Wildfire by Lynn James Read Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    Elaine grinned as she took Devon’s hand. In one swift motion she pulled Devon up while standing to free her legs. Devon recovered her clipboard and they both climbed off the rock.
    Once on terra firma, Devon said, “It would seem that I owe you a thank you.”
    Elaine managed to say casually, “Just doing my job.”
    Devon laughed. “Your job is to scare women off rocks so that you can rescue them?”
    “Only on good days.” Elaine hoped she sounded wicked or enticing or anything but stupid. She couldn’t help the flirtatious little wink that she added. She felt her stomach tighten at Devon’s sharp intake of breath.
    Devon half turned away to stare at the trail. “What brings you to my home away from home?”
    Elaine’s bravado faded. “I owe you an apology…for…uh…for the other day.”
    Devon shrugged. “Accepted.”
    Elaine’s eyes widened. “That’s it?”
    “What were you expecting?”
    “I don’t know. I expected you would be mad.” Elaine paused, not knowing what else to say. She certainly didn’t want to encourage Devon to be angry. “I guess I should get going.”
    Without another word, Elaine walked briskly away along the trail into the forest. She could feel Devon’s gaze on her back, but it was not the response she had wanted. She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted. But the end result left her feeling like an idiot.

    “Hey!” Devon waited for the man to look up at her. They were across the river and he had been leaning down to fill his canteen from the river directly across from her. It took just a moment for Devon to realize there was someone else with him, an attractive woman who also appeared to be in her mid-twenties.
    The man finally looked up. “Yeah?”
    “You can’t drink from there. It’s contaminated.”
    He shrugged at her like she didn’t know what she was talking about. She had half a mind to let the fool drink the damn water. Just because he was too stupid to know that, although the surface was running cleaner, the pool he had chosen to fill from was still mostly standing water and would have poisons leaching out of the soil. But she just really couldn’t have that on her conscience. If the idiot was going to ignore her she was going to have to get his attention.
    She knew that she was in no danger of actually hitting him. So she heaved a large rock in his direction and was lucky that it got close enough to get his attention.
    “Damn it, lady. What the hell? We’re just going to get a drink and be on our way. What’s it to you?”
    Where the hell is a good forest ranger when you need one? “Go upriver about a hundred yards and cross over and I’ll explain.”
    Devon could tell that they had heard her because the woman with him prodded him to do as he was told. Though they spoke in low tones, she was pretty sure he had just called her a bitch. She paralleled them on her side of the river until they came to a tree that was half fallen across the river that would lead to some boulders and her side of the river bank.
    The woman was far more agile and looking at the two it was clear which one was more outdoorsy. Her boots were well worn in comparison to his, which appeared to be brand new. Her gear seemed to be broken in. If she had to guess, he was out here because he didn’t think “the little woman” could do it without him.
    Devon waited patiently for them to cross. When they finally made it onto her bank she held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Dr. McKinney.”
    Devon didn’t normally use her title to introduce herself but she wanted to make it clear from the onset of this conversation that she knew what she was talking about. She looked closely at the young man she supposed some women might find attractive, but the man’s attitude and scarcely concealed resentment made it difficult for her to see how any woman could tolerate him. The man looked at her with blatant hostility and it was obvious he didn’t like taking instruction from women.
    The