Facing the Fire. Gail Barrett
just wrenched. And smokejumpers worked hurt all the time. Bad knees, sprained ankles…Chronic pain came with the job.
Besides, he couldn’t leave the fire—his fire. Not until they had it under control.
And those damn doctors. What if they took him off the jump list? Hell! He couldn’t stop jumping now, not with fires raging all over the west.
Not ever. Dread rolled through his gut. “Just give me a minute,” he said. “I’ll shake it off.” He reached up to remove his hard hat. Pain flamed through his shoulder and he dropped his hand. He glanced at Trey and saw the doubt in his eyes.
“We can’t wait,” Trey said. “If this wind picks up, they’ll ground the choppers. We need to call it in now.”
“A few more minutes won’t matter. Look, I’ll go check out that cabin and make sure no one’s hanging around. If my shoulder isn’t better by then, I’ll call it in myself.”
“Cade—”
“For God’s sake. Nothing’s broken.” With supreme effort, he picked up his PG bag and swung it over his left shoulder. Sweat popped out on his forehead and he struggled to breathe.
Trey shook his head. “All right, but I’m going with you, and we’ll scout a landing spot on the way.”
“Fine.” He hated pulling a man off the line, but didn’t bother to argue. He knew he’d need every bit of breath he had for the steep trek to the cabin.
By the time they reached Granite Canyon, Cade could hardly stay upright. His head reeled, hot pain ripped through his shoulder, and his ribs burned whenever he breathed.
He stopped at the black Jeep Liberty parked under the trees and propped himself against it to catch his breath.
“You okay?” Trey asked.
“A little winded.” He blinked to clear his blurred vision.
“McKenzie?” a voice on his radio called.
“I’ll see who’s in the cabin,” Trey said.
“Go ahead.” Glad to have an excuse to lean against the Jeep, Cade pulled his radio from his bag. “McKenzie here.”
“This is dispatch. We got that weather report you wanted.”
“Good. What’s the forecast?” He watched Trey stride to the door.
“Right now it’s holding steady at fifteen knots, with gusts up to twenty-five. But there’s a front coming through….”
The cabin door opened. A tall, slender woman stepped out and her dark hair gleamed in the light. Trey shifted sideways, and Cade caught sight of her face.
His heart stalled. His chest cramped tight, and suddenly, he felt dazed, as if the tree had crushed him again.
His gaze swept over her features. Those dark, exotic eyes. That full, erotic mouth. And damned if he didn’t still feel that pull, that powerful lure of passion and innocence that had once demolished his heart.
He scowled. Innocence, hell. She was as helpless as a rattler, and about as trustworthy, too.
She looked past Trey and their gazes latched. Her dark eyes widened and she mouthed his name.
Bitterness seeped through his gut. His ex-wife. Just what he’d needed to cap off a hell of a day.
“Did you get that?” the person on the radio asked.
“Yeah, I heard you.” He turned his back on his ex-wife. The motion set off another wave of dizziness. “Listen. There’s a Forest Service road that runs just north of the fire, then intersects with Highway 10. Is it still clear?”
“It is for now. In an hour it could get dicey. The front’s going to push that way.”
Unless they stopped the fire first.
“Okay. Let me know if anything changes. We’ve got a civilian heading out that way.” He turned the radio to scan.
Trey jogged over. “She’s packing up now. She’ll be out of here in just a few minutes.”
“Great.” He shoved his radio into his bag and sharp pain jolted his shoulder. He sucked in his breath.
“Some shock seeing her again,” Trey added.
“Yeah.” Shock didn’t begin to describe it. He felt that familiar anger blaze through him, the same rage and resentment that had consumed him for months. The fury that he’d let himself be conned by a pretty face in search of an easy paycheck. And had convinced himself it was love.
“How’s the shoulder?” Trey asked.
He brought his attention back to his job. Smokejumping. Fighting fire. The only thing that mattered. Everything he was.
But he had to face the harsh truth. He couldn’t work this fire with his body in this condition, and refusing to leave could endanger the troops.
“It hurts like hell,” he admitted. “My collarbone’s probably cracked. I’d better get it checked.”
“Do you want me to call for a chopper?”
“There’s no place to land. The nearest clearing’s a mile up that ridge.” He’d hiked this forest enough to know.
“So we cut a spot.”
“We don’t have time. A front’s moving in. If we don’t get that fire stopped now it could go big.” Which would endanger the men even more. And he could never live with himself if that happened.
“So what do you suggest?” Trey asked.
What else could he do? The men couldn’t afford to waste valuable time clearing a landing pad, and he couldn’t get himself to that ridge.
He glanced at the Jeep. Dread churned through his gut and the bitter taste of gall filled his mouth.
It had been one hell of a day, all right. And it was about to get even worse.
He slowly turned back to the cabin. The door opened and Jordan stepped out, carrying a bag. He smiled grimly. “It looks like I’m going to hitch myself a ride.”
Chapter 2
Still reeling from the shock of seeing Cade again, Jordan loaded the last of her belongings in the back of the Jeep and shut the hatch. She’d never expected to see him here. Never. And now she was going to spend six hours with him in the Jeep? Good God. Dealing with his memory had been hard enough.
She lifted her stunned gaze to her ex-husband. He stood at the front of the Jeep with Trey, examining a map spread over the hood. While she’d packed up the few blankets and bowls worth saving from the cabin, they’d pored over the map, discussing wind speed and fire retardant.
Cade’s hard hat dipped as he folded the map and tucked it into his PG bag. Then he pulled out a battery pack and handed it to Trey. “You might as well take my spares,” he said. “You could be out here for a while.”
His deep, sensual voice drew goose bumps along her arms, and despite the warm wind, she shivered. God, she’d once loved that voice. It was the first thing she’d noticed about him in that smoky Mexican bar.
The first of many. He stepped away from the Jeep and her gaze drifted over the rest of him. Ashes dusted his battered boots. His olive drab pants rode low on his lean hips and his yellow fire shirt stretched wide across his shoulders. He looked broader through the chest than before, his neck thicker.
Her pulse fluttered. Even in his early twenties, he’d been a gorgeous man. But now…
Now he was simply a smokejumper who needed a ride.
Trey nodded in her direction. “Thanks for helping us out here.”
“Sure. No problem.” Trey headed toward the