Page 54 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

He nodded. "I did. He didn't say that he knew Danny. He said he was someone who Danny knew."

She frowned. "There's a difference, isn't there?"

"There is."

"But do you know what the difference means?"

He shook his head slowly. He didn't know, not for sure, but the feeling that he did was growing stronger.

She closed the laptop decisively. "I could spend the afternoon trying to figure it out, but I'll be back at work tomorrow, and so will you. I'd rather spend the afternoon hanging out together – if you want to."

He smiled. "I'd be happy to. We can do whatever you like. I'll take you to town, give you your first riding lesson if you want one, or... what do you want to do?"

She got to her feet and offered him her hand. He allowed her to haul him up and had to smile when she said, "Well, you just learned a lot more about my life. How about you show me more of yours? Want to introduce me to the cows and teach me how this place works?"

"If you want to learn, I'll be happy to."

Chapter Twelve

Amelia climbed out of the vehicle and turned around in a circle, taking in the amazing views. Ford came to stand beside her with a smile on his face.

"Wow. It's so beautiful," she exclaimed.

"Isn't it?" he agreed. "I haven't been up here in a while, but this may just be my favorite place on Earth."

"I can see why." She pointed to where she could see the ranch in the distance. "And all this land between here and there belongs to you?" she asked.

"To the ranch, to the family," he said. "Yeah, I know it looks like it from up here, but we don't own the whole valley or anything."

She smiled. "I know that much, but I had no idea that it was this big." She looked around again. "And what did you say it's called up here? Where the cows come on their summer vacation?"

She burst out laughing at the look on his face. "I'm teasing you, Ford," she told him. "I might not know anything about the cattle business, but I like to think that I'm a reasonably intelligent human being."

He narrowed his eyes at her but couldn't hide his smile. "You got me with that one," he told her. "And I wasn't thinking that you were stupid. It'd be reasonable for anyone to relate something that they know nothing about back to familiar concepts from their own lives. And in a way, I guess this is like a summer vacation for the cattle." He shook his head at her. "But we call it summer pasture."

"That was it," she said. "I just couldn't remember the words."

She turned to look out at the view again. The mountains seemed to stand like guardians over the valley, with the river a ribbon of silver that flowed through the center. She could see why Ford liked it up here so much.

He’d driven her all around the ranch in the side-by-side – that's what he'd called the vehicle they were riding in. She glanced back at it. It was kind of cool.

He followed her gaze with a smile. "Do you want to drive it back?" he asked.

She grinned. "Would that be okay? I'd love to give it a go. I think I might turn out to be more competent at that than at riding a horse."

He'd offered to give her her first riding lesson this afternoon, but when she'd seen a bunch of the hands hanging around near the round pen, she'd opted to take him up on the offer of a tour of the ranch instead. She didn't mind the hands – they seemed like nice enough guys – but she'd never been comfortable learning something new in front of people. Obviously, she'd be okay with Ford watching. He'd have to watch if he was going to teach her, but not a bunch of strangers.

"I think you'll do fine at both," he told her. "The side-by-side’s easy enough to drive," he chuckled as he added, "and it has a roll bar."

She cocked her head at him. "I'll have you know that I've taken both defensive and evasive driving classes in my time."

"Sorry. I didn't mean... I was only messing around with you."

She went to him and touched his arm. "I know. It's okay. I'm guessing that you'd tease any of your siblings in the same way, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, it's what we do," he told her.

"Then I'm glad that you're treating me the same way you would them – no matter which way you explain it, I'm not offended."

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