Erin just lay there. “I’ve never gotten sore from doing any kind of work.”

Vickie laughed. “Well, honey, I think you’re unaccustomed to ranch work. You use muscles you don’t even know you have.”

She set the bottle on the nightstand, jerked back the down comforter and sheet, and then grabbed the ankles of Erin’s sweatpants and tugged them off her with one hard pull. “Roll over. I’ll get the backs of your legs first.”

Erin moaned and almost couldn’t roll over without screaming. Nonsensical as it was, she was glad she’d worn panties under the sweats. At least she wasn’t bare-butt naked. Vickie sat beside her and began massaging the liniment into the backs of Erin’s legs from the edge of her underwear down to her ankles.

“Crap. It burns!”

“Yeah, well, as it absorbs in, it’s the best burn you’ve ever felt,” Vickie said. “It does wonders. I’ve worked alongside men a lot, and I’ve been so sore a few times that I couldn’t move without crying. I know you work out and run. Probably do daily biceps and triceps exercises with weights, heaps of squats, and all that. But at the business end of a pitchfork, you’re pushing, lifting, and throwing weight from different angles, sometimes even sideways. Trust me, you’re using your muscles differently.”

Wyatt had said almost the same thing, and Erin hadn’t believed him. Now she did. But that sure didn’t mean she would cry uncle and act like a baby about it. It wasn’t in her makeup to give up. She would work as fast and as effectively as any man on the payroll, or she’d die trying.

When Vickie had applied liniment to every part of Erin’s body except her butt and chest, she drew the covers back over her. “There. Prop some pillows behind your back, honey, and sit up. Stay covered. Let those muscles simmer in the warmth while you’re having breakfast. I guarantee you’ll feel fifty percent better by the time you get dressed.”

The smell of wintergreen was so strong Erin wasn’t sure she could stomach any food, but she struggled to a sitting position, leaned back against her pillows, and managed a halfhearted smile as Vickie placed the breakfast tray over her lap.

“Go ahead and pour your coffee,” Vickie told her. “I’ll wash my hands.”

After Vickie disappeared into the adjoining bath, it was all Erin could do to lift the coffee carafe, and her aching arm shook as she poured. When Vickie reappeared, she sighed and shook her head. “I know it’s bad right now, but after you’ve eaten, you can get up and do some stretches and squats. You’ll still be sore as the devil, but you shouldn’t be incapacitated.”

Erin hoped Vickie was correct, because she needed to hit it hard again today. She would not be considered a second-rate worker simply because she was a woman.

Vickie sat on the edge of the bed and lifted her mug of coffee. “Raised by a rancher and hunting guide, I grew up determined to be as good as any man at everything, only in addition to being a female, I was also a tiny one. My parrot mouth overloaded my parakeet ass more times than I can count. I think that’s how I got Slade to notice me, way back when. He was always taking up for me when my sassy mouth got me into fixes.”