a few feet away and gathered the reins in her hand. She waited for the inevitable flashback to begin but the horse just stared back at her, his eyes soft. She felt his spirit in her mind, the calm, untangled sense she’d had at their first encounter.
“Go on,” Lane said. “He’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
She bunched the reins in her hand and walked around to the side of the horse. Tipping the stirrup toward her, she pushed her toe in and felt a surge of panic. She closed her eyes.
“Open your eyes,” Lane said. “Open them and look at me.”
She opened her eyes and he was there, at the horse’s shoulder, his eyes meeting hers. Now she could feel him too, the strength of him, and love hit her like a wave. It lifted her heart, sweeping it up, swinging it sideways, and settling it into the saddle like a leaf washing up on the shore. She was still watching his face when she realized she’d done it.
She was on horseback.
She looked straight ahead and saw the horse’s muscled neck, his dark, coarse mane, the tufted ears pointed forward, and suddenly she was awash in memories—but they were good memories. She could hear the rodeo announcer, the murmur of the crowd. For a moment she and the horse hung suspended out of time, hovering in the hot summer air like a hummingbird in the second before it darts for a flower.
She gazed down the trail and thought go.
Cinn went, his muscles bunching and loosening in a rocking, casual walk. The rhythm was so comforting and familiar she couldn’t resist rocking forward in the saddle and giving him a nudge, just the barest nudge. And then he was jogging, arching his head and flashing his feet out like a parade horse, and she had to laugh and give him another touch of her heels.
Lane had been right. It was like riding a bicycle. She was a little unsteady at first, but she was finding her balance as muscle memory kicked in.
And sitting high in the saddle, she felt in control for the first time in years. She hadn’t realized how much of her life she’d handed over to the Carrigan Corporation and the other companies she’d worked for. There was something to be said for the Western life after all.
Turning, she loped back to Lane and sat back on her seatbones the way Roy had taught her. Cinn slid to a halt on the dry dirt trail, his hind legs gathered beneath him, his front feet kicking up dirt. Lane grinned while Ollie blinked in the puff of dust they’d raised.
“Well, I suppose you’re ready to ride off into the sunset now,” he said teasingly.
“Nope.” She tightened one rein and the stallion danced in a tight circle, impatient to be off. She turned and grinned at Lane, feeling happier than she’d felt since she was a kid.
“I was thinking we ought to ride to the Love Nest. Come on, Lane. Race me.”
Epilogue
The red ribbon fluttered from Sarah’s hands as she made her fourteenth effort at tying it to a tilting fence post. There was a pretty stiff breeze blowing, promising a late-afternoon rainstorm, but it really wouldn’t be that hard to get the job done if Lane would quit trying to help her.
“I’ve got it.” She shoved him sideways and grabbed the runaway end of the ribbon.
“Do you need some help?” Sarah turned to see Emmy standing beside her, hands clasped shyly behind her back. But her shoulders weren’t slumped, and as Sarah stepped away, she took the ribbon and tied it into a quick, assured bow around the post.
“They teach you that at UW?” Lane teased.
“No. They’re teaching me what kind of formations you look for to find oil, and how to access it, and—oh.” She paused, mortified, and proved her newfound confidence hadn’t affected her ability to blush. “You don’t want to hear about that, do you? You’re against it.”
“Not if it’s done right,” he said. “Just learn how to do it right, and then make sure it happens when you get your first job.” He grinned. “Maybe you could work for Carrigan. What do you think, Bro?”
Eric had taken off his jacket and was carefully rolling his shirtsleeves to the elbow. “Probably. But she’ll be done with graduate school by the time you and I agree on anything.”
“I hope so,” Lane said. “But at least I’ll have one engineer on my side.”