“Then why has this news caused you to lose all the color in your face?”
She lowered her head. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Look in the mirror.”
“I’m going to be fine.”
“I hope that’s true. As far as I’m concerned, Cole Hawkins made the biggest mistake of his life by walking away from you. He was a fool and never deserved you. What astounds me is that he still has the power to do this to you after being gone for so long. Don’t let him do this to you.” Her voice shook.
“You think I want to feel like this? Oh, Sally. What am I going to do? I guess this day had to come and I’ve made too much over it because—because I always wondered what it would be like to see him again. I just need tonight to put everything into perspective. Can you understand?”
“Of course I do.”
“Dean’s the man I care about now.”
“I know, and he’s so crazy about you it’s sickening.”
“Thanks.”
“You know what I mean. Look. Stay in here. I’ll go out and tell Dean you’ve come home with a migraine and will call him later.”
“I hate doing this to him, but there’s no way I can hide my reaction right now. I’m afraid it will show and ruin the evening he has planned. I’ll have to sleep on it. In the morning, everything will be all right. I’ll phone him and let him know I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be convincing.”
Tamsin hugged her sister who was only two years younger. Some people actually thought they were twins. “Thanks, Sally. What would I do without you?”
“I say that about you all the time. If you hadn’t been there championing me during my barrel racing days when I couldn’t get it together, I don’t know how I would have made it. I’ll be back in a minute and we’ll talk.” Duke followed her out the door.
* * *
COLE HAWKINS HAD only been asleep five hours Sunday night when the pager on the side table went off at ten after three in the morning. He shot out of bed and put on jeans and a T-shirt. After grabbing his keys, he hurried to the back porch of the ranch house to pull on his turnout gear. His Ford-350 diesel truck was parked nearby for a quick exit in the warm late-June air.
He climbed inside and headed for the fire station in Whitebark, three miles away. The small town of thirteen hundred people was nestled at the base of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains, known as “The Winds” by those who’d been born and raised there like Cole.
Located in the west-central part of the state, the crest of the magnificent range silhouetted under tonight’s half-moon ran along the Continental Divide. Gannett Peak rose 13,804 feet, the highest in Wyoming. That image of home had been inscribed in Cole’s mind and heart forever, having grounded him during his nine years away.
During the time he’d been at the University of Colorado in Boulder to complete undergraduate and graduate school, he’d also managed to become a firefighter. After working his tail off, he was finally back in Whitebark, ready to get started on his career, and do something drastic about his aching heart.
There was only one woman in this world who could fix it. He knew Tamsin didn’t want to see him...not ever. But that was too damn bad because when he’d come home for his father’s funeral six months ago, he’d heard she wasn’t married yet. Now that he was back in Wyoming territory, he planned to stake his claim no matter how long it took.
More determined than he’d ever been in his life, Cole roared into town and drove around the back of the station to park. Grabbing his helmet, he ran through to the bay and climbed in the tender truck.
Wyatt Fielding, an old friend who’d done bull riding with him in high school, was driving. They took off with the blare of the siren and lights flashing. This baby held twenty-five hundred gallons of water; an accident could be disastrous. He grinned at Cole.
“It’s so great to have you back after all this time. I couldn’t believe it the other day when Chief Powell told us you’d signed on with the department here.”
“Only when I’m available. There’ll be times when I’m up in the mountains working.”
“Understood. I guess you realize you’re still a rodeo legend around these parts.”
“So were you.”
“That’s bull and you know it. I was never good enough to go on the circuit.”
“Well, those days are over for me, Wyatt. I’m just thankful to be home at last.”
“You and I have a lot of catching up to do, but we’ll have to do it later. A fire has broken out on the Circle R Ranch. The ladder truck already took off. Captain Durrant is waiting for us.”
Circle R... “You don’t mean Rayburn’s—”
“There’s only one Rayburn in Whitebark.”
Cole’s heart started to thud unmercifully. Tamsin Rayburn, the girl he’d come home for, if she was still living there. A fire had broken out on her family’s ranch? He couldn’t believe it. Maybe he was going to see her sooner than he’d planned, but fear seized him that she could be in danger.
While Wyatt took the turnoff for the ranch, Cole’s mind relived their history that went back to his senior year in high school when they’d fallen madly in love. But circumstances beyond his control had separated them. She’d stopped returning his letters and phone calls. She’d even changed her phone number.
When he did visit his father periodically during those years, he knew she wanted nothing to do with him. Until he was home for good, he couldn’t do anything about their situation.
Cole had only been back in Wyoming five days. His first responsibility lay with his family’s longtime friend and foreman, Sam Speakuna, and his wife, Louise. They were Arapahoes from the Northern Arapahoe reservation who’d come to work for his father early on. Over the years they’d spent part of the time in their apartment on the Hawkins’ ranch, and commuted to Lander where they had a home and could be with their family.
All the time Cole had been away, those two had shouldered the full responsibility of the ranch house and the crew of two wranglers who handled their herd of forty head of beef cattle. They were like family to him at this point. Now it was time to discuss their future and the future of the Hawkins’ small cattle ranch.
After a meeting with Fire Chief Owen Powell, who’d received Cole’s credentials from Colorado, he took him on board immediately. After his father’s funeral, Cole had talked to Chief Powell about the possibility of his coming on board when his time in Colorado was over.
The chief was overjoyed at the prospect, telling him Whitebark could never have enough firefighters. Cole knew that was true. It helped to know he would have a place in the department. It wasn’t just the extra income, but that sense of belonging he needed to feel after being away so long.
His own father had combined firefighting and ranching. Now that Cole was back, he’d honored his father’s wishes to follow in his footsteps and do his part for the community, too. But he’d hardly had a chance to catch his breath before the pager had awakened him tonight.
The Circle R lay outside Whitebark at the other end of town. Cole had been there many times before in the past saying good-night to Tamsin. He could have found it blindfolded. Tonight he could see flames shooting up in the sky from the barn before they even drove in.
When they arrived, Cole heard quiet pandemonium and horses squealing. A mob of ranch hands had assembled. They were rescuing the animals and leading them toward the paddock in the distance. His eyes searched frantically for Tamsin but saw no sign of her or her parents. Maybe she wasn’t even here.
While