Page 33 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love

Luke was not usually intimidated by sheer size, being pretty tall himself, but these guys looked strong and massive.Everything really was bigger in Texas.

“I just want you to understand,” Luke replied, “I don’t take kindly to being threatened.”

“It’s not a threat,” Travis said, “It’s a certainty.If you don’t treat her right, you’ll have to answer to us.”

This was like something straight out of an old movie.Luke had never heard anyone talk to him like that before.It was shocking, but strangely refreshing.

After all, he had been trying to take a break from being a prince, and this was just perfect.

“If you mean you’re going to try to beat me up,” Luke said, keeping a straight posture with his head held high, despite the men crowding in on him.“I’d say it’s far from certainty and more like a very faint possibility.”

“I’ve beat up guys much stronger than you,” Travis said.

“Hey, Travis,” Rob cautioned, “This is not about who’s stronger.This is about Hallie.”

“What happens between me and Hallie is my business,” Luke said, glaring at the menacing bull rider.

“Hey relax,” Perry said, “I’m sure you realize that Hallie’s a very special girl.”

“I agree with you there,” Luke said, thinking that the amount of confusion and annoyance she caused was certainly special.“She’s one of a kind.”

“And she hasn’t had an easy time with dating,” Rob added, “She hasn’t had a lot of happy relationships.”

“I’ll do whatever I can to make her happy,” Luke said.“Because Iwantto.”And to make sure she doesn’t kick me out of the ranch, he thought to himself.He was walking a fine line between pissing her off and keeping her interested, but he was pretty confident Hallie wouldn’t kick him out unless he did something truly horrendous.

“Hey, I like you,” Travis said, “you’ve got a bit of an attitude.Come on, let’s have a beer.”

Luke smiled.He was getting along with people in Texas, even if a certain woman didn’t seem to care for him.

Chapter 16: Were They Serious?

Hallie danced withher friends from school while catching sight of Luke once in a while with the corner of her eye.

He was at the bar, drinking with Rob and a bunch of other guys.Although their talk seemed to have started out on a serious note, they were soon all laughing and slapping each other on the back in a friendly and relaxed way.It had to be Luke working his charm again.

What was it about him?He seemed to cast some kind of magic spell over everyone.