Page 84 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

Chapter Nineteen

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.

While she waited, she'd been organizing her notes, and she may have popped back into the TangentOps forum a time or two just to reread her conversation with Rootless2 – Hunter. She was tempted to send another message. Maybe she didn't have to wait until Sunday.

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?"