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You agreed.”
    “I’ll need a couple of hours to pack before we leave for your ranch,” she warned him.
    “Make it an hour and I’ll help you. Pack your things and I’ll pack Barney’s crate, blanket, toys, food and treats.” Chad leaned down and slipped a piece of toast to Barney who was hiding under the table.
    “Don’t feed him people food.” Sierra scolded him. “Barney is just a couple pounds away from the vet putting him on diet doggie food.”
    “Sorry, won’t happen again.” Chad raised his hands in compliance with her wishes.
    “Thank you. I believe in healthy eating.” Sierra waved her fork in his direction, adding, “Your ranch hands will be eating healthy also. They’d better not expect heart-attack-on-a-plate dinners.”
    “Mom insists on well-balanced meals. She prepares all the menu plans, oversees all the food orders, and does it within a self-imposed budget to boot.” Chad smiled, unable to disguise his pride in his mother.
    “Good for her.” Sierra nodded in agreement. “Then you shouldn’t notice even the tiniest blip on your ranch kitchen’s radar.”
    “Yeah, well, keeping Mom out of the kitchen will be the problem.”
    “Even someone in a wheelchair can assist in a kitchen. Prep work, menu planning, writing up food orders, signing off deliveries, lots of things,” suggested Sierra, waving off his concern.
    “Somehow I don’t think Mom sees her role as anything less than totally-in-charge.” Chad shook his head as if he wasn’t looking forward to her meeting his mom.
     

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
    The sun rode high in the sky when Chad and Sierra headed out of town. Chad mentioned the distance to the ranch was twenty minutes if he was at the wheel, at least a half hour when his mom had been driving.
    Fence posts joined by triple rows of barbed wire marched along the property lines, preventing grazing cattle from roaming onto the road. Spring calves frolicked while their mothers stood watch nearby.
    “Aren’t those babies adorable?” Sierra pointed to the calves. The cows would frighten the daylights out of her, however, if she stood anywhere near them.
    “Yep, adorable.” Chad chuckled and sounded like he was just humoring her.
    “Is that a cowboy?” inquired Sierra, spotting a lone figure riding a horse alongside the fence line.
    Chad waved as they passed by and the fellow waved back.
    “Yep, that’s Charlie. Checking fences.” Chad steered his pickup around a sharp curve in the road. “You see adorable little calves playing beside their mothers, but I see my livelihood on the hoof. Losing cattle that have roamed off our property and been hit by a vehicle is expensive, and it’s time-consuming to round them up and get them back home again.”
    Sierra stared ahead at the towering sign erected between matching tall timbers. Burnt-wood lettering announced their arrival at Whispering Pines Ranch . Calgary and area experienced a lot of brisk chinook winds, and she imagined the pines did a fair amount of whispering all right. Today was no exception, and several varieties of tall grass waved to her from the ditch alongside the road.
    Chad’s pickup rumbled across a metal cattle gate. The seatbelt strained across Sierra’s chest when she slid forward in her seat, hoping for a better view as the truck meandered down a winding road into a lush valley. The grass was cropped short by cattle but spring wildflowers dotted the landscape and added a bit of color. As they neared the bottom, she spotted a sprawling ranch house surrounded by manicured grounds—beautiful trees, flowering bushes and overflowing flowerbeds—that would make most members of the Calgary Horticultural Society envious. Three large barns and other smaller buildings were painted bright red with white trim. A couple of the corrals were attached to the barns, but several others stood at a distance.
    “This ranch is incredible,” she whispered in amazement.
    “Thank you. I grew up here and I love the