Vickie came to sit on his knee. Slade looped an arm around her waist. “Have you ever told Wyatt you know about the rape charge?” she asked.

Slade hired a professional detective to do his background checks. As the owner of a ranch, he had to know everything possible about a prospective employee. “Nope. I ordered all the court documents after I had the background check done on him. I saw no point in embarrassing him when I knew for sure what had happened and that he’d been found innocent. It’s his secret to keep. If he chooses to tell me about it someday, I’ll act surprised.”

Vickie rested her head on his shoulder. “And you’re positive he was in no way to blame for what happened?”

“Yes. Do you think I’d send my niece up that mountain with him if I weren’t?”

* * *

Slade took over as foreman the next morning so Wyatt could start shopping and packing for the trip. Wyatt was glad he wasn’t preparing for a guided hunt, because that required making huge lists and checking them twice. This trip would easy by comparison. He needed to take up tents, lanterns and fuel, kitchen gear, bedding, an ax, a chainsaw, and the like, but he only had to worry about taking enough food to last him and Erin for a little over a week. Vickie was taking care of all the other campout supplies and would bring them up the day she and Slade arrived with the female bear. Compared to a guided hunt, getting ready for this trip was a piece of cake.

Erin came to him late in the afternoon, and when he saw tears in her eyes, his heart leaped. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I can’t leave Firecracker. I just can’t. I’m sorry, Wyatt. I know everyone’s counting on me to go with you, and I may lose my job for refusing, but I just can’t abandon her.”

For what seemed like an endlessly long moment, Wyatt considered taking advantage of her reluctance. It was the perfect out for him. If she refused to go, he wouldn’t be held to blame by Slade. Only that seemed like a really chickenshit thing to do, and when he thought about it, he decided the boss wouldn’t let it slip past him, anyway. In less than a nanosecond, Slade would say the same thing Wyatt was about to say.

“Firecracker can just go with us.”

“No!” Erin cried. “She’ll be terrified the whole time. I can’t do that to her.”

Wyatt finished tying off a pack. “She won’t be afraid. She’s not fearful of other horses. It’s people she doesn’t like. Once we get a halter and lead rope on her, she’ll fall into place with the pack animals and be fine.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so. It may even be good for her. Horses learn by watching other horses. She’ll see we don’t beat our animals or throw explosives under their feet. It’ll also give her a chance to make friends and hear how they feel about being ranch horses.”