Page 265 of Her Reluctant Hero
The sadness in her voice made him glance over. “He loved you, Peyton.”
“You don’t know that.” She was fighting tears, damn it.
He reached for her this time, took her hand to fold it in his, barely resisted lifting it to his lips. The action would reveal too much. “I know you. He’d be a damn fool not to love you.”
*****
“I don’t want you to go,” Peyton said.
She sat on the tailgate of the truck and watched Gabe gear up, fighting the tearing sense of fear in her chest. While part of her was worried for Gabe’s physical safety, more of her worried about his mental state. Would he be the same man when he came down the mountain to her?
“I don’t want to go.” He kept his eyes averted while checking the straps on his pack.
“Then don’t. Someone else can do it.”
He lifted his head then and smiled, almost a real smile, before pulling her against the line of his body. “Knowing you’re here waiting for me will get me through.” He slipped his hand under her hair, curved his hand around the back of her head so she’d look at him. “You’re still waiting, right?”
Emotion threatened to strangle her, longing, terror, love, as she gazed into his eyes and prayed this wouldn’t be the last time she’d see him. “I’ll be waiting.”
He kissed her hard, igniting an ache in her, and strode off toward the waiting National Guard Humvee with half his crew.
Peyton went on alert when Kim stepped up beside her. The younger woman hadn’t exactly been friendly, and after she realized Peyton and Gabe were lovers, she’d been hostile. So why was she approaching her? Still, Peyton had to make peace if she wanted to be part of Gabe’s life.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“He didn’t want the whole crew. He chose not to take me.” Kim’s words were clipped.
“He didn’t want you to see it,” Peyton mused, understanding his desire to protect her. “It haunts him, Angel Ridge.”
“I know.”
Peyton wondered if she did. Kim probably saw him leaving her behind as rejection. If she understood, she’d see Gabe cared for her. Just not in the way Kim would like.
Uncomfortable discussing Gabe with the young woman who so clearly loved him, Peyton changed the subject, sitting again on the tailgate. If she was going to break down barriers with Kim, she might be here awhile. “I met your brother.”
Kim snapped her attention to Peyton. “Yeah?”
“In Missoula. I didn’t know he was a smokejumper. Is that why you became a Hot Shot?”
Kim smiled, but her eyes were flat. “He’s my little brother. I’m the reason he became a smokejumper.”
“So why did you become a Hot Shot?” Peyton drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around them.
Kim blinked, apparently surprised by the interest. “I don’t know. I’ve always been interested in the forest service, in the mountains. And fire behavior intrigued me, so I got on a summer crew. Then I met Gabe, got on his crew, and he made me the best I can be. I couldn’t walk away now for a million dollars.”
*****
It had been awhile since Gabe rode to a site. He was grateful for it today, not wanting the extra time to think about what he was going to find up there.
Instead he’d think about what he learned in Missoula.
Peyton loved him.
Okay, not that. Not now. He’d need it for later, when he could savor it. His focus was on Doug, on how he could help the man who’d been his friend.
Alternate suspects. Smokejumpers, Peyton said. Gabe was going to have to block out the idea that a firefighter couldn’t have done it, though he couldn’t fathom how one could.
Missoula had the largest crew of smokejumpers in the fire service. That made a lot of suspects. He wished he could have talked to more of them, seen if any had anything against Doug. Gordon had insisted no one did, Kevin insisted some hated Doug.
