Satin & Saddles by Cheyenne McCray

frustration. This whole damn thing was driving him crazy.
    He knew what he was going to do. In the morning he was going to go back to her house and make her tell him exactly what was wrong.
    * * * * *
    The day dawned bright and clear and Dillon took care of morning chores, his mind on Carly. He fired up his computer when he got back in to make some notes on the new filly when his email program chimed, telling him that he had a message.
    It was from Carly.
    He clicked on it and read the message.
     
    Dillon,
     
    It’s best if we don’t see each other or talk. I know you will want to talk but I don’t. So don’t call me or stop by my house again.
     
    Carly
     
    His hand clenched on his desktop as he read the note. Hell if he was going to give up without knowing what it was that he supposedly did. As soon as he finished taking care of a few things, he was heading back to Patagonia to have a talk with her and make her tell him what was wrong.
    He was on his way out of the house when his brother, Wyatt, drove up and parked his red truck next to Dillon’s. He waited for Wyatt to get out of his truck and saw that his brother had a grim expression when he climbed out.
    “What in the hell is going on?” Wyatt walked toward Dillon. “You sent a picture of yourself and Sue to Carly.”
    “What?” Dillon frowned. “I didn’t send anything like that to Carly. Why would I do that?”
    Wyatt braced one hand on his truck as he looked at Dillon. “You apparently sent it to Carly by mistake because it was addressed to Sue.”
    Dillon pushed up the brim of his hat, feeling a wave of confusion pass over him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t send anything to Sue. I can’t remember the last time I even spoke with her.”
    “I saw the email myself.” Wyatt eyed Dillon steadily. “Carly let Sabrina see it.”
    “I’m telling you,” Dillon said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    Wyatt reached into his back pocket and pulled out two folded pieces of paper and handed them to Dillon. “Printouts of the email and the picture,” Wyatt said.
    Dillon opened the papers and narrowed his eyes as he read the email message. The second page was a printout of the old picture of him and a past girlfriend, a picture he had completely forgotten about.
    “I didn’t send this,” Dillon said, even as he saw that the email had come from his email address. He looked up at Wyatt. “I don’t know who sent this, but it wasn’t me.”
    Wyatt frowned. “What you’re saying doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
    “No, I can see that it doesn’t.” Dillon’s mind whirled. “Even if someone hacked my email address, how would they have gotten a copy of that picture?”
    “I don’t know, little brother, but it sure doesn’t look good,” Wyatt said.
    It came to Dillon then. “I think someone was in my house yesterday.” He clenched the papers in his hand. “My computer may have been tampered with. If someone did come in, he or she could have sent this email.”
    Dillon turned toward the house and Wyatt fell into step beside him. “Don’t you keep your computer password protected?”
    “Yep.” Dillon nodded. “I wondered if someone had managed to get past that, but I had no way of telling.”
    They went straight to Dillon’s computer and he booted it up. Once it was up, he signed in with his password and went straight for his email program and went to the sent folder. “There’s nothing here.” Dillon shook his head. He went to the trash folder. “That email is not in sent or trash.”
    He looked at Wyatt who was frowning, too. “Who would get on your computer, send an email to Carly, then delete it? And how would they have the know-how to get past your password to begin with?” Wyatt said. “Computer geeks aren’t real common in these parts. You’re the closest to it that I know, and I don’t think you’ve developed that skill.”
    “Geoff Burnside,” Dillon said slowly as his