To Court a Cowgirl (23 page)

When Jason answered, her pulse jumped, but she took a breath and dove in.

“Hi. I told you I'd call. Sorry it took so long.”
I just wanted to be sure of my next move.

“How are you?” The sound of his deep voice almost did her in.

I'm conflicted. Scared. Determined.

“Thoughtful,” she finally said.

“In what way?” She caught the edge to his voice, buried beneath the casual tone of the question.

“I have been considering your previous offer. I'm not ready to move, but maybe I can visit in the near future.”

A few silent seconds ticked by.

“I'd like that,” Jason finally said, and she realized then that she needed to exhale. He'd probably been waiting for her to lay down conditions.

She had no conditions. She just wanted to see him. Test the waters. Figure out her next move.

“I'd like it a lot,” he added, and now she could hear the smile in his voice. More than that, she could visualize it, the way it creased his cheeks and lit his eyes. Damn, but she'd missed him. “When would you like to come?”

“Why don't you look at your schedule, let me know a good time, and we'll work from there.”

“I'll do that and call you tomorrow.”

“All right.”

“Are you sure you're ready for this?” he asked.

“I'm pretty sure I can handle a visit,” she said in a dry voice. It was time for her to man up and look at the reality of the present instead of reacting to the past. “We'll take it from there. Try not to rush things.”

Now she sounded like she was trying to convince herself, so she stopped talking.

“This will be good, Allie. I promise. I think you'll love it here.”

“It'll get me off the ranch.” But even as she spoke she knew she wasn't as anxious to leave the Lightning Creek as she'd once been. She couldn't use wanting to escape the ranch as an excuse to visit Jason. Not if she were going to remain honest with herself. “Actually, I want to see you and I don't mind the ranch so much.”

“Still growing on you, eh?”

“Like I said, I've made peace. It was just a long time coming.”

“I'm glad, Allie. I'll check into things and call you.”

After saying goodbye, Allie walked out onto her porch and stood leaning against a newel post looking out over the ranch. She'd done some good here. Dealt with her painful memories. Actually come to feel as if she belonged again.

She'd eventually have to learn to belong somewhere else, because no matter what, she didn't feel complete without Jason.

* * *

“W
HAT
'
S
EATING
YOU
?”

Jason looked over at Pat with a frown. “Nothing.”

Pat shook his head and focused back on the field. “So your lady is coming to visit.”

“We worked out the details yesterday.” Allie was flying in at the end of the next week for four days.

“And you're good with that?”

Jason's eyes narrowed. “Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?”

“That's what I'm trying to figure.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Because Jason had had enough hints that all was not well.

“You're deep in your head, JD. You only do that when things aren't right and you're figuring how to make them right.”

Jason blinked at him. “Things are great.”

Pat rolled a little closer and jabbed his finger at Jason. “Then why are you so closed off and preoccupied? You've been that way since I started here.”

“Because I'm in transition. Working my way into a new life. You know...kind of like you are.”

“Only I'm excited about what I'm doing.” Jason raised his eyebrows and Pat flushed. “All right,” he grumbled. “I didn't want to do this in the beginning and I started out a little intimidated, but I like it. You watch—I'll be on the payroll by the end of the year.”

“You're welcome,” Jason said, hoping to sidetrack his friend. It didn't work.

“But you...you're going through the motions. I've never seen you like this.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again when Pat gave him a dangerous look. “So now your lady will come here and things will work out and you'll make a life.”

“That's what I hope happens.”

“A happy suburban couple.”

Jason scowled at his friend. “What are you getting at?”

“I don't know,” Pat said. “Things just seem...off.”

Jason muttered a curse and sank down onto the bleacher bench beside Pat's chair. “It'll work out. I belong with Allie.”

Pat shifted his chair a quarter turn to fully face him. “But do you belong
here
?”

Jason stared at him. What kind of question was that? “Yeah. I do.”

“Then act like it. If you expect her to adapt to your world, then you'd better be sure you love what you're doing.”

“I do love it,” Jason said. He was in position to start working his way into the postfootball career he'd dreamed about, and, damn it, he was going to make it happen. Allie would come to love San Diego and they'd be happy.

Things were going to work out.

* * *

T
WO
NIGHTS
BEFORE
Allie was supposed to leave for San Diego, a series of thunderstorms started moving in over the mountains behind the Lightning Creek.

Rain. Finally.

Only it didn't rain. The thunderstorms shook the house and lit the windows, but stubbornly refused to release any moisture. Eventually the thunder rumbled into the distance and Allie nodded off, only to wake up a little after midnight to the feeling that something wasn't right.

Smoke. She could smell smoke, and the odor was too strong to be from a distant fire.

Allie jumped out of bed and raced downstairs to the front door, her heart pounding as she shoved her arms into her robe. Acrid smoke hit her lungs when she threw open the door and she could hear the cattle milling around restlessly in the darkness.

This fire was close. Too close.

She was about to head back into the house to grab her phone to call dispatch when she heard the siren and spotted the flashing lights in the distance. Okay, nix dispatch. Now she had to see how close the fire was, how much time she had.

She ran into the yard and started around the corner of the house, then stopped dead in her tracks. The fire wasn't on the mountain as she had thought.

The fire was at her fence line, less than a half mile away.

* * *

J
ASON
SETTLED
IN
his chair and clicked through the television channels trying to find something to catch and keep his attention since he couldn't sleep. The phone vibrated on the table next to him and he answered it without looking at the screen.

“Jason...?” It was Allie and her voice had cracked as she said his name.

“What's wrong?”

“The Lightning Creek is on fire.”

Jason nearly dropped the phone. “On fire?”

“Not all of it, but the house...we're about to lose the house. We're moving the livestock now. The fire crew is working on saving the barn and the arena.”

Jason didn't care about the barn and the arena. “Where are you? Are you safe?”

“I'm just leaving with a trailer load of animals that I'm taking to another ranch.”

“Stay there. At the other ranch. I'll get there as soon as I can.”

“I... Thank you.”

She didn't argue, and that was major. “I'll be in touch,” he said. “Promise me you'll stay away from the fire.”

“I promise you I'll stay safe. I have more livestock to move.”

“Allie—”

“Keep me posted,” she said. “I've got to focus on my driving.” She hung up and Jason stood holding his phone, feeling like he'd just been knocked sideways by a charging linebacker.

What first? Call Amanda, tell her he needed a few days' emergency leave, then call Pat.

The call to Amanda went to voice mail, because of the hour, no doubt, so he called Pat. “I have an emergency. I have to leave town.”

“For how long?” Pat asked on a stunned note.

“A day or two. Allie's ranch caught fire. I need to get there.”

Pat let out a low whistle, then said, “Is it possible for me to cover for you?”

Jason stilled momentarily, then said, “Yes. Totally possible.” He shot a look at the clock, thanked God for the internet, texting and video chat, then said, “I can talk you through everything. I just need to bring Amanda into the loop...”

Two hours later, he was on the way to the airport, glad that travel from San Diego to Bozeman wasn't all that popular on a Tuesday morning. He'd get there by midday. Kate would pick him up at the airport.

He'd talked to Allie twice and not once did she say, “Don't come. I don't need you.”

Which meant she did need him...maybe even as much as he needed her.

She didn't talk long either time. She was busy with her livestock and propping up her sisters and mother, who were also on their way to Montana. Story of her life—propping up a family who didn't need propping up. But that was the way she was wired—protectiveness was second nature to her.

And to him. Which was going to make for an interesting future.

* * *

T
HE
FIRE
WAS
out when Jason's truck came roaring down the road leading to what was left of the Lightning Creek. Her mother and sisters were due later that evening—all of them, even though there was nothing any of them could do. Except mourn.

She'd once wondered what could be the worst that could happen while she was on the ranch and now she had her answer. The ranch could be destroyed, and wasn't it ironic that it had happened after she'd made peace with it?

Jason pulled to a stop at the edge of the burn and got out. The two firefighters who were still there, tending the ashes, looked up to see who had arrived, then went back to their jobs. Allie started walking toward him, her steps becoming quicker as she neared him. He looked like hell with circles under his eyes and a day's worth of scruffy growth on his chin, his hair sticking up. But he was here and even though she'd promised herself not to fall apart when she saw him, as soon as he was near enough, she wrapped herself around him, holding him close, breathing in his scent.

He held her against him, his lips pressing against the top of her hair, which probably reeked of smoke. He didn't seem to care, because he nuzzled his cheek against her head, kissed her again.

“Thank you for coming,” she said.

“Not coming wasn't an option.” He put her away from him and then put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. “I'm so sorry, Allie.”

She simply nodded in response. At this point, she felt a surreal detachment from what had happened.

The smoke was still rolling off the ashes of the house she'd grown up in. The house she'd mourned in after losing her father. The house she'd brought her husband home to, and then left after the divorce to start a new life.

The house where she'd fallen in love with Jason.

She blinked back tears. Looked away.

Jason nodded at the fire guys, then steered her toward the barn and arena. The barn had singe marks on one side. The arena was remarkably unscathed.

“How on earth did it escape?” he asked.

“They drenched it when it became obvious they couldn't save the house. The canvas held the moisture, I guess. So did the barn.”

He started walking again, stopping at the half-burned fence posts that edged the barn. “Did you get all of the animals out?”

“Cows, goats, horses. All of them.”

“Thank heaven for small blessings.”

Allie gave a small shudder and Jason looked down at her. “Let's get out of here.”

“I... Yes. Please.” The tone of her voice made her cringe a little. She was stronger than this. She didn't need to go to pieces just because Jason was there to prop her up.

Why not?

She allowed everyone else she knew to go to pieces. Why not her?

Jason wrapped an arm around her even tighter and steered her toward the truck.

Another small shudder went through Allie as they walked past what had once been her garden. The plot was now a smashed mess of tire tracks from the trucks that had parked there trying to save the house.

“Jason?”

He stopped walking and turned her in his arms. “Yeah?”

“I'm so glad you're here.”

“Me, too, sweetheart.” He pulled her closer, enveloping her in warmth and comfort. She laid her cheek against his chest, suddenly, overwhelmingly glad that he was there when she needed him most. She, who didn't allow herself to need.

Well, she needed him now, and he had traveled for almost twelve hours to get to her.

“I want to go to the Staley house.”

“You bet.” He leaned back to look down at her. “Why aren't you there now?”

“I had to come back.” She stepped away from him. “Look at this, Jason. Look at my ranch.”

Her ranch.

She heard him inhale deeply. “Come on. I'll take you ho...to the house.” He'd almost said
home
, but she no longer had a home, temporary or otherwise. He helped her into the truck and they drove in silence to her brother-in-law Gabe's beautiful cedar, stone and glass house. The fire had missed it by one small mile.

Allie opened the unlocked door and Jason followed her inside.

“Some place.”

“If you like quartz and hardwood and stainless steel and a whole lot of stone and glass.” Her voice broke a little on the last word. “I kind of like beat-up flooring that's raised a few generations of kids. And squeaking stairs and faucets that turn the wrong way because someone put them on backwards.”