He snapped his seat belt closed and cleared his throat. “How does this plane compare to the others you’ve been on?”
She tore her gaze from the tarmac and looked around. “About the same,” she said before finally looking directly at him. “Plush seats. Full kitchen with white marble counters. The ultimate in technology, right down to the WiFi. I assume the sleeping quarters are in the back.”
“Yeah. Feel free to stretch out after we take off.”
She rifled through her bag, took out a magazine and began to flip through the pages. “No, thanks. I’m fine right here.”
All talk ceased as they taxied down the runway, and once they leveled off midair, Houston got up and grabbed a beer from the bar fridge. “Want anything to drink? I make a mean gin and tonic.”
“No, thanks,” she said without looking up.
“Glass of water?”
“No, thanks again.”
Jill seemed bent on ignoring him, and that royally ticked Houston off. He took a swig before settling back in the seat. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
She sent him a fast glance and went back to flipping. “Not today.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
After closing the magazine, she looked at him straight on. “I’m sorry. I’m tired. I didn’t intend to take it out on you.”
He suspected there was more to it than fatigue. “Are you sure something else isn’t bugging you?”
“If you must know, my mother left me a voice mail and I listened to it right before I left the motel room. She reminded me that my sister is getting married next weekend and I’m expected to attend. Sometimes her demands rub me the wrong way.”
Houston decided Ms. Amherst had some serious mama issues. “You don’t sound too excited about the nuptials.”
“I’m not. I’ve never been that close to Pamela. She’d didn’t even invite me to be in the wedding party. But I’m five years older and let’s just say she’s always been the favored child.”
He sensed a sorry story there. “Why is that?”
“Pamela is a conformist. She went to college at my parents’ Ivy League alma mater, and she had the good fortune to find the perfect, wealthy, shallow guy. I’m sure she’ll go on to be surrounded by lots of socialites and have two point five children and a membership to the best country club in the country.”
The resentment in her tone took him aback. “Not your scene, huh?”
“Not hardly. I’m the rebel of the family. I went to school in Sin City and didn’t take the time to meet any guys, let alone get engaged to one.”
That was one helluva bombshell. “You didn’t date a single soul in college?”
“I was focused on my career, although I did consider seeking out a professional poker player just to add fuel to the family fire.”
They both laughed for a few seconds before Houston posed another question to keep the mood light. “Don’t you think bringing home a cowboy would’ve done the same thing?”
She mulled that over for a moment. “I wish I’d thought of that. My mother would have been completely beside herself, but at least she might have stopped trying to set me up with some rich, boring, misogynistic narcissist every time I went home.”
Man, she didn’t mince words. Big words. But he’d started to relate a little more to the always serious athletic trainer. He wasn’t a stranger to complicated family dynamics, and he was curious to confirm if they shared another aspect in their background. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds to me like you come from money.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts and sighed. “Yes. A lot of money. I had a trust fund that I didn’t bother to touch because it came with conditions.”
That explained why she worked her way through school. “Conditions as in Ivy League schools and no cowboys?”
“Exactly.”
A short span of silence passed before Houston decided to end the quiet for a second time. “I’m glad you let me in on the family problems. For a minute there I thought you were mad at me for forcing you onto a plane.”
Her smile came back out of hiding. “You didn’t force me, and no, I’m not mad at you. I am a little mad at myself for not declining the invitation. This could be a total waste of both our time if your brother isn’t interested in hiring me. Provided I actually want the job.”
“Or it could be a win-win situation. You’ll have a better salary and a permanent place to land, and I’ll earn some points with Dallas.”
She frowned. “Are you holding some sort of competition?”
“Yeah. See who can find the prettiest prospective employee.”
“That’s rather sexist, Calloway.”
“I’m kidding, Amherst. Dallas thinks I haven’t been doing enough for Texas Extreme, so I figure finding someone as qualified as you to head the medical team will help prove my worth.”
“Ah. Now I know your true motives. I could be a notch in your bedpost. I meant notch in your belt buckle. Or is it just belt? Never mind.” Her face looked a little flushed. “What is Dallas like?”
“I thought you’d probably met him.”
She shook her head. “No, but I do know his reputation as an all-around champion cowboy.”
“Do you know Austin?”
“Again, only by reputation. I did catch a glimpse of him during the national finals when I was interning, but I never had the chance to meet him.”
“Is that his rodeo reputation or his reputation with the ladies before he got hitched?”
“His rodeo reputation. With you, I’d say both.”
Ouch. “Aw, come on now. I’m not a player.”
She narrowed her eyes and smirked. “That’s not what I’ve heard.”
“You can’t believe everything you hear in the rodeo world. People like to exaggerate.”
“I’m sure.”
He didn’t care for her cynical tone, or that she believed he was some skirt-chasing cowboy. That would be his half brother Worth, and the minute she met him, she might change her tune. Compared to Worth, he’d look like a saint. “To set the record straight, I had a girlfriend for a couple of years.”
She leaned back and crossed her jeans-covered legs. “Really? What happened to the relationship, if you don’t mind my asking?”
He did mind a little bit. “She got tired of me being gone all the time.”
“She wasn’t into rodeo?”
“Nope. She was a city girl from Dallas. She lived in a downtown loft and unfortunately tennis was her sport.”
Her green eyes went wide. “Unfortunately? What’s wrong with tennis?”
Open mouth, insert boot. “I take it you play.”
“Yes, but not much since my boarding school days.”
That nearly shocked him speechless. His family had always been well off, but they’d never shipped him off. “Like a live-in school?”
Jill looked like she wished she could take it back. “Yes. All-girl college prep academy, thanks to my mother’s insistence. I concentrated on my studies, and not on boys.”
He’d begun to wonder if she’d never had any exposure to the opposite sex. Nah. Not possible with