Cowboy Firefighter Christmas Kiss Read online

  She stared at him, eyes going wide, and clasped her arms around her waist as if reassuring herself or warding off a chill. The calico stretched up on Ivy’s leg, silently asking to be picked up. When she lifted the cat into her arms, the kitty purred loudly and patted her chin with one huge paw.

  “Let me make a call, then we can talk about it.” Slade pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial. “Sheriff Calhoun, I just put out a fire under the porch of a cabin in Wildcat Hall Park.” He listened a moment. “I’m afraid it’s arson.” He listened again. “Yes, I’d appreciate you sending out a deputy. Do you want to contact Hedy, so she can send out a firefighter with equipment to take samples?” He nodded, listening. “Okay. I’ll be at the Hall with Ivy Bryant, Fern’s sister. Thanks.”

  “Arson?” Ivy asked, appearing shocked. “Somebody deliberately started the fire?”

  “Yep. No doubt about it.”

  “Why would someone want to hurt this wonderful place?” She shivered as she glanced around the Park, hugging the cat closer.

  “I wish I knew. Sheriff Calhoun is good at his job. He’ll get it sorted out.”

  “But when?”

  “Wish I could answer that question. And I wish the cattle rustlers were already caught, but it takes time.”

  “Makes sense.” She nodded, glancing up at the cabin. “Right now, please show me the damage.”

  “There’s not much to see.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I want to know exactly what happened to one of my lovely cowboy cabins. Wildcat Hall and these homes are my responsibility now. And I take it seriously.”

  “That’s good.”

  She quickly kissed the cat between the ears, then set the calico down on the ground.

  The cat gave them a satisfied, slit-eyed gaze before sauntering over to the nearest bush and disappearing from sight.

  “Now, let’s see the cabin.” Ivy started down the path, beckoning him to follow her.

  He watched her go with a hunger that would not quit. He had it bad. And he’d only been with her a few hours. What would it be like after he spent more time with her? From bad to worse to… He took a deep breath. Somehow he had to get a handle on the situation. He’d controlled thousand-pound-plus bulls, horses, cows, and never blinked twice. But let hundred-pounds-plus-change Ivy Bryant enter his life, and he was instantly out of control.

  It wouldn’t do. She needed him strong and supportive. Others depended on him to be his usual take-charge self and get done what needed to be done. Besides, danger had ridden into their county, and no way was he letting any of his loved ones get hurt.

  He gritted his teeth. He’d do what he had to do, come hell or high water. But he’d pay a price in haunted days and sleepless nights—unless Ivy, by some miracle, came to regard him as he regarded her.

  Chapter 5

  Ivy took several deep breaths as she walked up the gravel path, trying to steady her emotions. She felt like a Ping-Pong ball knocked back and forth across a net till she was almost dizzy. She was used to being in control. She certainly wasn’t used to being rescued by a cowboy, but wisdom had prevailed, since he was the experienced firefighter and she needed someone to put out a fire. If she stayed here much longer, she might need to get training in that area. For now, she had to put aside preconceived notions and deal with the reality of country life.

  Thinking of reality, had she really felt Slade place a soft kiss on top of her head? Surely not, but then again, it’d felt like it. He did seem to be a touchy-feely kind of guy, so that was probably just his way of comforting her. Still, there was that heat between them. She abruptly stopped those thoughts. She didn’t need to be thinking about a hot cowboy. She needed to focus on taking care of business.

  Sucking in her gut, she marched right up to the cowboy cabin and looked it over. She didn’t see anything wrong except a chemical mess on the front porch that could be cleaned up later. She glanced back at Slade. “Is this the right one?”

  He nodded as he joined her. “Look under the porch, but don’t walk over there. I already tromped on any prints that could be useful, but the sheriff might still be able to come up with something.”

  “I hope so.” She bent down but didn’t see much except a blackened, crumpled Santa’s hat. “That’s it?”

  “Yeah. And be glad of it.”

  “Oh, I am. It’s just hard to believe that little bit of stuff could have burned down this entire cabin.”

  “And spread from there.”

  “Worse yet.”

  “You’re lucky. Real lucky.”

  “Thanks. If you hadn’t been here and known what to look for and what to do, I’d have been in trouble.” She placed her hand on his arm, reaching out to him in appreciation. When she felt his muscles contract in response, her mind skittered sideways. He was built, really built—muscle upon muscle upon muscle. She quickly withdrew her hand, but her skin still tingled from touching him.

  “Luck of the draw. You’d have called the fire station, but I’m glad I was here to catch it early.”

  “Me, too.” She smiled at him. “I want to check inside the cabin for damage.”

  “Good idea. Why don’t we check all the cabins and your house while we wait for the others to get here?” He pulled the master key out of his pocket.

  “Wait.” She held out her hand for the key. “I just realized I’m keeping you from all your other work.”

  “My work is right here today. I’m a volunteer for Wildcat Bluff Fire-Rescue.” He shook the key ring, jingling the rowel on a dangling silver spur charm.

  “But still—”

  “There’s no way I’m letting you go into any of those buildings alone.”

  “Do you think…really think I’m in danger?”

  “What I think is that I want to check out the locks, security, sprinklers, and smoke alarms in every single structure.”

  “You’re making a point I hadn’t even thought about, but then I’ve only been here a couple of days.”

  “You’d have thought of it soon enough, once you had folks staying in the cabins and more folks hanging out in the Hall. I want you and everybody safe.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’d guess Fern has all of that covered, but just in case, I want to make sure. And if you don’t have outside motion-sensor lights, I’ll install them for you.”

  “Thank you.” She glanced around at the cowboy cabins, seeing them beyond their pretty setting and design for the first time. “I owe you dinner, beer, wine, or something more.”

  “I’ll take something more.” And he grinned, making it a hot one.

  She simply shook her head, partly at his playfulness, partly at how he was getting to her without hardly trying. “I’ll think of something special.”

  “I can handle special,” he said, then bounded up the stairs and opened the front door. He glanced back. “Let me take a quick look around first.”

  She followed him up the stairs, appreciating again the beautiful rock work and the hand-carved wood railing on one side. She stepped up on the porch and past two comfy rockers—one orange and the other turquoise.

  She stepped inside and was surrounded by the warm patina of old wood from floor to wall to ceiling. Turquoise was the dominant color in an open area that included a small kitchen with adjacent living area and bathroom. On either end of the room, stairs led up to sleeping lofts. Every bit of space was carefully designed for maximum use, since the cabin was so small in size.

  In comparison, Slade appeared way too big. He moved carefully about the room, as if concerned he might break something or run into something. She liked his thoughtfulness.

  “How does it look?” She walked over to the kitchen and admired the red-chili-pepper-on-yellow stoneware in a glass-fronted cabinet near the sink.

  “Good. No problems. Far as I can tell, the Murphy family,
and maybe Fern, added more security features.”

  “Do you think all the cabins are secured the same way?”

  “I’d bet on it.” He glanced around one more time, then walked over to her. “Bottom line, nobody’s been in here.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Why don’t we check out the other cabins?”

  She preceded him out the door, heard him secure the dead bolt, and walked down the path to another cabin. They followed the same procedure, checking and securing. Each unit was beautifully and rustically appointed with little luxury touches that were sure to please folks that came to stay for a night or a week or longer. By the time they stepped out onto the porch of the fourth cabin, they’d seen nothing amiss and plenty to be proud of in all the loving details.

  Ivy set a rocking chair to rocking as she gazed out over the Park. “I love this place. It’s not just Wildcat Hall, although that building alone is notable, but all these unique houses are wonderful.”

  “Folks around here set quite a store by it and like to come here just to relax or for special occasions.”

  She abruptly stopped the rocking chair. “Not everybody loves it, or… Could somebody have it in for me?”

  He gave her a considering look. “Do you think the fire was personal?”

  “I just got here and suddenly there’s a fire.”

  “But nobody knows you. I wouldn’t take it personal, not yet. There’s something else in play. We just need to figure out what it is.”

  “Okay. Maybe it’s not personal.” She glanced around the Park, waiting for inspiration to strike, but it didn’t. “Then again…do you know if anybody contested the Park’s sale?”

  “Nobody even knew about it till it was a done deal. Otherwise folks probably would’ve made offers.”

  “I guess speculation isn’t going to get us anywhere.” She rubbed the back of her neck in frustration. “Why don’t we have a look at my new home?”

  “Okay. I want to make sure you’re as safe as possible there.”

  She quickly took the stairs down and headed to the larger cabin built with the same recycled materials as the smaller ones. She realized now that she hadn’t been expecting so much responsibility in so many areas in so many ways. The fire brought home the fact that she was definitely out of her element. In Houston, she could call in professionals on a nonpersonal level to take care of anything and everything. Here, she was beginning to see that friends helped friends on a personal level to get things done. It must be like the old days, when most people lived in small towns or on farms and ranches and were neighborly. Even though she and her friends helped each other on occasion, this was still a major change for her. She wasn’t sure she knew how to handle it. Country life was definitely shaping up to be more work than city life.

  And that didn’t begin to address the issue of Slade Steele. She was becoming more dependent on him every moment—and she wasn’t sure she liked that fact. He was generous and helpful and oh so hot, but if she worked with him, how was she going to keep their relationship professional?

  She didn’t have answers to all the questions that suddenly loomed in her life, so she simply walked with her head down, counting the night-activated solar lights that lined the path. She knew that at dusk, soft illumination would stream along the winding path to give the Park a glowing, otherworldly appearance. Maybe that was part of why she was feeling so out of her depth. She felt as if she had stepped into an enchanted land that came with its very own knight in shining armor—or in this case, a knight in cowboy hat and boots.

  “Look,” Slade said behind her, “I didn’t mean to discount a personal vendetta against you.”

  She stopped at the base of the stairs to her cabin and turned around to look at him. “That sounds ominous.”

  “I mean, do you have any enemies back home?”

  “You think somebody followed me here to destroy my new life?”

  “It happens.”

  “Not to me.” She thrust her hands into her hair, wanting to pull answers out by the roots. “I live a very quiet life in Houston. I spend my days in front of a keyboard and my nights reading or seeing friends.”

  “You can make enemies online.”

  “I guess that’s true, but I design websites, so I don’t interact a lot with strangers.”

  “Okay. I just thought I ought to throw that possibility out there.”

  “Please take it back. Trust me, I’m probably the most innocuous person you’ll ever meet.”

  He grinned, shaking his head. “That’s the last thing you are, but I get your drift. What about Fern?”

  “She’s another story.”

  “Maybe somebody mistook you for her.”

  “We don’t look much alike.”

  “From a distance, if somebody was expecting to see her.”

  “We’re about the same height.” She pushed long strands of hair back from her face. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  “Bottom line, wild speculation gets us nowhere, but the sheriff will ask these questions and a whole lot more.”

  “I’ll be as helpful as I can, but I’m clueless.”

  “Maybe something will come to you later.”

  “Maybe. For now, why don’t we go inside and check out my cabin.” She hurried up to the porch, then stopped and glanced back at him. She didn’t have a key. He must have seen the frustration on her face because he tossed up the key ring. She grabbed it out of the air, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.

  As in the other cabins, she appreciated all the wonderful, warm wood from floor to ceiling to walls. Ceiling fans with wooden paddles lazily stirred air scented by lavender and sage in dried bundles in a wicker basket on the kitchen counter. She hadn’t had time to take in all the details of the decor, but nothing had been left to chance. Soft yellow and sage green were the dominant colors used to brighten the open floor plan of living, dining, and kitchen. A touch of cowboy had been added here and there, like the throw pillows in roping- and riding-cowboy designs on the leather sofa and armchair. A lamp in the shape of a cow with a green shade looked whimsical on a small table. She’d be days or weeks checking out all the little bits of vintage that had been collected for the cabin. And she looked forward to it.

  “Great place,” Slade said as he followed her inside, bootheels clicking against the hardwood floor. “I’ve always liked it.”

  “You’ve been here before?” She walked over to the green laminate-and-chrome dining table where she’d been working last night. She glanced at the website design on her laptop before closing the lid, knowing she wouldn’t get back to work till later that evening.

  “Sure. I’m friends with Bill and Ida, like most of the folks around here. Good people. Hard workers. They’re having fun out West.”

  “Do you hear from them?”

  “They text us with photos now and again.”

  “Please don’t tell them about the fire. And I won’t tell Fern. It’d just worry them all.”

  “I won’t, at least not yet.” He glanced around the room. “Everything looks fine from here, but I’d like to check closer. Okay?”

  “Go ahead. Do you want something to drink? Maybe ice tea? I made a pitcher this morning and set it in the fridge.”

  “Sounds good.”

  As she opened the refrigerator, she glanced over at him walking around and looking at what was now her personal space. It felt way too intimate, as if they were sharing more than just checking out cabins for intruders and safety equipment. Maybe she was being fanciful, considering how the Park affected her, but still, she couldn’t shrug off the feeling that they were sharing so much more. She shook her head to dislodge the idea, suddenly remembering why she had the fridge door open. She quickly picked up the pitcher of tea and set it on the yellow-tile countertop. She selected two vintage yellow-and-white-striped glasses
from the open cabinet above and filled them with ice and tea. Finally, she set yellow napkins beside them.

  “Everything looks in order here.” Slade walked into the kitchen and glanced down at the glasses and napkins. “Pretty.”

  “Thanks. Your friends have good taste, so I’m taking advantage of it.”

  “Might as well. That’s what friends are for.” He picked up a glass and a napkin, giving her a sly smile. “You know, taking advantage of.”

  She felt her breath catch in her throat at what he implied with his words and the look in his blue gaze. “I wish we had cowboy cookies to go with the tea, but somebody forgot to bring them.” She teased to lighten the exchange and hoped he’d take her lead to back away from the intimacy of the moment.

  He chuckled but the heat didn’t leave his eyes. “Next time.”

  “Do you want to sit on the porch and wait for the professionals?”

  “Good idea. They ought to be here soon.”

  She walked outside, sat down in a rocker, and set her glass on top of her napkin on the green metal table.

  Slade sat down, took a big gulp of tea, and set his glass beside hers. “Like I said, I think it’d be a good idea to install motion-sensor lights over the doors of the cabins.”

  “Will it help?”

  “Can’t hurt. At the least it’ll give you extra light around here.”

  “I hate to take up any more of your time.”

  “No problem.” He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “I want you and the property as safe as possible out here.”

  “Thanks. I’ll pick up the expense.”

  “You may need to go bigger and better by placing motion-sensor cameras on the cabins and in the trees along the walkways. You’d have a live feed to your computer or cell phone that you could check.”

  “That seems so intrusive to guests and out of character for the Park.”

  “True. Electronics don’t exactly go with retro, but still…”

  “Maybe later. I’m not excited about adding to the expense and the learning curve of what I already need to do here.”