Page 100 of Ace of Spades
“I knew it.”
“Okay, fine, he’s kind of adorable.”
I can’t help but laugh, the image of Weston’s tall, masculine frame cuddling a tiny raccoon forever ingrained in my brain.
“Speaking of bottle feeding, were you able to pick up some more formula on the way home from your mom’s? The vet said it’ll probably still be a few more weeks before we can start feeding him solid food.”
“I did,” Weston confirms. “And I also ran past all of the shops to pick up the stuff for the welcome baskets.”
“That’s great!” I say. “I’ll help Chelsea put them together tomorrow. Hopefully all of the local samples will encourage the guests to go explore the town, the smaller shops could definitely use all the business they can get with all of the chains my dad has managed to bring to town.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Weston reassures me. “He can’t keep bringing all these new businesses if they don’t have the customers for them. His resort isn’t doing well—if anything, it’s crashing and burning completely.”
“That’s because people don’t come to the middle of the mountains for shopping and luxury. They come to get away from the busy city life, to experience a retreat filled with tranquility, where they can get away, explore the outdoors, and really absorb the mountain air.”
“I don’t know about the tranquil part—nothing peaceful about Chance falling off the top of the barn after he got too drunk and tried to get the rooster down from the roof.”
“I thought none of the guests were around for that?”
“They were. Nearly gave one of them a heart attack.”
I bite down on a laugh at the mental image.
We break through the treeline, the air leaving my lungs as our horses come to a dead halt.
“Is that—”
“The bunkhouses,” Weston breathes.
My hands tighten around the reins as I take in the blazing inferno in the distance, watching in horror as smoke curls thick into the sky.
Dakota.
Weston must have had the same thought because his spurs dig into Lark in the next moment, the mare bolting forward as we both take off across the ranch, to the fire engulfing the bunkhouses.
Chapter 28
HAILEY
My hair whips in the wind, the thick smoke coming from the bunkhouses bleeding into the night sky and smothering the stars. I race behind Weston, urging Casino forward as the sounds of hooves eating up the dirt rings in my ears.
Two trucks fly past us on the path, some of the ranch hands racing to the scene with the emergency water tanks.
The heat from the blaze hits me right in the face as we get close enough to the flames, the smoke burning my throat as I lift my shirt above my nose to keep from breathing in the fumes.
“Here,” Weston yells over the commotion, pulling Lark back to hand me his bandana, untying the one around his saddlehorn for himself as we pull them around our faces.
The horses startle beneath us as a portion of the building collapses, and my head whips to the side as I spot two figures emerging from the smoke, racing away from the flames.
“Weston!” I yell, catching his attention as I whip Casino around and race in their direction.
I get close enough to recognize Rafe and Debbie, the former helping her to the ground as she coughs violently, both of them covered in soot. I feel a pang of relief knowing that Debbie got out, but my thoughts immediately bring me back to the girl who could potentially still be inside.
“Where’s Dakota?” Weston demands, his black mare skidding to a halt beside me.
“Inside,” Debbie manages to tell us between coughs.
“I think she’s upstairs” Rafe pants. “Chance ran in to get her.”
