Page 14

“Huh. Do they act like wild men?”

“Only when they—never mind. We’re getting off track.”

Dutch tried to hide a snort of laughter in a cough.

Boone glared at him, then continued. “The point is under no circumstances are you to leave the lodge without an escort. Understand?”

She didn’t, but she nodded anyway. It was a wide open space with horses… well, wild Mustangs… and cows… okay, bison… but it wasn’t like she’d go running out there and try to ride one of them.

Grif turned left and all thoughts of over-protective Daddies flew from her mind. They were here. Her heart kicked up a notch or ten. She’d been half looking forward, half dreading this moment. What if Boone’s family didn’t like her?

It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened. Even her own family didn’t like her. Except for her sister, that was. Breezy had always loved her. Everyone else wanted to change her into who they wanted her to be.

The Daniels family was important, and not just to Boone. They were important people to the whole area. According to Dutch, the ranch sent a lot of business to the town and hired many people to work on the ranch. The road they’d turned onto was named Wild River Ranch Road. You didn’t get a road named after you if you weren’t important.

Fluster bunnies thumped their feet against the walls of her stomach. They always attacked at the worst time, like ninja warrior bunnies. Their only goal was to keep her so flustered she made an idiot of herself. That couldn’t happen with Boone’s family.

Half a mile down the road, she forgot about calming the fluster bunnies hopping around in her stomach. One more turn and they were pulling up to a gated entrance. Four short stone columns bracketed the road supporting a wooden beam structure and roof. A solid wood gate slowly opened when Boone hit a button on his phone.

Less than a minute after passing through the gate, they crossed the Wild River. The whitecaps of the rapids on each side of the bridge were beautiful. Scary but beautiful.

The long, straight road led to what Boone called the main house. She sat as close to the edge of her seat as her seatbelt would allow and stared as the house grew closer. It was a massive two-story structure of log and stone. Large windows filled the front of the house. There was a covered overhang gracing the front door.

The fluster bunnies in Tildi's stomach shifted from dancing to practicing their spinning kicks. She was about to meet Boone’s family and throw up right in front of them.

“Babygirl, look at me.” Boone’s voice was tender.

Nope. If she looked at him, she'd cry. She couldn’t do tender right now.

She could barely breathe for fear they weren't going to like her. Traveling six hours without anything longer than bathroom breaks meant their first impression of her would be of a girl with pink hair wearing wrinkled clothes.

Did cowboys like girls with pink hair? Boone liked it, but he was a super commando soldier cowboy. That might make him different. She should have dyed her hair back to some normal color at the hotel last night.

The only thing that could make meeting Boone's family worse would be meeting everyone with a red, puffy face. So, no, she didn't need her Daddy being tender.

Boone grasped her chin in his hand, taking away her choice. “Babygirl, you’ve talked with my family almost every day for the past three weeks. They already know you. They already love you. If you’re worried about anything, be worried about the trouble Kenzie will find for you two to get into.”

She couldn’t hold back a crooked smile because he was not wrong. Boone's sister, Kenzie, was a pistol. She was crazy, and Tildi loved her already.

“Grif, stop the Jeep.” Boone unlatched her seatbelt. “Come with me,” he said as he opened his door.

She started to open her door to get out, but he stopped her. “Not that side. Crawl across the seat and get out over here.”

Why should it matter what side of the Jeep she got out of? Argh!

She crawled to his side, where he made her wait while he helped her put on the new beanie with ears on the top, along with matching new mittens that looked like paws and a bright red parka he’d bought her the day before on the way to Sev’s estate. She felt like a princess.

Teasing her, he pulled her beanie down over her eyes and left it there while he bundled her up in her mittens and coat. Without shifting the beanie, he lifted her from the Jeep. He shut the door then slapped the side of the jeep twice. With a quick wave, Grif drove off toward the house.

She had not been expecting that. “Daddy, why did he leave without us? It’s too cold to walk all the way to the lodge.”

Boone chuckled. “If you think it’s cold today, bluebell, you’re in for a long winter.” He zipped up her coat. “Besides, you seemed to be getting upset and I wanted you to have more time.” He guided her in front of him and put his hands on her shoulders. “And I wanted you to see this.”

With that, he pulled the beanie from over her eyes. Before her, stretching out to the horizon in both directions, were the Grand Teton mountains. Snow covered the entire range, with peeks of the rocky terrain scattered throughout the range. It was a more than perfect backdrop to the white expanse of pastureland overlaid with untouched snow.

Thank goodness he didn’t ask her anything. There was no way she could speak. She’d seen the mountains at a distance from the Jeep before the windows were covered with snow and sludge. That didn’t come close to preparing her for this. There were no words for this.

Boone wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her to rest against him as she continued to take in the vista.