by Cora Seton
“The cowboy got most of it since he treated the patient. I’m just dusty, so I’ll just change, but thanks.” Sunny had tried not to notice his tightly muscled, blood-smeared bare chest when she helped him unload the patient or anything else displayed by his heavy, blood-soaked Levis which sagged on his hips. The man might be damned good looking, but he was damned arrogant too, a lot like her brother, who also happened to be a cowboy. That kind of negated the looks in her opinion.
As if reading her mind, Jolie said, “Even though he’s an asshole, he’s pretty cute, huh? Cowboys make me weak in the knees, the fact that he’s a medic too…” Jolie fanned herself. “Where’d you pick him up? He a new hire?”
“Hell no,” Sunny replied with a laugh. It would be a cold day in hell before she hired a man like him at the station. “He was at the ranch when I got there. I guess he works there. Says he’s a licensed medic, but I didn’t see his card so I can’t vouch for that.”
“Talked like a trained medic,” Jolie replied with a shrug. She waggled her eyebrows over excited brown eyes. “You should hire him since you’re short-staffed at the station.”
Sunny laughed. “Like that’s gonna happen after the way he treated Fox. And I’m a female in charge, remember, he loathes me?” Sunny shook her head. “I have enough egotistical males working at the station. I don’t need more. In fact, when I’m Chief, I may just get rid of a little testosterone and hire a few females.”
“You got the job yet?” Jolie asked with interest.
“Not yet. I was headed to my official interview when the ranch call came in. I’m the only one applying so it should be a done deal after the interview and testing. Uncle Silas isn’t committing until the board give me a thumbs up and I pass the exams.”
“Well, I’d say you’re a shoe-in then, since you’re the only one applying, right?”
“Not really. I’ve got to convince seven men that I’m the right woman for the job, and pass those tests. If that doesn’t happen, they’ll post the job on national registry sites. I hope it works out, because I need that job for Billy. We need to get our own place. It’s pretty crowded since Rand moved home.” Sunny hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “I don’t want my son ending up like that guy in the exam room, or like my brother.”
“Have they said if they think Rand will ever walk again?” Jolie asked sadly.
“He’s out of the body cast now and walking, with a limp, and the therapy seems to be working, but he refuses to use his cane. Can you believe the dumbass is talking about riding or being a clown again?” Sunny blew out a breath. “If he does get back on his feet a hundred percent, he just needs to thank his lucky stars and stay away from bulls.”
Her brother didn’t have the sense God gave those bulls he was so mesmerized with. And now he was determined to fill her son’s head full of bullrider and bullfighter glory stories that put stars in his eyes and ideas in his head too. Another of the many reasons Sunny needed to get Billy away from him.
“Seems like he would—” Jolie said.
“Jolie—get in here stat!” Dr. Fox yelled down the hallway, and the nurse jumped.
“Gotta jet—let’s have drinks soon,” Jolie said, making a call me sign as she grabbed a file and sprinted down the hallway, her white shoes squeaking on the shiny tile floor.
Sunny walked to the bathroom and quickly changed into the scrubs, wadded her suit up into a ball and headed for her truck. It was Friday and her mother had her weekly Pokeno game with her friends at church, so she needed to hurry home.
With what her mother put up with all week long, she deserved this weekly break and Sunny was not going to make her late. But when she walked out of the front doors of the hospital, her truck was gone, and her heart sank to the toes of her fire boots. The cowboy must’ve taken it and left her here to find a ride. Now being late to relieve her mother was the least of her worries. How in the hell was she going to tell Silas she let his truck be stolen?
“That thieving sonofabitch,” she grumbled, turning to go back into the hospital. Because her damned cell phone was in that truck too. But flashing lights under the canopy had her turning back to see her uncle as he pulled up under the canopy and skidded to a stop.
Sunny grabbed the door handle and flung the door open. “I’m sorry, Unk, my truck was sto—” she started, but Silas held up his hand.
“Five alarm field fire. All hands on deck, Sunny—get in quick,” he said, his blue eyes shining with excitement. “And change into your gear in the back seat, we don’t have time to stop.” Silas threw the car into gear, and Sunny jumped into the front seat. Slamming the door, right before he put his foot on the gas.
She grabbed the door handle when she was thrown against the back of the seat. “But, Momma—”
“Pauline knows about the fire, and said do what you need to do. Billy is fine,” he informed, glancing both ways, but not stopping at the intersection with the street.
“But my truck was stolen,” she admitted sickly.
Silas glanced over her and grinned. “No, Austin McBride borrowed it to respond to the call. I told him I’d pick you up here.”
“Who the hell is Austin McBride?” Sunny asked, confused. They didn’t have any volunteer named McBride.
“He heard the call on the radio, knew it was serious and drove out there. Got there before I did, and I’m damned glad he did. He had all the responding crews organized and working when I showed up on scene. It was a beautiful thing. Found out he was a Fire Captain and medic in Gladewater, and I told him he had a job with us if he wanted one.”
“The cowboy?!?” Sunny screeched.
“Well, he had boots and cowboy hat on, but that man is a born firefighter. I gave him my equipment, until I can order him some.” Silas laughed. “Well, if he comes to work for us.”
Sunny slammed her back against the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s my damned job,” she growled. “He didn’t have the authority to do that. He should’ve come inside the hospital and got me.”
“Said Foxy kicked him out, so he couldn’t,” Silas Gleason said with a rusty laugh that spoke to his thirty years of firefighting. “He knew from the tones and buzz on the radio we needed help, so he came to help.”
Sunny wondered just what the damned cowboy was up to, what his angle in doing this was—he had to have one. As soon as this fire was over, Sunny was going to find out.
She turned in the seat to pin her uncle with angry eyes. “If he lives out at that ranch, he’s an hour away from the station which makes him ineligible to volunteer. We don’t know for sure he’s even a medic, because he hasn’t even filled out the required paperwork, and we haven’t done the mandatory background check. The man could be an axe murderer, Unk.”
Sunny shook her head, and turned back forward. Hiring and vetting the staff at the station was her job. “How could you have offered him a job?”
“An hour away depends on how fast you drive, darlin’. He got to that fire damned fast—faster than any of our other guys who live right down the street.” Silas glanced at her, and Sunny saw in his eyes, heard in his tone, that he wasn’t budging on his decision to offer Austin McBride a job. “He helped you get that ranch hand to the hospital alive, didn’t he? His actions mean a helluva lot more to me than a piece of paper. He’s hired if he wants the job, and you are going to work with him, young lady. Got that?”
Sunny huffed a breath, turned in the seat and cast her eyes out the side window. “Yes, sir,” she replied crossing her arms over her chest.
Could this day get any damned worse?
Chapter Three
‡
Damn, could this day get any better? Austin tried to tamp down the excitement buzzing through his system like an electric current, but couldn’t stop the smile that curled his lips. Not only had he had the opportunity to treat a patient with a serious injury today, even if it was his own ranch hand, he was now managing a fire. A big one with multiple crews responding. Crews he was directing
to get it under control.
He felt energized, useful and alive for the first time in three years.
He realized now just how stagnant his life had become, as stagnant as the algae-covered lily pond on his family’s ranch in Gladewater. It was time for him to change that. And Chief Gleason, Captain Sunny Gleason’s uncle, had presented him the opportunity to do that by offering him a job if he wanted one. Austin had barely contained his laughter when he found out her name was Sunny, and she was a relation to the Chief. That name was as far from that woman’s disposition as the sun was from the moon. And she would probably be as hot as the sun when she found out he was here. But Austin really didn’t care what she thought. If he accepted the job at the firehouse she would just have to deal with it. The Chief was in charge and he was the one who offered Austin the job.
When the Chief offered, yes sprang to his lips immediately, but he pinched them. Austin had a lot of bridges to cross before he could firm up that decision. He was committed elsewhere, and making good money. He was not going to make an impulsive decision that could bite him in the ass later, and he was not going to disappoint Zack Taylor by leaving him high and dry after he’d promoted him to foreman and given him a huge raise.
That was not how Austin operated, had ever operated. He was going to do things the right way, and give Zack plenty of time to find someone to replace him.
If he decided to do this.
Austin would just enjoy his time here tonight stepping back into his fire boots, or the Chief’s rather. Tomorrow, he would gather information, explore his options, think and plan before he jumped. But right now, he had a fire to fight.
Austin surveyed the quarter-mile long fire that seemed to be shrinking, and a sense of accomplishment filled him. The crews at either end of the blaze were doing a good job of keeping their equipment positioned to make sure the fire didn’t spread across the fire break they’d trenched earlier. If it jumped that trench, the neighboring farmer’s crop, his livelihood, would go up in smoke. The wind blowing against the fire was in their favor. If that held up, they’d probably have the fire out in an hour or so, maybe before dark. As long as the water supply held out that was.
That was his only concern.
Austin had only been able to locate one antique fire hydrant within five miles, and it was fed from a well. That’s what his crew was using as a water source and the other two responding crews on the ends of the fire line were using grass truck reserves. He wondered if they had air drop capabilities if they needed it. He’d forgotten to ask before the Chief left to go pick up his bratty niece.
“Cap, I need a break,” the firefighter he now knew as Braden yelled back to him.
Austin jogged over to the Lieutenant, his nozzle man tonight, and braced as he took over the lead position on the hose crew. “Ten minutes,” he shouted, squinting against the waves of heat from the flames that were only twenty yards in front of them.
Austin couldn’t imagine what Sunny Gleason would have to say to him when she got there. He not only stole her truck to respond to her call, he was standing where she would usually be standing right now, doing her job. He fucking wanted her job, more than he wanted his next breath of the thick smoky air. The Chief hinted that his job might be up for grabs soon too, but Austin had a feeling his niece would be first in line for it. But if he was at the station, he could get his foot in the door, prove his worth, and who knew? This fire district was well funded by the two oil rigs in their territory and he would be paid enough as Captain to make it work. If he got the Chief’s job, he’d be sitting pretty.
But he was putting the cart before the horse again.
Before he did any of that, he had to figure out what he was going to do about the ranch foreman’s job. Austin wasn’t willing to stay in that position for too long and miss out on this opportunity, if he decided to take it. When he talked to Zack, Austin needed to give him options, and that’s what he would start working on tomorrow.
Just then the hose bucked in Austin’s hand, almost throwing him to the ground. He managed to hold on for the second buck, and force the nozzle back toward the flames. The flow was definitely weaker than it was before the bucking. That meant the well feeding that old hydrant was probably running out of water. They needed more if they were going to extinguish this fire. Looking back over his shoulder, Austin saw Braden sitting by the medic unit sipping water. Break time was over.
“Braden get over here!” he yelled, but the firefighter didn’t seem to notice, probably because now the crackle of the fire was a roar. Austin scanned down the fire line to the end and saw the fire had spread down to engulf the edge of the tree line now.
“Shane, I need you to move to nozzle!” Austin shouted to the man behind him.
Shane moved beside him and they transferred the hose, then Austin ran for the Suburban. They needed to call in more help. An air drop if possible.
“Get back on the hose,” he yelled to Braden as he passed.
He ran as fast as he could in the bulky boots until he stopped at the Suburban, but he didn’t open the door as the Chief’s red car pulled up. Sunny Gleason flew out of the far side of the car and started dressing. Silas Gleason was slower getting out than his niece.
“Chief, we need an air tanker drop,” Austin said, walking over to him. “The well feeding the only hydrant is failing, and the grass trucks have nowhere to refill. Anyone around here to do that?” Please say yes.
“Well, aren’t you just the big fire commander? Should’ve thought about that long before now, shouldn’t you, Sparky?” Sunny Gleason said smartly, as she strode around the car to stand beside her uncle.
Austin’s eyes zeroed in on her hard nipples which clearly showed through the thin white tank top she wore with her loose fitting turnout pants. He tried twice, but couldn’t drag his eyes up to hers. “I need you on the hose line, Gleason,” he replied. On my hose. Fuck, not now, Austin. He forced his eyes up to meet her angry gaze. “Save your smart mouth and get dressed.” Or get naked and use that damned smart mouth on me.
A sound rumbled in her throat then her whole body shook, before the sound erupted from her full lips. “Fuc—”
“Sunny, do what he says—he’s in charge here,” Silas Gleason barked. Sunny flipped him off after the Chief’s eyes left her, as she turned to walk back around the side of the car. She leaned in and jerked her turnout coat out of the back seat, burning holes in Austin with her eyes as she shrugged into it.
If looks could kill, Austin wouldn’t only be dead, his skin would be peeled off.
“There’s a lake about twenty miles from here where the grass trucks and tanker can refill. I’ll get with the other Captains and fill them in. And no, we don’t have any aerial equipment in the area, unfortunately.”
No aerial equipment? With as much brush and woodlands as they had to cover in their district? With the oil rigs too, they needed it for foam and gel drops if there were a rig fire. If he was Chief, Austin would definitely make getting that equipment a priority. He was sure there were ranchers and farmers in the area with helicopters and agricultural aircraft that could be converted. Hell, if he put it to them right, the rig owners would probably pay for it.
“Send one go to refill at a time, Chief. If we don’t keep the hoses going, that fire will creep to the property next door and burn up the fields. That crop looked really dry, so that field will go up fast. We’ll try to nurse the hydrant to keep the well going until they get back.” Less pressure, meant less control, more chance of the fire spreading, but no water was worse.
Sunny walked by him and rammed her shoulder into his, and it was no accident. “You could always spit on the fire, Captain. There’s probably enough bullshit in your saliva to snuff out the fire.”
Austin spun to blast her, but all he saw was her stiff back as she took ground-eating strides toward the hose crew. His back was just as stiff as he followed her surveying the fire as he walked. A gust of wind raised the hair on the back of his neck, and Austin s
topped.
The wind had been blowing toward them before. Looking up, he saw the smoke direction verified the change. His eyes streaked to the right end of the fire line and he saw the tanker truck there reverse, then turn and head toward the roadway. One of the grass trucks followed, which meant they were now short a crew for at least thirty minutes, an hour if you counted the time it would take the second brush to refill.
With the wind change, that fire break they dug wasn’t going to do them a damned bit of good and this fire was officially out of control, or would be very soon. So much for proving himself, he thought, as he started walking again. The most he would hope for this night was not to come out looking like an incompetent idiot, which was very likely.
Wouldn’t Sunny Gleason get a laugh out of that? He was sure tomorrow morning she’d be crowing and armchair quarterbacking.
Not if Austin could help it.
“Shane, let Sunny take your position and come here,” he shouted, when he saw her just standing beside the men on the hose observing. She cut him a look, but took over for Shane and he jogged over to Austin.
“Yeah, Cap?” he asked, breathing hard.
It was a long shot, but Austin had to try something. It was getting darker by the second, and that would make fighting this fire doubly difficult.
“I need you to take the Suburban and go to that farmhouse at the next ranch. Tell them the fire is about to reach their field, and ask them if they have a well or pond we could use to refill a grass truck to fight this fire.” Austin stopped, thought about it, then added, “Or irrigation equipment. If they have crop sprayers tell them to get them going to saturate the field.” Austin handed him the keys, and Shane nodded then ran to the truck.
The radio on Austin’s hip toned. “Fire is on the other side of the fence now, and the crop is burning,” a firefighter from the second crew informed.