Tried and True (Wild at Heart Book #1) by Mary Connealy

She’d imagined those footsteps.
    And those eyes. She’d definitely seen them, but what man would stand in the dark, watching her?
    She had to have let her loneliness fill in something frightful. As her breathing slowed, she thought she heard a sound in the darkness.
    “Kylie.”
    So soft, only a whisper. So still it could have been the wind gusting between the trees.
    Shaken, she stood still for long moments. But there was no more sound, until finally she knew it really had to be a trick of her mind.
    Looking down at her trembling hands, she knew that as tricks went, it had been a very good one. She’d gone out to stand on the porch without lighting a lantern. Now she knew that to light one might make her visible if someone found even the smallest crack in the logs of her cabin.
    Terrified to think of those watchful eyes—eyes that were almost certainly just some forest creature—she went to bed, determined to find a way out of this life before it drove her mad.

6
    K ylie swung off her little gray mustang. She’d ridden to Shannon’s first thing when she’d gotten up—wearing a dress. Yes, she was desperate for company, but there was more. Meeting Aaron, meeting Coulter, their both knowing she was a woman, the trouble with her claim, the fright caused by her loneliness last night.
    She’d awakened this morning determined to make some changes.
    Today was the beginning of a new day and a new life. She felt reborn. She was a woman and she was going to live like one, and no one was going to stop her.
    Aaron had left the night before, intent on changing her homesteading papers to disallow her the service exemption. So there was no point to her manly masquerade anymore. Still, she rode astride. It wasn’t the first time she noticed that although she longed to dress and behave as a woman, there were a few things she didn’t like. Ridingsidesaddle was one bit of nonsense by which she refused to abide.
    “Kylie!” Shannon’s voice whipped Kylie’s head around, searching for the source. “Help!”
    Shannon was nowhere to be seen.
    “Behind the barn.”
    Her sister wasn’t visible now, but Shannon must’ve seen Kylie ride up.
    Kylie dropped the reins of her horse and ran, knowing from the tone of her sister’s voice that there was trouble. She rounded the barn to find Shannon neck-deep in the fast-moving stream that ran off her mountain. She was clinging to a fat sheep.
    “Shannon, for heaven’s sake.” Just as Kylie yelled, Shannon’s head went underwater.
    Kylie picked up speed, sprinting for the stream. Her skirts were heavy enough they’d pull her under. Kylie tore at her buttons and shed her dress while she ran. Next she shed her petticoat. She wore only a shift by the time she reached the water’s edge.
    Kylie wasn’t a strong swimmer, and while the time pounded at her, she took the time to rip her shoes away, knowing anything that held her down might be the thing that cost Shannon’s life. Kylie ran into the water and was instantly swept along. Shannon’s head appeared again and in the same place. She still held that stupid sheep.
    Flailing more than swimming, Kylie hoped Shannon got a good breath while her head was up. “Let the sheep go,” she hollered.
    “I can’t!” Then Shannon went under again.
    Can’t or won’t? Kylie wasn’t sure. She knew Shannon’sfavorite Bible verse was the one about the good shepherd giving his life for the sheep. Shannon might be taking that a bit too far.
    The current swept Kylie along. When she came even with Shannon, there’d be a single chance to grab her, because Shannon wasn’t moving. Something had her anchored to the spot, even while the water battered at her and tried to pull her under.
    Kylie drove herself, got every ounce of strength out of her arms. A wash of water went over her head just as she inhaled, and she choked as she forced herself forward.
    Calm down. Remember the war. Keep going. Ignore the fear.
    Why did so much in her life remind