Wyatt had known for a while that he was in love with Erin De Laney, but in that moment, his feelings for her ran so deep that they made his chest ache. “No, I don’t think you’re nuts. Gutsy, yes. Taking risks, yes. She’ll get a whole lot upset.”

She smiled slightly again. “Do you believe she’s dangerous?”

“I believe she can be pushed into it. When we’re cornered, all of us have the potential to be dangerous. But do I think she’s mean? No. I’ve been around mean horses. They do exist, just like mean people exist. But—is that what you’re calling her now, Firecracker?” At Erin’s nod, he continued. “If she gets so frightened she can’t think, she may do you harm. But she doesn’t strike me as being bent on hurting anyone. She just wants nothing to do with people.”

“Do you blame her?” she asked.

“No. Do you?”

Erin shook her head. Then she pivoted on her heel and walked away. At the door, she turned and said, “Can you read my lips from there?”

“Well enough to guess what you’re saying.”

“If you see me doing anything you believe is a disservice to Firecracker, please tell me. She’s very important to me, and my aim is to help her get better, not make her worse.”

“I can do that,” Wyatt replied. “Just be careful, Erin. You’re important to a lot of people, too.”

Wyatt could have added that when it came to people who cared about her, he stood at the front of the line, but his feelings for Erin had to remain his secret. Only Kennedy had guessed how Wyatt felt about her so far, and Wyatt wanted to keep it that way.

* * *

Over the next two weeks, Kennedy seemed to be around the ranch less and less, but he kept up with his work, and as the foreman, Wyatt was grateful for that. If Kennedy had been a flake, Wyatt would have been placed in an untenable position of having divided loyalties, one to his boss and the other to his brother. Wyatt understood Kennedy’s feelings about Jen and his need to be with her as she recovered. She had endured one of the worst traumas anyone could experience. If she recovered. That was the question that looped continuously through Wyatt’s mind, and there was no question that it plagued Kennedy as well. Physically, Jen would heal, but she might be emotionally messed up for the rest of her life.

* * *

June descended on the Mystic Creek valley, glorious in her shades of verdant green and patterned with brilliant color. Wildflowers bedecked the fields and woodlands, poking up their delicate faces like tiny maidens emerging in all their beauty from the dark underworld of winter. Wyatt had always loved spring, and it came late in eastern and central Oregon, refusing to be governed by the official date for the season. When summer officially arrived, spring would be in her full glory and bowing for an encore, much like a talented actress who refused to leave the stage and remove herself from the limelight. Then, as if it happened overnight, summer would elbow her way in and bring sudden heat that dampened shirts, brought perspiration to foreheads, and created dark sweat rings around the crowns of Stetson hats.