Page 5 of Some Cowboys Fight for Love

Aria’s hand hovered at her throat. She nodded even though her cousin couldn’t see her.

“Can I ask you a favor?” Sophia asked.

Another nod.

“Aria?”

“Yes, of course,” she blurted without thinking. “What do you need? Anything.”

“Daniel isn’t answering my calls.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “Not you too.”

“What?”

She snapped her mouth shut. If Sophia had a crush on Daniel, too, then Aria would let the two sisters fight over the cowboy without her input. “Nothing. What do you need me to tell him?”

“Actually, it’s not something you need to say. We promised him free food. He wouldn’t take payment for helping us out, and it’s the least we could do. Room and board, you know?”

Aria stiffened, then dragged her eyes to Daniel. He couldn’t be that great.Seriously! This guy was starting to sound like a saint. There had to be something wrong with him. “Dinner?”

“Yeah. I don’t want him to forget that we offered. You can’t let him fend for himself, because he will if we let him get away with it. Believe me.”

Aria sighed.

“And you’re the best cook. I’ve always thought you should run a restaurant or something.”

“I’m not that good.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re the best—better than any one of us.” She waited for a moment, and then her tone ticked up a notch. “Please, Aria? Pretty please?”

“Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll do it.”

“You’re the best. Thanks!”

“Yeah, well, I can’t exactly tell you no when you were so willing to head out to Georgia to help my mom and Bella with the parole hearing.”

“What’s family for?”

3

Daniel

He’d have to be clueless not to notice the way Aria and one of the Palmers watched him for most of the afternoon. Didn’t they have anything better to do than gawk at him? Daniel didn’t know what Mateo had his younger siblings doing most of the day, but if it had been Charlie hovering on the porch, Daniel would have made sure she stayed busy.

There was always something to do around a ranch—broken things that needed fixing, peeled paint that needed to be touched up, animals that needed looking after.

But this wasn’t his livelihood.

Mateo could run things the way he saw fit, and Daniel was only going to be here for a week anyway. For the most part, Daniel attempted to ignore the fact that he had an audience. Unfortunately, it was harder than he’d expected.

Aria was part of the Palmer family, but that didn’t mean she was a good person. Anyone who smiled that much was hidingsomething. Based on what he’d walked in on last night, she was dealing with secrets.

But it sounded like she’d been speaking to Sophia. You can’t judge her on one overheard conversation.

It wasn’t the fact that he’d overheard a conversation with Sophia. It was the way her demeanor had shifted. She’d been real and vulnerable with Sophia, but the second she caught sight of him, she changed.

It had been unnerving at best. Anyone who could flip a switch and become a different person couldn’t be trusted. Then she’d brushed off his help with the luggage. Whoever Aria was, she wasn’t someone he wanted to have anything to do with. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have an interest in the horses, and she was staying at the big house.

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