Erin loosened her hold on the reins, and when Wyatt got the pack string moving again, Barbwire surged forward with his nose only a few feet from Firecracker’s rump. It amused Erin to note that Barbwire seemed to know about the blind spot behind a horse, because he was careful never to get within kicking distance of the mare. As much as it rankled to admit it, Erin learned a few things from Barbwire.

By the time they reached Huckleberry Lake, it was late afternoon and Erin was exhausted. Wyatt was in charge of setting up camp, of course, and his first order of business was to get all the packs off the horses, rub the animals down, and then hobble them on a grassy flat near the water so they could eat and drink. Only Barbwire didn’t get a pair of ankle bracelets. If the horses couldn’t wander off, the mule wouldn’t leave them, so Wyatt said hobbling him was unnecessary.

After doing all that, Erin wanted to crash in the shade for a while to admire the scenery. The lake wasn’t large, but it was beautiful beyond description, a jewel of dark blue at the center of a verdant meadow surrounded by old-growth ponderosa and jack pines. Erin had never visited a high-mountain wilderness lake. It called to her, and she wished she could kick off her riding boots to wade in all that azure coolness.

Wyatt had different ideas. The very first thing they needed to do was create a highline where they could tie off the horses at night. When they’d done that, they had to get the packs of hay positioned for supplemental feeding. There was a lot of grass for the horses to graze on, but just in case it was nutritionally insufficient, he wanted to toss the animals a little hay. Then they had to set up their pup tents so they would each have shelter for the night. As they worked, he told Erin they would get the cook shack erected the following day, but for tonight, dinner would be a can of beef stew heated on an open fire. He also had wieners and marshmallows they could roast. Erin was starving and voted for the hot dogs.

They worked until the sun started to go down. Erin wished Wyatt had placed her tent closer to his. Ten feet of distance seemed a little bit much to her. She’d slept alone in a small wall tent at Uncle Slade’s base camp on Strawberry Hill last fall, but she’d been surrounded by other people. Up here, she was afraid her only neighbors would be animals with saber teeth.

As Erin unrolled her sleeping bag inside her shelter, she congratulated herself for bringing only what she needed. There wasn’t anything electrical in her duffel, only bare necessities. She hadn’t thought to bring any makeup, and she’d look like hell all week. That’s okay, she lectured herself. She hadn’t come up here to seduce Wyatt Fitzgerald. She’d promised not to hit on him, and she tried never to break her word.