Wyatt was of particular interest to her. He was such a good-looking man, his body lean and hard from daily labor. Just studying him made her insides tingle, a feeling she must learn to ignore if she meant to keep her word and not flirt with him again.

Instead of admiring him, she tried to focus on how clean the air smelled and how nice the breeze felt when it touched her hot cheeks. She’d had fun today and wished she could do this more often. Out here under an open sky, she felt liberated. She could be herself, not worry overmuch about her appearance—unless Wyatt came along, of course—and could let her mind drift. That felt amazing to her. While on duty, she constantly had to be on her toes, watch what she said, and make sure her uniform looked perfect.

Brody rode up on a red quad and braked to a stop. Not for the first time, Erin marveled at the similarities between him and his father. Like Wyatt, they were both tall, lean, and well-muscled, but their hair was a dark sable brown, their eyes were gray, and their skin was a shade darker than the blond foreman’s. Nobody would ever mistake Wyatt for a Wilder, but anyone could instantly tell Brody was. He and Slade looked alike, talked alike, and even seemed to think alike.

“Marcus will be back home in about three weeks,” Brody told his dad. “He and I can fix the fence in the west pasture. I checked on it the other day, and I’m pretty sure it’ll hold firm until then. It’ll be great to work with my boys again. As soon as school lets out, Blake and Hank can team up with us to get the work done, too. It’ll be good for them.”

Brody met Erin’s gaze and grinned. “You look whupped, cousin. ’Bout time for you to knock off and carb up on Mama’s caramel streusel bars. They’re so good, your eyes will roll back in your head.”

Erin wasn’t quite ready to quit for the day, but she could tell Brody wanted to spend some time with his dad. On such a large ranch, they probably didn’t get a lot of one-on-one moments together. She hugged her uncle goodbye. Then Brody caught her up in his arms for a hard squeeze, which caught her by surprise and made her laugh.

“We’re family. Remember?” her older cousin told her. “You gotta stop being so standoffish.”

Erin grinned up at him. “I wasn’t being standoffish. It’s just that I’m all sweaty.”

As Brody released her, he pulled the brim of her cap down until it almost covered her eyes. “I’ll be sweatier than you are in a couple, so a little extra salt on my shirt now won’t matter a bit.”

As Erin walked away, she hoped Wyatt might join her, but he remained with the men. Friends, only friends. He’d stressed that to her the other night, and she needed to remember it. No matter how attractive she found him to be, there could never be anything intimate between them.