Page 124 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

"You would. And I love how you say it so fancy. You're going to have to teach me how to do that. But for now..." She slid down from the fence. "I shall have to show him that I'm not scared of a dumb old horse."

Ford dismounted and then held his arms up to Hunter, lifting him down and setting him on the ground. When Hunter reached for the fence rail, Ford met Amelia's gaze and said, "Do you want to come down, Lil’ Bit?"

She nodded, and before she could even attempt to negotiate the descent, his hands wrapped around her waist, and he lifted her down.

Nat chuckled beside him. "I don't think that was about you being a girl," she told Amelia. "I think it was pretty smart. If I'm going to ride this thing with him, you two probably shouldn't be left alone up there."

Amelia had to laugh. "I'm not going to argue with you there."

"I am," said Hunter. "I could have taken care of Auntie Amelia, made sure she didn't fall."

Ford grinned at them. "You can always sit on the lower rungs, you know? Hook your arms through a couple higher ones." Amelia gave him a puzzled look, so he proceeded to demonstrate, hooking his legs over the third rung up and then hooking his arms over the fifth one. Hunter reminded her of a little monkey as he copied Ford.

She just smiled and said, "I'll stand, thanks."

Ford gave her a quick kiss before going back to Nat. "Okay, so first things first," he said. "I need to introduce you to Delta, and you're going to have to apologize to him."

Nat shot Amelia a look of disbelief. "He's messing with me, right?"

"He's not," Amelia assured her.

Ford laughed when Delta gently butted Nat's shoulder with his nose.

"Whoa." Nat jumped away from him.

"It's okay. He won't hurt you," said Ford. "He just wants to say hi."

"Err… hi," said Nat.

"And...?" Ford raised his eyebrows.

"And what?" she asked. "Oh, shit." She glanced at Amelia. "I mean, shoot." She turned to Delta again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you a dumb old horse."

Ford chuckled as Delta nodded his head. "He accepts your apology. And he wants you to know that he's not even that old. You want to climb on?"

Nat eyed him warily. "Do you think he's going to want to hurt me to pay me back for calling him names?"

Amelia's heart sank, and she could tell from Ford's expression that he was thinking the same thing as she was.

"Animals don't work that way, honey. They're not as vindictive as humans. And I think you'll find that there aren't many humans who behave that way around here – none in our family, anyway."

Nat pursed her lips. "Good to know. But you think it's safe for me to ride him?"

Amelia couldn't blame her for getting back to the matter at hand. She'd had enough deep and meaningful talking in the last few minutes.

"I guess there's only one way for you to find out. You want a boost?" asked Ford.

"Are you going to get on with me?" Nat asked.

Ford shook his head. "I don't think you need that, do you?"

Nat approached Delta and held her hand out. He brushed his velvety lips over her fingers before taking a step closer to sniff her face and then blowing gently at her.

"Oh, my God," Nat exclaimed. She looked around at them. "Isn't he awesome?"

Ford grinned at Amelia as he said, "Isn't he? When he first came to the ranch, I knew I wanted him. He's not really big enough for me to ride much, but I thought Amelia might want to learn. Looks like he timed it just right; he found us so that he'd be here ready and waiting when you guys arrived."

Amelia's hand came up to cover her heart, and Nat laughed. "I like that story. But you're full of it, aren't you?"