“No one’s willing to leave,” Sully answered, just as quietly. “Anyone with irrigation systems is forcing them on, trying to saturate the land so it won’t burn. Others are trying to help the firemen with anything they can, whether it’s bottles of water to drink or wet rags to wipe soot off.”
Ryder was afraid of that. In the south, people suffered through tornados and never thought about abandoning their homes. Out west, it was earthquakes, and hurricanes out east. Here, the loyal souls who carried the responsibility for their land would weather anything, including the threat of being burnt to death by a fire that was out of control.
As he stopped the truck next to one of the other civilian cars, he heard the air support overhead. That would make a big difference, he hoped. The woods weren’t huge, and even if the fire took every last tree, it would be less than two hundred acres. But crossing the line to the ranches had to be stopped.
He ran into the thick of it, helping with a hose that the two men handling it were about to lose, and when that was under control, he moved on to the radio, communicating with the flyers overhead.
It took four hours from the time he arrived, but eventually they had the flames down to a small bonfire in the center of a black circle of trees that had already burned to ash. Ryder looked around, seeing some of the ranch owners nearby, several of them crying or just exhausted. He sat down on the back of one of the trucks and put his head in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. This was a nightmare, and tomorrow, when things were cooled down a little, he’d have to investigate. He needed to find where the fire had started and if someone was to blame. Likely, it was a campfire let unattended without being put out properly, and he’d never find the inexperienced hikers who did it.
But that wouldn’t stop him from trying.
“Ryder?” He lifted his head to see Zoe Hartman, Noah’s fiancé, standing in front of him. She smiled at him with sadness in her eyes. “You look beat.”
He shrugged. “It’s my job, and I’m happy to do it. Did you lose anything?”
She hesitated, and he knew that wasn’t good news. “No, but one of the dogs rushed in to help one of the firefighters that went down and got a couple of burns. He’ll live. It’s just going to take some time and rest.”
And that was the other problem. Everyone around here had pets that ran the properties and the woods. Any one of them could have been lost, and Zoe and Noah were lucky. “I’m sorry.”
She came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s not like you started the fire. Look, it’s only a couple of hours till dawn, and it looks like the cleanup out here is under control. You’ve got your work cut out for you, so why don’t you come up to the house and take a shower? I’ll make you something to eat, and you can get some rest before you have to start your reports and whatever.”
“I don’t want to intrude,” he said. “It’s not that far home.”
“You aren’t intruding,” Noah said, coming up behind her and looking just as worn as Ryder felt. The stubborn son of a bitch had probably run in after his dog and the man down, and then he’d likely been helping with anything else he could get into. “And I insist. Even fifteen minutes of extra sleep can make a difference.”
Ryder would have laughed, but he was too tired. And as it turned out, he was too tired to argue. He let Noah drive his truck back while he rode in the passenger seat, and he welcomed the hot spray, as well as the flannel pajamas Noah let him borrow. He headed to the guest room and fell into bed, stopping only long enough to make sure his alarm was set. He really did need to get an early start.
Chapter 3 - Burning with Determination
“Hello, Mayberry,” Amanda Halston muttered to herself as she ducked her head and looked out the windshield at the quaint little shops and restaurants in the center of Five Forks. How this was even referred to as a town she couldn’t fathom. From her estimation, half of the supposed residents lived in the county, outside the town limits, and most of the ranches were larger than the actual square mileage of the town itself.
But she didn’t care. She wouldn’t be here long, and when she left, she would have secured a partnership in her law firm, the first woman to achieve such an honor at Barrow, Marten, and Biggs. She smiled to herself, thinking her name would go right in the middle—Barrow, Marten, Halston, and Biggs. It just sounded better that way, in terms of syllables and whatnot.
“GPS signal lost.” Amanda glared at the screen of the device in her dashboard. Just her luck to end up in a place that wasn’t even on the map. She shook her head. At least it couldn’t be that hard from this point to locate the fire station and the chief’s office.
She pulled into one of the angled parking spaces along this little strip and eyed the diner she’d just passed. She always worked better on a full stomach, so she would get something to eat before facing the first man on her list. She was a great negotiator, especially in person, and she had no worries about this deal. She couldn’t figure out what her client had done wrong the first time around. These were simple people, and it should have all been wrapped up in no time. With her skills, though, she knew for a fact that she’d blow these people away before they knew what hit them.
Checking her watch and finding that it was just past noon—after two o’clock back in Richmond—she rushed into the diner, her appetite doubling when she stepped inside and took a whiff of whatever the daily special was. Probably Heart Attack Surprise or Everything and the Kitchen Sink. Either way, she was ravenous and would eat anything that didn’t involve small woodland creatures.
The waitress told her to have a seat anywhere, and she took a booth, finding the menu right there in front of her. She scanned over the options, and seeing that they served breakfast all day, she decided on a short stack served with two eggs and two slices of bacon. “How do you like your eggs, hon?”
Amanda had always found the familiar address odd, and it was no different now. “Scrambled, please.”
“You want to add some hash browns to that?”
“No, thank you.”
“Okay, hon, I’ll be right back with your coffee.” Amanda looked around as several more people filtered into the place. It wasn’t exactly tiny, but it did have that small, quaint look. Granted, it had at least been updated in terms of décor, so it didn’t look like something out of Happy Days, but it felt…comfortable.
Two men came in, both looking at her like she was some sort of alien, and she realized there was one thing working against her in all of this. She was an outsider in a town full of people whose families had probably known each other since the area was settled on the first drive to the west. But she could get past that.
She eyed one of the men carefully. For a country boy, he was pretty hot. His jeans hugged his hips and showed off the assets he carried behind him quite nicely. He was thin, and she could definitely appreciate what hard labor did for a man’s body as he took off his thick coat and she saw his biceps. His hair needed a trim, the dusty brown locks falling over his forehead and his collar, and his eyes were tired but carried a fire anyway. They were some shade of hazel or gray that she couldn’t quite define from this distance.
It didn’t matter. The guy was easy on the eyes, and she was glad they chose a booth in her line of sight, where she could enjoy the view. Amanda had no interest in any of these people. She had her life planned out back home. She would make partner, and then she would find a reasonably nice man who was respected in the political world or maybe a doctor. She’d marry him, and they would have a couple of kids, a nanny, and they would both retire early, in their late forties, and move to the Dominican Republic to live in luxury.
But she didn’t mind looking at all.
When the waitress came back, Amanda said, “I’m sorry, but I’m not from around here, and my GPS is failing me. I’m looking for the firehouse. Could you tell me how to get there?”
The girl pointed the way she’d been driving. “Another couple of blocks down on t
he right. Can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.” She stirred in the fresh cream and sugar the waitress had brought with the mug and carafe, and she sipped slowly, opening her briefcase and pulling out the folder of papers she was prepared to discuss today. According to Parker Brandt, if she could get this guy on board, everyone else would follow suit.
She reviewed the information while she ate, careful not to smudge anything with syrup or drop any crumbs anywhere. She paid with cash, since the diner didn’t accept her American Express business card, and filed the receipt in her pocketbook. She would apparently be doing a lot of that, since the boonies didn’t buy into the whole Amex world. She should have known. She would have transferred some of her savings into her personal account, just to make sure she had enough money for the trip. As it was, she was already going to have to put in for reimbursement, and she doubted there was a real bank here.
It didn’t matter; she’d be out of this blip on the map by tomorrow afternoon, or the next day at the latest. She could handle that.
As she walked out of the diner, the men at the table watched her, and she glanced down with a nod of appreciation at the one she’d been looking at. She didn’t mind letting someone know when she found him attractive. He rewarded her with a grin and a once-over. It boosted her confidence, at least until she opened the door to leave and his friend whistled a cat call at her.
She turned and glared at the guy as she left and strode down the walkway in the direction the waitress sent her with her head held high. If it was only a couple of blocks, she didn’t need to move the car. But a couple of blocks turned into seven and then eight, and Amanda realized she was almost out of town already when she finally came to the firehouse.
Her feet hurt. She should have worn flats. Her nose was frozen and probably red from the brisk, cold wind, but she had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop her. She wanted this partnership. She wanted her career. And that meant she needed to close this deal for Fillmore Investments without any further hiccups.
There were only two men manning the station, and she approached the younger of the two, knowing she’d have a better chance of getting under his skin. With a purposely shy smile, she said, “Excuse me. I’m looking for Fire Chief Ryder Sieverson.”
The young man smiled back in a friendly manner, barely even looking at her as he continued rolling a hose. “He’s at lunch.”
“Oh. Do you know when he’ll be back?” She should have expected that.
He shrugged. “Probably an hour, maybe less. Is there something I can help you with?” He finally stood straight and looked at her.
Amanda shook her head. “No, thank you. But is there somewhere I can wait for him?”
He pointed to a set of stairs in the back corner. “You’re welcome to go up and sit in the kitchen. I can let him know you’re waiting when he gets back. Or I can come get you.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.” She started toward the stairs, and as she climbed, she glanced back, confounded that the young man had already gone back to work. Amanda wasn’t particularly vain, but she knew that men found her attractive, and how little attention she’d garnered from the men in this small town was surprising. Maybe her thick wool coat was hiding her assets. When she finally spoke to the heathen Parker had described to be the fire chief, she’d make sure to shed it.
The kitchen was empty, and she sat at the one long picnic-style table with her briefcase and her phone, deciding to send a few pertinent emails to clients as well as to the partners at her law firm, and then she logged in to her bank account and was relieved to find that she could transfer the money she wanted through the app. She still didn’t think she needed it, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She could even pull cash from an ATM now if she needed to and pay whatever exorbitant fee it charged.
“Hey, Miss!” She looked up to find the young man coming up the stairs. Checking her watch, Amanda realized that more than half an hour had already passed. “Chief’s back in his office.”
She stood and gave him another smile. “Thank you.” She followed him down and around the building to the side, where there was a separate door. It opened to a corridor with what she assumed were offices behind more doors on either side. The office at the end was glassed in and looked fairly luxurious for a small-town fire station like this, but that’s not what struck her.
“Go on in, Miss. Chief’s ready,” the young man told her, giving her a salute as he walked away.
Amanda stared at the man standing behind the desk, who was scowling at some piece of paper in front of him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Chapter 4 - Flaring Tempers
Sully had caught Ryder on his way back from lunch, while he was still in the middle of a cigarette and having a laugh with Dylan McDaniel over that woman’s haughty reaction to Dylan’s cat call. She’d deserved it with the way she was making eyes at Ryder the whole time he sat in the diner, just like she’d deserved the look he’d given her in return, taking in the slight curves to her figure that looked promising, even under the gray wool coat.
When Sully told him there was someone waiting to see him upstairs, Ryder scowled. Anyone local would have come to find him at the diner, knowing that’s where he’d be for lunch. That meant it was someone from out of town, and he didn’t like that. It never meant anything good, and he hoped it wasn’t some ambulance-chasing lawyer trying to sue the county for the damages caused by the wildfire.
He had done everything he could to figure out how the fire had started, but the only conclusion he had was still a wayward campfire. There was nothing left to show—no dark spot that looked like the heart of the fire or anything. It had all burned to black ash. Thankfully, there was a great deal less damage to any of the ranches than he’d first expected. In fact, the reason he’d had lunch with Dylan was because it was his ranch that had the largest claim, and it was still shy of the ten-grand mark. That was saying a lot for the efficiency and speed of their fire department.
He’d told Sully to bring the visitor to his office, and he’d punched the button on his phone to listen to his messages. The light had been blinking for who knew how long. Ryder didn’t get a lot of messages and tended to forget to look for them. There was only one, and his scowl deepened as he listened.
“Chief Sieverson, my name is Amanda Halston, and I’m with Barrow, Marten, and Biggs. I had hoped to reach you to make an appointment, as there is a business matter I need to discuss with you. I’ll actually be in Five Forks next week, so if I haven’t heard from you by then, I’ll stop by your office to see if you’re available. I look forward to speaking with you. You can reach me back at…”
Ryder deleted the message. A woman with a northeastern accent from what had to be a law firm. What sort of business could she possibly have here? With him? He pictured the woman with the voice he’d just heard, somewhere north of forty, pale with lines around her eyes from squinting at paperwork and frowning at judges. Probably starting to gray around the temples. And she likely wore glasses and had that stern look, like a matronly librarian. How long did it take a woman to get anywhere in a law firm anyway? If they were sending her here, they must not respect her skills. Five Forks wasn’t exactly a prestigious place to do business.
He sighed and let it go, picking up the report on his desk that he’d been working on about the Forks Forest fire. He had to finish it before the administrators started breathing down his neck about protocol and told him that claims couldn’t be paid out by insurance.
The door to his office opened, and Ryder smirked. The woman from the diner stood there, wearing a strange expression. Did she expect him to pant like a dog with his tongue hanging out? She was the one who’d made eyes at him, not the other way around. To be honest, he couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to show up here. She must have asked someone who he was and come here to get…what? What was it that she wanted from him? A quick tryst with a stranger?
With Ryder’s luck, she was probably crazy an
d didn’t know what she was doing here any more than he did. When she didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, he raised his eyebrows and asked, “Can I help you?”
Her entire countenance changed, and she seemed to recover from whatever haze she’d been in, smiling and coming all the way into the office. “Actually, Chief Sieverson, I was hoping I could help you.”
He chuckled. “Listen, I’m not the type to pay for a companion, so…”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, the smile fading from her heart-shaped pink lips. She really was attractive, with dark blond waves around an oval face fashioned in a no-nonsense manner and falling just below her shoulders. Her eyes were a misty blue, like the color of the sky over the mountains during a snowstorm. She had a pert little nose that almost turned up at the end but stopped just shy of doing so, and her cheekbones angled high, giving her a slightly exotic look.
If only she wasn’t so harsh.
She cleared her throat and set a briefcase she carried that Ryder hadn’t noticed before down on the chair in front of his desk. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Amanda Halston. I’m with…”
“Wheelbarrow and Biggs or whatever. I just heard your message,” he finished bitterly. Damn, she didn’t look like a lawyer. She didn’t even look old enough to be a lawyer. But now that he listened, he heard the accent and kicked himself for not recognizing it sooner. “Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
She tipped her head in acknowledgement. “It’s quite all right, Chief. I still have some business to tend with you, so if you have a few minutes, I’d like to take care of that.”
He sighed and sat down, gesturing vaguely for her to do the same. She took off her coat, giving Ryder a good look at exactly what she had to offer. Her narrow waist was accented by the belt of her sensible blue dress, which was cut just low enough to show ample cleavage between a pair of perky breasts that were just large enough to fill a large man’s hand. The curve of her hips gave the skirt a bit of a flare, and her legs were a mile long and shaped to draw attention, especially with those black heels.
It's Your Love (Wyoming Kisses 2) Page 2