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how to work a computer. It’s pretty much a necessity these days, but he won’t touch it, so keeping the records has become part of my job. The part I don’t particularly like. Thankfully, we have an accountant to do most of the number crunching.
    “We’ve had some good years, and some of my investments paid off extremely well. Six months ago, I bought another quarter interest. That’s plenty for me. When Ray and Della are gone, their grandson will inherit their share. He’s only seventeen and lives in Houston with his folks. Ray’s daughter and her husband own a thriving import business and aren’t the least bit interested in the ranch, but that boy would be up here every weekend if he could get away. He’s got ranchin’ in his blood.”
    They went over a small rise in the road, and he stopped the car. Andi’s gaze swept over the wide, shallow valley backed by low lying hills. The vivid, contrasting colors defining the shapes and patterns of the fields, pastures, and roads reminded her of a beautiful pieced quilt, one accented with embroidered trees, cattle, and buildings.
    To the right, a rich green pasture spread across the gently rolling land, adorned with brilliant splashes of yellow and purple wildflowers beneath the bare brown trunks and branches of mesquite trees. Cattle of varying shades of red, brown, and black grazed in the pasture. She recognized the red Herefords with their white faces and a few Black Angus, but she had no idea what the brown ones were called.
    A dirt road ran along the edge of the pasture, stretching nearly the length of the valley before it made a sharp turn to the left. Like perfectly spaced stitches, the posts and barbed wire of the fence seemed to hold the edge of the long brown ribbon in place, separating the multi-hued pasture from the almost solid green of one field and the reddish-brown of another. A second fence divided the curving lines of the freshly plowed field from the soft, green vegetation next to it.
    Down a winding road to their left were the ranch house, barn, various sheds, corrals, and two smaller houses. With its freshly painted white siding and green roof and trim, the long, rambling single story ranch house seemed comfortable and welcoming. The wide expanse of native grass and sprinkling of wild flowers between the house and the weathered brownish-gray corral fences and out buildings added to the rustic charm. The smaller houses on the other side of the corrals were white with shiny tin roofs.
    “Wade, it’s beautiful.” Andi smiled at his satisfied expression. “I can see why you love it so much. If I had a place like this, I think I’d stay there forever.”
    For a heartbeat, the burning intensity of his gaze took her breath away. Then he looked back across the valley. “Where are you living now?”
    “I have a large apartment in Nashville, but I’m hardly ever there. Most of the time I’m either on the tour bus, or a plane, or in a hotel,” she said with a sigh. “We toured over two hundred days both last year and the year before. Kyle wanted us to do even more this year, but I refused. This trip was supposed to be over at the end of March. We weren’t going out again until August. Now, we’ll have to try to make up some of the shows we missed as soon as I’m well enough.”
    “Who is Kyle?”
    “My business manager. He’s done a good job for me, making the right contacts and the right bookings, and he negotiated a fantastic recording contract. I wasn’t going anywhere until I signed with him, just withering away in hundreds of nameless bars and honky-tonks across the country.” A little shiver ran up her back. “My old manager keep telling me that I had to make a name for myself with the common folk. Believe me, the people in a lot of those places weren’t like any of the common folk I grew up with.”
    Scowling, Wade glanced at her. “How bad was it?”
    “Well, the worst places had heavy mesh wire around the stage to protect the