you've also let her stay, and likely for the same reasons I have."

"Then..." Heather needed to spell this one out, for Poppy's sake. "You also believe she won't ever cross the line?"

"She's too nice to ever do so."

The casual indifference in Valerian's tone suddenly made Heather feel guilty. While keeping Poppy on their payroll saved her from worrying about Valerian's safety, the same thing likely made it more difficult for the other girl to get over the billionaire.

Was it time to let Poppy go?

Chapter Six

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"REGARDE, MON AMOUR," Camelia purred with vicious delight as she untangled herself from her boyfriend.

Valerian's lips tightened when he saw where - or rather who - his lover was staring at.

Fuck, he knew it.

Camelia had been so insistent that he stick with his usual schedule for getting his hair trimmed. It had seemed a harmless thing to do, not to mention how his girlfriend's argument had also made sense.

You always say you hate wasting time, and it was my decision to host this party. I'll reserve one of the poolside cabanas for your use. I'm sure our guests won't mind if you're gone for half an hour or less.

But looking at Poppy now, he realized too late that he was wrong.

Why, dammit?

She had been working for him for over eight months now. He had taken care not to exchange more than a few words with her, and Heather herself had told him Poppy was very much aware of his relationship with Camelia.

So why, dammit?

Why was she still not over her crush on him?

Camelia waved at Poppy with feigned warmth. "Over here, darling." She watched the girl walk toward them with a fake smile. So pathetic. Not only was the idiot bad at hiding her infatuation, but the girl was also incapable of masking her pain.

"You can set up over there." Camelia pointed to the poolside cabana she had reserved for their use. She turned to Valerian and nearly grimaced at the steely expression on his face. Ugh. He was obviously bothered by how the girl felt about him. She had such high hopes for Valerian when she first went to bed with him. She had thought his conscience would eventually die a quick death, but even after all these years, he was still so tediously honorable.

Camelia cupped the billionaire's chin and guided his gaze back to her. "We have work to do, remember? Now is not the time to be bothered by your vilain petit canard."

The words translated to 'ugly little duckling' in French, and Camelia rolled her eyes when she saw how the term had anger flashing in the billionaire's eyes.

"Will you just chill? You know I was simply joking—-"

"I do not take kindly to anyone disrespecting my staff," Valerian snapped in French.

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