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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781460356210 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Harlequin |
| Publication date: | 09/12/2016 |
| Sold by: | HARLEQUIN |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 545 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Smoke. Accompanied by the wail of sirens.
Lindsey Winters was used to the sirens—they blared past her house often in this part of the city—but it was the acrid smell of smoke that forced her to climb out of her sofa bed located in the center of her living room.
A quick glance around showed nothing amiss. The living room and kitchen were essentially one room and she hadn't left a candle burning, or any other obvious source of smoke. One nice thing about having a small house was that there weren't too many places to look for a fire.
She hastily pulled on a robe and headed down the hall to the single bedroom toward the back of the cottage, where her nine-year-old son slept. "Josh?"
"Mom?" he said in a sleepy tone, having just woken up, too. "Do you smell smoke? I thought maybe I was dreaming about Dad."
"It's not a dream, Josh." Her heart squeezed for her son, who obviously missed his father. Sam had died only seven months ago, and so much had happened since then, not least of all the recent move to this house. She could understand why he'd made the connection. When her firefighter husband had been alive, he'd often come home reeking of smoke. It was the same smell filling the air now. "Come here." She reached out and gathered him in a one-armed hug. "Let's see what's going on."
In the living room, red and blue lights flashed brightly through the front window. Screaming fire trucks pulled up, too, blocking the end of their driveway. Pressing her nose against the glass, she peered out and saw firefighters and police gathering around the house next door, the Tollivers' place. There hadn't been time to get close to her neighbors, but she had briefly met single mom Anna Tolliver and her two girls, who were both a few years younger than Josh.
"Wow," Josh whispered beside her. Now that he realized their house wasn't the one on fire, he relaxed a little. "I've never seen a fire this close."
"Me neither," Lindsey admitted. As an ED nurse working in a small community hospital, she'd been exposed to the occasional burns patient, but nothing really serious. All the really serious cases had been airlifted to Los Angeles.
She shivered, despite the warmth of the balmy California spring night.
A firefighter dressed in full gear jogged across her front lawn, heading to her front door. She pulled back in surprise, and then opened the door before he had a chance to knock.
"Lindsey?" Her husband's best friend and fellow firefighter and paramedic, Austin Monroe, gaped at her in shock. "What in the devil are you doing here?"
Great. Just what she needed. Not. She stifled a sigh and angled her chin, fervently wishing that out of all the firefighters in Sun Valley, Austin Monroe hadn't been on duty tonight. "I live here."
"What? Since when?" he demanded. Then he gave an impatient shake of his head. "Never mind. Come on, we need you and Josh to evacuate the premises. The fire is too close and too far out of control to ensure your safety."
"Is there time for us to change our clothes?" she asked, rubbing one bare foot over the other.
Austin frowned, glancing down at her bare toes and then at her son's equally bare feet. "Two minutes. If you're not ready by then, I'm coming in after you."
No need for threats—she believed him. Turning away from the door, she gave Josh a slight push. "Get dressed. Hurry." As he disappeared down the hall, she grabbed the closest pair of jeans, a sweater, socks and comfortable running shoes she could find and ducked into the bathroom to change.
In less than two minutes she met Josh and headed outside, resisting the urge to gather her meager yet precious belongings. Through the mass of people milling about she saw Anna Tolliver and her girls standing off to the side, surrounded by police. Thank heavens they were safe.
Austin noticed them when they stepped out onto the porch and crossed over. He directed them to a spot safely beyond the perimeter of the fire. "I need both of you to stand back here, out of the way."
Again, she wasn't going to argue. Austin had been her husband's smoke jumping partner and he knew his way around fires, whether they were the domestic sort like at the Tollivers' house or a thick, raging wildfire. Smoke jumpers were men who fought wildfires by jumping from planes into smoke-filled skies to help prevent the fire from spreading. Her husband and Austin had both trained as smoke jumpers. She'd thought they'd been nuts.
Now she was grateful for Austin's experience in fighting fires.
From their safety zone Lindsey could see orange flames dancing out of the kitchen window of the Tollivers' house. She swallowed hard when she realized how close the threat was to her cottage. Flames reached up, like gnarled fingers trying to grasp the edge of her roof. The postage-stamp-sized lots on which their cottages were built only gave a couple of feet of clearance between them.
"Lindsey?" Austin lightly grasped her arm.
She tore her gaze from the horrifying image of the flames leaping toward her home. "What?"
"Don't leave without me, OK? I'll take care of you and Josh. Just wait for me."
Her throat was clogged with fear so she simply nodded. No matter how annoyed she may have been with him earlier, right now it was nice to know she wasn't totally alone in the world. Austin may be a bit of an interfering control freak, but he was definitely a man of his word. Her gaze followed him as he turned and jogged back, taking his role in fighting the fire. She wanted to watch him work, but quickly lost him amidst the sea of firefighters, unable to distinguish him from the others beneath the heavy gear.
"Mom?" Josh asked, in a tiny, scared voice. "Is our house gonna burn, too?"
She clutched him close, wishing she could sound positive when she had a sinking feeling that things were about to go from bad to worse. After Sam had died, she'd discovered a mountain of debt. She'd been forced to sell the house, grasping the first meager offer that had come in, and had moved here, into this tiny one-bedroom cottage in a not-so-nice part of town.
This probably wasn't the time to admit she had absolutely no insurance. Heck, they'd only moved in two months ago. It had been hard enough to make sure there had been money for food and gas, much less for home owner's insurance.
"I hope not, Josh," she said, watching the flames of her neighbor's house dance closer. The firefighters aimed a wide, forceful stream of water directly toward the source of the fire, completely drenching her house in the process.
She knew she should be glad they were all OK, but what would happen if their house did catch fire? Where would they go? Where would they live?
She blinked away tears of useless self-pity. "I really hope not."
Still reeling from the shock of finding Lindsey and Josh in the tiny, cramped house on Puckett Street, Austin concentrated on fighting the fire. Thankfully, the occupants of the house had gotten out safely, but the fire, having somehow started in the electrical system inside the walls, had traveled along the electrical wires, engulfing the entire place before anyone had even realized what had happened.
The house was a total loss. The goal now was to contain the fire, hopefully preventing it from spreading to the homes on either side.
Particularly to Lindsey's house.
Damn, he wondered what in the heck had happened. Why on earth had she moved out of the nice place she'd lived in with Sam? Because of the memories? Or for financial reasons? As much as he'd tried to be there for Lindsey, especially during those first few weeks after Sam's death, she'd resisted his support. In fact, they'd had a huge fight when he'd tried to give her some advice on how to handle Josh. She'd shouted at him to get a life of his own and to leave her alone.
He'd backed off, giving her the space she'd needed. He hadn't been to see her in five months. First he'd headed off to a smoke jumping tour, being dropped via parachute into the depths of the Oregon forest to fight a wildfire burning out of control, and then, when he'd gotten back, he'd gone home to visit his parents, haunted by memories of Sam the whole time he had been in Oregon.
But he'd failed Sam again, because things were obviously worse for Lindsey than he'd realized. She'd kicked him out of her life once, but he shouldn't have left. He'd assumed she had at least been happily settled in her home. He never wanted to hurt her, but this time he wasn't leaving her alone until he knew she and Josh were safe and secure.
And preferably not living in that death trap masquerading as a house.
When they finally had the fire under control, he helped stow the gear, his gaze searching for Lindsey and Josh. He figured the police had gotten the Red Cross involved to help relocate the family that had just lost their home. There was no way he was going to allow Lindsey and Josh to return to their place either, not until he'd had the structure thoroughly checked out.
Might be a good idea to check the electrical wiring in the house, too. He had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't up to code, as the footprint of Lindsey's house was exactly the same as the one that had gone up in flames. Just the thought of faulty wiring lining the walls made his blood run cold.
"Lindsey?" He made his way over to where she and Josh both stood, looking a bit shocked, their arms wrapped around each other for support. "I'll take you over to my place for what's left of the night, OK?"
She frowned. "We can't go back to our house?"
"Not yet. There could be a fair amount of water and smoke damage." He was glad he didn't have to lie— there had been a lot of water damage in particular. "I'm afraid the house needs to be cleared by us before you can move back in."
"Oh." She bit her lip and shrugged. "Well, then, a hotel is fine. We don't need to impose on you."
Stubborn woman. He ground his teeth in frustration. "You're not imposing." Just once he wished she'd simply give in and let him help. Although she didn't realize how much his need to help was wrapped up in his guilt over being the cause of Sam's death. "Actually, it might be better if you drove your car so you're not stranded without a set of wheels."
She seemed to like that idea, but still hesitated. "I don't know—a hotel might be better if this is going to take a while."
"A few days at the most," Austin told her, even though he didn't point out that if the house needed repairs, the timeframe would undoubtedly be longer. "Please? At least for tonight?"
She grudgingly nodded. "Can we pack some of our things?"
"Sure." He was grateful to give her at least that much. His crew was standing around, waiting for him, but he waved the guys off, figuring he'd get a ride back to the fire station with Lindsey, and followed her inside.
The place was even smaller than he'd realized. Frowning at the open, rumpled sofa sleeper taking up most of the living room, he watched as she gathered some clothes together, throwing them into an old, well-worn suitcase.
He didn't like the circumstances she was living in, that's for sure. For Pete's sake, she didn't even have a bedroom of her own. Once again he wondered what had happened? What had caused her to move from the nice three-bedroom house she'd lived in with Sam to this? What's more, knowing she'd moved without telling him hurt.
Had she deliberately moved just to avoid him?
Lindsey closed the suitcase and bent over to pick it up.
"I'll take that," he said, stepping forward to lift the heavy case from her grasp. He lugged the case outside and put it in the trunk of Lindsey's bright yellow Plymouth Neon. Lindsey loved yellow cars and the bright yellow color usually made him smile, but not tonight. After returning inside, he went back to find Lindsey and Josh in the single bedroom located at the rear of the house. Josh's suitcase was full, as well, so Austin took it before Lindsey could.
"Anything else?" he asked, when he'd stored Josh's suitcase in the trunk, too.
"I guess not." Lindsey gave one last glance around the compact kitchen and living room area with a forlorn gaze.
"Hey, don't worry, you'll be back soon," he murmured, placing a hand in the small of her back and gently urging her toward the door. "Come on, let's go. You guys need some sleep. I have a spare bedroom at my place you can use. Two of them, actually." She'd only been to his place once so she might not know how many bedrooms he had. She and Josh would be far better off in his place than staying in the tiny house, even if the place was safe to move back into. At least this way they'd each have their own bedroom.
"Thank heavens tomorrow is Sunday," Lindsey said, with a wide yawn. "Josh will be able to rest before he has to head back to school."
"Do you have to work tomorrow?" he asked. Lindsey was an ED nurse for the Sun Valley Community Hospital and he'd always enjoyed seeing her when he'd brought patients in from his paramedic runs.
"No." She shook her head. "Not until Monday."
Good. He was glad she'd have a day to recuperate, as well. He was tempted to take over the task of driving, but knew Lindsey would be irritated if he tried to take control, so he forced himself to hand Lindsey her car keys. She raised a brow, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, as if she knew what the small gesture had cost him. With a sigh he took off his bulky jacket and hat so he could slide into the passenger seat.