Page 80 of Wilde Ride

Lilibeth smiled. “Then you take it slow and see how things go.”

I exhaled and nodded. “I’m just afraid my heart is going to end up being broken.”

“No,” she said, flashing me that bright smile of hers. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Can you guarantee that?” I teased.

She laughed. “I cannot. But I have a feeling things aren’t going to go as slow as you think.”

Frowning, I asked, “Why do you say that?”

“You know how I said I could tell something happened when you rode up?”

“Yeah.”

She winked. “Levi had the same expression. I think that kiss affected him just as much as it did you, and don’t go saying it’s just because he’s a man. There’s something between the two of you, Emeline, and I cannot wait to see how this goes!”

Reaching over, I took a Swedish Fish. Before I popped it into my mouth, I smiled and said, “You and me both.”

The first camp session was always the craziest. If something was going to go wrong, it’s usually that first week when we get all the kinks worked out. Things had been going pretty smoothly, though, and I was waiting for the floor to fall out.

Rhett ran up to me with a massive smile on his face. “Ms. Emeline! I got a fish today!”

“You did?” I asked, bending down to look at him. “Did you have fun fishing at the lake?”

He nodded. “So much fun! And we’re getting ready to go do archery!”

I glanced past him to see Lynn, one of the volunteer counselors, guiding the rest of Rhett’s cabin to the meeting spot. “You’d better go join your cabinmates, so you don’t get left behind.”

He turned, saw everyone lining up, and took off running. He stopped and looked back at me. “Are you riding with us later?”

“I sure am. It’s the River Falls Summer Camp’s famous dinner ride, I can’t miss it!” I called back.

Rhett fist-pumped then ran over to his group.

The dinner ride was a tradition we’d started a few years back. The last night, we had a dinner ride where the kids either got to ride on horses alone up to the site, or rode with one of the adults on their horse up to a site where we had a chuckwagon cookout. The kids loved it, and everyone on the ranch was involved. Everyone, even Caden, who was our designated campfire cook.

I couldn’t help but smile as I glanced around the camp. Kids from each cabin were lining up at their meeting points. We had the schedule down to a finely tuned machine, with some kids going to do archery, while others were heading for fishing or candle-making with Lilibeth. Later, Levi would give a presentation on one of our pregnant mares. The kids had been talking about it all day, most of them hoping she’d have the foal during the presentation.

“Emeline?”

Hearing my brother Caden call my name, I turned to smile at him. “Hey, what brings you to the other side of the ranch?” I teased.

He looked like he was in a bad mood, which was pretty common for Caden. He walked up to me, glanced around to make sure little ears weren’t about, then said, “I’m going to strangle that friend of yours.”

“Which one?”

“The overly peppy one who likes to get into other people’s business!”

“Did you forget her name?”

He nearly growled. “Lilibeth.”

I tried not to smile. The fact that Lilibeth riled my brother so much was amusing to me. “What happened?”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “She asked what we were serving at the chuckwagon cookout. I told her we were having grilled steaks, cowboy beans, cornbread, and coleslaw, plus the veggie chili and baked potatoes. Then she asked about dessert.”

“So? Did you tell her the kids will have dessert waiting for them back at the cabins when we return?”