Page 111 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

He went to sit by Natalie and had to smile when she closed her eyes.

"I'll go away again if you want to pretend to be asleep.”

Her eyes opened, and she looked him over cautiously. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I'm just checking in, seeing if there's anything you want."

"Why does it matter what I want? It's not like you're going to turn the plane around if I say that's what I want, is it?"

He shook his head slowly. "No." He pressed his fingertips to his temples, wondering how best to approach this. Eventually he met her gaze and said, "But I don't think that really is what you want, is it?"

She shrugged.

"You want to look after Hunter, right?"

She nodded.

"And you were on your way to spring him from that house where he was staying, weren't you?"

She nodded again.

"And what was the plan from there? Were you going to bring him back to the airport with you?"

She blew out a sigh. "I thought the airport was a good place."

Ford nodded. "I'd have to agree with that."

She looked surprised and continued as if she still needed to defend the idea. "If you think about it, there are bathrooms. It's air conditioned, and the rain can't get in. There are hundreds of kids wandering around, coming and going from their vacations." She dropped her gaze before meeting his again as she added, "And there's plenty of food."

She was obviously judging how he'd react to that last part. He hated that she thought he might be mad at her for needing to steal food.

He gave her a half smile. "I'd have to say that you're far smarter than most people twice your age to even think of going there."

She seemed to relax slightly, and he saw her smile for the first time when she said, "Mom told me it was something Dad used to do when he didn't have anywhere else to go." Her smile vanished and she shot a venomous look at Amelia and added, "After his family disowned him."

Ford closed his eyes. It was easy to see how it must look to Natalie.

"She loved your dad very much, you know."

Natalie scowled and crossed her arms over her chest again. "If she loved him so much, why did she never see him? Why did she disown him?"

"She didn't disown him. What do you know about your dad?"

Ford didn't want to tell her that Amelia had taken him to rehab multiple times and had tried for years to get him cleaned up before she eventually cut him off.

Natalie made a face. "I know he was an addict. So was my mom. That doesn't make them bad people, you know."

"I know. But it does make it hard to help them." He met her gaze. "I bet you know what I mean, don't you?"

She turned away, and Ford didn't want to imagine what she was thinking – how a girl in her situation might have had to help her addict parents over the years.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway," Natalie said. "They're dead."

"And I'm sorry," said Ford. "Now, you're all that Hunter has, and you want to do your best for him. I get that, believe me, I do. But as smart as you are, you're only 13, right?"

She nodded.

"You need family to take care of you both. And now – even though you have some past history to work out between you – you have family. You have Amelia... and you have me. You have the rest of these guys – Wade, Ty, and Cash are my brothers. You'll meet two more brothers and two sisters when we get back to the ranch. You have a whole lot of family available to you now."

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