Page 23 of Ash on the Range
“Listen to me, Cassie. I don’t want to take you back to college. Hell, I don't want to take you anywhere at all. I want to stay right here with you. But this isn’t my home. It's not my place. I have no idea where that is at all, but—” I frowned when I realized her eyes weren’t focused on my face. Cass stared over my shoulder, her gaze slightly vacant. In all the times we’d talked and she’d sassed me—and that was still sexy as all hell—she’d never flat out ignored me. “Cass?” I pressed a knuckle beneath her chin and lifted her face up to mine, peering at her. “Honey, did I scare you?”
Cassie blinked. Her gaze shifted to focus on mine. “Smoke,” she whispered.
I stared hard at her, and twisted in my seat, already swearing. I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts about the girl beside me that I’d been too blind to see what was right in front of me. Fine tendrils of smoke melded with the growing afternoon haze just feet ahead of us. Faint here, but as I peered through the trees, the haze grew.
I grabbed my phone off the dash and shoved it into Cassie’s hands, yanking the seatbelt across her chest that I hadn't made her wear as we meandered out way across the ranch on our way back, taking our timer. The damn thing finallysnickedas I shoved it into place.
“Call,” I snapped. “Travis or Jude.”
Cassie’s fingers flew over the keypad once I opened it for her, and she spoke quietly, no sigh of panic in her voice as we pushed through the haze. Thankfully it thinned out fast as we moved toward the house. I pointed out a few landmarks for her, and she relayed those to Travis, or whoever picked up on the other end.
Finally, I drove into the yard and pulled her into me for a quick, hard kiss. “I’m gonna have to run.” I stared down at her regretfully, memorizing the pretty shape of her eyes, wishing it was her bed I'd fall into later tonight, though my lump borrowed mattress would have to do. “I’ll try to find you if we don’t come in too late, okay?”
She returned my gaze just as fiercely, unflinching. “I’ll be here, Will.” Soft lips pressed to mine, then she flurried out of my car, leaving my phone in the warm spot where she’d sat tucked in beside me the entire trip back to the big house.
“Damn, that girl’s got you spinning, hasn’t she?” Gage hung in the door Cassie just vacated.
I glared at the older soldier turned cowboy. “Isn’t it your bedtime, old man?” I groused, wishing I had just a few extraminutes with my girl. “I was looking forward to a quiet night with her, maybe?—”
“Get laid like you tried last night and fucking failed?” Gage snorted. “Nice try, kid.”
I shook my head and said nothing.
His shrewd eyes missed nothing. “Instead, you raised hell after doing just that, huh? We all gotta join your post coital party? Get your ass out here and help, huh?”
He slammed my door shut hard enough to make me wince and pray the damn thing didn't fall off and show the rust underneath that made the price tag affordable for my wallet when I bought it. Thankfully, everything stayed as it should. I climbed out to find Cassie exiting the house I thought she’d just headed into, bearing bundles of blankets and a plastic container of foot. She nudged a second container forward that held a collection of drink bottles. From the sound of its scrapes across the veranda, they were full.
I took the steps two at a time and collected them from her. “Hey, you don't have to be a one woman army, you know.” I kissed her because I could and everyone had better be too busty prepping for whatever the hell was coming before I grabbed the water bucked and layered the sandwich container on top. “What are the blankets for? I don’t think we’re camping out in a wildfire, honey.”
She huffed and stalked past me, dropping the bundle that looked heavier than it should be on the back of my truck. Water dripped out of the bottom of the pile. “Some are damp. They’re for it if you catch fire or something needs to be damped out that shouldn’t be ablaze, okay?” She looked up at me with worried eyes. “Do you remember what I said?”
I scraped her hair back from her face. “That you’ll wait up?” The thought of her being there for me when I crawled my smoky,dusty ass back through those doors tonight kindled something different inside me.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. I’ll be here, Will Kirk. Right here.” She pointed to the dirt she stood on.
I hauled her into my chest in a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. “Go inside, Cassie," I murmured to the top of her head. “I reckon it’s warmer in there, and you can do something other than watch for us. That’s a shit job, am I right?”
She looked up at me and swallowed hard, then turned and ran back up the stairs, almost colliding face first with Travis who headed out of the house at the same time. He looked at me with raised eyebrows. I shrugged as he put on his boots, followed by Rachel who ignored his own orders to stay put with a shake of her head.
Eve and Jude were nowhere in sight. I figured one was already at the site of the fires, doing a little reconnaissance and the other was inside. No brownie points for guessing which was which, and though I knew Jude possessed the patience of several saints rolled into one, waiting wasn’t his style.
“Alright, listen up,” Travis called from the top of the stairs as both rodeo crew and the ranch hands gathered around the yard. He motioned them closer. “I have no idea what it looks like apart from the fact that we’ve seen a few fires around and the conditions are right for a wildfire. We want to stop this thing from getting any bigger, because that makes it damn hard to stop, and out here, that’s deadly. There aren't that many places out here, and if you're looking for the local fire brigade, turn to the man beside you and say hello.”
That little one linter earned the ranch owner a decent laugh, breaking some of the tension in the yard.
“Jude’s already out there, so take his direction once you hit the ground. Your other crew chiefs tonight are myself, Gage,” Travis paused to locate the man who raised a hand to identifyhimself, “and Will. Where the hell are you, Will? Damn, you’re shrinking by the day,” Travis called out. “You’d better stay on a bull better than that or we won't be able to find you at all.”
I gave him an easy wave as the rodeo crew behind me had a decent laugh.
One of the older riders, Denver, who I respected, clapped my shoulder. “I mean, he’s not wrong about the bull.”
My wave turned into a one finger salute over my shoulder and Denver laughed.
Travis gave everyone a hard stare after he organized teams. “Most of you are familiar with the land, so follow Will back to the site. It’s dusk and the land changes. Follow the direction of your crew chief tonight, and we should do fine. If there’s a problem and you lose contact, grab the numbers from Gage, who has everyone’s plus the house. The girls inside will be here in case it gets out of hand and we need to call in extra help. Clear?”
I knew they would have already, but it made the new crew feel a whole lot better about it. I gave one last glance at the house and headed for my truck, praying it would be a quick and easy job, and we’d all be back chatting around the table telling stories before full dark with Cassie in my arms.
CHAPTER TEN
