Page 246 of Her Reluctant Hero
“We’ll bring him back here.” He ducked out, pulling Peyton behind him.
“Is she kidding?” Peyton couldn’t hold the question in until they were out of earshot of the tent. “Her husband is in jail and she can’t take a few hours off?”
Gabe’s jaw tensed. “She does have a big responsibility here. She has to explain to the president how this got out of control.” A smirk twisted his lips. “It won’t be easy for her to hold back. Jen hates President Hutchinson.”
Peyton shook off the comment. “But you couldn’t do her job for a few hours? Someone else? Instead she sends you to go get Doug, knowing how you feel about him?” The words tumbled over each other in her rage.
“Technically, she sent you.” The smile he gave her was grim. “You dragged me into it.”
“Well, look.” Peyton hung back, urgency at getting to the bottom of this warring with the unfairness of it. Poor Doug. How would he feel, already vulnerable and now rejected by his wife? Put in second place to the president?
Okay, bad example.
Still. “Go tell her you’ll act as incident commander, and I’ll go with her to bail out Doug.”
He shook his head. “She won’t like that solution. She’s a firefighter first, Peyton. She always has been. Don’t be too hard on her. It’s bad, but he didn’t do it.”
“That doesn’t always matter. Maybe—maybe she didn’t come herself so she could keep a distance from him. It wouldn’t do her career any good to be married to a suspected arsonist, right? And that’s why she doesn’t want anyone to know yet.”
What the hell was wrong with these people that they didn’t see the problem there? No matter how important the job, people were more important. Would Doug understand when his wife didn’t show up? Was he just like these two? She didn’t think so. Even the expression on Gabe’s face when Jen had refused to leave told Peyton he didn’t agree with Jen’s decision.
Dan had been driven like Jen, and Peyton could easily imagine Doug’s reaction when Jen didn’t show up at the courthouse. Did she and Gabe have more in common than she thought? “Was that part of the reason you broke up? That she put the job first all the time?”
Gabe looked at her, like he had a message he wanted to make sure she got. She returned his gaze questioningly, and he glanced away. “I’m not all that different. We were equal there.”
Just like Dan. Damn it, she knew better. So why let it hurt? Could she handle being part of a relationship where she was second to the job again? Was she willing to be committed to a man who didn’t put her first? “But if the person you loved was in trouble—would you stay on the job and let someone else take care of it?”
His eyes were sad, as if he was unable—or unwilling—to give her more. “I wish I could say no. The hell of it is, I don’t know.”
She nodded, but needed more. She had to cut bait. As soon as she could get out of here, she would. As great as the sex had been, she wasn’t willing to give up part of her soul again.
Forcing her thoughts to the present and not to what-might-have-beens, she made her way to the van they’d just parked.
“You’re very certain Doug’s innocent,” she said as he pulled out of the camp onto the main road. “Up on the mountain, you were ready to believe he was capable of anything.”
Gabe’s gaze cut to her, and she felt the wariness that had disappeared overnight cloak him again. See, another reason to walk away. He wouldn’t allow himself to trust her.
He turned his attention back to the dirt road. “I’ve known him a long time. He may be a son of a bitch, but he wouldn’t put anyone’s life in danger. He’s been around the dragon too long.”
“Was he with you on Angel Ridge?”
The van staggered when he let his foot off the pedal in surprise, throwing Peyton against her seatbelt. “Who told you about that?”
“Howard.” She straightened, adjusted the strap over her shoulder and took a deep breath before pursuing the conversation. “You’d have to respect fire after seeing something so horrifying.”
“No, Doug wasn’t there.” He accelerated again. So much for elaboration. “He was in Montana. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have respect for fire, though.”
“That doesn’t preclude him from being an arsonist. Why are you so certain he isn’t?” She was pushing him, more than was wise, but she was leaving anyway, right? Why did she care if he was mad at her, as long as she got the story?
So what if she was doing what he accused her of? Using people for her own gain?
“I told you. He wouldn’t risk hurting people. He doesn’t have it in him.”
“He hurt you.” She wanted to take the words back as soon as they were out of her mouth.
She was forcing him to turn away, in case she didn’t have the courage to walk when the time came.
“Goddamnit, Peyton, what do you think I’m going to say?” When the tires hit the shoulder, he fought the wheel to pull the van back onto the road. “That he did it, and I’m glad, and I hope he rots in jail, so I can have Jen?”
