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“Drive or ride?” he asked then. “Or are you too sore to ride?”

That prosaic question snapped her out of her silly thoughts. “I do have some spots reminding me riding is new, but it’s worth it.” She meant it. She had loved the new experience, and couldn’t turn down the chance to ride the sweet-natured Latte again.

He grinned at her. “Ride it is, then.”

As she was putting her gear back into the pack, she paused. “Should I take my camera?”

“Do you ever not?” Her gaze shot to his face, but he clearly wasn’t complaining, not with that grin still there.

“Rarely,” she admitted. “Would he mind some photos of the dogs and what he does? Maybe I can talk them into using a shot in the piece.”

“Mind, yes.” She felt her cheeks flush, but Ry just went on. “Allow it, also yes. Because he knows any bit of attention helps the cause.”

“Yes. And it’s an interesting aspect of things here, where you work.” There, that nicely slotted things.

She narrowed her gear down to what would fit in the saddlebags he’d gotten for her last time. Then she followed him to the barn, reminding herself every step of the way that she was here on a job, and had no business thinking of him…in the way she was thinking of him as she watched him move in those nicely snug jeans. She should just be glad he was being so…cooperative. Generous. Helpful. Kind. Thoughtful.

Wild. Gorgeous. Sexy.

Yeah, those too. It was crazy, she never, ever reacted like this. Especially to a man like this.

She hated what he did to her.

She loved what he did to her.

She had to get a grip on herself, on her mind, her imagination. Had to stop these thoughts. What she needed was a stop sign in her head. Or maybe one that said “Off-limits.” In neon lights. Flashing neon lights.

But she wasn’t sure even that would work. Not against Rylan Rafferty.

Chapter Nineteen

“We’ll take thescenic route,” Ry said as they mounted up—Kaitlyn a little gingerly with new-rider tenderness, but not so much that he was worried—and headed out. “Chance will want to show the newcomers around, and let them settle a little before visitors.” He glanced at her. “They’ll be in their runs except for Tri, so don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t,” she said quickly as they headed out past the big corral. “Aware, but not worried.”

He nodded. “Those dogs are used to just about anything. Chance says it’s just that their threat perception is out of whack. And Ariel says that to a traumatized warrior, everything is a threat.”

“They sound like…quite a pair.” She smiled warmly as she said it, and he was a little amazed at her obviously genuine warmth for people she hadn’t even met.

“They’re perfect together,” he said, meaning it down to his soul. “And I will never stop being thankful she came to get Tri and met Chance.”

“That’s how they met? She came to adopt the dog?”

He nodded. Hesitated, but decided since it wasn’t a secret, family or otherwise, he could tell her the rest. But he waited until they’d made the turn onto the trail that led down toward the stream, a branch of Hickory Creek that was sometimes merely a yard-wide flow, sometimes after a storm an uncrossable torrent.

“Tri lost his leg on his last deployment, a bit over two years ago, trying to save his handler’s life.”

“Trying? So…”

“His handler, who was a friend of Chance’s, was killed.” He gave her a sideways glance. “His handler was also Ariel’s husband.”

“Whoa. That had to be a strange path to tread,” Kaitlyn said, clearly understanding all the ramifications of that.

“It was. But they’re coming out the other side now, both of them.”

He’d never expected to be so glad his brother had found his soul mate. At the same time, it made him a little nervous, because their mother seemed to have shifted her focus to him. As if she were going in chronological order and he was next. He and Cody had even joked about it.

You’re next, bro.