“Did he marry her?” Ember asked with a smile.
“He went back the next day to pay for the window and apologize to her father in person. Her father yelled at him a bit, and the girl just stood there and watched. Grandpa said that’s when he knew he could never marry her—a woman who just stood there and let someone else come down on him like that. Either she didn’t have the gumption to stand up to her father—or she didn’t love Grandpa enough to fight for him. Whichever it was, she wasn’t the one for him.”
“Who did he marry?”
“The girl at the ranch next door. They’d been friends for years, and she might not have been fancy, Grandpa said, but she once shot a wolf that was attacking his dog. He said a woman with an eye like that and steady trigger finger—he wanted her on his side in life.”
Ember laughed softly. “I like that one.”
“So what does it say about me?” Casey looked over at her, flicking his hat up higher on his forehead as he met her gaze.
“It says your family values ability over a pretty face,” Ember said. And if that were the case, then whatever he felt for her would evaporate soon enough, because Ember didn’t have that steady trigger finger. Maybe that was for the best.
Casey didn’t answer, and they rode on in silence for a few more minutes, the horses plodding along at their own pace. Ember let her mind wander and she looked around at the mountains in the distance, the gently undulating hills and the crystal-clear sky that stretched over them.
There was a scattering of cows grazing and chewing their cud, and Ember smiled as she saw a calf drinking milk from its mother. The cow’s eyes followed her as she rode past—that look both protective and doe-eyed all at once.
“Milk River is just over there—you can see the trees that line the bank.”
“I see it.” There was a faint sparkle of water that she could just make out through the foliage.
“This is where we’ll dismount,” Casey said, reining in his horse and swinging down from the saddle in one continuous movement. He made it look easy, and she looked down at the ground, which suddenly looked very far below her, and licked her lips nervously.
“I’ll help you,” Casey said. He held up a hand. “Take your sprained foot out of the stirrup and stand up on your good leg. You’re going to swing it over just like you’re coming down on your own.”
“No, that’s going to hurt—”
“Trust me,” he interrupted her. “I’m not some kind of monster. Your foot will never hit the ground. I’ve got you.”
Ember did as he’d instructed and put all of her weight on her good foot in the stirrup, then eased her injured foot out of the other stirrup and swung it around. The momentum kept her moving, and her stomach lurched as she started down to the ground. Before she’d gotten far, though, she felt Casey’s strong arm scoop underneath her, and she landed solidly in his arms. She let out pent-up breath and looked up to find those dark eyes pinned to hers. Casey smiled slightly, then lowered her to the ground.
“There,” he said.
“Thank you...” It hardly seemed like words enough to encompass how she felt about all the little things this big cowboy had been doing for her over the last week.
“Can you walk a bit?” he asked.
“Yes, I can hobble around,” she said with a low laugh. “It’s not graceful, but it’s a lot better than it was.”
Casey scooped her hand up in his warm palm. “Lean on me if it’s easier,” he said. “What I want to show you is just over here.”
A young cow let out a moo and sauntered away from them as they made their way over lush grass. Casey tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, and he slowed his pace for her as she limped along. She could hear the sound of running water, even though she couldn’t see the river from this vantage point. A cool breeze lifted her hair away from her face, and she looked around, wondering what he could possibly want to show her out here.
“Is it the herd?” she asked, looking up at him quizzically. “I don’t get it—”
“Come on,” he said with a shake of his head. “I wouldn’t drag you all the way out here to see cattle. Give me more credit than that.”
“Maybe you just wanted to get me alone for a bit,” she said with a teasing smile.
Casey arched an eyebrow, then shrugged noncommittally. “I did want to get you alone. But it’s more than that. Over here.”
Casey led the way to a rocky area that looked scuffed, like it had been dug up a little recently. And when her gaze fell on those patterns of the exposed rock, she stopped short. It was a perfect rectangle—about the size of a packing box.
“What is it?” she asked breathlessly, looking up at Casey, and her heart sped up in her chest. She had a feeling she knew what it was, but she wanted him to say it.
“A fireplace hearth,” he said. He pulled a trowel from his jacket pocket, sank down to his haunches and started to dig around the outside.
“A home—there was a house right here—” Ember looked around before her gaze came back to Casey, who dug steadily around the rocks, exposing mortar and more rock as he dug. “Casey—did you know about this before?”
“I had no idea,” he said. “Even
