Page 65 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

She smiled. "Me too."

"Do you want a drink or anything?"

"Are you going to have one?"

"I am," he said as he pushed to his feet. "This has been a great evening, and the only thing that could top it off –" He chuckled and rolled his eyes at her when she laughed. "I didn't mean that," he said. "I was talking about a drink. I'm going to get a brandy. Do you want one or something else?"

She cocked her head at him. "You don't think that taking each other to bed would top this evening off perfectly?"

He bent down to rest his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. "I do, but it's not time to go to bed yet."

She smiled. "Okay, then. I'll have a brandy with you – as long as you don't think that I need alcohol to convince me."

He frowned. "If I thought alcohol would convince you, I wouldn't give you any. When I take you into my bed, I want it to be because it's what you want."

Her hand came up to cup his cheek. "I know. Sorry. I was only joking, but it was in poor taste, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "It was. I don't work that way. I would never try to get a girl drunk to get her into bed."

"I know. I'm sorry."

He felt bad that he'd killed the moment, but it was important. He kind of knew that she'd only been joking, but those kinds of jokes came from somewhere. He pushed back. "You want a glass of Remy with me, then?"

She nodded. "Please. I'd love one."

He paused when he reached the door and glanced back at her. She looked sad as she stared out at the shadowy mountains. Maybe he should have phrased it differently. Maybe he'd been too harsh. But then, that had always been his problem. He just hoped that Amelia wasn't too fragile to put up with his ways. He didn't mean to be an asshole, but he didn't know how to be anything less than forthright either.

Chapter Fifteen

Amelia set down her glass and stared out at the mountains. This may well have been the best date of her life so far. Ford was such good company. He was easy to be around, and it felt as though they were in sync about... well, pretty much everything. He wasn't a big talker, but she'd discovered that once she got him onto topics he was passionate about, he had a lot to say. Not that he was boring – far from it. He'd held her interest while he told her about the cattle and the business. From the way he talked, she could see that he was intelligent and insightful. He understood the men who worked for him, and he talked about them as people he cared for – not just as a boss who wanted to get the best out of his employees.

She smiled but didn't turn to look at him when he spoke.

"I feel like you learned a lot more about me tonight, but I didn't learn much more about you."

"And that's how I wanted it to go," she told him. "You know more about me than I do about you." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I wanted to understand what makes you tick."

He huffed out a laugh. "And all I did was bore you about the ranch."

"Not at all – you talked about what's important to you, about your passion. I enjoyed learning about the ranch; more than that, I enjoyed hearing how you feel about what you do."

"And what did you learn?"

She looked up into his eyes with a smile. "I learned that you don't consider yourself to be a cowboy – and I understand why."

When he tensed beside her, she was worried that she shouldn't have brought it up. But she'd had to – she'd noticed when he was talking that he drew a distinct line between cowboys and himself.

"I'm not trying to be arrogant," he said.

"Wow. That wouldn't have occurred to me." She turned to him and cupped his cheek in her hand. "Why would you say such a thing?"

His gaze slid away from hers as he shrugged. "It's just that I know some people think that, and I didn't want you to..."

"Then you've got nothing to worry about, because I don't."

He didn't look convinced as he asked, "So how do you see it, then?"

She shifted in her seat so that she could turn to face him and rested her leg across his. Heat coursed through her veins when he rested his hand on her thigh as he waited for her to explain. It was hard to concentrate as his thumb brushed back and forth, but she needed him to understand that she knew where he was coming from. Not only did she know, but she admired him for it.