by Kim Redford
He liked her better all the time. She was definitely more than a pretty face. “You might ruin your clothes and boots.”
“There’s more where they came from.”
“Okay then. Let’s see what we can do. But I want you to stay back where it’s safe.”
“Hah.” She stepped forward, hesitated, and then looked back at the house. “Let me run and get towels and fire extinguishers.”
“Good idea. We’ll use up my two cans pretty quick.”
“Won’t take a moment.”
He watched her jog into the house before he checked the smoke that was rapidly spiraling into the air. He hoped they could contain it now so they’d limit danger to livestock and wild critters. Birds most likely had already flown from the area.
He jerked open the back door of his truck and checked to see if he had extra turnout gear to share. He didn’t, so they’d make do with the single yellow reflective vest. He usually carried more equipment, but he’d taken it out to clean it and hadn’t put it back in the truck yet. Shortsighted on his part, but nothing he could do about that right now. His cowboy boots would do to protect his feet and ankles.
“I’ve got them,” she called as she came running and holding a stack of blue towels with two canisters balanced on top.
“Thanks.” He set the towels and cans on the seat, grabbed his gear, and shut the door. “I know this is too big for you, but I’d like you to wear it.” He held out the vest, wanting to protect her as much as possible.
“What about you?”
“I’m used to fighting fires.”
“I don’t want to take your stuff.”
“We’re running out of time. Please put on the vest so I don’t worry about you.”
She gave him a quick assessing look and then nodded in agreement and slipped into the vest.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
He swung into the truck on one side, and she did the same on the other side. No doubt about it. She knew pickups. She must have won her spurs driving them long ago. He gunned the engine and tore off down the lane toward the smoke.
At the bottom of the hill, he hit the brakes, made a quick turn, and parked on the side of the road across from the fire. Red-orange flames ate up the dry grass, leaving black stubble behind as they sent up plumes of smoke. Fortunately, the fire hadn’t spread too far, and there wasn’t much of a breeze to fan the blaze, but it was still spreading quickly. If they stood a chance of controlling it, they needed to act fast.
“I’ll take the towels while you use my cans. One is pressurized water, and the other is ABC dry chemical. Both will work in this situation. Your canisters will do as backup.”
“Okay.”
“We need to get out ahead of the fire before it leaps the fence and gets into that pasture with the Angus herd.” He also worried about small ground critters that couldn’t fly away like toads and snakes and rabbits, which could easily get caught in a fast-moving blaze and not be able to escape.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to stop this fire.”
“Thanks.” He saw her set her jaw in determination…and he liked her even more. “Help is coming, so if it gets out of hand, we back off.”
“Right.” She opened her door and stepped down.
As soon as he left his truck, he felt the searing heat and smelled the stench of burned grass. He couldn’t tell for sure, but ground zero appeared to be at the base of a “No Hunting” sign. There wasn’t a way to know yet what had started the fire, but they’d do their best to figure it out later.
He jerked open the back door, pulled out his fire extinguishers, and handed them to her. She slipped a strap over each shoulder so the cans hung by her sides. He could tell she was strong enough to handle the weight, so she really was a cowgirl dusting the city off her boots. He felt a little zing of pleasure at the knowledge. She was turning out to be his kind of woman.
He grabbed the towels, shook them out, and clutched two in each hand. They were thick and a first-rate choice to beat out the blaze. As he headed toward the far side of the fire, she fell in beside him. Closer to the blaze, the heat hit him harder. Smoke stung his nose and burned his eyes.
“Why don’t you work on an outer area of containment?” he said. “It should slow the fire if not outright stop it.”
“Okay.”
As a slight breeze sent the flames south, he watched as she moved into position. She set down one canister before she wielded the nozzle of the other extinguisher like a pro. She sprayed fine yellow powder across the red-orange blaze, and it caused an immediate pullback to leave a blackened area.
Satisfaction that she knew what she was doing and wasn’t in danger set him free to use the towels. He raised them over his head and whipped down hard, smothering the flames, beating them back. He followed up by walking farther into the fire, feeling the heat, breathing the stench, but all the while hitting harder and harder as the blaze escaped, strengthened, and tried to claw its way up his leg like a wild animal. He stomped on it with his thick, leather cowboy boot soles and drove the fire into the ground as he continued to beat it out with the towels. Soon he had a rhythm going—slap, lift, slap, lift, slap, lift—and with each slap a little bit of the blaze gave way.
He glanced up. Belle was making good progress just like him, although the fire was still trying to grow. She must have felt him looking at her because she glanced up and caught his eye. She gave him a big grin and then tossed down her first can and started spraying with the other.
And he’d thought the flames were hot. Her cocky cowgirl attitude totally set him ablaze. He couldn’t look away till he felt the hem of his Wranglers catch fire…and then he was beating out the blaze with a towel and laughing at his reaction to her. Maybe he’d better add snow to his Christmas list and hope it came soon.
When he heard the sound of a siren in the distance, he gave a big sigh of relief…not only would the rig stop the conflagration in its tracks, but it’d take his mind off a too-hot cowgirl who was getting under his skin worse than any fire.
Chapter 5
Belle heard a siren as she finished off the last of her fire extinguishers. She couldn’t have been happier to hear that sound because they needed help. They’d managed to keep the fire in check, but it threatened to break out at any moment…particularly since she’d emptied her canisters. She hooked the can’s strap over one shoulder and then grabbed the other empty one.
She glanced up as a red booster—four-wheel-drive truck with flatbed that carried water tank, pump, and automatic coiled hose—pulled off Wildcat Road and came to an abrupt stop.
As she stepped back from the blaze, two cowboy firefighters leaped from the rig and jogged over. They wore yellow fire jackets, green fire pants, black leather boots, and cherry-red helmets that served as hard hats. They’d stuffed fire-resistant, thick leather gloves into their pockets.
Rowdy shook their hands. “Slade. Cole. Good to see you.”
“Let’s pump and roll,” Slade said. “We’ll get this fire knocked out pretty quick.”
“Just what we want to hear.” Rowdy stepped back to give them room. “If you need any help, just holler.”
“Thanks,” Cole said. “We’ll take it from here.”
Slade grabbed the nozzle while Cole played out the hose. Soon Slade sent a powerful stream of water over the fire while smoke spiraled upward to the sound of hissing, spitting, and snarling. Sparks flew into the air as the fire fought back, trying to regain territory even as it dwindled in size and scope and ferocity.
Belle breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. When she glanced at Rowdy, he gave her a thumbs-up while holding her burned and blackened towels.
By the time Cole turned off the water and rolled up the hose, all that was left of the fire was a large scorched patch of what had been dry grass.
Rowdy turned to Belle. “This is S
lade Steele. He runs Steele Trap II.”
She nodded at the big, tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed firefighter. “We’re really glad to see you.”
“Anytime,” Slade said with a smile.
“This is Belle Tarleton. She’s taken over the Lazy Q.”
“Lazy Q?” Slade’s eyes turned from blue sky to gray steel. “If you’ve got a moment—”
“Not now,” Rowdy cut in, gesturing toward the other guy. “This is Cole Murphy. He manages the county dump.”
She only had a split second to wonder about Slade’s sudden freeze before she focused on the other man. He was about thirty years old and six feet tall with a whipcord body that suggested great strength with little bulk. All muscle. Whatever he did at the dump, he must ride horses, too. He had a strong face—tanned skin, high cheekbones, straight nose—with short, dark hair and five-o’clock shadow. Sharp, penetrating brown eyes didn’t miss much.
“Pleased to meet you,” Cole said in a deep, melodic voice. “Looks like you did excellent work before we got here.”
“Thanks.” She liked Cole, if Slade not so much. “We were early on the scene, and that helped a lot.” Her burned towels were definitely going into the trash…maybe ending up in the county dump. She hadn’t thought much about where throwaways went around here, but it could be more of a challenge in the country than in the city. With all the construction she hoped would be going on at the Lazy Q, they’d probably need the dump’s services.
Rowdy walked over and scuffed at the edge of the soot with the toe of his boot, shaking his head as he glanced around the area.
“What do you suppose started the fire?” she asked.
“Don’t know,” he said. “On the side of the road like this, it could’ve been a cigarette butt not completely pinched out before being tossed through an open window.”
“Let’s take a look and see what we can see,” Cole said.
Belle watched as Slade walked along the road in one direction while Cole went in the other. She stepped up to the “No Hunting” sign, where they’d seen the worst of the fire when they’d arrived at the scene. Now that the blaze was out, she could see a broken bottle at the base of the sign.
“Rowdy, come look here. Maybe this means something.”
Slade glanced up. “Rowdy?”
“I’m coming,” Rowdy called as he tossed a hard look at Slade.
She wondered about the look. Maybe they weren’t as good of friends as she thought at first. Of course, she was the new kid on the block, so she didn’t know family or friend or foe connections in Wildcat Bluff County. When Rowdy reached her side, she pointed at the glass.
He gave a quick nod and then glanced at the firefighters. “Hey, get over here. I think this is our culprit right here.”
When Slade and Cole joined them, they all took a moment to examine the shattered glass. Rowdy glanced up at the sign.
“Are you thinking what we’re thinking?” Slade asked.
“Yep,” Rowdy said. “Looks like a broken mason jar to me.”
“Yep,” Cole agreed.
“Yep,” Slade said.
“Do you suppose late last night or another night a couple or more cowboys were cruising around, drinking white lightning, and looking for trouble?” Rowdy asked.
“Saw the ‘No Hunting’ sign, got mad, and threw the jar,” Slade said.
“It hit the sign, fell to the cement pavement, broke up, and scattered across the grass,” Cole completed the thought.
“A mouse could’ve made a nest of dried grass or other debris collected under that piece of the glass.” Rowdy pointed at a larger piece. “At the peak of heat during the day, sunlight could’ve struck a convex shape of fragment that narrowed and focused the light to a pinpoint…and started the fire in highly flammable material.”
“Are you sure?” Belle asked. “That seems sort of farfetched to me.”
“Did you ever start a fire with a magnifying glass?” Slade bent down and took a closer look.
“No,” Belle said.
“Same thing.” Cole knelt down beside him.
As she considered the possibility, she heard a vehicle coming toward them on Wildcat Road. She glanced over to see a blue pickup slowing down and then stopping on the side of the road. She’d expected to see a deputy from the sheriff’s department, but maybe they were all busy in other parts of the county.
Instead, both doors opened about the same time. A tall, blond-haired woman stepped down from the driver’s side. A girl who looked to be eight years of age with wild ginger hair wearing boots, jeans, and a pink sweatshirt that read “Fernando the Wonder Bull” leaped out the other side and made a beeline toward them.
The girl stopped in front of Belle, put her hands on her hips, and stuck out her chin. “I recognize you from your website. Give Daisy Sue back or you’re in big trouble.”
Belle didn’t know what to say, so she looked at all the guys who had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them. She had no clue what was going on. Mistaken identity despite the website reference? She couldn’t think of anything else that made sense.
“Fernando’s sick at heart. He’s off his feed. And it’s all your fault.”
“That’s my sister, Sydney, and my niece, Storm.” Slade stalked over to stand beside his kinfolk…and face Belle.
She felt as if she’d somehow landed in the middle of an Old West shootout with her wearing the black cowboy hat as the villain. It made no sense…although she’d heard about a bull named Fernando in the news. But what did he have to do with her? And who could Daisy Sue possibly be?
She glanced over at Rowdy and shrugged her shoulders. Maybe he could make sense out of the drama. In the meantime, she focused on the family who looked so much alike from their tall blondness to their narrowed eyes. They were sincerely upset. With her.
“Sydney, Storm, I’d like you to meet Belle Tarleton,” Rowdy said. “She’s just taken over the ranch. I doubt if she knows much about what is going on there yet.”
“I’m working on the house.” She hoped that would ease the situation.
“What about the animals?” Storm leaned forward.
“Kemp Lander, the foreman, and the ranch cowboys are taking care of them. I have a deadline to meet,” she said.
“But is Daisy Sue okay?” Storm stomped a foot. “Fernando needs to know.”
“Who is Daisy Sue?” Belle felt more confused by the moment.
“The Lazy Q shares a property line with Steele Trap Ranch,” Slade said. “Fernando is friends with Daisy Sue.”
“Are you telling me Daisy Sue is part of the Lazy Q herd?” Belle asked.
“Yes.” Sydney put both hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “One day she was no longer in the pasture. Kemp is being cagey on the subject.”
Belle simply shook her head, feeling relieved now that things were becoming clear. “Is that all?”
“All?” Storm clenched her small fists. “She’s the love of Fernando’s life. Maybe there’s a baby. She needs to come home.”
“We’ll be happy to buy her,” Sydney said. “You do understand that Fernando is a famous and beloved bull. We want him to be happy.”
“He’s the bull that made his way home for Christmas last year, isn’t he?” Things were finally beginning to make more sense to Belle.
“Yes,” Storm said. “We’ll pay whatever you want us to pay…if you’ll just bring Daisy Sue home to Fernando.”
“I wish I could help you.” Belle pasted a smile on her face in hopes they wouldn’t be so upset with her. “But I don’t know a thing about Daisy Sue.”
“We contacted your office,” Slade said. “Nobody responded to our inquiries about her.”
“Of course not.” Belle glanced around the group. “No one there knows much about the ranch or cattle or missing cows.”
“Did you get our messages?” Storm asked.
“I’ve been in transit from city to country, and everything is in disarray until I get settled in at Lulabelle & You Ranch.”
“What ranch?” Sydney asked.
“I’m renaming the Lazy Q.”
“But it’s always been the Lazy Q.” Storm looked more put out than ever. “My whole life it’s been the Lazy Q.”
“Things change,” Belle said, trying to be sensitive but at the same time realizing she wasn’t getting very far with this group. “I need to make the change to help my business.”
“It is a lovely line of Western wear.” Sydney smiled, but it didn’t reach her blue eyes. “Do you think you could find out about Daisy Sue? It’d mean a lot to Storm and Fernando.”
“Yes, of course…surely a cow doesn’t go missing for no good reason,” Belle said.
“Cattle rustlers got Fernando right before last Christmas.” Storm shook her head. “We’re worried it happened to Daisy Sue.”
“I hope not,” Belle said. “But if so, we should alert the authorities so they can find her.”
“Will you ask Kemp and let us know?” Slade asked.
“Belle, I can go with you to talk to him.” Rowdy glanced around the group. “I’ll be working on your house anyway. I could let these folks know what we find out so a little girl doesn’t worry her pretty head any longer.”
“Yes. That works for me.” Belle smiled at Storm. “I regret that you’ve been worried. I’m sure there’s some reasonable answer. Maybe she’s in a different pasture.”
“She’s not,” Storm said.
“How do you know?” Belle asked.
“Fernando says so.”
“Oh yes, well…it’s hard to argue with a big bull.” Belle’s attempt at humor fell flat. “We’ll ask Kemp.”
“She’s gone,” Storm said. “We want her back for Fernando before he gets sick from missing her so much.”
“It’s okay.” Slade hugged his niece. “The lady says she’ll ask about Daisy Sue, so we just need to be patient. Okay?”
