Page 11 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

“I guess they think it’s worth the risk,” Luke said, totally unfazed by her warnings.“And you seemed like a risk-taker.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“You picked up a strange man and took him home.”

“I don’t think you’re all that dangerous,” she retorted.

“Or am I?”he asked, giving her a smoldering look that sent a shiver up her spine and made her heart race.It was like he suddenly flipped his sexuality switch to full volume.

Hallie quickly fixed her eyes back on the road and didn’t reply.Luke started playing with his phone, seeing as how she was ignoring him.

It was easy enough to avoid looking at him, and by the time they arrived at the Thompson ranch, she had her pulse under control.She could sense Luke’s self-satisfied vibe the whole way even without having to look at him.

“I just arranged to have some of my stuff delivered to your ranch,” he said just as Hallie turned off the engine.“There’s an app, where you can get things moved.”

“Great, so you’ll be staying a while,” Hallie said, smiling politely.She wasn’t ready to decide how to deal with him yet, and she wanted to focus on the purchase.

It was nice to be able to leave the truck and take in a new setting: this ranch was extensive with several barns and silos.

Mr.Thompson came out to greet her, not showing any surprise that it was the younger daughter this time.He was probably used to dealing with Terry.

“Nice to see you, Hallie,” he said, greeting her with a hug, “Your mama told me you were coming today.”

“Nice to see you too, Mr.Thompson,” she replied.

He turned to Luke next.“Hi, Jake Thompson.”

“Lucas Lorenzen.You can call me Luke.”He gave Mr.Thompson a firm handshake.

“Luke’s a guest at the ranch,” Hallie hurried to explain.

“Any friend of the Mathews family is a friend of mine,” said Jake.“Come on, I’ll show you our prime beef cows.”

The cows were already gathered into an enclosure, where Hallie could easily see that they had a nice sturdy build.They came towards her as she approached.

“Those are some fine-looking cows,” she said.

“Take your time,” Jake suggested, “I’ll be around if you have any questions.”

Without thinking, Hallie turned to Luke and mouthed, “I’m taking them!”

Luckily, Luke was back to normal and not trying to use bedroom eyes on her again.He smiled with genuine warmth.“It seems you like them.”

“And what do you think, being an expert yourself?”

“Oh, yes, definitely a herd of prime cows,” Luke said, nodding, but he was obviously being goofy.

Hallie took a closer look, but there was nothing wrong with the cows that she could find.They all looked beautiful and healthy.She arranged to have twenty of them delivered to the ranch next week.

On the drive back, she didn’t even mind Luke flirting again because she was so proud of herself making her first independent purchase.Maybe having Luke stick around was a good idea.Her mama already had more faith in her.

But there was one thing that was bothering her.Luke apparently didn’t remember agreeing to be a pretend boyfriend, or maybe it was a case of selective memory.

Either way, she had to set him straight.

“We need to talk about something,” Hallie said when the truck stopped in front of the ranch house.

“Already ‘we need to talk’?”he asked, grimacing to show his apprehension.