by Lynn James
Copyright© 2010 Lynn James
Bella Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First Edition Bella Books 2010
Editor: Karin Kallmaker
Cover Design by: Linda Callaghan
Cover Photo by Rhonda Maloney
ISBN: 978-1-59493-191-8
About the Author
Lynn James lives in Central Oklahoma with her partner of seven years, their teen daughter and spoiled rotten dog. With degrees in English Literature and Engineering, she works in the recycling industry among those dedicated to preserving our planet. Wildfire is her first novel.
Dedication
For my partner and daughter who give everything meaning. I love you both.
Acknowledgements
For creative purposes, Captain Elaine Thomas is a composite derived from the numerous positions held by the various members of the U.S. Forest Service. Her character is meant to honor their enormous burden as conservators and protectors of our environment. I thank you all for your service, heroism and dedication.
Robin, my loving, supportive, argumentative and often infuriating partner, thank you for helping make my dreams come true. Our daughter, Angela, who never ceases to amaze me, surprise me and make me laugh. You continue to inspire me and I couldn’t be more proud. To my sister, Patty, who survived brain surgery with dignity, poise and humor and my nephew, Trevor, who is proof that there are still amazing young men in the world. You are my heroes and I love you both. Dee Dee and Hauckie, your faith, love and belief in me, helped bring this to fruition. I can’t forget my favorite English professor, Susan Spencer, who gave me the confidence to find my voice. Congratulations to Gwen Monarch; you’re in a lesbian novel! Thanks to my Mom and Papa David for always being there. I am so incredibly grateful to Bella Books for giving me this amazing opportunity and Karin Kallmaker whose efforts went above and beyond. Your advice, support and attention to detail were more than I could have asked for and there are no words to adequately express my appreciation.
Chapter 1
“I’ve killed her!”
Stacey wrapped her arms tighter around Devon and let her cry. There was nothing else that she could do.
“Oh God, Stace, she’s dead and I’ve killed her!”
“Dev, honey, look at me.” Stacey placed a finger under Devon’s chin and tilted her head up until their eyes met, “It wasn’t your fault. Ivy is notoriously difficult.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You aren’t a botanist! And ivy is one of the easiest plants to care for!”
Devon McKinney glanced at her watch and sighed as she tried to overcome her frustration at running late. If she just hadn’t spent so much time crying over her plant this morning she would be right on schedule.
Her sister, Raine, thought it was silly and although she could count on Raine to be there for her, it was always Stacey she turned to in these situations. Stacey had become accustomed to it. Hell, even Devon herself had come to expect it. They had been best friends far too many years for Devon’s sadness over the death of her plant to surprise Stacey. After all these years, Devon was still devastated. Her plants were more than just decoration or a way to spruce up a barren space in a corner. For her, unlike most people, her plants were like pets. She loved them, named them, cared for them and when she lost one, she felt the loss deeply. She couldn’t just toss the withered ivy into the rubbish and move on. Instead, the incident had dominated most of her morning, forcing her to get a much later start than she had planned.
Luckily, as usual, there hadn’t been much traffic coming out of Barrington. Barrington was a small town on the outskirts of Marblerock. Truthfully, referring to Barrington as a “town” was generous to say the least. If you blinked, you might miss it altogether. After living in Seattle for so many years while attending the University of Washington, it seemed like the perfect place to get away from the hustle and bustle and all the noises that had kept her awake at night. Fortunately, it was only about sixty miles from her alma mater which wasn’t too inconvenient when she needed to give a lecture or attend a conference. Barrington didn’t have much to offer in the way of entertainment, retail stores or restaurants, but what it lacked in convenience, it more than made up with comfortable silence and tranquility. Not to mention, Marblerock was only twelve miles north and it had many of the conveniences that Barrington lacked.
Once she made it as far as Marblerock, she completed her journey quickly, making up some of the time she had lost earlier in the day. She would have to hurry if she was going to make it to her campsite before the March daylight faded. She pulled her truck to a stop next to the gate that proudly displayed the brown National Forest Service sign that read, “No Unauthorized Personnel.” Does anyone really pay attention to these signs? She shook her head, but refused to let her late start darken her mood. It was her own fault and now she would have to double-time it in order to make camp before nightfall.
She lifted the heavy trail pack from the bed of her truck with little effort. Reaching behind the seat she found the laptop case and secured it to the backpack. Her water bottle was in the passenger seat along with her cell phone. Finding both, she clipped them to her belt loops. Before heaving the pack onto her shoulders, she crouched down and tightened the laces on her hiking boots. She snapped the chest and waist straps securely into place and located her field bag filled with all the equipment necessary for her assignment.
Once she had all her gear secured, she adjusted her ball cap comfortably in place and locked the truck doors. She attached her key ring to one of the few belt loops remaining and grabbed her walking stick. With one last glance at her watch and then to the sun still shining brightly between the tree branches, she made her way around the gate and uphill to the trail that would lead to her campsite.
She needed to pack for her next assignment, but instead Elaine Thomas lay across her bed lost in thought. Grace’s decision to have an affair with a young intern at the ranger’s station had been a great incentive for Elaine to volunteer for this field assignment. She had been taken completely by surprise, although she now realized she shouldn’t have been. There were many things about Grace that she hadn’t learned until they were well into their three-year relationship. And she didn’t think it accidental that those truths regarding Grace’s beliefs and core values were revealed gradually or not at all…until now.
Only months before, Grace had divulged that the only reason she worked for the U.S. Forest Service was because of some bizarre clause in her grandfather’s will, one requiring her to work for a stipulated length of time before she could receive her inheritance. How she could keep that a secret for three years was beyond Elaine. What had made the secrecy so painful was that Grace knew how dedicated Elaine was to protecting the forest and how seriously she took her job. She felt as if Grace and her father, who was responsible for getting her the position, had made a mockery of the Forest Service and all the other agencies charged with protecting precious lands.
Sighing, she punched the pillow and resumed staring at the ceiling. The beginning of their relationship had been good and there had been a point when Elaine thought she would spend the rest of her life with Grace. It had appeared as though they had the same hopes and dreams and enjoyed many of the same activities. She had no doubt that she had loved Grace, or at least the person Grace had been.
Over time, however, conversation had become strained and was little more than sarcastic quips. It had become evident to her that Grace had tried to make her feel inferior, constantly scrutinizing every move and de
cision, but when Elaine refused to let her, Grace became bitter. Believing that people didn’t spend enough effort trying to save their troubled relationships, Elaine had hoped that the woman she once loved would return; only to find that she never really existed. During the past year, the relationship had deteriorated further, resembling one of roommates rather than lovers. Intimacy, physical or emotional, was nowhere to be found. She found more sexual gratification with inanimate objects than she did with her partner and managed to burn up three vibrators in a matter of months.
She knew it wasn’t just that they had grown apart; it wasn’t a simple communication issue or some other surmountable problem. She found that not only did she not have anything in common with Grace, but that she didn’t even respect her any longer. Yes. She had loved Grace, or at least who Grace had pretended to be, but those feelings had changed. Grace’s words and actions toward her had revealed her to be a master manipulator.
She sat up, gave the pillow another good punch, then sprawled out again. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been truly happy. Which made it all the more ironic that while she had been evaluating her own happiness in the relationship, Grace had been having an affair. She had already decided that something had to change and Grace’s actions made that decision relatively easy for her. It was over, she was sure of that. She couldn’t abide cheaters and liars and Grace was clearly both.
It would do her some good, she thought, getting away from everyone. It wasn’t that she was devastatingly heartbroken over her relationship ending. Hell, she had been contemplating their compatibility and her feelings toward Grace for some time. It was more about her feelings of anger, humiliation and foolishness. She was angry at her so-called friends at the station who knew that Grace had been cheating and had done nothing to clue her in. Some of them had even gone out of their way to help Grace keep it a secret, supporting her deception and betraying Elaine in the process. And nobody, regardless of the state of their relationship likes to be cheated on, especially when they are the last to know.
Yes, she was glad that she volunteered for this assignment. Not that she really had to volunteer. Now that she was one of the few single people in her ranger station, nobody argued when she offered to take the assignment. Few would have dared argue with the captain anyway. Her crew respected her, protected her and knew that she was as tough as any of the boys and could play in the dirt with the best of them.
The assignment was expected to take a little over a month and the ranger’s cabin closest to the area she was needed to oversee was only about forty miles southeast of her Sandpark Point home. She could already feel the forest calling her. She loved the smell of the trees and the clean mountain air. She loved everything about the forest.
With that thought, she rose from the bed, anticipating her much needed escape. She smoothed the much abused pillow.
All she had to do was pack up her gear, load her truck and set out for the wilds of the Cascades. Although she always looked forward to the forest, this particular assignment was one she wished wasn’t necessary. It was more disturbing than most. The U.S. Forest Service had a lead on a group of poachers who were responsible for the senseless killing of a number of wild animals in the area. It had been going on for several weeks and as far as anyone had been able to ascertain, the carcasses had been left untouched with no trophies taken. Her assignment was to comb the woods and if she found them, detain the poachers for prosecution.
If there was anything Elaine felt stronger about than her love for the forest, it was her duty to protect it and the wildlife that called it home. She thought for a moment about the poachers and how sorry they would be when she found them. She couldn’t prevent the smile that tugged at her lips, but it was short-lived. There was supposed to be a botanist in the area doing research too and she had little doubt that some of her time would be spent babysitting.
Although she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the notion of dealing with some whiney lab geek, it was better than being stuck indoors at headquarters. She’d much rather spend her time in her favorite place on earth…the mountains of Washington State.
She packed her neatly ironed olive green uniforms. She would much rather wear jeans than her federal issue uniform pants, but she knew there were bound to be times when they would be necessary so she opted to pack only a few pair of regulation pants and then added some jeans to her bag, making sure to include her favorite, most comfortable pair of Levis. She may be a ranger, but by God she was going to be comfortable.
She grabbed her toiletries and her hairbrush and tossed them into the bag. She made several trips back and forth to the truck as she composed a mental list of things that she still needed to do. Brad was going to pick up her mail and water her plants. She smiled to herself. At least she could always count on her crew. None of the eight men and women under her command had known about Grace’s infidelity and Elaine knew that fact had been by design. If they had known, it was a certainty that she would not have been left in the dark. She was as loyal to her crew as they were to her and she loved them all like family. When the office gossip finally reached them, they had all offered their unconditional support. In some ways, this assignment would allow her to escape not only her embarrassment, but the pity she saw in the eyes of her beloved crew.
She double-checked the items she had gathered. She had made sure to pack plenty of cold weather gear. The weather in the mountains in late March could be unpredictable and it wasn’t her intention to be unprepared, even if she did have the comforts of a nice cabin at her disposal. Once she was satisfied that she had not forgotten anything else, she locked up her house and climbed in her truck. She would have to make a few stops for supplies and make a few calls, but those could be made from her cell phone on her way out of Sandpark Point. Now that she’d put all thoughts of Grace aside and accepted that the relationship came to an end not only because it was time, but because it was what she had wanted, she was more than ready to get out of town and to the heaven awaiting her.
“Jesus, this is beautiful,” Elaine mumbled to herself, several hours later. Spring was a picturesque season at this elevation. Wildflowers were starting to dust the roadsides and the trees were regaining their beautiful hues and bursting with buds just waiting to blossom.
Elaine didn’t get out to this part of the Cascades very often, at least not as often as she would have liked, but the beauty of northern Washington wasn’t lost on her. The mountains, the trees, the smell of the ocean air in the distance that mingled with the moist forest floor were surreal. This was definitely going to be good for her. She would enjoy the solitude and the opportunity to process the recent events in her life. It would also afford her the opportunity to get away from all the drama and scandal surrounding her breakup with Grace. She couldn’t stand drama.
As she drove up the winding access road to the forestry cabin, she looked out over the Tillamook Canyon and was reminded of why she had become a ranger. Not that she ever truly needed to be reminded, but the view was breathtaking. This assignment was a blessing. The best part, no Grace! Hell, no women period.
She spent a good twenty minutes opening up and airing out the ranger’s cabin. It hadn’t been occupied over the harsh winter and things had become old and stale. The main room was large with an old worn, but reasonably comfortable couch.
There was a huge bed against the opposite wall which was built to accommodate some of the larger burly men she worked with. The mattress probably needed to be aired out but the damn thing would be a pain in the ass to move. She decided to improvise. She might not be a girly-girl, but she certainly knew how to use linen freshener. Fresh sheets and blankets would make it much more inviting when it came time to retire for the night.
She had almost forgotten how nice, almost luxurious, this cabin was compared to most. Some of the cabins were little more than a one-room shed with a small fireplace and bed. Of course, those were intended for shorter assignments or unexpected stays. The rangers who found themselves a
ssigned to this particular cabin referred to it as the Taj Mahal. Each cabin had a government issued structure number, but Elaine and her crew just referred to them by their nicknames.
The wall to her right and perpendicular to the bed had a large stone fireplace and next to that was a door that led into a small bathroom. She was thankful that although there wasn’t a bathtub, she would be able to take hot showers. When you worked for the Forest Service for as many years as she had, you didn’t take running water for granted.
Just to the left of the cabin door was a small kitchen area equipped with an electric stove and refrigerator that would work just fine once she got the generator running. Next to the stove was a huge pantry that she knew would still be partially stocked with canned goods. She would have to let the refrigerator cool down for a few hours before transferring the food from the ice chests she had brought. The front wall of the kitchen had large windows that overlooked the canyon below. There was a forestry issue radio that sat on a small table between the main door and the door that led out onto the observation deck. Just glancing out the windows at the view took her breath away. The deck would allow her a perfect vantage point for telltale signs of people in the closer woods—smoke, sudden flights of birds and so on—without having to hike up to the lookout tower.
Best of all, the overlook provided an unobstructed view of the eastern ridge and the basin below. She stepped out onto the deck and took in the Chinook River reflecting the sunlight into the clear blue sky. She took a deep breath and was thankful to have the clean fresh air fill her lungs. There was no cigarette smoke, no perfume, no stares or whispers…nothing to remind her of Grace.
She made multiple trips up and down the wooden steps between the cabin and her truck. She hadn’t thought she had brought that much stuff. She planned only to be at the cabin for a little over a month, but after unloading the four ice chests, the canned goods and fresh vegetables she had bought en route, along with her clothing, toiletries, bedding and rifle, she felt as if she were moving in.
