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“Company policy. Liability purposes.” Catching her thoughtful look, he turned his attention to the scenery, ending the exchange of more words than they’d totaled for the past two days. She reassessed him with a leisurely look. A street fighter in Armani. An enticing contradiction.
They traveled in silence for a time until he broke it with a soft oath. She followed his stare downward and understood his horror. They were approaching the fire zone.
It was like flying over hell.
A crackle of static on the radio had Mel quickly adjusting the frequency. And what she managed to pick up chilled her.
“Firefighter down. Requests emergency extraction.”
The signal was weak and breaking up. She put on her headphones to filter out the copter noise, but still the message was fragmented. She waited, breath suspended.
“Come on. Somebody answer.”
“What is it?”
Alerted by her tone and tense posture, Xander pulled the earphone away so she could hear his urgent question. The look she gave him was stark with dismay.
“One of our guys is down. He got cut off from his crew by a sudden backfire. He’s injured. I don’t know how bad.”
“He’s down there?” Xander nodded to the inferno below.
“Yes.”
“Isn’t someone going in for him?”
“I don’t think his call got out.”
He followed her anxious attempts to contact the stranded firefighter who wasn’t answering. She put out a call to any nearby aircraft, but the closest was too far away to do the injured man any good. She cursed low and passionately. The nose of the copter dipped and they swooped down to skim the burning treetops. The heat was sudden and intense. Struggling to see through the thick haze of smoke, Xander finally called out, “There he is.”
The situation was a worst-case scenario. They could see the single figure, prostrate on the ground with the fury of the beast rushing toward him. Mel tried the radio again. No answer.
“There’s no place for me to set down and he can’t hook himself up to a harness.”
“I’ll go down.”
She must not have heard him right. “What?”
“I’ll go down after him.”
She stared at him, flabbergasted. “Are you crazy?”
He never even blinked. “You’ve got a hoist back there, right? I’ll go down after him and you bring us both back up.”
He made it sound so simple. Her heart started beating fast and furious. “You have no idea how dangerous—”
“I’ve been rock climbing and base jumping since I was fifteen. I know how to rappel. Does that man have the time it’ll take for you to check my credentials?” His voice lowered, becoming rough, soft and persuasive. “Mel, you’re going to have to trust me. I know what I’m doing. And I’m going to have to trust you to pull me out of there before both of us are barbecue.”
She continued to stare at him, expression frozen, eyes huge. Finally he unhooked his straps and stood. “I’m going to go rig up. You get in as close as you can. It doesn’t look like we’ve got much of a window of opportunity.”
She gripped his wrist, holding hard, needing him to understand the gravity of his situation. “I don’t have any safety equipment on board. Once you’re outside, I can’t help you.”
He covered her hand with his, pressing hard. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
She watched him work his way to the back, swaying with the rock of the Ranger as the rising heat created a vicious turbulence. She would have cursed again but her heart had bobbed up into her throat, choking her with desperate emotion.
What kind of man dropped into hell in his shirtsleeves for someone he didn’t even know?
The quick and competent way he fastened up the harness said he knew what he was doing. His expression was grimly focused. If he was afraid, she couldn’t tell. There was no hesitation in his movements. She could have been looking at one of the seasoned hotshots about to fly like an eagle. Except he was plunging into a furnace with no oxygen and no fire suit.
“Here.”
He caught the bandanna she tossed back.
“Hold your breath,” she warned. She’d be holding hers. “I’m giving you thirty seconds and then you’re coming up with or without him. Understand?”
He nodded, not looking at her as he uncapped one of the bottled waters in the back, pouring it into the cloth square then over his head to wet his hair and face. Then he fixed her anxious gaze with his own steady one and told her, “Don’t let me fry.”
She tried to answer but couldn’t form the words.
He tied the soaked bandanna over his nose and mouth and opened the door. The stench of smoke poured in. He swung the hoist out and locked the cable onto his harness. Then, with one long look at her, he gave a thumbs-up, stepped out into the hazy air and was gone.
There was no time to worry about him. She had her hands full keeping the Ranger at a low steady hover just above the trees. She began to count. One thousand one. One thousand two. She couldn’t see him as he was directly below the belly of her ship, but she could see the flames chewing across her memory. And she could hear the screams, pleading for rescue from the horrible reaches of her past. One thousand seventeen. One thousand eighteen. She tried not to think about the poisonous gases, the heat, the flames. One thousand twenty-nine. One thousand thirty. Ready or not.
She activated the hoist, her breath still suspended as she swiveled in her seat to watch the empty doorway.
She’s right. I’m crazy.
Sure, he’d done bungee jumping and rappelling. But not into a raging volcano. And the difference was searingly apparent as he sang down the line into the fire. He took a deep breath—the last he could safely pull until he was back in the helicopter—and plunged to the floor of hell.
One thousand three. One thousand four.
The heat hit like a closed fist, the waves of it so intense the water and instant sweat beading up his face and neck sizzled. Walls of flame pressed in on all sides. He could hear the sap popping in the firs as it boiled. Tongues of fire raced across the dry grasses under his feet, licking at the still figure stretched out on the ground. His vision blurred behind the scorch of smoke as he bent over the unconscious man. From the corner of his eye, he saw something fall and reached without thinking to catch a limb as big around as his forearm, deflecting if before it struck the downed firefighter. He could smell the cooked flesh on his palms before the pain actually registered. Then he gasped and, immediately, was coughing, choking, reeling.
One thousand twelve. One thousand thirteen.
He couldn’t draw a breath. His nose, his throat, his lungs burned with a raw, tearing agony. Dropping down onto elbows and knees, he swayed, struggling not to succumb. Seconds. He only had seconds to secure the other man’s safety.
One thousand twenty. One thousand twenty-one.
He crouched over the firefighter, wincing as he grabbed onto his slack weight and dragged him up into a seated position. Buffeted by dizziness and the relentless pounding waves of heat, he banded the man’s chest and locked his arms about him.
One thousand twenty-seven.
Burning embers lit on the back of his neck. He shook his head but couldn’t knock them off. Not without letting go. He gritted his teeth. Come on, Mel! Get me out of here!
And then the line pulled taut, dragging him and his limp cargo up and off their feet, snatching them up through the thick plumes of blackness. He was barely aware of them stopping. Of his feet groping for the open doorway. Of swinging his heavy burden inside. Of collapsing, crawling the last few feet and rolling onto his back to suck the first sweet taste of air.
At the controls, Mel shouted back, “Alex, are you in?”
Then his hoarse reply. “Go.”
Mel headed back to Reno, not daring to turn around until they touched down on tarmac where the ambulance waited by the Parrish hangar. She threw out of her belts and hurried back to where Xander sat on the floor beside the still firefighter, one hand clutching the other’s motionless fingers, the other rubbing at his own eyes. He glanced up when Mel touched the back of his dark head. His face was a mess of black soot smeared by runnels from bloodshot eyes. From out of it, his wide smile was a sudden shock of white. Relief and something bigger, something massive, plugged up in her chest.
“We got him, Mel.”
Her own smile wobbled. “Yes, we did.”
The paramedics were quick to secure the young firefighter, Teddy Greenbaum, to a stretcher. They had Xander breathe through an oxygen mask until he could suck air without spasms of coughing. He let them take his vitals then declined further attention with a gruff “I’m fine,” and a promise that he’d check in with them if he had any problems.
Then Teddy Greenbaum, who’d been scant minutes from beyond help, was whisked away to the hospital.
“Come on,” Mel coaxed the slumping figure of Xander Caufield. “I’ll stand you to a cold one.”
Groaning, he slid off the chopper step onto his feet and took a reeling pitch to the right.
“Whoa. I gotcha.”
Mel slipped in under his arm and let him lean on her while he gathered his bearings then steered him toward the hangar. Acting without thinking, she sat him down in her swivel desk chair, stuck an opened longneck in his hand and went for the first-aid kit in the small bathroom. She came back to find him hunched over, untouched beer dangling between his knees. She tipped his head back with the cup of her palm beneath his chin. His sore eyes were flat with fatigue as they fixed upon hers. Slowly, very gently, she began to clean off his face with the wet towel she’d brought for that purpose. His eyes closed as she uncovered more of his splendid features with each determined swipe. Beautifully masculine lines. Irresistible. She bent, touching her mouth to his. He tasted like dry ash on the outside. Sweet, so sweet inside. When she lifted away, his eyes were still shut, his breath coming softly, shallowly between the slight part of his lips. With her hand on the back of his head, she had him tuck his chin so she could attend the singed nape of his neck while her fingers meshed and kneaded his dirty hair. All the while a curious fullness kept building around her heart.
Crouching between the spread of his knees, Mel took the beer from him and had a long drink of it before setting it aside. She took up his hands, again, her touch so very tender, examining the blistered palms.
“There’s no easy way to do this, Alex.”
He braced at the quiet warning.
At the first touch of the ointment to the raw skin on his hand, white-hot pain ripped along every nerve ending, slashing, sharp, gnawing, right-to-the-bone agony that had his heels clattering a helpless staccato on the cement floor. Just when he thought his teeth were gritting with enough force to crack molars, she stopped and blew slowly over the aggrieved surface to win some small degree of relief. She looked up at him and he managed a tight smile as he offered up the other hand the way he might to a meat grinder. By the time she was done, he was panting and blinking hard. But still, that small slight smile.
“You could have told me it would sting a bit,” he chided, then was dismayed when the brightness shimmering in her eyes dissolved in a blink, tracing down her cheeks in quicksilver trails. Her palms pressed flat to his chest, moving up and down in a restless motion before fisting in his soiled shirt. She leaned into him, butting her head against him between those clenched hands. And she began to tremble.
With his hands all gooey and trapped in a swaddling of gauze, he was at a loss to do more than trap her quaking shoulders between the press of his elbows. Resting his cheek against the soft riot of her hair, he closed his eyes and rode out her silent weeping without a word.
“Mel?”
The sound of her uncle’s worried voice had her pulling back, pulling herself together with quick, self-preserving practice. She stood away from Xander Caufield, away from the sudden confusion of feelings that had her lost and seeking comfort from the embrace of this near stranger, who had managed, for a brief moment, to hold her fears at bay.
“I passed an ambulance. What’s going on?” Charley’s gaze cut between the careful opaque of her expression to that of her rumpled and worse-for-wear client. “Everything all right here?”
“A little unscheduled stop to pick up a passenger. I’ll explain it to you later, Charley.”
Sensing there were volumes she wasn’t saying, Charley simply nodded. He was too used to the complexities behind his niece’s brusque manner to push for more than she was ready to give.
“We’re running late for a pickup,” she continued so he wouldn’t have time to press for additional information. She needed time to sort it out, to suppress her reactions, and she didn’t want to risk spilling any more pieces of her soul in front of Xander. He’d seen more than she was comfortable with already.
More than he was comfortable with, if she read his impenetrable facade correctly. He gave nothing away when she glanced at him.
“Are you up for another trip?”
“As long as there are no more unscheduled stops. I want to shower and change first. I’m rather…unpresentable.”
She took in the whole of him, the smudges of ash, the suit that was far beyond the help of any dry cleaner, the stink of smoke and sweat. And nothing had looked more attractive, more appealing, than this rumpled version of Xander Caufield.
“I’ll bring the car around,” she managed in a tight little voice, using that excuse to run from the confusion of her heart.
Xander met Charley Parrish’s curious stare unflinchingly. Finally the other man fidgeted and came out with it.
“Mel told me what you did the other night. I never got the chance to thank you at the hospital.” He held up a hand before Xander could brush off his gratitude. “That girl and my daughter are the only things that mean a damn to me. They’re my life. I just wanted you to know that, so when I say thank-you, you’ll know it’s more than just words.”
Because there was no way to respond to that, Xander simply nodded.
Charley cleared his throat awkwardly. “My daughter Karen wanted a chance to thank you, too. She’s got a private gallery showing over in Tahoe tomorrow night and asked me to extend you an invite. I don’t know if you’re interested in that kind of thing or have the time for it. Mel can bring you.”
“Bring him where?”
“To Karen’s showing tomorrow night.”
Mel’s wary glare bored into her uncle’s, chastening him for his bumbling attempt at matchmaking. “I’m sure Mr. Caufield has better things—”
“No, actually I don’t,” Xander cut in. “It would be a nice distraction from room service and pay-TV.” He paused then added silkily, “If you don’t mind.”
“No trouble at all.” She checked her watch. “We’ve got about forty-five minutes to get in the air.”
Nodding to Charley, Xander followed Mel out to her battered Jeep. After climbing in, in deference to her tense mood, he said, “Don’t feel obligated. If you have other plans—” He let that drift off.
She glanced at him. Other plans? Plans better than spending an off-the-clock evening with him? Let me check my calendar? Her smile was fierce. “If I minded, I would have said so. Buckle up.”
The Jeep jerked forward, giving Xander scant time to grab on. He continued to study the tight set of her jaw and the rigid line of her shoulders. She minded plenty. But she was taking him where he needed to go.
Play the role. Remember the part. And try not to look forward to it quite so much.
Chapter 5
A shower and a change of clothes. Easy to say, harder to execute with the way pain was pulsing up from his fingertips. He glanced at Mel Parrish, who was gazing out the window of his hotel room toward the pool area ten floors below. What would she say if he were to ask if she’d mind helping him undress, suds up and towel dry? If she minded following up on that tease of a kiss that had sucked the oxygen from his lungs as effectively as the fire? Would she give him that cool, assessing stare and say no problem?
Maybe she would.
“I’ll be just a minute.”
He had started for the bathroom when she said his name. She called him Alex. No one had called him that for longer than he could remember. Except his parents, who would always see him as the awkward Alex rather than the coldly confident Xander he’d worked so hard to cultivate. He didn’t correct her. He liked the way she pronounced it, all soft instead of the crisp-cut syllables of his new persona.
“Here. I brought these for you to use.”
He stared at the plastic bags and rubber bands, not understanding.
“Put them over your hands to keep the dressings dry. Unless you want me to reapply the salve.”
The threat made him grimace. “No, thanks. And thanks.”
She released a shaky breath after the bathroom door closed and she heard the shower turn on full blast. She’d been about to say, Let me know if you need any help. Help to do what, exactly? She glanced restlessly at the closed door, angrily denying that what she wanted was to help herself to her quixotic client. She paced, thoughts prowling aggressively, until the water shut off and a long silence followed. Finally, he emerged, dressed in dark slacks with his crisp white shirt unbuttoned, his black hair slicked back and gleaming wetly. He struggled for a moment with a bottle then extended it to her in frustration.
