Courting Katarina Page 16

  “How long does it take to say no? Or maybe it’s me you planned to dump.” He reached into the dryer, pulled out his clean clothes and stuffed them into his pack. His gaze was filled with pain and anger when he looked up at her.

  Katarina almost burst out laughing at the mess she was in. “I didn’t realize we’d reached that stage in our relationship.”

  “Do you expect me to leave without a fight?”

  “Yes, I do. Ron didn’t even ask me, he just blurted it out. I need time to explain.” She waited for a reply that didn’t come. “After two years, I think he deserves that much.” She took hold of Alex’s arm, and he pulled away. “We can talk later, can’t we?”

  He looked into her eyes, then shook his head and turned to leave. “I have to go.”

  “Please try to understand, Alex,” she said, following him up the stairs. “This isn’t easy for me.”

  Alex stopped at the top and waited for her to catch up. He lowered his voice and whispered into her ear. “Take all the time you want—just don’t expect me to congratulate you and Ron. As you may have noticed, I’m not a good actor.”

  Alex gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then left.

  Ron watched Alex storm out the front door. “What was that all about?” He laughed.

  Katarina felt her confidence waver. “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” Thank You, Father, for being here with me. She took a deep breath. “Ron, we need to talk.” She motioned for him to sit down.

  He took her hand in his and pulled her onto the sofa with him. “First, I want to see what this looks like on your finger. We can discuss the business later.” He took the ring and slid it onto her finger easily, as it was way too large.

  “There’s no need to discuss business, Ron,” she said gently. Tears formed. “This isn’t about Kat’s Kreations.”

  “I’m sorry about my insensitive remark about the dolls, darling.”

  “That doesn’t matter any longer.”

  “What do you mean? Didn’t you accept the offer? You know you’ll never get an offer like this again.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe not.”

  “What’s going on? It’s exactly as we planned.”

  “I thought a deal like this would make me happy. But to be honest, I’ve been depressed by the prospect ever since I received the call.”

  Ron continued to quote statistics to her.

  “Ron, stop. This isn’t what I need to talk to you about. I—” she took the ring and handed it back to Ron “—can’t marry you.”

  His mouth fell open. “I should have known. All these years you’ve been afraid of being abandoned—and now you’re the one leaving. Does that make you feel better somehow?”

  “N-no,” she stammered. “No, it doesn’t. I’m sorry, Ron. I’ve prayed about this, and… I felt secure with you, but the love and passion to be together just wasn’t there. You have to agree with that much. Our Father wants the best for both of us. We just aren’t the best for each other. I’m very sorry.”

  “I’m sorry, too.” He looked at his watch. “Well, now you’ve made me late to meet my parents. Good luck, Katarina. I hope you and what’s-his-name find all the passion and happiness you can stand before it all goes up in smoke.”

  Katarina chuckled, unsure the man had a clue what he’d just said. “I hope so, too. And I pray you’ll find the same happiness one day, Ron.”

  He left, and the emptiness and fear set in. She’d just tossed a lifetime of caution aside in faith that her heavenly Father had a perfect path planned. Katarina took a deep breath. I did it, Lord… Father…my Father. I couldn’t have done it without You.

  Katarina changed back into jeans and a tank top with a denim shirt over it, then called Emily and Kevin. She packed a small bag while they talked.

  “What happened?” Emily asked Kevin to pick up the other extension.

  She shrugged. “Ron wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t totally shocked that I broke up with him. How could I explain that I think I’m in love with a man I haven’t even kissed yet?”

  Kevin laughed. “Not even a kiss, huh?”

  Emily cut Kevin’s comment short. “I think it’s terribly romantic.”

  “Kevin?” Katarina smiled with nervous energy. “Do you know where Alex went? Someplace called Bear Creek, maybe?”

  “Somewhere northwest of Rustic, I think, but surely you aren’t thinking of going there?” Kevin’s voice made it sound as if she was out to hurt the man.

  Katarina couldn’t erase the pain she’d seen in Alex’s expression before he left. “You don’t understand. I asked him to leave. I only felt that I owed it to Ron to let him down without the humiliation of facing the man who has won my heart instead.” She shrugged. “I need Alex to know that there’s someone waiting for him when the fire is out.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Katarina ignored Kevin’s warning that finding Alex would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. She couldn’t allow any shadow of doubt to stop her. A quick call to Greg Johannsen gave her a general vicinity to start looking for Alex.

  Three hours later, Katarina saw a television-station vehicle turn onto a dirt road. She followed, taking a chance that they were going to the base camp for a live report on the five-o’clock news. Ten miles later, she pulled into a field of smashed and crumpled buffalo grass behind the reporters and found a place to park. Fear kept her inside her own van as she watched the organized commotion. Men and women wearing green pants and yellow shirts loaded boxes onto buses and stuffed their belongings into packs similar to Alex’s. The news crew rushed to set up for the telecast. Suddenly the doubt she’d kept at bay for the better part of the drive attacked with full force.

  Was she making more of Alex’s interest than was really there? Was Alex the man she’d waited a lifetime for? What if she had walked away from Ron to find out that she and Alex were truly nothing more than fire and ice?

  She looked around again. There must be fifty people out there, all dressed alike. Searching the entire camp for one man is hopeless. Giving in to her fear, she started the ignition and eased forward to leave. A red four-wheel-drive truck caught her eye.

  Father, if this is Your will, let me find Alex before it’s too late.

  Katarina turned the key. Hesitantly she got out and wandered. Watching. Searching. Hoping.

  The air smelled as if she’d stuck her head in a fireplace. She swallowed hard, forcing away the nausea. Katarina ignored the urge to cough. She shut out everything but finding the man she’d grown to love. She walked faster, scanning each identically dressed person, hoping one of them would be Alex. Hoping she hadn’t already missed him. She didn’t see anyone fitting the description of tall, lean and irresistible.

  “May I help you?” one of the firefighters asked.

  “I’m looking for Alex Mac—”

  “Mac’s on the other side of this bus. You just barely caught him. They’re ready to head out.”

  Katarina pivoted and took a step, then turned to thank the man, but the firefighter was already on his way. Katarina stepped around the back of the bus and ran right into Alex. Suddenly she was terrified. What had she done, following him here?

  “Katarina? What? H-how…” he stammered, a look of absolute shock on his face. “How did you ever find me?”

  Her heart thumped uncomfortably. Was he unhappy to see her?

  Behind him, the bus started, and smoke billowed off the mountain. Katarina felt her heart race. “Greg Johannsen gave me the general directions. But I followed that television van here, actually.”

  “Load up, we’re out of here!” the man at the front of the yellow school bus yelled, paying her no attention.

  Alex backed up hesitantly, following orders in slow motion. “I want you to go home, Katarina. This smoke isn’t good for your lungs. I want to know you’re okay.”

  She was torn. “I’ll be here. Waiting for you.”

  “Go home.” He slung a pack over his shoulder and took a backw
ard step onto the bus.

  Katarina watched as the bus pulled away. No, Alex. I will not go home. She’d come too far to lose him now.

  A few miles away Katarina found a small dude ranch with cabins to rent. She called Emily, picked up a few groceries at a nearby store and prepared herself to wait the fire out. She checked at the fire camp the next morning to see if Alex had come back with the rest of the crew.

  Katarina had just missed Alex this time. He’d jumped into a neighboring fire as soon as he’d returned to the camp. How anyone kept track of who was where in this chaos was beyond her. Throughout the day, Katarina volunteered to help prepare meals and box lunches in the mess tent, keeping a silent vigil, watching and wondering where Alex could be, what he was thinking and how soon he would finish here. Finally the sunset turned to night. The fire left an eerie red glow on the horizon. She watched, mesmerized. Lord, keep Alex safe. Katarina returned to the cabin and went to bed. She tossed and turned, but finally exhaustion won.

  Alex had been on the line for twenty-four hours straight before they had the fire contained. In a hurry to get back to camp, they crammed all the gear and groundpounders onto one bus. After a short break for just a few hours of sleep, they would join another crew of hotshots on the main fire. Not even exhaustion would stop him from calling Katarina before he took a nap.

  He couldn’t believe she had come here, or their continued lousy timing in missing each other. One of these days, Lord, I’m going to catch up with that woman long enough to tell her how much I love her.

  They had demobilized at first light. He hadn’t slept at all last night and the bus ride was too bumpy to catch any shut-eye. They pulled into the camp and discovered they were tearing down. The fire had taken a turn and was heading straight for them. Alex immediately went to his truck and dialed the house on his cellular phone.

  No answer.

  He left a message and called Emily.

  “What do you mean, she’s still here?” He looked frantically around for her van. “She’s not here. They ordered this area to evacuate. Where was she staying?”

  He ran through the camp, asking if anyone had seen Katarina. “Not since last night,” said a woman. “She helped clean up after supper, then disappeared. Aren’t you going to go out with your crew? They’re leaving in ten minutes.”

  “I can’t. Tell Tom I’m headed up the canyon. Katarina is staying at the Blue Mountain Dude Ranch. I’m going looking for her.”

  “Stay safe.”

  Alex ignored the makeshift driveway and drove across the pasture to the road. He hit the shallow ditch too fast, and bounced up onto the road, then rounded the bend. A finger of fire had already eaten every ponderosa in the ravine and jumped the river like a famished monster. With the current winds, not even the road was going to act as a firebreak. He could see the sign for the dude ranch ahead. A snag fell across the road, threatening to continue the feast on the little one-room cabins tucked in the midst of the dry brush—prime fire fuel.

  Avoiding the flames, Alex four-wheeled over the log, hoping to break it apart before it had a chance to ignite the dry tinder on the other side of the road. The torch was solid. He called the base and reported the progress of the fire, requested a helitack on the cabins, then turned into the ranch in search of Katarina. Cabins were tucked single file in among aspen and pine for half a mile between the road and the south fork of the river.

  On a final lap back toward the approaching fire, Alex four-wheeled behind the cabins. His heart raced when he saw her van parked between two cabins, and the flames lapping at the logs on one of them. He blared his horn, then stopped and jumped out of the cab and hit the ground running. “Katarina!” He pounded on the door, then turned the knob. The burning cabin was empty. He ran to the next one.

  The door was locked. He kicked at it, but the solid wood door didn’t budge. “They sure don’t make them like this anymore.”

  Sparks popped. Wind blew hot and furious. Flames licked the side of her cabin.

  Alex pulled his Pulaski from the back of his truck and sliced the doorknob off with one swing. “Katarina!”

  Her willowy body lay on the bed in blissful slumber, oblivious to the danger. The fire popped and roared, angry and hungry. “Kat, wake up.” He lifted her into his arms, covers and all.

  She let out a small protest, then gasped. “Alex?”

  Sleepy eyes popped open as he rushed out the door. A spray of water blasted them, as his crew kept the fire away with a garden hose.

  “Get out of here, Mac. A helitack is on the way to make a water drop.”

  Katarina squirmed out of the blankets as she crawled into his truck ahead of him. He gunned the engine and drove away. “Didn’t you hear about the evacuation?”

  “No one said anything. That must be why the place was deserted last night.” She straightened her wet T-shirt and pulled off her muddy socks.

  “Didn’t you hear the fire, or the wind?”

  She shook her head. He couldn’t tell if she was crying or if it was simply water dripping from her hair. “I was so tired last night, I took out my hearing aid and tried to sleep. I set the alarm to be at the base in time to help with breakfast.”

  “The fire probably knocked out the electricity.”

  She looked at her watch, then back at the fire. “Oh my. I did oversleep. What about my van and other things? My hearing aid is on the table next to the bed.”

  Alex paused. “We can’t take a chance of getting caught in the cabin. If the helitack works, we’ll go back. Not before.” From a mile down the road they watched the helicopter approach, an orange bucket dangling beneath it. After the helicopter doused the area with the spray of water, they were able to return to the cabin for Katarina’s things.

  Alex led the way back to the fire base, his gaze glued to his rearview mirrors to make sure she stayed close behind. As soon as she stepped from her van, Alex took Katarina into his arms and put his mouth close to her left ear. “I have to go, Kat. Before I do, I want you to know how much I love you.”

  “I love you,” she whispered back. Their lips met for the first time, and he felt buffeted by the winds of a savage harmony. She pressed her hands on his chest, and reluctantly they parted. The love he saw in her eyes sent his spirits soaring. “It’s going to be okay, Alex. We can work it all out later. Go. Just know you have someone waiting for you when the fire’s out.”

  He looked at her. She was smudged with soot, yet her cheeks were pink, and the smile on her face was as wide as his own.

  “Mac, let’s go,” another fireman called to Alex.

  “I’ll be back, Katarina.”

  “I love you, Alex.”

  They contained the fire in two days and Alex stepped off that bus for the last time without another question or regret. He’d faced his fears and closed that book behind him.

  As she’d promised, Katarina was waiting for him, looking as bright and cheery as sunshine. Just the sight of her youthful radiance made him feel ten years younger. Even though he was filthy from four days on the fire, with their first kiss still fresh in his memory, Katarina’s silent pleading invitation for another was too hard to resist.

  Katarina melted into his embrace, and he realized immediately that his feelings for her were intensifying way too quickly. They had a lot to talk about; just as soon as he cleaned up.

  Later, over supper at a restaurant in town, Alex told her he didn’t plan to finish out the fire season.

  “You don’t have to give up fire fighting for me,” Katarina insisted, tears welling in her eyes.

  He pulled her closer and touched his forehead to hers. “I’m not giving anything up, Kat. I’m moving on, to the family I ran away from. To the love God planned for us. On to the family I hope we’ll have one day.” He kissed her gently, lingering, savoring every moment. “I don’t want to miss one more day with you.” He felt the heat of her blush on his hand. Or was it simply his imagination?

  “Won’t you miss the excitement and advent
ure?”

  “Surely you jest….” He shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll be lacking in either.”

  Katarina’s tears were replaced with a warm glow. Alex liked to think it was a result of the love God had helped them find in each other.

  He turned, looking back at his buddies behind him. Country-and-western music crooned in the background. “You aren’t taking the fire out of me, Kat, you’ve given it back.” Despite the lack of privacy and romantic atmosphere, Alex knelt beside Katarina. “I promised I wouldn’t make it easy for you to walk away, Katarina. And I’d love to spend every day of the rest of my life keeping that promise.”

  For a moment he’d seen fear in her eyes, but only for an instant. She leaned close and whispered in his ear, “Did you just propose?”

  He chuckled, then kissed her. “I sure did. You turned your hearing aid off again, huh?” He didn’t mind the excuse to nuzzle next to her and repeat his proposal. He waited for an answer.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” she said, grinning mischievously.

  Now he was the puzzled one. “Exactly how long have you been waiting?”

  “I’ve been dreaming of this since the day I first met you.”

  Alex shook his head. “And to think I wasted all this time worrying about you and the Boy Scout.”

  Katarina pressed her lips to his. “He never stood a chance after sparks began to fly between us.”

  “And that took all of ten seconds.”

  “Ten seconds to light, an eternity to put out.”

  He smiled. “Maybe I’m not ready to retire from fire fighting after all.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “You’re what?” Emily and Kevin echoed. Katarina and Alex had met their sister and brother for lunch the next day when they arrived in town.

  Alex laughed. “We’re engaged. Getting married. You know—going to the chapel and we’re…”

  Kevin held up his hands, motioning for Alex to stop. “I get it, I get it. Don’t sing.”

  Despite Alex’s inability to carry a tune, Katarina leaned closer and smiled. “I kind of liked it. You can serenade me anytime. I can see it now, you in the loft…”