??s always shady and a little cool. You don’t hear anything except the wind through the leaves, the water in the creek, and the sound of the cattle in the distance.”
“That sounds beautiful,” she said reverently.
“It is.” He opened his eyes to find her even closer, her shoulder pressing against him as she turned her body towards his. He reached out a careful hand to stroke her cheek. “I’m glad you’re coming with me, so I can show it to you.”
“Me too.” She took a shaky breath and leaned back; he let her go, still careful about pushing too far, too fast. He cast around for a new topic.
“So, I’ve told you about my family, but I’m not sure that’s really prepared you for meeting them.”
“That bad?” When he didn’t answer, she said, “Uh, that was a joke.”
“Right,” Josh said. “I don’t mean anything like that. They’re all wonderful. There’s just...a lot of them.”
“I know,” she said. “You did mention that.”
“I’m just saying, we can be loud. And opinionated. And pushy. There are a few in-laws who were kind of traumatized at first.”
“I’ve got my friend Kathy on speed dial, in case you guys turn out to be some kind of freaky cult.” He worried for a moment until she laughed to show she meant it as another joke.
“I’d never hurt you, Hope,” he said seriously.
She sobered, the laughter gone from her voice. “I know. Honestly, I do. I trust you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Maybe he still had a chance. She’d agreed to come home with him. The next step was to see if she could envision herself living there.
The conversation died out after that, and he dug into his bag for the book he’d bought at the airport bookstore. Flying anywhere when you lived on the Golden Horse meant a lot of time on planes and in airports. But he loved his land and wouldn’t trade it for anything, even though there were inconveniences.
Maybe Hope would love it too.
Chapter Five
After two flights and four hours in a car, Hope was wiped, physically and mentally exhausted. Even as a seasoned road warrior, she never stopped marveling at how tiring travel could be. She’d drifted off on the drive, waking up only when the truck turned onto a hard-packed dirt driveway.
She blinked her eyes, and as they adjusted to the darkness outside, she saw a metal sign arching over the entrance that read “Golden Horse,” with the figure of a rearing horse underneath. At the end of the driveway, they pulled up to a big house with trucks and a few cars parked all around it.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said to Josh. “You must have had a boring ride with me sleeping half of the way.”
He turned to flash a smile at her. “It wasn’t so bad. I had your snoring to keep me company.”
“Snoring!” Hope gasped, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment. “I didn’t know I snored.”
“I’m just teasing you,” Josh said. “You were a regular Sleeping Beauty. The most beautiful I’ve ever seen, as a matter of fact.”
At those words, her cheeks flushed with another emotion, and other parts of her heated up as well. She reminded herself that she was about to meet his family, and she didn’t want to face them looking either flustered or aroused. Instead, she took a few deep breaths and exhaled the last of them as Josh parked the truck and opened the door.
He came around to assist her down to the ground, which was almost a necessity with her lack of height. She’d been able to calm down a little, but the feel of his hands wrapped around her waist brought all of her mixed emotions roaring back. When her feet touched the ground, she rested her forehead against his chest.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” The word was muffled in his shirt.
“You okay?”
“Of course.” Hope lifted her head and took one last breath. “Let’s go.”
They only got within five feet of the door before it flew open. “They’re here!” shrieked a young girl with the same brown eyes that Josh had. Hope was able to see the similarity because the girl immediately ran up to both of them and started talking almost without a pause for breath.
“How was your trip? What were the planes like? I want to fly on a plane someday. You were probably on a Boeing 737 for the first flight, though maybe it was an Airbus, and then on a Bombardier, depending on how many people there were on the flight. I like saying Bombardier. I think that’s the best plane name.”