Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The ravine might be a twenty-foot drop but it had one thing going for it—it’d already been ravished by the fire and was down to black.
Because Griffin couldn’t make himself understood to the men, and because the flames were going to be licking at them in seconds again, he simply showed the men what he expected, and ran.
He came to a stop at the drop-off and pointed. Some went easier than others, but they all went, sliding down the face of the mountain. Griffin waited until each of them had gone before he jumped. It seemed he fell forever before he hit, hard.
The first thing he noticed was the lack of the scorching wall of heat from the fire.
Slowly he raised his head. They were now in an area that had already burned, and while the ground was black and still quite warm, the area couldn’t burn twice. Amazingly enough, they were safe.
And alive. “Okay?” he asked the men around him, all looking as dirty and frightened as he probably did.
“Sí,” a few said. Others nodded. They got up and looked around in the same slow motion, jerky movements he’d seen and recognized so well.
Shock. Relief. Overwhelming relief. Above them and to the east and south the fire ravaged, but they were safe.
“Griffin. Griffin!” From the west side, the safe side, Lyndie appeared, chest heaving, skin damp, face white with fright. She stopped short of him and gasped for air. “You’re okay.” Turning, she took them all in and sagged. “You’re all okay.”
For some reason, an idiotic grin spread across Griffin’s face. “Yeah.”
She stared at him; his non-cuddler, kick-ass pilot, wavering slightly on legs that seemed unsteady. And then her eyes filled with tears.
His heart broke in two. “Ah, Lyndie, no. Don’t do that.”
“I’m not doing anything.” Angrily, she swiped at the one tear that fell and shot him a scathing look as she dragged air into her poor, tortured lungs. “I just have smoke in my eyes.”
God, she was magnificent. He took the step that separated them and cupped her jaw. “What, no hug? No sobbing, weeping woman throwing herself at me—”
“Bite me.” But she lifted her arms and threw them around his neck and squeezed so hard he couldn’t breathe. In that moment, breathing was highly overrated anyway.
This, though…this holding a bundle of solid, curvy, teary, sexy-as-hell woman in his arms, this was not overrated at all.
In fact, he dropped his hard hat and held on for a good long time, burying his face in the crook of her neck, which smelled like smoke and Lyndie.
Her skin felt soft and cool against his and he figured he could stand there forever, but her breathing was so erratic and raspy, he couldn’t stand it. “Lyndie, your medicine—”
“I thought you were—”
“I know. Get out your inhaler, baby.”
She just squeezed him even tighter, pressing so close he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. “I couldn’t get here fast enough—”
“It’s okay—I’m all in one piece, everyone is.”
“I’m not falling apart.” But neither did she let go.
And neither did he.
By nightfall, Griffin and two others had indeed managed to get above the fire to verify it had reached the rock cliffs and had nowhere else to go.
It had turned back on itself, and all in all, they’d not lost too much more acreage.
The south end of the fire, the one that had come so close to town, had begun to burn out as well, leaving only the higher elevations still hot.
With or without cooperating weather now, it’d only be a day or so more before it ran out of fuel entirely.
Lyndie had never felt more satisfaction or relief.
She’d had enough danger and adrenaline and horrifying fear to last her a lifetime.
The ride back to the inn was once again a crowded affair.
She sat in the Jeep with her inhaler out—she’d needed it too much today—practically in Griffin’s lap in the front passenger seat, with everyone around them talking, chattering, excited.
Griffin smiled at something Brody said in the backseat, and she found herself staring at his dirty, exhausted face.
His smile slowly faded, but his eyes warmed.
So did her body. God, she’d died a thousand deaths today when he’d vanished on that mountain. She had no idea how he could have come to mean so much to her in such a short time, she never took time to know anyone, but she couldn’t deny what she felt when she looked at him.
Around them chaos reigned; the engine and the Jeep, the roar of the wind, the laughter of the others…
but Griffin reached out and stroked a finger down her cheek, and at the simple touch, everything else faded away.
The dark night and its sounds, the roar of the Jeep, the conversation around them, everything, until it was just the two of them.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
Was she okay? This past week had seemed an eternity, a blink of an eye. She’d met this incredible man, this amazing, strong, intelligent man. She’d watched him face his own living nightmare head-on and come through it. She’d laughed with him, cried with him.
Slept with him.
And tonight they’d all eat together, they’d probably talk and laugh some more. She might even sleep with him again—she really hoped she’d sleep with him again—and then, first thing in the morning, she’d fly him back to his world, and then take herself off to hers.
The end of yet another little episode in her life. She had a bunch of episodes, all unconnected, all floating around in her memories now, always coming back to just her.
Just her.
It was what she’d always wanted. Freedom. Independence.
“Lyndie?”
“I’m okay.” She managed a smile. “I always am.”
At the inn, Rosa waited with more mountains of food.
She didn’t have to bully anyone to eat tonight, they were all starving, Lyndie included.
She ate, and afterward, before she could vanish to her room, Brody spun her around the courtyard to the Spanish music blaring from the small boom box on the brick wall.
The night was warm and still. Maybe she was hallucinating, or maybe she just wanted it so badly, but the night seemed clearer, more stunningly beautiful than she could remember. The moon cast a glow on the hills around them, and on the beautiful gardens in the courtyard that Rosa loved to work in.
Unused to such frivolity, she tried to pull away because he was making her dizzy twirling her around. “I’ll step on your feet,” she warned.
“That’s why I wore steel-toed boots, darlin’.” Brody grinned. “Step on me all you want.”
She looked into a face so like Griffin’s with its quiet strength and see-all eyes, and yet so different. Brody’s smile came far easier, with deeper laugh lines, and Lyndie had a feeling the women found this Moore brother much easier to approach. “Why are you dancing with me anyway?”
“What, I can’t dance with a beautiful woman?”
“The beautiful woman who wants to dance with you is standing on the edge of the dance floor, dressed to the hilt to grab your attention, shooting me daggers with her flashing eyes.”
“Ah. Nina,” he said on a very masculine sigh.
“You know her father is armed, right?”
Brody grinned. “He wouldn’t really shoot me.”
“If you believe that, I’ve got some swampland up the street for sale.” She looked into his eyes and saw something behind the laughter. “Seriously. I wouldn’t play with her, fair warning.”
Brody’s smile faded. “I’m not playing.”
That’s what she’d been afraid of. “Rumor is you’ve been playing two nights running.”
“Rumor?”
Ooh, the baby brother did have a temper, suddenly it showed in every line of his body. She took pity. “Nina told me herself,” she said, and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, no one is ruining the princess’s reputation but the princess herself.”
“I care about her,” he said, his voice low. “I know that sounds reckless, but I do. Maybe as much as you care about my brother.”
She stared at him, unexpected emotion clogging her throat. “Well, then we’re both reckless.” With that, she tried to turn away from him, but he held her back.
“Lyndie, this is none of my business, but about Griffin—”
“That’s right, it isn’t any of your business.”
“I lost him for an entire year.”
She let out her breath. “I know. But he’s back now, and he’s—”
“Falling for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, he’s just trying to get back to the living, he’s—”
“Falling for you,” he repeated quietly. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Are you falling back?”
She stared at him. “He’s not over what happened to him last year. He’s not ready to fall for anyone.”
“Probably not, no.”
Each word felt like a stab to her heart, which didn’t make any sense.
“But they’re gone,” he said softly. “They’re gone and he isn’t. He’s learning he’s not dead. That his heart can love again—”
“Oh, no.” She laughed. “Listen, you’re way off base here. We’re not in love, we’re just…” Jumping each other’s bones.
Brody laughed. “Yeah. You’re just.” He twirled her around again. “You know you’re really different from anyone he’s ever been with.”
She scowled. “So?”
“So…” He looked amused now, damn him. “That’s a good thing. You’re strong, independent. Tough as hell. I think that’s exactly what he needs. Someone to challenge him.”
“I’m going to challenge you here in a minute. To a nice dunking in the creek.”
Brody laughed again. “Hey, I’m not trying to pry. I want him happy again, that’s all.”
“He’s going to be plenty happy once I fly you both back in the morning.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ll be happy too.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Brody stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “All right.” He lifted his hands in surrender. The song ended and he stepped back, a sad smile on his face. “Don’t hurt him, Lyndie.”
And then she was standing on the dance floor by herself, suddenly and desperately in need of quiet.
Whirling to find a door, she plowed right into Tom.
“Hey,” he said. “I was just looking for a pretty dancing partner.”
“No way, I—”