Page 22 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

“You found us,” Cayden said, keeping his smile in place. “Lawrence has told me so much about you. Let me show you where we’ll be.” He offered the woman his arm, and she glanced down at it. Then she turned and took it, allowing him to lead her toward the hallway.

He glanced over his shoulder to his brother, a quizzical look on his face. Lawrence just stood there, his chest heaving and a frown marring his eyebrows.

6

Lawrence Chappell didn’t know how to walk down the hall and enter the conference room. He couldn’t get his lungs to stop heaving, and he couldn’t believe Cayden had charmed the woman so easily.

Everything came so naturally to Cayden, and Lawrence once again had the feeling that he shouldn’t be in this building today. His brother should ask someone else to help with this event. The problem was, there was no one else. Trey was splitting his time between Bluegrass and his new ranch, The Triple T.

Spur did enough around the ranch. Blaine worked in the fields and with their pregnant mares until darkness stole the light from the day. He had to make plenty of phone calls already, and he couldn’t take on more public relations than he currently did.

Ian, Conrad, and Duke worked with their horses, keeping notes and aligning columns with letters Lawrence didn’t understand. That left Cayden and Lawrence, and he finally drew in a breath that didn’t shake in his chest.

Not a moment later, the door opened and a man walked in. He took off his sunglasses, his smile wide. Another man followed him, and they both wore white shirts, ties, and slacks. No cowboy boots or hats in sight. More marketing professionals, but not a sassy woman getting right in his face for not telling her how far away Bluegrass Ranch was.

He’d blinked and said,You got here on time, so you must’ve seen how far it was.

He didn’t know where she lived, besides.Shouldn’t have added that bit, he thought. “Good morning,” he said, mimicking Cayden. He extended his hand toward the two gentlemen, and they frowned too.

Lawrence’s confidence took a dive. Did he have something stuck to his face? He coached himself not to reach up and check.

“Are we not seeing Cayden this morning?” one man asked as he reached to shake Lawrence’s hand.

“You are,” he said, refusing to let his smile slip even a millimeter. “He’s just down the hall. I’m his brother, Lawrence. I’ll be working this project with everyone.” He shook the other man’s hand. “You must be Tim.”

“I’m Tim,” the first man said. “This is my assistant, Darren.”

“Nice to meet you both.” Lawrence faced the hall, ready for this meeting to be over already. Maybe he and Cayden could switch firms, and he could deal with Mariah and Lawrence would deal with Tim and Darren.

Even as he thought it, he knew Cayden wouldn’t agree to it. He’d been working with Tim at Layered Approach for years, and the two of them knew how the other worked. That was all he needed to do with Mariah—figure out how she worked. Then he could play to her strengths and not get in petty arguments about the distance from her house to Bluegrass Ranch.

He reached the conference room door, where Cayden was laughing with Mariah. He stood to the side so Tim and Darren could enter first, and Cayden practically roared he was so excited to see the two men.

Lawrence slipped into the room last, looking straight at Mariah. She didn’t flick her eyes in his direction at all, and his heart pounded with nerves. She was a beautiful woman, and if Lawrence had seen her at church or the grocery store, he’d have been interested.

Today was the first day he’d met her face-to-face, and he could admit she was pretty with that blonde hair that barely kissed her shoulder blades. She had dark eyes, though, with dark eyebrows that made him think her hair color came from a bottle. He didn’t care about that, because she wore the blonde well. It had some darker streaks in it, and she wore a navy blue blazer with a white blouse underneath it that had little sparks of color on it. Her skirt hugged her hips and then flared to her knees in waves of pleats, and it was the color of ripe peaches.

She finally glanced at him, and Lawrence felt the weight of Cayden’s glance too. Lawrence swallowed his pride and his nerves and stepped over to Mariah. “Can I speak to you for a moment, please?”

“Very well,” she said, darting away from him as she left her stacked folders on the table and headed for the door.

He waited for her to leave the room, and then he followed her. He brought the door closed behind him and took a deep breath. “I apologize,” he said, employing his most professional voice. It wasn’t anywhere near Cayden’s, but it would have to do. “I apologize that you had to drive for forty-five minutes to get here. I didn’t realize our venue was so far out of your way. Next time, I will come to you with anything we need to discuss.”

Mariah’s eyes blazed with displeasure for the first half of his speech, but by the end, she looked ashamed. “You don’t need to apologize,” she said. “I’ve had a rough morning already, and I just took it out on you. It’s my fault. I apologize.”

Lawrence suddenly wanted to know more about her rough morning. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Only if you can make my boss less of a chauvinist.” She sucked in a breath; her eyes widened; she clapped her hand over her mouth.

Lawrence searched her face, then burst out laughing. He wasn’t sure what he found funny. Her statement or her reaction to what had come out of her mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice made mostly of breath. “Please don’t repeat that to anyone.”

“I won’t,” he said between his chuckles.

Mariah spun away from him and strode away, breaking into a jog by the end of the hallway.

“Wait,” Lawrence called, wondering what had just happened.

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