“It’s Sunday,” she said. “Buck won’t be there.”

“He has a drop box for car keys. You can just lock up the Honda, drop your keys through the slot, and then give him a call in the morning to get an estimate.”

“An estimate won’t be necessary. That’s the only auto repair shop in town. Taking the car into Crystal Falls for competitive bids would cost so much that any money I saved would be wiped out by towing fees.”

Wyatt couldn’t argue the point. He placed a hand on the side of the truck box and vaulted into the bed, landing on his feet. Without glancing back at Erin, he opened the lid of his diamond-plate toolbox, grabbed the tow chain, which lay at the top because he used it often on the ranch, and then leaped back onto the roadway. “I’ll pull around and get in front,” he told her.

“I really don’t need a tow. I’ve got this.”

Wyatt was reminded of the first time he met Erin. She’d been just as stubborn about accepting his help then as she was now, and he responded with almost the same answer. “The boss won’t be happy if I leave you stranded out here.”

Her chin came up a notch. “It’s not exactly remote here. Dozens of cars will be returning to town on this road in a matter of minutes.”

“Exactly. And every single driver will see that I drove right past you.”

“I’ll tell them you offered to help and I declined.”

“Why not just accept the tow?” he pressed. “It’s a favor between friends.”

“We aren’t friends. You make no secret of the fact that you don’t like me. Now that I’ve made friends with Doreen at dispatch and get time off, I can finally visit the ranch more often, and whenever I do, you vanish as if I have a contagious disease.”

Wyatt knew he was guilty as charged. But he didn’t steer clear of her because he disliked her. The truth was that he liked her too much. “Whenever you visit, I’m on the clock. On any given day, I have a list of stuff to get done that’s as long as my arm. I don’t deliberately avoid you. I’m just busy.”

Her expression told him she wasn’t buying that. “Look,” he went on. “Whether I like you or whether you like me isn’t the point. Your uncle is my employer, and he’ll be pissed at me if I don’t lend you a hand. I need to keep my job, if it’s all the same to you.”

A subtle slump of her shoulders told him he’d won this round. “Oh, all right,” she said with a flap of her wrist. “I’ll let you tow the car into town, but only because I don’t want to cause any trouble between you and Uncle Slade.”

Wyatt didn’t care what her reasons were, only that she’d finally accepted his help.

* * *

Erin had taken high-speed driving courses as a law enforcement officer, which had led her to believe she could handle a car in almost any situation. But getting behind the wheel of a broken-down vehicle was a whole different kettle of fish. The power steering didn’t work with the engine dead, making the wheel difficult to turn. The brakes were also spongy, requiring more pressure on the pedal to engage them. On top of that, dust billowed up from the back of Wyatt’s rig, making her range of visibility about a foot in front of her nose. The interior of the Honda grew uncomfortably warm. Even if she’d been able to roll down the windows, which she couldn’t without power, she would have been breathing in dirt. As glad as she was not to be riding with Wyatt, she was exhausted and sweating by the time they reached the Timing Light.