Page 114 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

She brought her hand up to cover her eyes. "I know. And I also said that I don't do well with them. I think Natalie's already proved I was right about that."

"Just give it time. It'll be okay," he assured her. He tucked his fingers under her chin and made her look up at him. "Let's work through it logically, why don’t we?"

She nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"We've already established that I love you." Just hearing the words made her feel better – like this might all be possible.

She nodded. "And I love you, too."

He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "I know. We thought it was too soon to talk about it before, but now our hand is being forced, and I don't have a problem with that. So, is it safe to say that I already kind of asked you to live with me, and you said yes?"

She pressed her lips together. "I guess it is, isn't it?"

Any hesitation she felt melted away in the face of his smile and the way the lines around his eyes crinkled as he said, "I was hoping so." Then he continued, "Now that we've established that we love each other, we live together, and all of a sudden, you have a niece and nephew who have no other living relatives and need a place to live…"

She nodded slowly.

"You can see where I'm going with this, right?" he asked. "When you lay it out logically, there's no reason at all that not only should they live with us but that we should figure out how to be a family – is there?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. But isn't love and family about more than logic?"

A deep chuckle rumbled up from his chest. "Oh, hell, yeah, it is. This will probably be the last time that logic has anything to do with it. It'll get hard, Lil’ Bit. Don't doubt it. There'll be rough patches, and there'll be times when we both wonder what the hell we got ourselves into. And that's why I'm trying to lay down the logic for you now. I know you don't need to hear it before you take them on, but I need you to understand it from my point of view, too. I want to take them on; I want to take you on. It's fast and it's unexpected, but that doesn't mean it's crazy or that it's the wrong thing to do, because it isn't. I'm telling you that for me, I know what I’m getting myself into and this is what I want." He leaned back a little. "So, I guess the ball’s in your court now."

She reached up to run her hand over his cheek, loving the soft fuzz of what was now a beard. "Well, you were right that I love you. And I don't mind telling you that through most of yesterday, all I could think was that I couldn't do it without you – I mean I would have, if I had to, but I wouldn't want to. So, yes, please. If you want to do this with me," she pressed a kiss to his lips, "there's nothing I want more."

"Okay, then. Well, I guess the first step is that we start the day."

As relieved as she felt that they'd brought everything out in the open, his words brought all the problems crashing back down on her. "But there's so much we need to do," she said. "I mean, you should be at work by now, shouldn't you? I have work too, but I know Cash will be able to do without me. And Cash... I mean, he said that he'll figure things out with the authorities in Florida. But maybe we're criminals now. I mean, when you think about it, we really did abduct them. I know there were cameras at that airport. I..."

"Just breathe," said Ford. "Trip told you on the jet last night that he and Travis talked to Mrs. Sanchez. Travis can charm the birds out of the trees, and Trip’s the kind of guy who everyone likes and trusts. He has this air of quiet authority about him. I'm sure Mrs. Sanchez isn’t setting off alarms. And Trip did say he'd talk to Shelley, since she used to be a lawyer. And Ace said he'd get Ari to give you a call this morning. She used to be a divorce lawyer, so I'm sure she knows a bit about family law. I don't imagine that sorting the whole thing out will be quick and easy, but I know for sure that with Cash on the case, it's not going to blow up in our faces. You know what he's like."

She did. She'd seen that man smooth over situations that could have become major international incidents. He could make legal issues disappear like a rabbit into a hat.

She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, thank you. I think I've stopped panicking now."

He smiled. "You weren't panicking – there's just a lot to take in and a lot to figure out."

She nodded. "So, where do we start?"

He leaned in to kiss her. "Well, like I said, it's a new day. Nat and Hunter will be awake soon, if they're not already. So, I guess if we're going to take this one step at a time, we start with breakfast."

She chuckled. "You're good at this, aren't you?"

When he grinned and said, "I'm going to work my ass off to make sure that I am," something inside her settled, and she started to believe that it might all work out.

~ ~ ~

Ford stood with his hands on his hips, observing the scene in the kitchen. They weren't exactly off to a great start. Amelia looked nervous as she picked at her pancake. Nat slumped sullenly in her chair, having refused to eat anything at all. Hunter had eaten two eggs and a whole pile of bacon before starting to work his way through the stack of pancakes that Ford had over-optimistically piled on a plate in the center of the table. The kid was going to need a shower anyway, by the look of him, but with the amount of syrup he was using, he'd probably need hosing off in the yard.

The trouble was, the little guy was getting that greenish look about him, and Ford had a feeling he knew what was coming.

Amelia turned to Nat. "If you're not hungry, do you want to take a shower?" she asked.

Ford hated the way that Nat glowered at her. He knew that it’d take some time, but he also knew that her hostility was tearing Amelia up.

"You want me to take a shower and put these clothes back on?" Nat asked.

Amelia sat up a little straighter. "No, you can wear my things for now. If you like, we can go up to town this morning. We'll get you new clothes, both of you."

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