Talking Business

"Bye, Miz Wade." Charlie Prince stopped to give Liana a look as he went out the kitchen door.

"Goodbye, Charlie." Liana was thankful that he didn't linger and try to talk with her. Charlie might be a good foreman, but he made her nervous. He was always looking at her, but only when Ben wasn't around to see. And she didn't want to tell Ben. He liked the job Charlie was doing and he had enough on his plate for right now. She was determined just to put up with it.

Speaking of Ben, he was probably in need of a fresh cup of coffee right about now, she thought to herself. He'd been working all morning and had spent the last hour with Charlie. Liana poured a fresh cup--black, just the way he liked it--and carried it upstairs to his study.

Ben had his computer on and a stack of papers beside it, but he was staring at the TV in the corner of the room when she came in. One of those 24-hour news channels. The anchor was talking about a major bank robbery in some city in the States and a tape of the crime scene was being shown.

Liana put Ben's coffee down on the desk out of reach of his elbow and watched the last few minutes of the tape with him. Then, she leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Miss it?" she asked with a grin.

She'd felt more at ease around him since the New Year's Eve party and the night after it. And he's seemed more at ease with her. There had been some subtle shift in their relationship that night. She wasn't sure what it was or what it meant, but she was enjoying it.

Reaching for the coffee, he grinned back at her. "Just like to keep up with all the mistakes these idiots are makin' out there, darlin'," he drawled. "Most of the people out there robbin' don' know a damned thing about what they're doin'. Any lawman with half a brain could catch 'em!"

"Do you want to go back to it?" she asked him worriedly. Something about that look on his face when he watched things like that...

"Ain't got time for it, honey," he told her, looking back at his computer screen. "Too much to do gettin' this ranch up and runnin'." He put his hand over the one she had placed on his shoulder.

"Speakin' of which- You were sayin' somethin' the other day about lookin' for a job? Well, I got one for you. We're gonna need a website. Think you're up to it?"

"Sure." Liana looked at the windows he had open on the screen which showed the websites of other ranchers and breeders. "Shouldn't be too hard. I'll need to get some good pictures of the ranch and the horses. Get a good idea of exactly what you want out there."

"Good." Ben smiled at her. He'd been wondering what to do to get her mind off this looking for a job. Didn't want her working anywhere but here. There wasn't any need for his wife to work. They had plenty of money and he wanted her where he could keep an eye on her.

"By the way, my business manager called this mornin'. He'll be here any time now. Got an earlier flight than he thought and he was on his way from Coff's Harbour when he called.

"I can't wait to meet him," Liana told him honestly. This was the man that Ben had actually referred to as a friend--the only time she'd ever heard him call any man friend. He was the man who had set up the ranch for them. Had the house and the stables built by the time they arrived.

They spend the next thirty minutes talking about the ranch and the website. While they were arguing good-naturedly over what it should look like, the doorbell rang downstairs. Ben answered the door while Liana went to put his coffee cups in the kitchen.

When she went back to the living room, Ben was talking with a tall man who had a somewhat lanky build. He had very dark hair and, as he turned around, Liana could see that he also had a dark beard. And a slight limp.

"Darlin'." Ben was grinning from ear to ear. I want you to finally meet my business manager. This is Dan. Dan Evans."

"Ma'am." Dan Evans was smiling at her as he held out his hand, but there was a curious look in his eyes.

"No need to call her ma'am, Dan," Ben drawled. "We're all friends here. You can call her Liana. Can't he honey? Or, at the very least, Mrs. Wade."

Liana saw the look in Dan Evans' eyes change from curious to astonished. He moved his gaze from Liana back to Ben, as though he needed to read Ben's lips to be sure he was hearing correctly.

"Mrs. Wade? You married her? You got married, Wade?"