Page 275 of Her Reluctant Hero
He maneuvered his steering toggles so he would arrive as close to the fast-moving fire as he could without getting himself killed. A lot of good he’d do Peyton if he got caught up in a burning tree, and if he ended up too close to the fire, the updrafts could steer him farther away.
The terrain beneath him was far from ideal for a first jump in years. Jagged rocks dotted the hillside where the trees weren’t. His Kevlar jumpsuit would be put to the test not to be punctured or torn.
He hit like a sack of shit and the wind took his parachute uphill, toppling him sideways so he fell hard on his hip. Damn, he was too old for this. Untangling himself from the parachute cords, he sat up. He couldn’t see ahead of himself through the smoke. Frustrated, he unhooked his parachute and let it fall to the ground.
Doug ran through the smoke toward him. “You all right?”
Gabe brushed off the concern and climbed stiffly to his feet, rubbing his bruised hip. “Do you see her?”
“No, but the fire’s down there.” He gestured downhill. “She should be too.”
Gabe considered calling out to her, but she wouldn’t be able to hear him over the fire, and shouting in all this smoke would be murder on his throat. Doug was good at what he did, but Gabe’s focus had to be on Peyton. So he would trust Doug’s sense of direction and his own instincts to find her.
*****
Peyton stopped running, her calves and thighs burning with the strain, and found herself standing in grass up to her knees.
Fuel. Oh God.
Terror had seized her from the moment she saw the wind kick the flames in her direction. She hadn’t worried when she and Kim came up on the mountain because it appeared everything had been burned away, but now the fire fed on fresh fuel and flames climbed over her head.
The heat rolled over her, and Peyton wanted to tear off her fire shirt to cool herself, but Gabe had taught her well. Of course, right now she was less concerned with the embers than the flames chasing her.
Had Kim set another fire or was this the same one?
She had to get around the flank of the fire. She stopped, just for a moment to assess the situation. The blaze was beautiful, leaping toward the sky in brilliant colors. Mesmerizing.
Jolting herself out of her hypnotism, she realized the fire cradled her in its arms and the only way out was straight ahead—up the mountain.
Panic would kill her. But the smoke closed around her, obscuring her view not only of her escape, but of the fire. What had she learned in her time out here? The only thought in her fear- frozen mind was Gabe’s warning to stay in the burnout. But it was behind her, on the other side of the fire.
Was she going to die out here? A fit of coughing doubled her over. A week ago, she’d had nothing to lose, had no focus.
No love. No Gabe.
The possibility of what she and Gabe could have together filled her with hope. She couldn’t die before seeing what they could become.
Smoke seeped through the bandana covering her face. Something snapped in her mind and she started to think of her own death detachedly. Would the flames catch her first, burn her to death, or would she collapse from smoke inhalation, and the flames would devour her body?
Would Gabe bring down her body? He would feel obligated to, but she didn’t want him to remember her like that. She’d seen how hard it had been for him to prepare himself to bring down Bev and the others.
Tears of terror joined tears of smoke irritation and the muscles in her thighs screamed as she ran to escape death.
Ahead of her, yellow shirts emerged from the smoke so close they almost collided. Otherwise they might be a mirage.
“Peyton?” one of the yellow shirts croaked.
“Gabe!”
The farthest yellow shirt ran toward her and she made out Gabe’s face through the smoke and soot. Relief had every muscle going lax and she stumbled toward him, but like a dream he was there to catch her. He’d come through the fire for her, and the elation nearly brought her to her knees. Was she already dead—how could he come for her when he didn’t know she was here?
But then he took her face in his hands and inspected her to make sure she was all right. For a moment it seemed like he might kiss her. Instead he grabbed her hand and turned back the way he came.
“It’s close,” he told her as she jogged beside him, her gloved hand clasped tightly in his.
“We’re going to make it, right?” She wiped sweat from her eyes. For the first time since she saw the flames, she believed it. Gabe wouldn’t let anything happen to her. They’d get their chance at happily-ever-after after all.
He glanced over at her. “You bet.”
