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“There are four crews working the fire right now. Us, Blue Ridge, Albuquerque and the Tucson Hot Shots. More are scheduled to arrive tonight if the fire continues to spread.”
“I just learned yesterday that Hotshots traveled to different states.”
“We go wherever we’re needed. Kind of like the marines.” A dimple appeared in his cheek when he gave her a crooked grin. “So, are you free for dinner when this fire’s done making the morning headlines, or do you have a boyfriend?”
“I…ah….” Why was she even hesitating? She absolutely did not have a boyfriend, and this seemingly nice, definitely handsome man had just asked her out. She tried to make her lips form the word no. “N-not really.”
“Uh, oh. Too slow.” The man—whose name Aubrey didn’t even know—chuckled good-naturedly. “And the eyes were a dead giveaway, too. Is he with the Blue Ridge Hotshots?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said, strong and firm with no hesitation this time.
“A wannabe boyfriend? Are you one of those Hotshot groupies?”
“Absolutely not!” She huffed indignantly. “May I remind you I’m holding your injured arm in my hands, and I’m not above inflicting pain.”
His chuckle developed into a full-blown belly laugh. “As much as I’d be tempted to in this case, I don’t steal another man’s girl. But if you ever get tired of him, or he doesn’t treat you right, give me a call. Sacramento’s not so far away I can’t find my way back here.”
“Honestly, there’s no one—”
“MacPherson! You’re not giving this young lady a hard time, are you?” The taller man from earlier appeared, his jaw set in a no-nonsense frown.
“Who, me?” MacPherson pretended to be insulted.
“You’ll have to excuse him, ma’am. He has a tendency to run off at the mouth. You have my permission to boot him where it counts if necessary.”
“It’s all right,” Aubrey answered.
“Hey, Captain.” MacPherson held up the arm that Aubrey had finished dressing. “She’s a nurse.”
“Are you?” the captain asked.
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you a volunteer here?”
“Her boyfriend’s one of the local crew,” MacPherson interjected before Aubrey could answer.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she protested, but no one paid her any heed.
The captain had made an attempt to wash up. His face and hands were scrubbed clean, if not the rest of him. “Have you ever considered volunteering? I’d be happy to introduce you to Marty Paxton, the Blue Ridge commander.”
“Thanks, but no.”
“Wilderness firefighting teams can always use skilled medical personnel.”
Aubrey glanced around the community center, seeking a diversion. Where had Eleanor gone off to? “I can’t. I’m the sole caregiver for my invalid grandmother.” That sounded better than the truth.
Jesse and Maureen’s deaths had done a real number on Aubrey, shaking her confidence to the core. No matter how hard she tried not to, she saw their faces in every trauma patient she treated. Aubrey believed she owed her patients the best possible care. How could she explain to the captain that she feared she might freeze the first time a seriously injured firefighter was brought in?
Thankfully, he took no for an answer. “Well, if you ever change your mind, I’m sure there’ll be an opening for you.”
“And you could always come to Sacramento if you get tired of this place.” MacPherson bounced to his feet and shot her a look loaded with innuendo. “Thanks for the bandage job. See ya around, I hope.”
“Nice meeting you, ma’am.” The captain nodded curtly. “Let’s go, MacPherson. We got a call while you were under the knife. Playtime is over.”
“But we just got here.”
The rest of MacPherson’s complaint went unheard as the two men were joined by the remaining members of their crew. Moving as one, they rushed out the door. If they’d been riding horses, Aubrey would have expected to see a cloud of dust billowing behind them.
“You done?”
She turned at the voice and, seeing Eleanor, smiled. “There you are. I missed you earlier.”
“Sorry about that. I got suckered into making a bunch of copies at the real estate office next door where I work. The owner is good about letting the Hotshots use his equipment.”
“That’s nice.” It seemed to Aubrey the locals were more than willing to assist the firefighters however they could. She’d forgotten how much she liked the we’re-in-this-together attitude prevalent in small towns.
“Someone just brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Can I interest you in a cup?” Eleanor asked. “Or an iced tea? I’m scheduled for my break. We could catch up on old times.”
If the promise of a caffeine pick-me-up wasn’t enough, the hope shining in Eleanor’s face would have persuaded Aubrey. “Sounds great.” She reached into her jeans pocket for her cell phone. “Let me check in at home quick. Make sure everything’s okay with my grandmother.”
Home. There was that word again. She should probably be careful how she used it before someone—herself included—got the wrong impression. Look at the conclusion MacPherson had drawn thanks to one little slip of the tongue.
Why would anyone think she had a boyfriend?
“Have you seen Gage yet?” Eleanor asked after she and Aubrey found a quiet spot in which to curl up with their iced teas.
“Yesterday,” Aubrey answered with forced nonchalance. “He and the other volunteer firefighters are doing the handicap renovations on my grandmother’s house.”
“Mmm. I think I heard that. Funny how neither one of you ever remarried.”
Aubrey didn’t rise to the bait Eleanor dangled. “Not really. I’ve been focused on my career for the past several years. Serious relationships have been low on my list of priorities.” Not exactly the truth, but not a lie, either.
“I can certainly understand.”
“What about your sister, Beth? Has she gotten married?”
Aubrey’s attempt to change the subject backfired.
“Last spring. To an insurance salesman in Show Low. You know, after you and Gage…after you left town, she made quite a play for him. He turned her down flat, which she took pretty hard. Of course, we all told her she was wasting her time. He was never interested in anyone but you. Oh, he’s dated some. I mean, no man is made of stone. There was one gal in Pineville he hooked up with for a while. A technician for the phone company, I think.” Eleanor smiled coyly. “But like you, serious relationships have been low on his list of priorities.”
As it had yesterday on the porch with Gage and her grandmother, reminiscing made Aubrey fidgety. “Tell me about your children,” she said. “Do you have any pictures?”
Trust a mother’s pride in her offspring. To Aubrey’s vast relief, Eleanor immediately switched gears and for the next several minutes they enjoyed an amiable conversation. One that didn’t twist Aubrey’s stomach into knots.
“I’ve really enjoyed visiting, but I need to get back to work,” Eleanor said with reluctance. “I’m on duty until seven.”
“It’s been great. I hope we can do it again while I’m here.”
“Oh.” Eleanor’s eyebrows lifted. “You aren’t staying for good?”
“No. Only until my grandmother recovers.”
If she did recover. The chances of an elderly person leading a fully independent life after breaking a hip weren’t good. But Aubrey refused to dwell on statistics. Rather, she and her grandmother would take it one step at a time.
After a goodbye hug, Aubrey and Eleanor parted company. The TV blared in the background as Aubrey headed down the center of the large room. Men still slept in the cots, some of them snoring soundly.
She was about ten feet from the front door when it swung open and another group of Hotshots entered. These firefighters were wearing navy blue T-shirts, as opposed to black, she noted, and included a woman among their ranks. Knowing they must be tired and hungry, Aubrey stepped aside to let them pass, smiling at their nods and hellos, until the last man stepped through the door.
Upon seeing him, her smile froze.
Like the other Hotshots, he was dirty and grimy and smelled of smoke. Black smears covered his face and arms. Sweat plastered his short black hair to his head. A combination of sun, heat and wind had turned his tanned complexion dark and ruddy. Bits of debris clung to his clothing, and there was a jagged tear in the knee of his pants.
He looked tough and rugged and strong enough to hammer nails with his bare knuckles. He also looked sexy as hell.
The fluttering thing started again in Aubrey’s middle. Only today it resembled propellers on a twin-engine plane rather than butterfly wings.
“Aubrey! What are you doing here?”
“Hi. I…uh…brought some food.”
As a boy, he’d been cute. As a teenager, handsome. But Gage Raintree as a man fully grown was utterly breathtaking.
“Are you leaving already?” he asked.
“Actually, I’ve been here a while. And yes, I am leaving.”
The other Hotshots had moved on ahead, leaving the two of them as alone as they could be in a large room full of people.
Gage took a step back and pushed open the door with one hand, the corded muscles of his arm standing out. “Here. I’ll walk you to your car.”
Oh, no, thought Aubrey. What now? Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The problem was, after getting one look at him, she really didn’t want to do either of those things.
GAGE ENTERTAINED no doubts he would somehow get Aubrey alone and harbored no qualms about doing whatever was necessary to accomplish that end. He didn’t blame her for her obvious reluctance; they had a lot of unresolved stuff still hanging over their heads. And just because he was ready and willing to tackle some of that unresolved stuff didn’t mean she felt the same.
A sense of satisfaction filled him when she finally relented and agreed to let him accompany her outside. As a result, he now had the enjoyment of following her to her SUV. And it was definitely enjoyable.
She wore jeans today. Low-riders. And a snug little blouse that revealed a modest band of creamy flesh. When she moved just right, he could see her belly button. A definite plus. Her short, bouncy hair had been pulled off her face with a headband, but several tendrils escaped, falling into her eyes.
Eyes that watched his every move.
Since running into Aubrey, Gage had dwelled on little else except her. Even the fire had taken a mental backseat, which was unusual for him. He tended to throw himself into firefighting to the exclusion of everything else, which caused a significant number of rifts with his family. To say his father disapproved of Gage being a firefighter was the understatement of the century.
When he and Aubrey reached her SUV, she reached for the driver-side door handle. Anticipating just such a move, he blocked her with his body.
“Sorry about leaving everything a mess yesterday,” he said, leaning against the door. “When I get called, I have to report immediately.”
“It’s no problem.” She dug impatiently through her purse for her car keys. “I moved what I could into the garage, if that’s all right.”
“I’ll call Hannah. Have her stop by and pick it up.”
“Don’t bother. It’s not hurting anything.”
“Thanks. That’ll save me making a second trip between the ranch and the house.”
“How’s the fire? I saw on the news it’s only five percent contained.”
A question. Good. Maybe she wasn’t as skittish as she appeared. “We had a lucky break today with the weather, which is encouraging. But you can never predict for sure when it comes to fires, so I’m not packing my gear just yet.”
“I admit I was a little surprised to learn you’re a wilderness firefighter. When did that happen?”
“About four years ago. My friend Marty recruited me. I told you about him. He’s with the Pineville radio station. We met when the old Hunt Museum and General Store burned down, and he came out to do a live broadcast.”
“I took it for granted you ran the ranch with your dad.” She gave a little shrug. “Since that was, well, that was always…”
“My plan. Yeah, well, it’s still my dad’s plan.”
“He doesn’t like you being a firefighter?” Her eyebrows knitted, then lifted. “I think he’d be proud.”
Gage expelled a long breath. “It’s not that he doesn’t like me being a firefighter, just not now. Between his gout attacks and Hannah commuting back and forth during the week to the agricultural college in Pineville, running the ranch falls mostly to me.”
“And firefighting has a tendency to cut into your chores.”
“In a big way. It’s a forty-hour-a-week job during the season. Double that when we’re at a fire.”
“What do you do when you’re not fighting fire?”
“Clear roads of hazards, burn control fires, training. It’s never-ending.”
“You’ve taken on quite a load,” she observed.
“More so now that we’re participating in the drought study.”
“Drought study?”
“For the federal government. All the ranches in the area have lost a lot of grazing land because of the drought. We didn’t think we were going to make it for a while, and wouldn’t have without the extra income from the study.” He didn’t tell Aubrey how very close the Raintrees had come to losing the ranch that had been in their family for five generations.
“I thought you liked ranching.”
“I do.” He caught her gaze and held it. “But I love firefighting, and I’m going to keep doing it despite my dad’s objections.”
“Good for you, Gage.”
“Do me a favor, will you? The next time my dad and I have an argument, repeat those same words to me.”
He grinned, attempting to lighten the mood and fend off the resentment perpetually gnawing at him. His father bent over backward to support his younger sister’s ambitions, which were in keeping with the Raintree tradition of cattle ranching, but not his son’s.
She smiled back. “Is he really that tough on you?”
