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up,” she replied.
    “You want to go for a ride?” he asked. “I’ve been feeling like getting out in the fresh air.”
    She pressed her lips together. A ride, alone with Wyatt? Just the two of them?
    She shook her head. Wyatt might see her only as some kind of little sister character, but that wasn’t how she saw him.
    Sometimes he even appeared in her dreams, wanting to do things she’d never thought she’d want him to do.
    But she kind of did.
    Wyatt was still waiting for her, patient as ever, so she slowly stood, looking up at him.
    “I guess I could go for a ride,” she said.
    His handsome face lit up. “Great.”
    “You want me to saddle up a horse for you?” she asked. “Let me guess. You ride Musty?”
    Wyatt laughed and walked down to the stall that held the tall, black gelding. “How’d you know?”
    She frowned and tilted her head, trying not to melt at the sight of Wyatt cooing at the horse and rubbing a hand over its neck.
    “He likes a firm hand, and he likes to think he’s the boss of the pack. I imagine you’re one of the only ones he listens to,” she said.
    Wyatt grinned. “Because I’m naturally dominant?”
    “No, because you let him do what he wants.”
    Wyatt laughed at that and continued rubbing Musty. To her surprise, he grabbed a grooming bucket and started brushing down Musty in preparation for a saddle.
    “I can do that,” she said. “It’s my job.” It didn’t seem right for the rich owner of the ranch to be grooming his own horse.
    “Nah, I haven’t been out here for a while. I want him to get to know me again before I hop on.”
    “Okay,” she said. “I’ll take Rose, then.” Rose had already been ridden earlier that morning and she’d be easy to groom and saddle. Rose was a beautiful brown and white pinto, and she nuzzled her nose in against Val’s outstretched hand, trying to get a scratch.
    “Do all the horses get along with you this well?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve never seen Rose do that.”
    “She gets itchy,” Val said, smiling at him brightly as she finished prepping her horse.
    He was leading his horse past her and then stopped, looking over with an odd expression. She could almost see redness spreading over his tanned cheeks, but she thought it must just be the heat of the barn or exertion from grooming his horse.
    A moment later, she was leading Rose out of the barn, looking forward to a ride that wasn’t work.
    “You’ll have to show me a new trail through the mountains,” Val said. “I still haven’t gotten to explore much.” She wouldn’t admit it, but she hadn’t really felt safe going off alone. She was a long way from her family, but she couldn’t take any risk in being caught off guard should she get off the main trails.
    “Sure,” he said. “We’ll go due south.”
    She nodded in appreciation. So he remembered her family was north. That was good.
    “You get on first,” he said. “I’ll hold the—”
    But before he could reach for the reins, she was mounted in the saddle, with a perfect seat and the reins in her hands.
    “Um. Okay,” he said with a grin, swinging up into his own saddle.
    “I’m a horsewoman,” she said flatly, halting her horse so he could take the lead with Musty. “I don’t need any help when it comes to this.”
    He just laughed and moved ahead, controlling Musty perfectly. She’d never thought the huge gelding would be so smooth for someone, but he seemed bonded to Wyatt.
    Wyatt gave her a wry look, gold eyes glittering in the late evening sun. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not great with all horses, but Musty and I, we grew up together.”
    “What was your dad like?” She couldn’t help asking as they started on their way through a narrow path that wound into trees.
    Wyatt was quiet for a moment. “He was a hard man. A difficult man, especially after his wife left him.”
    “She left him?” Val asked, accidentally halting her horse for a second. She urged Rose on