“Ranching is over,” Mary said. “You need to get out now while you still can—”
Liam had heard enough. Had seen enough. Lance and Maya were still dancing, and soon a limousine would carry them back to the Flying W, where they would take up residence in a cabin on the property. Lance Cooper was going to live on his land.
Next pigs would fly.
“You need to make a change. All of you. Get out of this backward town, like I did,” Mary went on.
“I don’t want to get out of this town.”
“You’re not the only one with a say in this.”
He was losing his cool and didn’t want to disrupt the wedding. He needed a way to get his mother off his back—now. When he spotted Tory Cooper—Lance’s sister—several feet away, he bit back a smile. Now there was a way to kill two birds with one stone. He could bait Lance and shut his mother down. He thumped down his champagne flute on a nearby table and headed her way.
“Liam, I’m talking to you!” his mother called after him.
Liam ignored her. He had to, or he’d say something he would regret. Nothing would ever make him give up the Flying W.
He caught up with Tory and touched her arm, hoping his mother would give up and go harass someone else. He didn’t want Tory to know how riled he was, however, so he kept his words light.
“I heard you’re sticking around for a while.” She had been home for only a few weeks, and no one had expected her to stay this long. Liam had always been intrigued by Tory Cooper, even back in high school, but she’d always been off limits due to the longstanding feud between their families. She was dressed in a pretty blue sundress and cowboy boots. The sun had tanned her skin, and her auburn hair hung in loose waves around her face.
Could you still call it a feud when two of his siblings had married two of hers?
Liam wasn’t sure.
She shrugged. “Looks that way.”
“Good,” he managed to answer, although why he felt relieved, he couldn’t say. Tory was nothing to him. Just the proverbial girl next door. “Then you’ll have time for a dance,” he went on. He didn’t wait for an answer. He needed to shake off his mother before she drove him over the edge. Mary had followed him, ready to renew their conversation. He tugged Tory toward the dance floor, catching sight of more than one surprised expression on the faces of the people around them.
“Liam, what the hell are you doing?” Tory hissed. The beautiful redhead tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. He’d apologize later. His mother had stopped pursuing them, but she was standing close by, arms crossed, expression sour.
“Just go along with it,” he hissed back at Tory. “Ouch! Hey!” He jerked away from her. Tory had reached up, pinched his ear and twisted it like a schoolmarm in the old days punishing a recalcitrant child.
She stood with her feet planted wide. “If you’re going to manhandle me, at least give me an explanation.”
Liam corralled her back into his arms and kept moving until they were standing in the middle of the swaying couples. “It’s my mom.”
“Mary?” She glanced over her shoulder, took in Mary’s obvious displeasure and laughed. “What did you do this time? You like making trouble, don’t you?” she added as they began to sway together.
“You don’t know the half of it,” he admitted.
To Liam’s surprise, she allowed him to guide her around the floor, relaxing a little as he did so. A woman he vaguely recognized approached Mary, and his mother was forced to greet her. Liam watched them as he navigated them between the other couples.
“She wants us to sell the Flying W.” Too late he remembered Tory would probably think that was a terrific idea. Lord knew the Coopers hated his family—or they used to.
The whole thing was getting confusing. He’d liked it better when the battle lines were drawn clearly, Turners on one side, Coopers on the other. Now their families were connected twice over.
Unthinkable.
Yet here they were.
“Sell the Flying W? Are you kidding?” Tory asked.
Her shock warmed him. Maybe he should have guessed she’d understand. Tory wasn’t like the other Coopers—
Liam stopped himself. That was wishful thinking. Tory had always caught his eye, but that was just a physical attraction, nothing more. “I know, right?” Now his mother looked concerned. She bent close to the other woman—Leslie Falk, wasn’t it?—and was listening intently.
“If she can’t see that you belong there, then she’s crazy,” Tory said.
He found himself nodding. Funny that Tory got it, considering she’d never cared for Thorn Hill, her family’s spread. When her father had gone to jail thirteen years ago, she’d left for Idaho with her mother and siblings. Enid had dropped her children there with her sister, Joan, and run off with a married man. That hadn’t worked out for Enid, and eventually she’d settled on her own in New Mexico.
Liam knew Tory had left her aunt’s home as soon as she was able. She’d moved to Seattle, become a massage therapist. She’d run her own business. Next she’d put herself through college, and now she was preparing to attend law school. Fancy stuff for a small-town girl. It had always gotten to him how different their families were—and at the same time how alike. Both their mothers had left. Both their fathers had died. Now they were all trying to find their way in a world where it wasn’t easy to make a living.
“How long are you staying?” He needed a return to normal conversation. He’d sort out his mother’s ultimatum later when he was alone. Tory had showed up last month when her older sister,
