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Making her choice, she ran for the barn and prayed she was right. Wally’s calls grew louder and punctuated by coughs as she burst through the entrance, pulling her jacket over her nose and mouth to prevent choking on the smoke that rapidly filled the space.

“Sadie!” Wally called from her left, and she turned to see him, hand on the flank of a panicked and whinnying Target.

The hay that lay on the ground between them had acted like a ready match, lighting up with a menacing blaze that lapped at the air. Her horse reared back on her hind legs as Wally struggled to keep her calm while coughing into his elbow.

“I’m coming,” Sadie yelled. “Just stay put.”

“You need to get out of here,” Wally responded. “It flared up so fast I didn’t get a chance to help the animals. Another minute, and neither of us will be able to escape. Please, Sadie.”

The man is infuriating!Sadie ignored Wally’s wasted breath and glanced around for something useful. That’s when she spotted the small hill of dirt in the wheelbarrow leaned up on the side of the pigpen near the door.

The cacophony of frightened animals, Wally’s insistence on her leaving him, and the conflagration itself mixed together into a buzzing sound in Sadie’s head as she tied the arms of her jacket around her mouth and nose then grabbed the wheelbarrow.

Sadie shoved the handles upward, tipping the dirt out to smother enough of the fire to clear a path to the stall. She nearly got trampled by Target who ran past so fast she felt the hot wind rush over her face.

Somehow, Wally’s hand landed in hers, and she tugged him across the rest of the way.

“The pigs and the chickens!” Sadie shouted, leading the way to open the gates and shooing them outside.

When they finally exited the structure, the barn was fully ablaze, and the house had all but collapsed in on itself. Sadie fell to her knees and stared at the unrecognizable mess while sucking reasonably clean air into her lungs.

Wally fell to the ground beside her, coughing up some of the soot that covered them both. When he quieted, his hands settled on her shoulders.

“You saved my life,” he said.

He’d been inside the bedroom, tied to the bed. She’d have never been able to get to him if he hadn’t somehow escaped. The realization she’d nearly killed him, followed by the realization that she loved him, stole the adrenaline from her.

Sadie leaned back against him, allowing her body to go slack as she shook with sobs. He rocked her, shushing in her ear and holding her close until she quieted.

Chest aching, Sadie finally turned to face him and took his face in her hands, stroking and smearing the soot along his cheeks as she searched his beautiful eyes for signs of damage.

“I thought… I thought you were…” she stammered.

Wally pulled her close again so she could hear the soothing sound of his steadily beating heart. “I’m not. Thanks to you.”

Sadie nodded, reassured, and let him help her to her feet. Wally spoke as he led the way to Darcy’s pen so they could release the last of the animals. Sadie realized he was wearing an open shirt and jeans. Jeans that were far too tight.

Sadie opened the pen and urged a frightened Darcy out. “How’d you get loose from the bed?”

Wally patted the panicked mule as he answered. “Teddy. He found me while he was packing for your getaway and cut me free. He showed me the trunk with your husband’s things, and I found something that sort of fit.”

“He didn’t say a word,” Sadie mused.

“I told Teddy to keep doing what he was doing and not let on. Guess he did a good job.”

“That boy is smarter than the both of us,” Sadie said and coughed.

“Well, he learned from the best. Come on. We need to get out of here before Amos shows up to arrest me again. I’m done breaking out.” Wally steered her and Darcy forward on the same path she’d taken to get there.

After they’d left the light cast by the fire, and with it, the haze of smoke, she asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Well, I think that depends on you.” Wally grabbed her hand, but she still had trouble looking at him after realizing what she had by the barn. “Your house, your whole ranch, is going to burn, I’m afraid. I didn’t see Otto do it, but I found the alcohol bottles and rags once I realized what was happening and before I went for the barn. I’d been hiding from him to be honest, waiting on him to leave so I could also.”

“He set it on fire?” Sadie asked, void of the emotion she should be feeling. That ranch had been everything, her security, her home, her memories, but all that she’d thought of as it went up in flames was the danger Wally had been in while trapped inside.

“He had a vendetta, and he wasn’t going to let you get away so easily. Not even for whatever money Caroline promised him.”

Numb, Sadie could only nod. Her throat felt like sandpaper and her chest still hurt.