Hold You In My Arms (Stevens book 9)

Chapter 4

Every Stevens knew the way from the airport to the ranch blindfolded. It was home.

Beth was driving the rental car through the hills covered in blue as she had Wyatt headed toward the ranch. The lawsuit against her father for the rights to his books was in full swing, and Wyatt was holding personal meetings with every family member to make sure that there would be no surprises as the case moved forward.

The only person he hadn't spoken to was Fiona. Wyatt felt a meeting of such a personal nature was better held in person. You couldn't expect a person to tell all of their secrets to a stranger over the phone. It was one of the reasons Beth loved him so much. He took it all very seriously.

They had planned to come down a few weeks earlier for their annual family get-together and surprise everyone with a wedding, but the lawsuit had squashed that plan. However, Beth hadn't let it keep her from marrying Wyatt, and she was still eager to show him Texas.

She rubbed the ring on her finger with her thumb, smiling as she felt it, but her smile quickly turned to a frown as she thought of her family, who was still oblivious to the fact of her marriage

"All this blue!" Wyatt exclaimed as he looked at the passing scenery.

"It's almost a beautiful as your hanging moss," Beth said with another smile. "This is where our property starts."

They had turned down a long dirt road that was unmarked and drove for a few minutes in silence as Wyatt continued to take in the hills and cattle. It was a different world than the gentle southern one he came from.

Beth drove up to the house, which never changed, noting how deserted it looked. Every time she came to visit was teaming with Stevens, but now it was eerily quiet.

"Where is everyone?" Wyatt asked as he closed the car door and looked across at Beth.

"Probably around back, working," Beth assured him, leading them away from the car and around the side of the house.

Sure enough, there was all kinds of action in the corral. Beth could see Fiona surrounded by men, one of them being Henry. She and Wyatt watched in silence as Fiona grabbed the calf that had just been roped and dropped it while Henry leaned in close to her with the hot branding iron and another man leaned in with a shot of antibiotic. The whole thing went off flawlessly and only took a minute.

"That's Fiona?" Wyatt asked as his eyes grew wide.

Beth nodded as she looked at her cousin enviously. She was wearing a tight pair of blue jeans and a tank top. Even though she was wearing a cowboy hat low on her head, the beautiful blond of her hair was noticeable in the long braid which fell over her shoulder, and all the strands that had escaped looked intentional. Her gloved hands were at the end of very muscular brown and sweaty arms flexing with her movements.

If anyone could make cowboying look sexy, it would be Fiona. Beth was glad her sister, Mave, wasn't with them. Mave had always been a little jealous of Fiona's beauty.

"Is that Henry next to her?" Wyatt asked.

Henry did indeed look different from the last time they saw him. He had a beard, and his cowboy hat was pulled as low as Fiona's. He was dressed in the same manner with all his impressive muscles on display as well.

Beth and Wyatt watched as they went through the same motions with another calf. Fiona and Henry worked seamlessly together, their bodies moving together and around each other in a synchronized dance that very few people knew how to do.

As they let the calf loose, Henry said something to Fiona, who turned her head to look at them.

Then with a whistle, she halted the work. "That's lunch! Back here in an hour!"