It felt weird to stand beside a man to whom she was wildly attracted and listen to him talk about female body parts. She collected her wayward thoughts.

Just then, Tex rode up on a quad to join them. Erin enjoyed Tex. She could never guess what he might say or do next. He swung off the green four-wheeler as if he were dismounting from a horse, and as he walked toward them, his legs were bowed so badly that it looked as if he had an invisible exercise ball clutched between his knees. He slapped at the legs of his Wrangler jeans and reached up to tug on the grimy bill of his ball cap.

“You showin’ this pretty gal all our pregnant ladies?” he asked Wyatt.

Wyatt turned from the fence and smiled. He didn’t respond to Tex’s question, which told Erin he didn’t realize that Tex had asked him anything. She chose to answer for him. “I’m getting a crash course in cattle ranching.”

The old Texan flashed her a toothy grin, which creased his weather-worn face with so many lines it resembled a crumpled, brown paper bag. “Yep. I already heard you got hired on. That’s why I came out. This young pup thinks he knows ever’thing about calvin’, but I got a lot more knowledge stored in my brain than he does.”

Erin glanced at Wyatt to see that he was now watching Tex’s lips. She wondered how he felt about being called a pup. Wyatt only smiled as Tex took over Erin’s indoctrination, essentially telling her most of the same things Wyatt just had, only with his own brand of charm. Pregnant cows were apparently one of his favorite topics.

“The surest sign that a cow’s about to drop her calf is when her udder gets swoled up with cholesterol, honey. Wyatt thinks the most surefire way is to check her Volvo, but that ain’t always an accurate sign.”

Erin bit back a grin. She translated Tex’s explanation to mean that a cow’s udder might look swollen with colostrum shortly before she gave birth, and obviously Tex had mispronounced the word vulva. Otherwise Erin would have been peering at a cow’s behind, looking for a car. Nevertheless, she would never discount anything Tex told her. He was older and had a lot of experience under his belt.

“That ain’t to say that the Volvo ain’t important to watch,” he went on. “When you see one slickin’ up, don’t ignore it, no how, no way, cuz sometimes the dang cholesterol don’t come down until after a calf is born.”

Wyatt turned away and began fiddling with a loose fencing wire. Erin suspected he needed something to do to keep from laughing. Tex had his own way of training a new hire, and Erin learned the hard way that he could be long-winded if he thought of a story to tell. As he began to wear down, he leveled a gnarly forefinger at Erin’s chest.

“And mind my words, girl. Always carry a cell phone when ye’re out in the field. As much as I hate them damn gadgets, you’ll need one if you find a cow with a baby comin’ out back-assward. The cow and calf can both die if you don’t act fast, and Slade gets a mite upset when that happens.”