Love in Flames by N. J. Walters Read Free Book Online

police and fire departments, as well as the 911 calls. Even though her job could be demanding and stressful, she liked it. More importantly, she enjoyed the people she worked with, the men and women on the front lines who made such a difference to their community, saving lives and property and keeping the peace. But more than that, they were good people, some of them she even considered close friends.
    Lathering her hair, she turned and stuck her head under the flow of water. When the suds were all rinsed away, she flicked off the taps, grabbed a towel and stepped out onto the bathmat. She patted her skin dry and wrapped the towel around her body before picking up her hair dryer. While she brushed and dried her hair, her mind once again wandered back to Ryan.
    She’d been sitting in front of her console, just finishing up a call when Abe King, the Fire Chief, had come up behind her. Esther had known they’d hired a new man at the fire department and had turned with a ready smile only to find it frozen on her face when she caught her first glimpse of him.
    Tall, broad-shouldered and extremely fit, he would catch any woman’s attention. But it was his eyes that held her captive. Golden-brown in color, they stared at her unblinkingly like some predator who’d just sighted prey. It hadn’t taken much imagination on her part to realize that he’d set his sights on her.
    Setting her hair dryer on the counter, Esther swiped her hand over the foggy mirror and stared. She didn’t understand the intensity of his attraction. Yes, she was good-looking in a girl-next-door sort of way, but she was by no means a knockout.
    She was average height, and while she was in good shape, her breasts were a little below average in size. Her skin wasn’t too pale and tanned easily, which accentuated her blue eyes. Her medium brown hair fell straight to her shoulders and she usually clipped it back in a large barrette for work. It tended to get natural blond streaks in the summer, which she loved, but summer was long past and the light streaks were quickly vanishing.
    Shaking her head, she grabbed an intricately designed silver barrette and clasped her hair back from her face. She moisturized her skin and also added a light coating of mascara and lip-gloss, not bothering with anything more. Her summer tan hadn’t completely faded yet and she still had a nice color in her cheeks.
    Hurrying back to her bedroom, she dressed quickly as she glanced at the clock. She was going to be late if she didn’t move it. She’d spent longer than she’d thought absorbed in her musings of Ryan and the journal of her ancestor.
    The book had been rebound and translated many, many times over the years, but it had remained intact with the original writing still within the pages. Every so often she felt compelled to take out the book and read the tragic love story. She had no idea why. The ending never changed. James still died and Esther was still left alone to raise their child.
    In every generation of her family, one girl child was named after the woman who had written those heartbreaking words. It was always the girl who bore the same heart-shaped birthmark as the original Esther. It was this woman’s duty to keep the book safe and add to its pages, and over the generations each woman had dutifully done so.
    Most of the women had lived long and normal lives, but some of them had not been lucky in love. One of the Esthers had her husband killed in the Civil War, while another had lost her fiancé to World War I. Both had died as a result of a fire. And they weren’t the only tragedies. Each woman had added her own heartbreaking story to the mix and the book had grown thicker. Esther felt their pain and sadness right to her very soul.
    Esther bore the name with pride, even if she was determined to avoid her namesake’s fate. She would be one of those women with a safe, unassuming life. Someday she would have to take pen in hand and write her story, adding to