Choosing not to pull on the lead, he hooked his arms over the top rail of the fence to watch her. She was a beauty, a sorrel with a white star on her forehead and four white stockings. She also had great potential, but her previous owner had apparently mistreated her, and now she had serious issues. In a strange way, she reminded him of Erin, not in looks, but in her behavior.

Not allowing himself to turn around and look, he tried to imagine what Erin was doing. Was she putting even more stuff on the back seat of her car? Had his long rant done nothing to discourage her from leaving? He hadn’t noticed any dust billowing up from the tires of her vehicle yet, so he felt fairly confident she hadn’t left. But that didn’t mean she didn’t still have every intention of leaving.

He forced himself to focus on the mare. She was head shy, which told Wyatt that someone had twisted her ears and might even have used a twitch on her or whipped her around the head. When she felt threatened, she reared and kicked out behind, telling Wyatt in horse speak that she could kill him in two seconds flat. Then she pranced around, showing off her muscle, her agility, and her speed. Oh, yeah. So very like Erin, trying to overcome her feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability by blustering and trying to impress everyone with her physical abilities.

And suddenly the lady herself appeared beside him, making him jerk with a start. Wyatt was coming to accept there was something special about her that allowed her to sneak up on him. As she stepped onto the bottom rail to rest her arms over the top of the fence like he was, he noticed that she was wearing work gloves, which were way too large for her. For reasons beyond him, she hadn’t replaced them with ones that fit. Slade kept all different sizes. He wondered if she was sensitive about her hands being smaller than a man’s, guessed that she probably was, and knew he had his work cut out for him. That thought led him to ask himself why he thought it was his job to help her. He didn’t want to deal with that question right now.

The answer ran too deep.

Looking up at him, she asked, “Why are you just standing here, holding that horse’s lead, and why is it so spooked?”

“Slade and I suspect that she’s been mistreated.” He searched her upturned face. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Are you still leaving?”

Her mouth twisted tremulously. Then she swallowed and said, “I’ve decided to give it one more day.”

Wyatt wanted to ask if she planned to go tomorrow, but he decided it wouldn’t be wise to press her right then. “That’s great, Erin. I’m really glad.”

“Are you? Truly?”

Wyatt couldn’t recall the last time he’d been quite so delighted about anything. “I truly am.” He didn’t want to analyze why he was glad. “I think you’ve made the right decision.”