“We’re just so happy you’re here in our town to film. It puts a lot of revenue in Hope’s coffers,” Luke said.

“Yes. All your local motels filling up with the paparazzi, right?” she asked Luke.

He laughed. “Yes, and they’re eating at our restaurants, too. Thanks for that.”

“My pleasure.”

After about an hour of chatting, Logan stood. “Dawn comes early at the ranch, so we need to move along.”

Des stood, too. “Thank you all so much for having us over for dinner. I really enjoyed being here with you. And the excellent food and wine.”

Emma hugged her. “You’re welcome any time you need a break from the set.”

They said their good-byes and climbed in the truck.

It was a nice ride back to the ranch, especially since there wasn’t a procession of paparazzi behind them.

Logan was quiet, his gaze focused on the road.

“Thanks for taking me out today—and tonight,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

“I know how busy you are running the ranch and all, and you have that part to get the truck fixed. If I hadn’t been with you, you probably would have just run into town and come right back.”

“Yep.”

“So . . . why did you bring me with you?”

His gaze slid to hers. “Because you asked.”

Okay, so he was back to quiet. She leaned back and looked out at the scenery. Once they left Hope city limits, there was more grassland, and fewer houses.

“So where did you go to park when you were in high school?”

He frowned. “Park?”

“You know. Where did you take a girl to go make out?”

“Didn’t need to take a girl anywhere. There’s miles of property on the ranch. Plenty of places to hide out there.”

“Is that right? You didn’t feel the need to get away from the possible prying eyes of your family?”

He let out a short laugh. “Not with that many acres. All we had to do was get in the truck and drive out to one of the ponds, or head out a few miles to someplace remote. My dad always went to bed early, and my mom didn’t much care what we were doing, as long as we didn’t bother her.”

Again that thing with his mom. She caught the tinge of resentment in his voice. “I’m getting the impression—and correct me if I’m wrong—that you and your mom weren’t always on the same side.”

“She hated the ranch, hated being married to my dad, and didn’t think very highly of having children. So in answer to your question, I didn’t think much of my mother’s skills as a wife or as a parent. Within the first year of my dad’s death, she remarried, left Oklahoma, and I haven’t seen her since.”

Des just sat there, stunned into silence for a few seconds while she absorbed what Logan had told her. “God, Logan, I’m so sorry. How long ago did your father die?”

“When I was twenty-two. Reid, my youngest brother, had just turned eighteen. She probably would have left as soon as my dad died, but Reid wasn’t of age yet. And she hadn’t gotten her hooks all the way into her new husband yet. But she’d been mentally and emotionally gone for years before that, so her physically leaving didn’t much matter to us anyway.”

“And you haven’t heard from your mother in all these years?”

“No.”

“Well, what the hell is wrong with that woman? She has three children and she just . . . abandoned them?”

“Yeah.”

“That sucks.”

Logan just shrugged.

Des couldn’t sit still on her side of the truck. She was furious on Logan’s behalf. Mothers didn’t just up and leave their children. It simply wasn’t done. Okay, so maybe it did happen, but what the hell was wrong with Logan’s mother? Did she not have a maternal bone in her body?

“So, she didn’t like the ranch. Couldn’t she have moved to Hope? Or into Tulsa? That way she would have still been near you and your brothers.”

“She didn’t like small-city living. She wanted to be in a big city, and Clyde—that’s her new husband—offered that to her. She was out the door in a hurry, and never once looked back.”

“Sonofabitch.” If she had been within distance of Logan’s mother, she would’ve slapped her. Hard. She reached across the truck and laid her hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry she did that to you and your brothers.”

“I was over it—and her—a long time ago. Don’t feel sorry for me.”

“Clearly, I have no reason to feel sorry for you. You’re better off without her. And you have Martha, who is obviously a fine mother figure and a more fit role model than your mother ever was. But I’m pissed, Logan. No woman should abandon her children. I’d like to smack your mother and maybe tear a few strands of her hair out.”

That got a quirk of a smile out of him.

He pulled onto the property and headed down the dark roads. Here, there were no lights from the city. She was glad he knew where he was going because she couldn’t see anything but the headlights from the truck. It wasn’t like there were streetlights out here on these roads, and other than the main house and barns, which they’d passed, there was . . . nothing.

She turned to him. “Take me out to one of those ponds or lakes you mentioned earlier.”

He slowed down so he could glance her way. “What?”

“You know, those places you used to take girls when you wanted to be alone.”

She saw him let out a breath, then he shook his head. “Not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“You know why not.”

“So, are you just not into me, Logan, or are you afraid of what might happen if you and I are alone together?”

“We’re alone right now.”

She shot him a look. “And you’re evading the question.”

“What was the question again?”

“Never mind.” She shifted in her seat, deciding all men were ass**les, and she was giving up on this one. Clearly, he wasn’t interested. “Just take me back to the set.”

LOGAN SHOULD HAVE breathed a sigh of relief that Des had finally quit pushing about getting him alone.

Though for some reason he still felt unsettled, and then for some stupid reason he took a left at the fork in the road instead of the right turn he should have made that would have led them back to her movie location.