The Final Mission by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee [Lee, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9780373277254
Google: Tt8M78vS2hoC
Amazon: 0373277253
Barnesnoble: 0373277253
Goodreads: 14854192
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Twilight came early. The boys wanted to build a fire in the fire pit near the cabin but Dom refused.

“Come here,” he said, squatting in the browning grasses near the pit. They both obediently went to him and squatted in perfect imitation of him.

Dom pulled up some grass. “Feel how it cracks in your fingers? It’s tinder. A spark would set it off.”

Both Todd and Kyle plucked some grass and broke it between their fingers.

“Feel it?” Dom asked. Two young heads bobbed in agreement. “If I build a fire out here, even if I keep it small, I can’t be sure a spark wouldn’t escape and make a wildfire. So we’re not going to even risk it.”

He straightened. “Grab a couple of handfuls of grass. I’ll show you what I mean.”

The boys each pulled up two handfuls and followed Dom to the cabin. Courtney tagged along, enjoying this and wondering what he planned.

Inside, he went to the woodstove where the fire had burned low. He pulled the ash bucket over. “Now I’m going to take some ash out of the stove.”

“Like when you clean it,” Todd said knowledgeably.

“Right, but just a shovelful.”

He opened the stove door, picked up a small, long-handled shovel and scooped some ash into the bucket. Just a little bit.

Then he carried the bucket a small distance away from the stove, but not near anything flammable.

“How hot does it feel?”

Both boys leaned toward the bucket. “Not very hot,” they agreed.

“But even though this is ash, there are still cinders in it, the kind of thing that flies up from a fire. You know what I mean. Now give me some of that grass and stand back.”

Todd handed over his two fistfuls, which both fit in the palm of Dom’s large hand.

He threw it onto the ash and the effect was almost instantaneous. A puff of flame burst up.

“Oh, cool!” Kyle said.

“Now yours,” Dom said, holding out his hand. More grass went into the bucket and flashed immediately into flame. “And that,” he continued, “is why we’re not going to build a fire outside tonight.”

Courtney sat at the table, smiling, watching the boys talk about what they’d just seen. Dom joined her and she turned to him. “That was a brilliant way to handle it.”

“Don’t applaud me. My dad gave me the same demonstration once. Ranchers hate wildfire with a passion for obvious reasons. And of course, when you have a fire, people have to risk their lives to protect livestock and property.”

“You had a good dad, I take it?”

“Both my parents were great. I was lucky. Very down-to-earth folks. The rhythms of nature got into my blood early. In fact, I still remember my dad telling me when I was five or six that if I just listened to the horses, they’d be my best teachers.”

“That’s a different way of looking at it.”

“Not around my place.” He gave a quiet laugh. “They can’t teach you everything, but they can sure teach you a lot.”

He looked over toward the boys.

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