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noticed a blanket, then a basket.
    “Is somebody picnicking on your land?”
    “Yes,” he stopped the horse and dismounted before helping her down. “We are,” he winked at her.
    “This is what took me so long. I wanted to set this up for you.” He wrapped the reins around the stake sticking out of the ground, keeping the horse in place so he wouldn’t run away.
    “Wow, this is great. I’ve never had a picnic before.”
    “Never?”
    “Never,” she admitted as she slipped off her shoes and socks and walked over onto the blanket. She laughed like a school girl with excitement at doing something new.
    “Then I’m glad I was here for your first. That seems to be a record for you today. Your first horseback ride, and your first picnic.”
    “Thanks to you on both,” she plopped down onto the blanket and looked up at him with a smile on her face. “So what did you bring in that basket?”
    She watched as he pulled off his boots and joined her. “Let’s see shall we?” He opened the top. “I brought cheese, crackers, turkey and bread for a sandwich. Mustard,” he looked up at her. “You didn’t seem to like mayo.”
    “I don’t,” she admitted. The last time he brought her a sandwich with mayo she had wiped as much of it off the bread as she could before eating the sandwich.
    “I brought juice, and glasses—wine glasses. I’m sorry, but they came with the basket.”
    “I love it. You even have plates in here. When did you get this?”
    “Before Daisy died. We never had a chance to use it though.”
    “Would you like to talk about her?”
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    A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery
    “She was an amazing woman. But I’ve learned to let her go over the years. I’d prefer not to spend our time together dwelling on the past.”
    “Okay, then let’s eat and talk about something else then.” She positioned her legs beneath her to sit on her legs as she looked through the basket. “You have grapes in there too.”
    “I thought you might like that.”
    “I do,” she dug a little deeper. “Ooh la la,” she hummed. “I see sweets.”
    He laughed. “I thought you might like that. You made some cookies for the guys last night and I put some away before they could scarf them all down. You have to stop baking for my guys.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re going to get us all fat.”
    She started laughing hysterically. “All that work you all do; not a chance. Besides, I eat my sweets and I’m not fat. It’s called moderation and exercise.”
    “True,” he admitted. “But I don’t know if you noticed or not, but these guys aren’t real good with moderation. Did you see Dave’s plate at lunch yesterday?”
    “Which one,” she laughed. “He is so skinny and he eats like he’s eating for five people.”
    “Always has. Jasper says she wants Doc to look him over and see if he has a family of tapeworms inside of him or something.”
    She listened to Dean talk about his land, his work, and his passions. He talked about the ranch hands as though they were family and she figured that was because to him they were family. He was such a nice man, so full of life and so considerate. He could have called an ambulance and tossed her out, but he hadn’t.
    He had fed her, let her use his spare bedroom—even though he was content on letting her sleep in his bed she was not content on making him use the spare room. He had let her use his water for bathing, which probably ran up his bill with all those long showers she liked to take. He hadn’t asked anything in return.
    “Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before.”
    “You need to surround yourself with better friends, Zoe.”
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    A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery
    “Yeah…maybe I’ll find some after I get moved to Washington. I’ll see what awaits me.”
    “I thought that went out the window when you missed the interview.”
    “The job went out the window,” she admitted. “But I still need to find a place to stay. I have