them less suspicious. You start following them around the woods with your patrols, and they’ll get even more suspicious. We need a way to look like the good guys.”
“Got any plan for doing that?” Cap asked sarcastically.
“I’m thinking on it,” Buddy said stubbornly. “I’ll come up with something. By the time I get done, we’ll look like heroes and they’ll leave us alone.”
Chapter 10
Craig put on a fresh pot of coffee, apparently as much of a requisite for the forest service as it had been for the army. He also pulled out prepackaged sweet rolls to go with it, so full of preservatives they probably could have safely been stashed for the entire summer on that very shelf.
She understood, though: food and coffee, the essentials, especially when life lacked other comforts. On a day like this, Don probably wasn’t very comfortable.
Because the rain had been so steady, Craig went out to check on Dusty, carrying a heavy wool horse blanket with him. “He may be waterproof, but he doesn’t have a way to run around and keep warm out there,” he explained. “I’ll be a few minutes. I’m going to brush as much water out of his coat as I can and check the drainage. I don’t want him standing in water.”
On a day like this, Sky figured there was no way to avoid standing in puddles. A little while later, she heard thumping. Curious, she grabbed her jacket and went outside.
Dusty stood near the side of the cabin, under the overhang, wearing his blanket. Craig, however, appeared to be using a shovel to dig a trench. The center of the corral had become a lake.
“Can I help?”
He didn’t argue. “There’s another shovel around back in the small toolshed.”
Walking around back, she noted with amusement that Dusty seemed unfazed by all of this. He was eating grain and watching Craig’s efforts with one eye.
It felt good to use her muscles for hard labor again, though, even though she was sure she’d probably feel it later. They trenched their way steadily toward a downslope just beyond the corral fencing.
Craig paused, wiping his forehead on his arm. “It’s going to be muddy no matter what, but at least it should dry faster when the rain stops. I need to get some bales of hay out here to spread around if I’m going to be here often.”
“But he’s okay when you’re moving around, right?”
“Sure. He can always find a dry place to stand and some shelter. It’s just being cooped up like this that concerns me, and I’m probably worrying too much. It’s only one day, and he’s found a fairly dry place to stand. It’s not like I’m going to leave him standing in water up to his hocks for a week.”
She liked that he cared this much, though, even if he thought it might not be essential. “We could go scoop up armloads of pine needles from around here.”
He cocked a brow at her. “Do you want to spend the rest of the day on that?”
Well, actually, no, she thought, quickly bending to start shoveling again. As wet as the earth was, it was easy to trench. There were other things she’d vastly prefer to do with the hours ahead. Damn, she’d had sex with a man and they hadn’t even gotten naked. Think of that. Good sex, too.
They were just finishing the trench, watching the puddle vanish from the center of the corral, when Don drove up in a service pickup. He climbed out into the steady rain, pulling a bright orange poncho over his head.
“Why the hell aren’t you two inside where it’s dry?” he asked as he walked over to the corral. Then he saw the trench. “Oh. Afraid Dusty will melt?”
Craig just snorted. “Go on inside. I just made coffee. We’ll be there as soon as we rinse off.”
“Naw, it’s more fun out here.” He winked at Sky.
She quickly reached for Craig’s shovel. “I’ll put these back.” The wink had probably been innocent, but after what she and Craig had just experienced, she didn’t want to flirt, even casually.
“No, I’ll do it,” Craig said. “I need to lock up. You go on in with Don.”
Exactly what she didn’t want to do, but given no option, she crossed the corral and led the way inside. Much to her relief, Don didn’t seem to want to go any further than that wink. He doffed his poncho, sat at the table with a mug of coffee and took a sip