Page 42 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

Ford had to smile; he could understand it – he'd behaved the same way himself, wanting to protect his siblings – especially his sisters when they first met their partners. He glanced over at Laney – in her case, when she and Luke had finally come out and admitted that they were together, Tanner and Ty had already made their displeasure known to the point where Luke still needed a MacFarland he could talk to. So of course, Ford had volunteered himself for that role.

His brothers grinned at him, and Kolby said, "Yeah, I told you Callie's excited for you, but if Amelia puts a foot wrong..."

He frowned at that. "I love that they want to look out for me, but I'll tell you now that if things go south between us, I'll make damn sure everyone thinks it's my fault. It shouldn't be hard to convince people that I was an asshole."

Tanner gave him a stern look. "I hope you're only joking, because if you're not, you need to understand that if things do go bad between the two of you, Amelia's going to have a hard time around here. For all we tease you about being the dark and broody one, everyone loves and respects you. No one's going to let anyone get away with hurting you."

Ford pressed his fingers to his temple. "It's hardly likely to come to that though, is it? We're on our first date!"

Tanner laughed. "Yeah, sorry. We don't need to go jumping the gun."

Kolby held his gaze for a long moment before saying, "We don't, but you might want to bear it in mind."

~ ~ ~

All the women turned to Callie when the band started to play the next song.

"Are you going to get up there with them?" Frankie asked.

Amelia watched the group curiously as they all turned to Callie. She was surprised to see Laney step in front of her, as if protecting her from the others.

"We said we weren't going to put pressure on her, guys!"

Amelia's curiosity deepened when the rest of them all looked a little shame faced.

"She's right," said Shayna. "Ignore us, Callie. We just love you and we can't help it if we forget sometimes."

Callie looked a little embarrassed as she said, "I will, I'll get up and sing with them again one of these days soon. I even talked to Summer about it, and we're going to figure something out when we can get up together."

Amelia wanted to ask why Callie didn't sing anymore – not even here at Chico – but it hit her that would be incredibly insensitive, and also a pretty dumb question – she could figure the answer out for herself.

Callie used to be – and probably still was – one of the biggest names in country music. Her manager had hired Cash and Mav's company to protect her – and they’d sent Kolby as her bodyguard. Amelia had helped out a little but she hadn't been instrumental in hunting the stalker down.

Callie and Kolby had lived through quite an ordeal, and from what Amelia knew, Callie hadn't performed in public since.

She came back to the moment, pulled from her musings when Callie said, "I'm not going to sing, but we should go grab the guys and dance."

Amelia hung onto her hat as the women seemed to move as one back over to where the guys were still standing at the bar.

Shayna grabbed her arm as they went. "You have to get Ford out on the dance floor," she said with a grin. "It doesn't happen often, but he's a real mover when you can get him out there."

Amelia laughed. "I'm fine to stand and watch with him."

Laney leaned in on her other side as they pushed their way through the crowd. "You don't need to worry if you don't know how to dance, you know."

Amelia's heart sank. Laney hadn't seemed impressed with her so far. It wouldn't normally bother her, but she knew just how close Ford was to her – to all of them.

A wave of relief flooded over her when Laney smiled and added, "It's easy. It's called a two-step because it's two quick steps then two slow steps. And with Ford, all you'll need to do is hang on and let him lead."

"Thanks."

Laney nodded. "Just because I haven't talked to you much doesn't mean I haven't been watching. You care about him. I can tell."

"I do."

Laney laughed. "Good – then get your ass over to him and drag him out on the dance floor. Shay's right, we can't often get him out there, but he enjoys himself when he does."

Amelia smiled back at her. The chance to help Ford enjoy himself was enough to get her past her own hesitation about dancing. Standing on a dance floor and shuffling was one thing, but this whole two-step business looked like more of a challenge.