She smiled at that and surprisingly didn’t put up a fight, instead backing her car into the turnoff to a pasture. He pulled up, reached over to open the passenger’s-side door and she climbed in. As he drove toward the ranch, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, sounding as if it really didn’t make any difference.

“You’ll see. How was your day?”

“Fine.” She opened her eyes and looked over at him. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

He glanced at her, saw her expression and said, “Okay.”

She closed her eyes again and they drove in a companionable silence until he slowed for the turnoff to the ranch.

She sat up. “Trails West Ranch?” Glancing over at him, she asked, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

It was a terrible idea for a lot of reasons, he thought. “I thought you’d like to meet my family.”

“If this is about buying my property—”

“This is about getting you a good meal,” he said. “Nothing more.”

She cut her eyes to him as he parked in front of the main house.

“I hope you like margaritas,” he said as he got out and led her toward the front door.

Dulcie stepped into the cool, inviting ranch house and was drawn to the voices and muffled laughter. She breathed in the smell of tantalizing Mexican food cooking somewhere close by and could almost taste the sharp, tangy salt on the rim of a margarita as Russell took her arm and called out, “I brought a friend for supper.”

The night passed in a pleasant blur of good food, drink and company. The Corbetts were a handsome and charming bunch and she liked their stepmother, Kate, a lot. She complimented Juanita on her amazing culinary masterpieces and thanked Kate and Grayson for allowing her to join them.

“You should have warned me,” Dulcie said on the way back to her car after the evening was over.

“Would you have gone with me if I had warned you about my family?”

“You know I didn’t mean your family,” she said, humor in her voice. “You’re one of those wealthy ranchers I’ve heard about.”

“I work.”

“I know you do,” she said, taking his right hand from the wheel and running her fingertips along the callouses. “That’s one of the things I like about you.”

“One of the things?”

“You? Fishing for compliments?” she said, shoving his hand away with a laugh. “I wasn’t exactly honest with you either about my work.” She told him about Renada and the boutique they started that grew into a wildly successful enterprise.

“What will you do now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Not sit idle, that’s not me. But truthfully, I’m out of ideas at the moment. This thing with the property and that house...”