Page 16 of Ash on the Range (Red Hart Ranch #6)

CASS

Waiting sucked.

Waiting in someone else’s home when I had no idea when any of Red Hart’s impromptu fire crew would be back was worse. I migrated from the kitchen to the veranda and back again before Eve called me over to the sofa in front of the fire once dark fell in full.

“Sit,” she instructed me, passing me a full bowl of noodles with vegetables and a boiled egg floating on top. “Eat. You’ll feel better.”

I poked the egg with my finger and accepted the spoon she passed to me, then the chopsticks. “Ah, I’m not so good with those.”

Eve laughed at me outright. “You go to college, right? Aren’t college students still broke?”

“Well, yes, and no.” I shrugged, uncomfortable as always with the topic of my family. “I get a pretty decent allowance as long as I attend classes. If I don’t…no income. No income, no food.”

Eve studied me for a moment. “And yet you’re not riding the easy street and studying, despite that Will tells me you have a passion for what you do.”

“Will should learn not to divulge my secrets.” I changed from poking my boiled egg with my finger to poking it with my chopsticks.

Maybe I could impale it and manage to catch it that way?

The spoon looked twice as dangerous. I doubted Eve would appreciate me slinging my dinner halfway across her sofa.

“He talks when he thinks someone is listening.” Eve watched me play with my dinner and sighed. “Hold out your hand.” She fixed my chopsticks and my grip so I had pincers going. “Is that better? I have animal ones for kids in the drawer if you need them.”

I giggled. “I mean, I could, just for the hell of it but…this seems to work.”

I managed to eat my noodles and even conquered the egg after a few false starts, one of which included dunking the smooth object straight into the middle of the bowl. Thankfully that happened just as Jude called, and Eve turned her back as I splashed myself in the face with miso soup.

“...if you say so. When? Alright. I’ll tell her.

” Eve wandered past and I caught a part of her conversation with Jude.

I knew I shouldn’t but my ears straightened as I finished my soup.

“No, it’s fine. I said fine. Yes, She’ll be fine.

” Eve’s voice dropped an octave as she wandered around the other side of the kitchen and out of sight.

Even I knew better than to argue with Eve when she used the ‘F’ word after working with her for the past weeks. If fine came into play, then the world was about to end.

I carried my bowl to the sink and washed it up, turning to place it in the cupboard and found Eve standing right behind me.

“Fuck,” I muttered, and clamped a hand over my mouth. I’d never sworn in front of her before. “I’ m sorry.” I frowned. Her face was unusually still. I wondered if we were still in a ‘fine’ moment. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good.”

“Okay.” Good was a short graduation form fine , but only a short step along the chain. I rolled my lips inward. “Is everyone else okay?”

Will.

Oh, fuck. Please let Will be okay. Please, please, please let him be okay.

My mind raced through everything that could possibly go wrong during wildfire hour.

A tree branch fell on him, and he was injured.

His clothing caught fire and he got burned.

He inhaled smoke. That could cause plenty of problems of its own.

Wait, he wasn’t asthmatic, was he? I ran back through everything I knew about Will Kirk, which, admittedly, was not a whole lot.

He’s a generous lover who holds me afterwards when I cry.

He spends hours sitting beside me when I'm busy just to spend time together.

He works hard, and will take me anywhere I want to go, when I want, even when it’s got nothing to do with him.

He can’t stay on a bull for eight seconds.

I huffed at that last one despite the truth in it. I had seen him ride and seen him tumble.

I’d also seen him get up and climb that railing to an arena full of cheers that turned into chants of his name. Because Will Kirk, with his infectious smile and easy nature, was a crowd pleaser, and everyone loved him.

Including me.

Definitely me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, unwilling to hear whatever Eve had to say, but needing to know all the same. Waiting really does suck . “What happened?” I pushed out.

“Austin’s been hurt.”

I opened my eyes and peered at her. “What?”

Eve frowned. “Austin. The big guy with the red face who tells tall tales? He is your brother, isn’t he? Or is he your cousin?”

I shook my head in the face of her confusion. “Yes, he’s my brother. I’m sorry. I just thought— What happened?” I covered my screw up with a cough, but Eve was already talking.

It’s not Will. It’s not Will.

My brain fogged up with internal cheers while Eve told me a story about Austin wandering off into a smoke haze from a fire that wasn’t even on Red Hart land, her land, and through a fence line that had broken.

He promptly fell off the edge of a short cliff that ended—thankfully—with a quick drop straight onto a rock face that left him slightly bloodied and disoriented.

“They’re checking him for concussion now, and some of the boys will take him down to our local doctor. Dave is…” She cleared her throat. “Experienced. I’m sure he’ll be great. And they can take him to White Cap if he needs further treatment or if he needs anything more."

“Okay,” I murmured, squeezing my hands together. “Did you hear anything else? What are they doing? When will they be back? How big is this thing?”

I could have kept going with my questions, but I called it there.

The rodeo boys didn’t know Red Heart Land.

Hell, I didn't know the land, but the ranchers did. The two teams barely knew each other. So much could go wrong and Austin already got hurt. I knew I should be more worried about him but it sounded like he was being taken care of and let’s be honest, Austin did stupid shit all our live and managed to survive into his mid twenties so far.

I bit my lip, waiting for answers and tried not to bounce on my toes.

If Eve didn’t get my point, then my cause was beyond lost.

She smiled gently at me. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon. Keep your phone on, and Will might call or message before they head back, okay? Oh—” She held up her own phone as it buzzed at her, picking up the call and talking and she walked, heaving up the stairs away from me.

“Guess it’s just me, then.” I went outside to sit on the veranda again, staring into the trees across the broad paddock where I thought we had been this afternoon and where we had seen the smoke, but I had no idea really where that was. The longer I stared, the sleepier I became.

With no flickering lights or trail of smoke as a point of reference, there was nothing to look at. I headed back inside, hoping that Eve would be about, but I could hear her faint murmurs from upstairs. The formidable Archer, I assumed, was the other half of the phone call.

Sighing, I checked my phone and sent off a quick message.

CASSIE: Let me know if you’re alright.

CASSIE: Hoping the only injury is my wayward sibling and that everyone else is okay.

I bit my lips and managed not to send anything else, but no three dots came back at me. Will was probably so busy with everyone that he wouldn’t have a chance to check his phone. Mine, however, blinked at me with a low battery symbol turned red and empty.

Shuffling over to the sofa, I put mine on charge, and rested my head back. My eyes drifted shut as I flapped about a crocheted rug I’d spotted on the arm of the chair previously. That was blessedly in range, and so I pulled it over myself, curling into a Cassie sized ball in the corner.

Then my eyes drifted shut and I dreamed of smoke filled caves and warm hugs beneath too hot clothes. Finally, I kicked out a foot that connected with something solid.

“Ow, girl. That hurt,” my dream grumped at me.

“You what?” I sat up, or tried to, but my dream also had arms as well as a solid form, and pulled me back to his chest as I blinked myself awake, still on the sofa beside the fire.

I tried to twist about, but arms looped around me securely.

“You know, I was perfectly comfortable with you right where you were, Cassie.” Will’s voice registered through my sleep filled haze.

Those arms slid along my ribs and lifted me against his body, resettling me over his chest. The familiar rhythm of his heart thumped beneath my cheek.

I twisted m y fingers in the soft material of his shirt and let it plop back onto his chest. Even in the dim moonlight I could make out the RHR antlered logo in contrast against the pale material.

“You borrowed this,” I murmured, yawning. “That seemed like cheating. I burrowed into his chest. “Wait, why aren’t we in my bed?”

“Because the only way Travis would let me stay with you was if I slept on the sofa, with you, and you didn’t scream bloody murder the moment I touched you.”

“Oh. Didn’t I?” I asked, interested.

“No, you snored instead. Trav was grossly disappointed,” Will murmured, stroking my hair back from my face with gentle fingers. “It was fairly cute though.”

“I’m so glad to entertain you. What time did you get back?” I stifled another yawn against his chest. “What time is it now?”

“Three in the morning now and midnight or just after when we came in.

The fire wasn't on Red Hart land and it was pretty small. Apparently someone dumped a heap of rubbish on a neighboring property. Some trespassers, who knows. There was a lot of glass, and it looks like maybe some of it caught alight. It’s a good thing that while it was a warm day, it wasn't stupidly hot and there was no wind to make it worse.”

I sank against him. “That’s good,” I sniffed. “You don’t smell like bacon.”

He laughed beneath me. “Is that what you think I'm supposed to smell like after attending a wildfire, honey?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But you smell good, and you aren’t supposed to smell like soap. I’m pretty sure of that.”

He laughed. “Yeah, well Travis didn't want me on his soda smelling like barbecue, that’s for damn sure. Now get some sleep before we have to get up in a few hours and set up the rodeo for tomorrow night.”

“Oh. I forgot. That came up soon.”

“It did.”

“Font’ fall off your bull, okay? I need some street cred around here. Dust cred? Dirt cred.” I considered my options.

“Please stop.” Will pressed his lips to the top of my head, adjusting my blanket. His arms tightened around me. “Goodnight, Cassie."

“Night, Will.” I yawned again, nestling into him, already half drifting off. “Love you.”

His hands stilled on my back before they resumed stroking me gently, lulling me into sleep. “I love you too, Cass. Go to sleep.”

But I was already gone.