Page 22 of The Cattleman’s Unforgettable Love: Ford and Amelia (MacFarland Ranch #11)

As Ford passed the stalls on the way back up to the house, he only hesitated for a moment before changing direction and going in.

Tanner had told him that he'd asked the hands to keep the Morgan over here for the time being since he was pushed for space in the barn.

Ford wanted to check on the horse, even though he was eager to get back up to the house – to Amelia.

As he approached, the Morgan came and hung his head over the stall door and greeted Ford with a low nicker. That made him smile. "Hey, buddy. It's good to see you too." He rubbed the horse's ears. "How are you settling in? What do you think of your new home?"

The horse nodded as if he understood every word Ford was saying. "You like it then, do you?" As if to answer, the horse rested his chin on Ford's shoulder, making him laugh as he nuzzled his ear with his lips. There was something special about this little guy.

Ford turned guiltily when he heard Ty call, "There you are," and chuckle as he added, "If anyone had told me that I'd catch you canoodling with someone today, I would have guessed it'd be Amelia, not this guy.

Although you are a good one, aren't you?

" he added to the horse as he joined them. "You name him yet?" he asked Ford.

"No, not yet. I asked Amelia if she wants to come up with something for him, but she needs to think about it."

He dropped his gaze when Ty didn't smile. He probably should have just named the horse himself and been done with it.

Ty punched his arm. "Don't look so guilty. I like that you want her to name him. I get it. If I made a face, it's only because I stopped by here to talk to you about her."

"About Amelia?" Ford asked. "Why? What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"Relax. Not the kind of problem you're thinking. I don't have a problem with her. I'm just a little worried."

"About what? Why?"

"Jesus, Ford. Chill out a bit, would you? There's no need to go ripping anyone apart or anything – at least not yet, I don't think."

"For fuck's sake, Ty, would you tell me what you're talking about? What's wrong?"

Ty made a face. "There may be nothing wrong at all. I may be overreacting, but it didn't sit right..."

"What didn't sit right? Just tell me already, would you?"

"I went up to the house just now. Went to deliver tacos for the two of you since I'm not making lunch for everyone today. I figured if I brought you over all the fixings, you can throw those together easy enough for you and Amelia later."

"Thanks. Appreciate it. But tell me what's going on."

"Maybe nothing, but I didn't think, and I let myself in – assuming that you'd be there – and at first I felt bad because I thought I’d scared the life out of her.

But she was on her laptop, and I got the impression that whatever scared her was on there.

She had a message flash up while we were talking, and she looked like she wanted to get rid of me so she could see what it was. "

Ford pursed his lips.

"Maybe it's nothing," said Ty. "But... I don't know. Maybe I'm overreacting, like I said. It's just that I can never shake the memory of those messages that Shay got from that crazy bastard who was stalking her. It's probably nothing like that, but..."

Ford was already heading for the door. "I should go and make sure."

Ty jogged after him. "Maybe you should take a minute before you do. For one thing, she didn't say a word to me, so you can't just go barging in there demanding to know what's going on. And for another thing..." The way he said that last part made Ford pause.

"For another thing, what?"

Ty made a face. "Just because I jumped to conclusions about it maybe being a stalker, it could be..."

"Spit it out," said Ford. "You're thinking there's something else, so tell me what it is."

Ty blew out a sigh. "Maybe it's another guy. That's what I was thinking. If she's talking to some other guy, then she might look uncomfortable if I walked in on her, you know?"

Ford nodded slowly. That possibility hadn't occurred to him – he'd been too concerned that there might be something more sinister going on.

"Shit. I'm sorry," said Ty. "It might not be either of those. I might just be imagining things. She might be fine..."

"Yeah." Ford started walking toward the house again, more slowly this time. "She might be fine, and she knows how to handle herself. But I'm going to get back up there and make sure."

"Okay. Let me know how you get on," asked Ty.

"Sure. You should get back to Shay. Hope you guys enjoy your ride."

"We will, but I'm serious, Ford. Text me or something later. Let me know what the deal is."

Ford had to smile, even though his heart was pounding. Whatever was going on with Amelia, it felt good to know that Ty wanted to look out for him. "Sure thing, squirt. I'll talk to you later."

Ty gave him a rueful smile. "If you don't call me, I'll call you. Oh, and the smallest Tupperware tub in the fridge with your taco fixings – there's chopped onions and cilantro in there – I did them for you because I know you wouldn't bother to chop them up yourself – heathen."

"Thanks."

"Yeah. Talk to you later. Hope she's okay – and if she's got anything going on that she needs help with..."

Ford nodded. "Thanks, Ty."

He knew he could count on Ty to help if Amelia needed it – but he didn't know if there'd be any help for him if Amelia had another guy she was talking to – maybe seeing.

It shouldn't be a problem – all they'd shared were a couple dances and a couple kisses – but.

.. He turned to look up at the house, walking more slowly now.

He'd lived through his share of disappointments in life; he just wasn't ready for Amelia to turn out to be one of them.

~ ~ ~

When the door closed behind Ty, Amelia wanted to get straight back to her laptop, but she forced herself to stand at the door and watch him go.

It was obvious that he had wondered what was going on.

He'd seemed concerned, but from the way she'd brushed him off, she wouldn't blame him one bit if he'd thought she was trying to hide something.

Well, she was trying to hide something. She just didn't want him to think that she was talking to another guy online.

She blew out a sigh as she watched him walk straight past his truck and carry on down the path toward the stalls.

If she were a betting woman, she'd put money on him heading down there to tell Ford that she was acting all suspicious.

She let out a short laugh, promising herself that when Ford came up to the house, she'd tell him exactly what was going on.

She had nothing to hide. Whoever this Hunter person was, she wasn't worried.

She doubted that they were an old friend of Danny's, but if they were, they'd no doubt be after money.

She was more concerned that it might be someone trying to hunt her down and that they'd somehow uncovered her family history.

Once she was sure that Ty wasn't going to turn around and come back, she hurried over to her laptop and opened the screen again.

Rootless2: Do you know who Natalie is?

She stared at the question for a long time. She didn't remember Danny ever dating someone called Natalie. Eventually, she tapped out:

Subroutine: No.

Then she waited, not really expecting an answer since she'd been distracted for so long that Rootless2 had probably given up waiting for her. But no... She watched the new message come in.

Rootless2: Did you know Crystal?

Subroutine: I did.

As soon as she'd typed those two words, Amelia's breath caught in her chest. Why were they talking about Crystal in the past tense? Perhaps she'd simply answered that way because the question had been framed that way, but then why was that?

She couldn't resist. She had to ask.

Subroutine: What do you mean – did?

She watched the screen, waiting for the reply to come in, but as the moments started to drag on, her fingers started to move.

It felt as though her brain was finally coming back online.

She might have been knocked off course temporarily by Rootless2's supposed connection to Danny, and then by Ty's visit, but she was more than capable of getting herself back on track.

The TangentOps forum was supposed to be secure, and perhaps for the majority, it was. It was hosted by some of the most brilliant minds in the business, but then it was also frequented by a few notorious names in the cybersecurity world – Amelia being one of them.

She pulled up her toolkit and got to work.

IP traces, metadata analysis, username cross-referencing across platforms – she ran them all simultaneously.

The TangentOps forum might be secure for most users, but she wasn't most users.

If Hunter wanted to play games with questions about Danny and Crystal, she'd find out exactly who he was and where he was connecting from.

By the time her screen was dotted with half a dozen small windows, she started to feel a little more relaxed – back in familiar territory.

She narrowed her eyes at the window she'd moved to the top left corner of the screen and the open chat.

There was no reply yet. Perhaps he was good and had already realized she was running a trace and was busy closing back doors behind himself.

Her eyes scanned the other screens. She was surprised that as of yet, nothing was blocked.

Her fingers froze midair when the reply appeared in the chat window. Just two words, but they hit her like a physical blow.

Rootless2: Crystal died.

She stared at the words, her feelings an echo of what they'd been the day she got the call about Danny.

Her mind could do the logic – it wasn't difficult.

They were addicts. Addicts had a tendency to die young.

But knowing the logic didn't do anything to ease the pain.

Just because the head knew didn't mean the heart wouldn't break.

Her eyes pricked with tears and her hand came up to cover her mouth.