by Kim Redford
“I had no idea it could be that easy or that it was still going on. What can you do about it?”
“For starters, keep our eyes and ears open. We’ll just keep adjusting and figuring it out till we complete the move.”
She didn’t like seeing the worry and concern in his eyes, but it also revealed a depth to him that she hadn’t noticed on first sight. He had a lot of fine character that was slipping under her defenses. A country cowboy like him shouldn’t even be on her radar. And yet he was becoming more compelling to her the more time she spent with him.
“Even if they only round up a few cows, they’re still ahead of the game. And we’ve still lost.”
“That’s a big problem.”
“It’s a mess, no doubt about it.”
“Can’t you go ahead and move into the house?”
“It’s a mess, too.” He shrugged, looking frustrated at the situation. “I’m renovating with updates and upgrades. Plus, I’m working so much at the café and ranch that I don’t have time for guard duty. My family is the same way.”
“I wish I could help out, but I’m already out of my depth here, so I doubt there’s much I could do anyway.”
He gave her a slow smile that reached clear to his eyes and crinkled the corners. “I’m not asking for help or sympathy. I’ll get through this to the other side. But for now, I wanted to alert you that thieves are operating in the area. And if they create a diversion, I figure the cattle drive will be a prime time for them to strike the herd.”
“Would they be so rash? Seems like that’d be an easy way to get caught—maybe even on camera.”
“You’d think so, but I can’t take a chance, so I have to plan for that possible scenario.”
“I guess you do. And thanks for telling me about it. I needed to know even if I didn’t want to.” She reached out, clasped his hands in appreciation, and felt a sudden surge of heat spike between them. Surprised, she quickly pulled back her hand, but it did nothing to stop the blaze spreading through her. She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure.
“I don’t bite,” he said in his deep, melodic voice. “At least, not unless you want me to.”
She chuckled, doing her best to pretend he was teasing when she knew good and well that he meant those words. And that knowledge alone made her feel even hotter. She had to get the situation under control before it got completely out of hand, going fast from business to personal. “Look, I doubt you have time to take on the Hall right now, although I appreciate the offer. I don’t even need to add to the menu, at least not right away.”
“That wasn’t my point.” This time, he clasped her hand, holding her gently but firmly in place. “Wildcat Hall is important to the community. Fern’s dream is a good one. I’m not the only one who’ll help you. Christmas is only about a month away, so everyone wants the Hall to be extra ready for folks to enjoy when they come to Wildcat Bluff.”
“I’d like that, too.” She felt a shiver run up her spine as he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand, almost absentmindedly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Then we’re in agreement to make this the best Christmas ever at Wildcat Hall?”
“Why not?” She felt surprising happiness well up in her, partly from his touch but also from the prospect of doing something new. It’d be quite a challenge. She was comfortable creating illusions on a screen, but here, she’d be putting her skills to work creating physical reality. “If I fail, it won’t be like anybody’ll notice, will it?”
He laughed, squeezing her hand. “Right. If we fail, we’ll just laugh at ourselves while—”
“They run us out of town?” She joined his laughter, feeling more lighthearted than she had since she had arrived and found so much responsibility on her shoulders.
“Not a chance. But you’ve reminded me that it’s always better to laugh at trouble than to cry about it.”
“I’d rather laugh than cry any day.”
“Thank you.” He raised her hand, turned it over, and placed a soft kiss on her palm. “You’re good for me. I’m starting to think I may need a whole new perspective on life.”
She smiled, feeling tender toward him as her heart began a steady beat to a drum that could only belong to him. “I’m glad to know I’m not alone on this journey. I’ve got a whole new life, so why shouldn’t you get a whole new perspective, too?”
He returned her smile with a smoldering gleam in his eyes as he gave her palm another soft kiss. “We’re definitely in this journey together.”
“Let’s just hope it ends well.” She smiled and withdrew her hand before she wanted him to never let her go.
“It’ll end the way we want it to end…or maybe it won’t end at all.” He leaned toward her with an expectant look in his blue eyes.
She swallowed hard, reminding herself not to fall too deeply into those azure depths that promised so much if she’d just take the plunge. She couldn’t possibly stay in the country. She belonged to the city. “When Fern returns, I’ll go back to Houston.”
He shuttered his eyes with a quick blink. “Right. It all comes back to Fern.”
“True.” Ivy quickly shoved her chair back and stood up, feeling as if she’d just thrown away something precious. But it had to be done. She was in Wildcat Bluff for a job, not a love life. She couldn’t let a too-hot cowboy turn her life upside down.
He rose to his feet, towering over her. “Guess we ought to get back to business.”
“Yes.” She glanced out the window and noticed white smoke curling upward from one of the cabins. That couldn’t be right. She looked closer, but it was still there. “Is one of the cabins rented?”
“Not that I know about. Why?”
“I didn’t think the cabins had fireplaces.”
“They don’t.” He stared hard at her as his body stiffened in concern, going quickly from relaxed to alert.
“Smoke’s coming out of that cabin.” She pointed out the window.
He swiveled and looked outside. “I see it. Did you leave anything cooking on the stove?”
“That’s not my cabin.”
He whipped his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial. “Hedy, I’m at the Hall. One of the cabins looks to be on fire. We may need a rig, but let me check it first. If I can put the blaze out with a can, I’ll do it.” He hesitated, listening. “Right. I’m always careful.” He listened again. “I’ll let you know the minute I know.” He clicked off and slipped his cell back in his pocket.
“How could a fire get started in an empty cabin?”
“Good question.” He glanced around the room, as if checking for a sudden blaze, then back at her. “Stay here while I get a fire extinguisher out of my truck and take a look at the cabin. You got a key?”
She felt shocked into inaction for a moment before she realized there was not a moment to lose. How would she ever explain to Fern if she let a cabin burn to the ground? “Over here.”
“Good. I can bust in the door, but I don’t want to damage property if I don’t have to.”
“Please don’t.” She slipped behind the bar and reached down to where a wooden board with hooks held several rows of keys with numbers under them. She selected a master key, hurried back, and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He put the key in his pocket, turned to go, and glanced back. “Stay here where it’s safe. I’ll let you know what’s going on.”
“Not on your life.” She straightened her back in defiance. “Where you go on this property, I go.”
He huffed in resigned reply. “No time to argue. If you’re coming, come, but stay back where it’s safe.”
She walked up to him, looped her hand around his arm, and gave him a determined nod. “Let’s go fight a fire.”
Chapter 4
Slade didn’t say it, not after Ivy’s skepticism,
but he had to wonder if the fire had anything to do with the cattle rustlers. On the face of it, no. Yet too many bad things coming together near the same time had to be more than coincidence. He didn’t like it, not any more than he liked the problems cropping up since they’d bought the new ranch. But not liking something didn’t mean not dealing with it.
He gave Ivy’s fingers a squeeze when they reached his truck, then he opened the back door, grabbed a can, and looked toward the cabins. He could smell smoke now, as well as see it, but still no flames were in sight. Maybe he had time to catch the fire before it did much damage.
“Do you have another fire extinguisher?” Ivy asked, holding out her hand.
“Not with me.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but I can get extinguishers from the Hall.”
“First, let’s see if we need them.” He slung the canister by its strap over his shoulder.
“Okay, but I can run back and get them if we need them.”
He was anxious to get to the fire, so he took long strides down the winding walkway that led toward the cowboy cabins nestled under live oaks that were green throughout the year. Rosebushes cut back for the winter and dormant flower beds were landscaped with neatly trimmed shrubs and leafless ornamental trees.
Bill and Ida Murphy had enjoyed restoration projects, so they’d built and decorated the cabins using recycled materials from deconstructed old houses and barns, as well as obscure items from junk stores and reclaimed materials.
They were currently enjoying an extended tour of the historic Old West, hauling a vintage trailer behind their pickup after leaving their legacy at Wildcat Hall Park. They’d built four rental units near their larger cowboy cabin that overlooked the dance hall, with rusty corrugated tin for roofs, weathered barn wood for siding, and natural stone for stairs leading up to the porches with rocking chairs. Each front window and door was reclaimed, so they were all different shapes and sizes and colors, adding an eccentric appearance to the buildings.
Slade always felt as if he’d stepped back in time here, walking original ranch land—and perennial cat land, because kitties usually lounged wherever they pleased after claiming the Park many generations ago. Most folks thought of them as guard cats. At the moment, he didn’t see a feline in sight, and that alerted him to trouble.
As he walked fast with Ivy down the path, he kept a lookout for trouble or intruders, but everything appeared in order. Still, he stayed on high alert.
He followed the scent of smoke to a cabin on the far side of the Park, where he stopped at the edge of the stone walkway leading to the front door. The structure appeared orange from the rust roof and brown siding with turquoise window frames for bright accents. The house sat on vintage redbrick posts about two feet in diameter with brick posts holding up the front corners of the porch, leaving a crawl space underneath.
When he felt Ivy place a hand on his back in a gesture of warning as well as support, he glanced down at her, pleased she was comfortable touching him.
“What do you think?” she asked, nodding toward the cabin.
“If you’ll stay here and keep an eye out for any movement around the cabins, I’ll go closer.”
“Do you think somebody’s here?”
“I don’t know, but let’s don’t take chances.”
“Okay. Be careful.” She gave him a quick pat on the back.
“If you see or hear anything wrong, holler at me.”
He hurried up the path, smelling and seeing more smoke the closer he got to the rental unit. Suddenly a long-haired calico cat leaped out of the bushes, ran ahead of him, stopped in front of the cabin’s stairs, and glanced back with narrowed eyes.
“Thanks. I’ll take over from here,” he said, smiling at the feline on the job, reminding him of Ash, the fire station cat.
The calico leaped away, sat down, and licked a paw while keeping an eye on the smoking cabin.
Slade hefted his canister as he walked up to the front porch. He examined the building with an eye to possible structural damage, but the fire appeared to be confined to the crawl space. He saw flames licking up from below, turning the dry wood black where it smoldered, ready to burst into flames and consume the entire structure. The old, dry wood would go up fast. He hated to think how fast if Ivy hadn’t noticed the smoke and he hadn’t been here.
He felt the heat, heard the crackle of flames, and smelled the smoke as he dropped to his knees by the edge of the building. He aimed the nozzle and sprayed foam until the flames died down. He stopped, adjusted his position, and checked the results. He was shocked to see a scorched Santa’s hat that had originally been red and white. Not an accident. He felt sick at his stomach knowing somebody had deliberately set the blaze. He sprayed again until the fire was completely out. He checked for any missed hot spots, but it looked good.
Satisfied, he stood up, walked up the stone steps, and used the last of the chemical in his can to coat the top of the porch and the runners of the two rocking chairs. He checked the area again and nodded in satisfaction before he turned to give Ivy a thumbs-up and also a gesture to stay back. He didn’t want her closer until he’d completed his search of the area.
Somebody had trespassed and set this fire. That meant they had an entry and exit strategy. He wanted to find it and make sure nobody was still hanging around, although now he sincerely doubted that’d be a problem. Person or persons unknown had to be long gone, having completed their goal and not looking to get caught.
He slung the empty canister by its strap over his shoulder before he jogged down the steps. He glanced up and saw several iridescent-black grackles on the limb of a live oak, watching him. If the intruder had been near them, they’d have flown away, so that backed up his position that he was alone. Still, he wasn’t done checking to make sure everything was okay.
He circled the cabin, searching for anything out of the ordinary or suspicious. He hoped he didn’t discover a second fire. It didn’t take him long to look, since the cabin was small, so he moved farther afield, checking the property. Nothing looked out of order till he came to the low hedge used as a fence line in back. He could easily see where somebody had pushed through the greenery, breaking and bending foliage. Made sense. It was a good place to enter without being seen from Wildcat Road. Leave your vehicle in the ditch not too close, then walk into the Park and disappear into the trees and shrubbery.
He immediately backed up, doing his best to retrace his own footsteps, so he didn’t contaminate the scene. He needed to call Sheriff Calhoun to come out with deputies right away. Maybe they could find evidence that would lead them straight to the arsonist. First, he sent Hedy a text at the station to let her know he didn’t need a rig. He’d debrief her on the fire later. For now, he’d done all he could do. It was time to get back to Ivy and reassure her.
He headed toward the cabin, feeling glad he’d caught the fire in time. And he’d also kept Ivy out of danger. They’d been lucky. But what if there was a next time? Somebody had intentionally set this fire. But who? And why? He had no more answers to those questions than he did to his own problems at the new ranch. But there he had help from family and cowboys. Ivy was alone here, except for the cats, and he didn’t like that idea one bit.
When he rounded the side of the cabin, he saw the calico, tail held high, leading Ivy toward him. Funny thing—they looked like they belonged together, like old friends. And they were pretty as a picture. Maybe she had that way about her, like her sister, Fern, in that no one ever felt like a stranger around her. He figured she’d taken up where Fern had left off, setting out food and water for the polydactyl cats. If not, there were plenty of folks who’d gladly take over that duty. Folks in Wildcat Bluff County loved their cats as much as they loved their dogs, horses, and cattle—wildlife in general, for that matter.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, gesturing toward the cabin.
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He stopped beside her, marveling at her impact on him. She made him feel young, even though he was still on the upswing of life at thirty-two, because she somehow stripped away the aches and pains and losses of a has-been bull rider and replaced them with the hopes and dreams and possibilities of youth. He felt a small blaze blossom in the center of his chest and spread outward to warm him all over, as if he’d landed back in the magical land of summertime, when school was over for the season. He gently clasped her hand, wanting to bring her to that special place and time with him, so they could share the sunrises together.
“Are you okay?” She glanced down at their joined hands, then back up at his face. “You’re worrying me.”
He smiled at her, feeling so tender that he couldn’t help tugging her gently against his chest. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t nestle against him either. She waited for his reassurance, but he didn’t give it to her, not yet, because he was struck by a sudden revelation. She was everything he hadn’t known he needed but now knew he couldn’t live without. He’d do almost anything to keep her. Anything.
“Slade?” she asked, trembling against him.
“It’s okay.” He said it gently as he placed a soft kiss on top of her head. “Everything’s okay. I’ll see to it.”
She stepped back, dropping his hand. “I thought you saw something bad and needed to comfort me.”
“I guess I was comforting us both. I’ve been dealing with problems, but now I’m concerned you have one, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I put out the fire. The structure is sound. Beyond that…you had an intruder in the Park.”
