Mail Order Bride - Westward Secrets: A Clean Cowboy Romance Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides Book 13) by Linda Bridey Page A

kissing noises and he’ll come over to you.”
                  Gina puckered her lips and made the appropriate noises.  Curtis immediately dropped to the floor, ran over to Gina, and stood up against her legs.  Gina reached down and Curtis practically jumped into her hands.  She brought him up to her lap and he moved towards her face.
                  “He likes to sniff ears to get to know your scent and he loves hair.  So he’s not trying to attack you or anything,” Rick said.
                  “Oh, ok,” she said and let Curtis climb up on her shoulders so he could sniff her ear.
                  She laughed.  “It tickles.  He’s so soft,” she said as she stroked his fur. 
                  Curtis made dooking noises as he plopped back onto Gina’s lap and rolled over.  Gina rubbed his soft belly as she’d seen Rick do.  Curtis grabbed her hand and began washing it.
                  Rick laughed.  “That means that he likes you a lot.  He doesn’t do that to just anyone.  I think it’s because he can tell when someone really likes him.”
                  Gina grinned as she picked up Curtis and said, “I like you, too.  My goodness he has such a cute little face.  His markings are beautiful.”
                  Rick was very pleasantly surprised that she appreciated Curtis’ beauty and his estimation of Gina rose even more.  “Yeah, his wife and kids think so, too.”
                  “Wife and kids?”
                  “Yep.  Millie is his mate and right now they have five kits.  That’s what ferret babies are called,” Rick explained.
                  “I’d love to see them,” Gina said.  “Oh, I’m sorry.  That was a little forward of me.”
                  “No, it wasn’t.  I’d love to show them to you and the kids,” Rick said.  “As a matter of fact, let’s go have some fun.”
                  He stood and whistled softly.  Curtis jumped down and followed Rick out the door.  Gina followed and watched with a smile as Curtis made little running hops as he followed his master into the playroom.
                  Zach spotted the ferret and said, “Curtis!”  The little boy’s blue eyes lit up with delight as Curtis bounced over to him.
                  As Gina came into the playroom, Rick shut the door.  “I don’t want him roaming around the house.  Joe hates Curtis and he always scares Joe.  It happened again last night.  It was very funny to see Joe jump like that.  I’ll take it easy on him today, though.”
                  Gina nodded.  “I’m sure it was.”
                  All of the kids were playing with Curtis now.  Gina was glad to see that Ryan and Chloe weren’t afraid of him.  Curtis became very excited and started bouncing all over the place, bumping into things and making little noises.  The children tried to catch him, but he was slippery and agile.  He easily evaded their hands as he scampered around the room.  Curtis was having as much fun as the kids as he raced from place to place.  He even took a tour through the huge dolls house at one point, which made the kids laugh even harder.
                  Then he took hold of one of the dolls and shook it.  Gina laughed so hard her stomach hurt.  She thought that Curtis was a delightful animal and couldn’t imagine why Joe didn’t like him.  Rick watched Gina and when she smiled he noticed that she had a dimple in her right cheek.  He thought it was pretty and liked seeing it.
                  Rick admitted to himself that he was attracted to her.  He hadn’t been expecting that, but since it was a positive thing, he didn’t analyze it too much.  He smiled when Curtis laid down and rolled over to be petted.  He panted and lay very still as he