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Goblin pressed his freshly groomed body against her shin now, his clean coat already collecting dust from Arden’s pasture. The glow-up had lasted approximately four hours before he discovered the joys of rolling in the grass. Jodie rested one hand between his enormous ears without looking down.

“They’re here.” Her voice came out quieter than she expected.

Mac stood beside her with his forearms resting on the fence. “Yup.”

The larger trailer rolled toward the new barn they had all helped construct. Jodie could see the new fencing stretching around the pasture, the chute near the barn, the water system, all the practical things they’d all worked together to build.

People had come from everywhere. Watchdog vehicles lined one side of the drive. Virgil stood near the barn talking with Hank, both men watching the trailer approach. Dana had driven up from the BLM office, and the expression on her face when she looked toward the trailer held the same mixture of anger and relief Jodie had seen every time Harold’s name came up.

The case against him had grown quickly once investigators began pulling on the threads. Jodie’s phone had been found in his truck with the photographs she’d taken at the hidden pen still on it. Her radio had been there, too. The portable panels, transport records, vehicle logs, communications, and paperwork tied to the missing horses had given the investigators places to keep digging. The second fire near the trap was being investigated as arson, and Harold had been taken into custody while federal and local agencies sorted out exactly which laws he had broken and who got to prosecute which pieces.

Jodie had stopped trying to follow every detail. She had told Kimberly Wyatt what had happened. After that, she let the people whose job it was handle him. What she did learn was that Harold had a terrible gambling habit and was deeply in debt.

The trailer stopped. Jodie’s fingers tightened around the rail.

Arden came to stand on her other side. For once, she didn’t say anything. She simply slipped an arm around Jodie’s waist and waited while the driver climbed down and went to the back of the trailer. The ramp lowered. The first horse hesitated in the doorway, silhouetted against the dark interior. Then Luna stepped onto the ramp.

“Oh.” The sound escaped Jodie before she could stop it.

Luna reached solid ground, lifted her head, and stared across the pasture. Months in captivity hadn’t dulled her. Her coat gleamed, and she carried her weight well. She looked alert and suspicious and magnificently alive. At least Harold had treated her and the other horses well after he’d trapped them and transported them. He’d lined up overseas buyers with the promise of ‘exotic, rare, native wild horses from the Wild West’ and they were willing to pay ridiculous prices.

Sagebrush came down the ramp next, then Lucky, followed by Rosie. Mac slid his arm around Jodie’s shoulders. She leaned into him and watched the horses move together toward the holding pen. Then two more colts followed them down the ramp. One of them was Echo, filled out and glossy now, and Luna’s head swung toward him before he’d cleared the ramp. The pair trotted off together, joining the little group Arden had finally been approved to adopt.

The second, smaller trailer took the other’s place. When its ramp was lowered and the trailer opened, Jet marched down the ramp like the horse prince he was and joined his little band.

It wasn’t the same as roaming free, but they were safe, and together.

Jodie looked around the pasture, not just at the structures but at her Watchdog family spreading across the pasture. Then at Mac on one side of her and Arden at the other. She looked down at Goblin sitting on her boot as though there had never been any question where he belonged, because there wasn’t.

The party spread out after the horses settled. Someone had set folding tables beneath the shade beside the barn, and the air smelled of grilled meat, dust, sun-warmed hay, and the sharp-green bite of crushed grass under so many boots. Jodie carried a plate of food she had barely touched and watched Luna, Sagebrush, Lucky, Rosie, Jet, and the two colts move through the new pasture, acclimating to their new home. Every few minutes, one of them lifted a head and looked toward the fence, ears forward, still learning to trust their safety.

Mac had disappeared somewhere with Ben. Jodie wandered over to Sandra, who stood near the end of one table with her camera hanging against her hip instead of in her hands. She had been filming earlier, catching the trailer arrival and Arden’s first careful approach to the horses, but now she was talking to Hank. She glanced down at the camera hanging against her side, then back at him. “When you’re ready, if you want the aftermath documented, I can help.”

Hank looked at her for several seconds before nodding. “Maybe.” Then he added, “Today’s still a good day, kid.”

Jodie impulsively reached for his hand and squeezed it. Hank squeezed back, then looked toward the pasture again. Lucky had wandered close to the fence. Arden stood several yards inside the pasture, not approaching, simply letting the horse decide what to do. Luna and Sagebrush grazed nearby.

“Yeah,” Jodie said softly. “It is a good day.”

She gave Hank’s hand one last squeeze and stepped away. Mac had reappeared near the far end of the fence now, watching her. Ben stood several yards behind him, talking with Charlie, but both of them were surreptitiously looking at him.

Jodie walked toward Mac, Goblin abandoning a promising investigation beneath the food table to follow at her heels. When she got to Mac, he smiled and said, “Fancy meeting you here, Ranch Girl.”

Jodie grinned. “Indeed. What a coincidence.”

“Care to walk with me around to the back of the barn?” His voice was steady, but his ears were bright red.

Mac is nervous, she thought as she took his arm. That possibility had never occurred to her.

He led her along the fence, then behind the barn where they had first kissed. The noise of the party faded behind them. The horses were farther out now, moving through grass turned gold by the setting sun. Wind brushed lightly against Jodie’s hair and carried the smell of pine across the pasture.

Mac stopped and rubbed one hand over the back of his neck. He reached into his pocket.

“Just so you know, I decided I wanted this before the fire.”

Oh.

Her eyes filled immediately. “Oh, my goodness. Yes, I will.”