Rancher's Covert Christmas. Beth Cornelison

fixed her gaze on Zane and his stunning blue eyes sent a tremor through her. With her host’s penetrating gaze on her, she needed the relaxation technique as much as Dave. “Calming breaths. You do it with us.”

      Dave scoffed quietly between gasps and grunts.

      Patting his hand firmly, she directed him to inhale with her as she counted two beats in her head. “Now exhale slowly for four seconds.”

      The cowboys both blew their breaths out through their mouths.

      “Through your nose, gentlemen. You’re not having a baby, you’re trying to relax.”

      Her comment earned her odd looks from both men, but they followed her example as she inhaled again and let her exhale draw out twice as long. “Now inhale for three seconds and exhale for six.”

      Dave’s demeanor calmed, his hyperventilating quieted, and Erin’s pulse slowed, too...so long as she didn’t look into Zane’s piercing eyes. Meeting his celestial-blue gaze was a bit like staring at the sun. Doing so for too long was risky, as if he could sear something deep inside her with his laser-bright stare.

      She continued walking them through the one-to-two breathing ratio for a couple of minutes until Josh ran back across the ranch yard and skidded to a stop beside them.

      “Ambulance is on the way,” Josh said as he spread a heavy blanket that he’d brought out over Dave. Josh was panting from exertion and stress, and his tense energy and ragged breaths distracted her students.

      Erin felt the tension reenter Dave’s grip as his eyes darted to Josh, and she saw the muscles in the injured man’s jaw flex as he gritted his teeth. She snapped her fingers in front of Dave’s eyes and, with a nudge of his chin, brought his attention back to her. “Right here, cowboy. Focus on me.”

      He gave her a pained grin and rasped, “My pleasure. You’re a...heap prettier than either of these...chumps.”

      “Thank you. Now, less talking and more slow breathing, friend.” She flashed him a bright smile, and from her peripheral vision, she noticed the frown that Zane divided between them.

      Dave followed her directions for a couple more breaths, then with another thin grin that reflected his agony, he added hoarsely, “Any chance I could...repay you for your kindness?” He paused to drag in another breath. “Dinner sometime maybe?”

      Now Zane’s whole body tensed, his brow forming a deep V as he sent the hand a hard look.

      “Why, you flirt!” She sent the injured man a wink. Anything that helped distract him from his pain was acceptable in her book. “I just might have to take you up on that.”

      “What about Helen?” Josh said, and Zane arched a raven eyebrow and cocked his head as if to say, Yeah, what he asked.

      “Helen?” She gave him a scolding pout.

      The ranch hand grimaced, clearly from his excruciating pain rather than the shame of being caught out. He gulped a couple shallow breaths. “It wouldn’t be...a date, so what’s...wrong with it?”

      She gave him a disapproving grunt, then tapped his nose with her finger. “Through your nose. Let’s start again. Three-second inhale...”

      Her coaching was interrupted again as a woman’s distress cry reached them through the chill air. Erin and the men all turned to look toward the back of the main house where the foreman appeared with a young woman wearing a stained apron and no coat. She ran toward them, calling, “Dave! Oh, my God, Dave!”

      Erin scooted aside to allow the sobbing woman access to the ranch hand, though she hated the fact that the woman was clearly upsetting Dave again. She glanced at Zane, meaning to send him a silent message with her facial expression.

      As if sensing her attention, Zane raised his head, his gaze clashing with hers. She indicated her concern over the woman’s effect on the patient with a twitch of her brow and quick side glance. Zane gave her the merest of nods, then put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Helen, calm down. Help is coming. Right now, we have to keep him comfortable and breathing deeply.”

      “Dave,” Erin said, gaining the hand’s attention again. “With me. Inhale...” She demonstrated the technique again while Helen watched. “Can you keep him going?” she asked Helen and the young woman nodded, though her eyes spoke for her distress. Then to Dave, Erin said, “No hyperventilating, cowboy. Concentrate on your breathing.”

      Dave gave a nod, his jaw clenched and his complexion a worrisome gray.

      Having passed the distraction and deep breathing reins to Helen, Erin pushed to her feet and backed away from the huddle of bodies around Dave. She considered taking her luggage inside, but since she’d not yet officially been shown in to her accommodations at the guesthouse, that seemed presumptuous.

      Besides, her curiosity was sparking.

       The ranch has had a string of incidents, with evidence of sabotage that have hamstrung our operations, crippled us financially.

      Her client’s words replayed in her head and his word choice stirred a disquiet in her gut as she glanced back at Dave. Though Josh’s back currently blocked her view of the ranch hand’s broken leg, the grisly image of Dave’s twisted shin was burned on her brain.

      With a furtive glance toward the ranchers, she sidled over to the collapsed stepladder and studied the rails, the spreader, the bolts. What had happened to the ladder? A simple slip by the hand or something more sinister? She toed a bent piece of aluminum and searched the ground for the screws that should have attached the loose support bar to the legs of the ladder. Casting her gaze around her feet, she searched the ground for the failed bit of hardware. Finding a rusted screw lying in two pieces beneath the branches of the spruce tree, she stooped to gather the bits. Then hesitated.

      If this did prove to be sabotage and not just the failure of an ancient screw, she should leave the evidence untainted for the police. She straightened and backed away from the ladder, but slid her phone back out of her pocket.

      With another glance behind her to make sure her actions were not being watched, she quickly snapped a few pictures of the fallen ladder and the rusty pieces of the broken screw. Repocketing her phone, she edged back toward the injured cowboy, making mental notes about who was present and their reactions to the incident. She would be having a private meeting with her client tonight, and she already had something to report.

      Seeing that she’d left the cluster, Zane stood and approached her.

      “Hardly the welcome to the ranch I’d have planned.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and drew his mouth into a grim line.

      “And not one I’d have expected. I’m sure this isn’t the kind of excitement McCall Adventure Ranch had in mind for customers.” She placed a hand over her chest. “My heart is still thumping.” And it bumped even harder when Zane stepped closer, his gaze intense.

      “Thank you for your help. I’m not sure I’d have known what to do if he’d passed out or...” He waved a hand, his thought unfinished as he cut a glance back toward the injured man. A frown dented his brow and he started unbuttoning his coat. He shrugged out of the fleece-lined jacket and walked over to drape it around Helen’s shoulders. Helen turned a pixie-like, tearstained face up to his and gave him a brief smile of thanks. Zane’s gentlemanly gesture touched Erin.

      “So chivalry isn’t dead,” she said to him as he returned.

      He gave her a brief puzzled look, then shrugged his actions off. “She needed a coat. I gave her mine. No biggie.”

      But to Erin his thoughtfulness was telling, as was his modesty. She’d learned through her work, through her life-changing moments, that people can say who they are until they are blue in the face. But actions were the real evidence of character. This was why she typically avoided pre-researching people. She didn’t want preconceived notions to jade her observations of people in action. Body language. How they reacted to questions and events...

      Zane