Page 39 of The Cattleman’s Unforgettable Love: Ford and Amelia (MacFarland Ranch #11)

Amelia had lost all track of time on Friday afternoon.

She'd been working on an op with Blane, tracking a group of extremely undesirable individuals.

Her part was done. Now she was just waiting to hear back from him and keeping her fingers crossed that he'd be able to tell her that his team had taken them down.

She was glad that she'd been able to put it out of her mind until now, but –

"Hey, Amelia, darlin', I'm going to take off, and I think you should, too."

She spun her chair around to see Cash standing in the doorway and checked her watch. "Wow. I didn't realize it was that time already. Are you going to need anything while you're gone, or...?"

He chuckled. "What I need you to do is forget all about me and enjoy your weekend with Ford, okay?

In fact, why don't you pack up, too? I don't know what time he'll finish, but if you're not there when he does, he'll no doubt find something else to get into while he waits, and then you guys might not make it to the bakery.

So go on, pack your gear up, and we'll both get out of here. What do you say?"

She looked from him to her screen and back again, then nodded. "Yeah, okay, I'll do that."

"It's killing me not to ask how things went between you yesterday, but I won't. The fact that you're not arguing with me tells me all I need to know."

She got to her feet and went to give him a hug.

"Thanks, Cash. I think you already know that I'm not going to go spilling all the details of what goes on between us, but thanks for listening to me yesterday.

And I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I will – Ford said he was glad that I'd talked to you. "

The way he smiled made her glad that she'd shared that bit of information, although, like she'd said, she didn't intend to share with him in the future.

He hugged her tight before letting her go. "That means more to me than you know, honey. But go on, grab your gear, and let's hit the road."

After he'd locked up the house, she climbed into her car and followed his black Suburban down the track that led back to the main house. She was surprised to see a group of people standing at the side of the house. Her phone rang and Cash's name appeared on the screen. She hit the button to answer.

"Can you spare a minute to stop and say hi?" he asked. "Shelley and Harper have both asked about you. I know they want to thank you for last weekend."

Amelia made a face, glad that he couldn't see her.

He chuckled. "I know what you're thinking, but I promise you I won't let them keep you more than a couple minutes, okay?"

"Okay, but I'm really not going to stop for long."

"I know. I'll get you out of there, but I think they need it."

She could see that; she knew how it went. She'd been instrumental in a lot of rescue operations over the years, and she knew that whenever they could, people liked to be able to thank her in person. And as uncomfortable as it made her, it was worth it for their sake.

She brought her car to a stop in the shadow of Cash's Suburban and watched him jump out.

She had to smile at the way the two women greeted him.

As she climbed out of her car, he leaned in to kiss Shelley's cheek, and by the time Amelia reached them, Harper was saying something about him being a charming devil – and she wasn't wrong about that.

Shelley turned to greet her with a smile but didn't get the chance to speak before Harper said, "There you are, Amelia. I've been hoping to catch you. I want to thank you."

"We both do," said Shelley.

Harper slapped Cash's arm as she added, "I've seen you both coming and going, but I know no one's supposed to know that tall, dark, and rugged here is staying on the ranch. I didn't know if you were sworn to secrecy, so I didn't like to..."

Amelia shot Cash a meaningful glance. "I'm not even sure myself anymore," she said. "I know I was supposed to be sworn to secrecy in the beginning, but..."

"And you still are, darlin'," said Cash. "I don't mind you ladies knowing that I'm here." He made a face at Harper. "I don't think anyone's ever been able to keep anything a secret from you, have they?"

Harper raised her eyebrows. "I hope you're saying that I'm an astute and observant lady and not implying that I'm nosy," she said.

Cash just laughed. "I'll plead the Fifth on that one. But listen, ladies, we need to get going. We just couldn't drive on by without saying hello."

"Are you in a hurry to get to the bakery this afternoon?" Harper asked.

Cash glanced at Amelia before he said, "I'm not. I'm on my way to the airport. I'm out of town this weekend."

Harper turned to Amelia. "And what about you? Will we see you there?"

"I think so," she said.

"Well, we'd better let you get going," said Shelley. "We don't want to hold you up. Are you going to stop in to see us on your way back on Sunday?" she asked Cash. “Trip said you might.”

"That's the plan, honey."

She smiled at Amelia. "I hope you will come to the bakery, and if you do, whatever you want is on me. I'll never be able to repay you for what you did, and I know coffee and pastries won't even begin to make a dent in what I owe you, but..."

"That's okay. You don't owe me anything," she said.

Harper nodded vigorously. "Yes, we do, young lady, and like it or not, we're going to be doing whatever we can to pay you back. And if ever you need anything, you absolutely must let us know, okay?"

Amelia nodded.

Cash chuckled. "Okay, ladies, we're out of here."

With that, he climbed back into his SUV, and Amelia followed him, relieved when she could get back into her car.

Before she pulled away, Harper came and tapped on the window.

When she let it down, Harper said, "I promise I won't be a pain, but I meant what I said.

If you need anything at all, you let me know, please? "

There was something so genuine in her eyes as she spoke that Amelia smiled. "Thank you."

Harper straightened up. "Okay, well, I hope I've not made too much of a nuisance of myself. I just needed you to know."

"And now I do, and I appreciate it. Thanks."

Harper chuckled. "But not as much as you'll appreciate me letting you get on your way."

Amelia chuckled with her as she nodded but didn't want to agree.

Shelley came to stand beside Harper. "I hope we'll see you later," she said.

"You will," Amelia confirmed. She didn't normally like to make a verbal commitment, even about something she already knew she was going to do, but there was something about these two women – she liked them.

And if she was going to get to know more people here in the valley, Shelley and Harper wouldn't be a bad place to start.

~ ~ ~

Ford checked his watch. It wasn't three o’clock yet, but if he was going to knock off early, he'd better go now.

Amelia had said that she'd be back before three-thirty, and he wanted to be ready and waiting to go when she got here.

If he didn't run back up to the house, he'd no doubt get roped into something else, and that was the last thing he wanted – he didn't want to let her down, and he didn't want to be mad at the hands for holding him up.

He scowled when he spotted Boone striding toward him across the yard.

"What do you need?" he asked curtly, then felt bad when Boone chuckled.

"I was coming to ask you the same thing. Do you need something down here? Is that why you're still hanging around when you should be back at the house by now?"

Ford gave him a rueful smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I was about to head up there, then when I saw you coming..."

Boone met his gaze and held it. "You know, I hope one day you'll learn to trust that I can handle things around here and start taking a bit more time for yourself. I mean, after all these years..."

Ford blew out a sigh. "Dammit, Boone. It's not that I don't trust you. You don't really think that, do you?"

Boone shrugged. "I don't want to, and on some level, I know that it's just who you are; you need to be in control.

But now that Amelia's around, I feel like you're going to have more demands on your time.

Not saying that she's demanding, but you know what I mean.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that I want you to be able to depend on me so that you can start enjoying life – a life that doesn't revolve completely around the herd. "

Ford wanted to protest that his life didn't revolve completely around the herd. But he didn't say anything – in a way, Boone was right.

So he just went with, "Thanks. And even though I haven't proved it to you until this point, I know I can depend on you, and I do."

Boone nodded. "I'm glad."

They stared at each other for a moment before Boone laughed and added, "So if it's true, why don't you get the hell out of here?

You said you're taking her over to the bakery.

" He checked his watch. "Folks start gathering over there around three, and, you know, if you like, you can make this a regular Friday thing.

As far as I'm concerned, I can handle things around here. "

"Maybe I'll do that – not every Friday. I doubt Amelia would be up for that anyway." He smiled. "Maybe you and I should take it in turns. I'm not the only one whose life revolves around the herd, am I?"

Boone shrugged happily. "If the day comes when I meet a pretty little lady I want to be spending time with, then we can talk about it. How about that?"

Ford grinned. "Okay, I'll keep you to that, and I'll remind you of it when the day comes." He held up his hand. "And don't bother telling me that day will never come, because I would have said the same thing not so long ago, wouldn't I?"

Boone laughed. "I guess so. If there's hope for you, there might be hope for me yet."

Ford laughed with him. "If there's hope for me, there's hope for anyone."