Erin tried to use the skidder. No one had shown her how to operate it, but by trial and error she figured it out. Well, she had at least figured out how to run the thing, but operating it efficiently was a different kettle of fish. After she got a hay bale inside the bucket, she invariably dropped it en route to the barn. Then she had to climb out of the skidder to wrestle the bale back onto the blade. She finally decided it would be easier just to pick the things up and carry them over to the hay storage area.

That was how Wyatt found her, struggling to carry bales from the flatbed into the hay barn. Erin’s face went hot with embarrassment. The first few bales had been easy enough to lift, but after handling a dozen, her back was giving her fits. Wyatt watched her for a moment, then he climbed into the skidder and made short work of transporting the hay into the barn.

When he’d finished, he joined her at the flatbed and said, “That’s how you work smarter.”

She could have kicked him. “I tried to use the skidder. The bales kept falling out of the bucket. I couldn’t move much with it.”

He tipped his hat to her and said, “Practice makes perfect. You can’t expect to become an expert with your first try. Just keep dropping bales until you get the hang of it.”

“I wasn’t getting any work done that way.”

“And you won’t get anything at all done tomorrow if you hurt your back trying to buck that much hay. If you don’t learn how to work smarter, you’re going to fail.”

If Erin had been able to lift one of her aching legs high enough, she would have kicked him on the rump as he walked away.

Over the next few days, Erin grew sick of people telling her to “work smarter.” Even Vickie kept yammering about it. Erin wanted so badly to tell them she had learned to hold her own on the mat with any male police officer who challenged her. She’d also become an expert marksman and learned to drive like Mario Andretti. She could take down a Seattle street thug, even when he was armed. She didn’t need to work smarter. She just needed to toughen up and get her body conditioned for the work.

* * *

Wyatt understood that Erin was in desperate need of a job, but he was also worried about her. The other two new hires had at least some ranching experience. Erin not only worked too hard and tried to get things done too fast, but she was pushing her way into dangerous situations where she might get hurt. She’d never been around horses that much and wasn’t careful to avoid getting kicked. Wyatt had known strapping men who’d gotten a femur snapped by a well-aimed hoof.

Finally, Wyatt decided the situation was serious enough that he had to talk to Slade. He found his boss in the tack room at the back of the horse barn. Slade was cleaning and conditioning leather with saddle soap. He sat on a tripod stool. When Wyatt entered the enclosure, he closed the door behind him so their conversation wouldn’t be overheard. Then he found a stool for himself and sat facing his boss.