to breathe. The first was impossible; the second was achieved by forcing air into her lungs.
She refused to open her eyes, her heart pounding in her ears as she struggled to gain control. When she finally opened them, there was no one there. No person, no horse, no evidence that what she’d heard had been real. For all she knew, she’d fallen asleep and dreamed it. If so, it had been her worst nightmare.
In spite of being fairly certain she’d imagined the whole thing, she remained cautious as she got to her feet. The first thing she did was check to make sure no one was lurking behind her in the bushes, but there was nobody there.
“No, it didn’t happen,” she muttered.
She used the walk back to her childhood home—now her brother’s house—to clear her head. She’d been dreaming. That had to be it. But why? It had been years since—
Unwilling to think about what had happened long ago, she forced her thoughts to something else. When she first decided to visit Lake Walker, she’d thought she would do some riding, but the idea of saddling and mounting the horse that had replaced Firewind only made her miss him that much more. Erin prided herself on not being particularly emotional, and she didn’t want to give herself any reason to get that way, so she’d chosen to walk instead. She welcomed the exercise. She hadn’t been sleeping well for weeks, and she’d been so tired lately—it made sense that she’d imagined someone had spoken to her, although the man in the pond had definitely been real.
Back at the house, she stepped inside the screened porch, then opened the door that led into the kitchen, where she found both of her brothers seated at the table. “I see you took—”
“It’s about time you got back here,” Luke, the youngest, announced.
She looked first at him and then at Dylan, who scowled at her. “What?” she asked. “I’m not allowed to get some exercise?”
Dylan leaned back in his chair, his scowl deepening. “We have somewhere to go. We meaning you, too.”
“Did you forget?” Luke asked.
She had forgotten, but they didn’t need to know that, now that they’d reminded her. “Of course not. We’re meeting up with the others at Lou’s Place.”
“Right.” Dylan crossed his arms on his chest. “And we’re expected to be there in thirty minutes.”
“No problem,” she replied. “It won’t take me long to get cleaned up and—”
“Dean is expecting to meet you there.”
She stared at Luke, hoping her confusion appeared believable. “Dean? Dean who?”
“You know damn well who,” Dylan said. Pushing away from the table, he stood and walked over to her, his six-foot-plus body towering over her. “Dean Franklin. You remember him. We introduced you to him at the fall festival last October.”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.” No way would she let herself be set up with another man her brothers had chosen for her. And if they insisted, she would pack up her motor home and leave. She had plenty of friends on the rodeo circuit who would be happy to give her a place to park until she found somewhere permanent to live. For that to happen, she needed money, and she refused to ask her brothers for it.
“You agreed to meet him,” Luke said.
Erin shook her head. “No. You—both of you—set it up and told him I’d be there. I never had a say in it or in the other men you’ve tried to marry me off to since the leaves started falling from the trees last October. Give it up, boys. I’ve had enough of your game. You act like I can’t get a man on my own. No, let me rephrase that. You act like I can’t even attract a man. Let me assure you right now, that isn’t the case.”
“Did I say it was?” Dylan asked.
“You didn’t have to. It’s as plain as the noses on your faces that you’re trying to fix me up with somebody. With anybody.”
“You’ve got this all wrong.”
“Do I? I think it’s you two who have it all wrong, and you need to butt out of my life.”
This time it was Luke who spoke. “We’re only trying to help, Erin.”
“Well, don’t,” she said. “If I decide I need a man—which I don’t—I can find one on my own. Understand?”
“We’re concerned. We want to make sure you have someone to take care of you.”
Her mouth opened and words came tumbling out. “Take care of me? You both seem to forget that I’ve been on my own for almost fourteen years. I’ve traveled the rodeo circuit across this whole country and even into Canada...by myself. Nobody was holding my hand. Nobody was keeping me company or taking care of me.”
Dylan nodded. “Which is all well and good. But you’re older now. Don’t you want a family?”
She felt the twinge of regret that always hit her when she thought of what she’d done, nearly seventeen years before. But they didn’t know, and she wasn’t about to tell them. Ever. She’d had her reasons for staying away from the ranch and for remaining single. And at the age of thirty-four, she wasn’t about to get tied down now.
“I have a family,” she replied. “I have you two. But if you don’t stop insisting that I marry the first yahoo that comes along, you’ll give me no choice but to leave. Do you understand that?”
Luke looked at Dylan, who shrugged. “You always were stubborn.”
“Bullheaded,” Luke added.
“No more than the two of you. Shall we talk about your lives before I stepped in to fix them? If it hadn’t been for me finding you the perfect women to marry, there’s no telling what would have happened to you.” She looked pointedly at Dylan, who had come close to losing his share of the ranch, barely a year earlier, until she’d devised a plan to set him up with a former classmate, which had ended in an engagement and an upcoming wedding.
He looked down at her, his green eyes full of a gratefulness she wished he would move beyond. “All right. You’ve made your point, Erin.” He looked at Luke, who nodded, then back at her. “We’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you want.”
She wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved. She knew better than to trust them, but they both appeared sincere. “Thank you.”
She turned to leave, hoping they wouldn’t have to revisit this topic again. The men her brothers had introduced her to had been good men, but she’d never met a man who didn’t try to run her life. She suspected she never would.
She didn’t mind her solitary life. It was what she’d chosen, and the idea of getting married or anything close to it was out of the question. She liked being single and had no reason to change.
“Fifteen minutes, Erin,” Dylan called to her as she started for the door. “No more.”
She swallowed her sigh. They weren’t going to let her off the hook.
The mere thought of the word hook caused her to nearly trip on the threshold. That word reminded her of fishing and ponds and a naked man. A shower was exactly what she needed.
* * *
WITHOUT LOOKING, JAKE CANFIELD knew Erin had walked into Lou’s Place, Desperation’s local tavern. All he’d needed was to hear her voice.
He’d been surprised—no, make that shocked—when he’d spied her lying in the grass near the pond. If he’d known she’d come home, he never would have gone there. Two things had drawn him back. He’d inherited his uncle’s ranch, and he’d thought Erin was still on the rodeo circuit. At least he knew now that she wasn’t riding. And he was curious to know why. Becoming a barrel racer had always been her dream, much like his own dream of being a rancher. Hers had come true early, and from what he’d heard, she’d done well.