Page 151 of The Guy Who Stole My Ranch

We still hadn’t figured out what to do about our YouTube channel, but it felt like something was going to click into place soon.

Courtney heard about the party and invited herself, which the kids had been thrilled about.

My whole family was here, including Danny, who had been knocked out of the last round of racing by Nanette.

“Go!” Conner lowered the flag and waved it back and forth.

The riders took off in a cloud of dust and whooping. Xavier was barely big enough to drive the vehicle, but he’d been practicing for a month, and he’d gotten pretty good. I suspected David had let Xavier beat him in the last round, but I doubted Courtney would do the same.

The circuit took the racers to the front gate, around the horse barn, back through a field, and past us before they went again.

William let go of me as I threw my arms up. “Go, Xavier!”

“Go, Courtney.” William gave a slow golf clap as they zoomed by.

I blinked at him. “What was that?”

“I told her I’d cheer for her. You’re my witness.”

“That was pathetic,” I said.

“Not for me.”

The guy had a point. He rarely raised his voice, except to yell at the dogs.

Speaking of, my dad had been holding them all until the race started, and now they took off after the four-wheelers.

The rule was if the dogs beat you, you had to give them belly rubs.

Every misgiving I’d had about William taking over the ranch had been systematically alleviated. He’d brought me on as manager and let me stay in my house while he’d remodeled my dad’s place and was now living there, along with Patrick when he was around.

This weekend, we had both buildings filled to the brim. It was a good thing my dad and Kathline had brought their shiny new motorhome to stay in, or we would have had to put people on the floor.

Perhaps the most surprising addition to the holiday had been William’s great-aunt Greta. She’d arrived in all of her old lady glory—Victoria’s words, not mine—and had insisted on roughing it by staying in the most expensive hotel in San Antonio. Now she sat on a plush chair Patrick had found for her, along with a battery powered heater and a table with her coffee on it. We’d even found a spare scrap of carpet for her to put the chair on.

She’d declared herself the grand mistress of the races and had been heckling everyone. When I glanced over, I found her and Kathline giggling about something.

“Go, go!” Conner yelled as the racers passed us.

Everyone cheered as they went by with the dogs in hot pursuit.

I jumped when William put his arm around my waist. “You look radiant today. Have I told you that?”

I blushed—because I always blushed when he complimented me—and tapped the brim of his cowboy hat. “You’re pretty hot yourself.”

Usually he would laugh, but instead, he held my gaze and smiled. “This suits you. Being here with friends and family.”

He was right that I loved being with my favorite people, but there was one in particular that I favored above the rest. “And you.” I tugged him down into a kiss. It wasn’t long, but his lips were extremely good at conveying his feelings for me, which had only gotten stronger since he’d asked me to stay on at the ranch.

“Gross,” Conner said.

William straightened and laughed.

The racers were about to go around the last corner before heading for the finish line, and they were neck and neck. Everyone started to cheer. Greta had brought a cow bell.

I grinned and threw my arms in the air again. “Go, Xavier!”

William clapped.

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