FIRE AT DUSK.

THE FIREFIGHTERS OF DARLING BAY.

LILA ASHE.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE MAN CAME at her fast from the side, out of the shadows. His fist swung toward her jaw but Samantha ducked and caught the blow on her forearm. No! she yelled. Stop!

The man wheeled, coming back at her again. He roared, driving his fists against her shoulders, slamming her back into the brick wall, knocking the wind out of her.

Samantha took almost a full second to think, to dig inside herself for what she needed. The man was taller, broader, and outweighed her by sixty pounds. He had her pinned against the wall, and she could move nothing but her right leg.

That would be enough.

She kicked her foot left, driving her heel into her a.s.sailants shin. His response was m.u.f.fled but clearly displeased.

No! she managed to shout again. No! Her foot connected again, this time higher. She might have hit his kneecap.

One last time she yelled Stop! Someone call 911! The man pulled back his head, as if her voice had hurt his ears. Samantha used the moment to shove her shoulder forward, freeing her right arm from his grip. Without a pause, she raised her fist and pummeled his ear, or where his ear would have been. She propped her foot against the wall and used it to push off from. The man lurched backward, struggling to keep his grip on her upper arms.

With a jerk of her neck, Samantha head-b.u.t.ted him, earning a m.u.f.fled, Ooof.

Both her hands finally free, Samantha flew into motion. She jabbed, punched, kicked and clawed. She was a piston, each pump a blow. She didnt stop until the man was on the ground, curled onto his side, his arms protecting his head.

Shed done it. Shed won. Samantha's heart beat heavy and fast in her ears. No matter how many times it happened, she was always frightened. That was the point. Fighting past the fear. She turned to face the group behind her.

This is when you run. Dont waste your breath calling for help at this point"right now youre using all your energy to put as much s.p.a.ce between you and him. Get to a well-lit s.p.a.ce or behind a locked door. Find a phone. Find a safe group of people and ask them to call 911. I call it Down and Out. He goes down, you get out.

A light laugh rippled around the room, but mostly Samantha heard rapid breathing as women took in quick sips of air. The first scene was always the second-worst part of the cla.s.s. The worst part, of course, was the first fight each woman took part in.

The best part was the first scene each woman won, but they were still quite a way from learning how to do that.

I know. This is intense. Take a deep breath.

The partic.i.p.ants, to a woman, looked as if they might fall right over, especially Linda McCracken, a woman who had been considering taking the cla.s.s ever since her husband died a few months before, and was observing today. Shed looked nervous just walking in the door, but now she had a sheen of perspiration at her hairline and her hands were clenched at her sides.

Samantha said, I mean all of you. Each one of you. You, too, Linda. Breathe. Right now. In A collective inhaled breath was followed by the out-breath. Good.

Their eyes were all on Jim Hinds. Of course. Samantha had just beaten the tar out of him and he was still lying on the ground behind her.

Jims an old hand at this, she rea.s.sured them. And hes trained for years to take this kind of beating. Ive only been punching him for two months, but he worked down the coast for one of my trainers for a long time. He can take a lickin, for sure. Come on, Jim, stand up and strip out of the suit. Let them see who I was actually protecting myself from.

It was always a nice moment when Jim Hinds took off the padded gear and the women saw that the terrifying a.s.sailant, the stuff of nightmares, was actually the well-built librarian without his gla.s.ses on.

Come on, Jim. Samantha turned. He was still lying exactly where hed fallen. Show them what you look like under all that padding.

But in the big white suit, Jim remained still.

There was another collected gasp. Linda McCracken started to weep.

Jim? Samantha leaned over him. You all right, buddy?

A strange wheeze was the only answer she got. Samantha dropped to her knees and pulled off Jim's helmet as gently as she could. His skin was pale and sweaty. His eyes met hers and telegraphed what he needed.

Samantha said clearly to Martina Miller, standing in the front row, Use the pay phone by the front door. Call 911.

Martinas eyes widened. Really?

This isnt part of the training. 911. Now.

CHAPTER TWO.

HANK COULDNT BELIEVE it.

Samantha Rowe. Again. How many times was he going to have to be thrown together with her? Not that he didnt want to be"no, wait. That was right. He didnt want to be.

Even Coin noticed it. Doesnt it seem like you run into her everywhere you go, dude? Whats it been, at least five times? You gonna ask her out or something?

No way. The truth was that hed seen or talked to her six times since shed gotten back to town. The first time had been when shed had the car accident at the pier"hed been so shocked to see her hed dropped the jaws of life on his toe. Since then, hed made up excuses to go call or text her, asking her silly questions like how long she was going to be in town, and what she thought of the acupuncture her sister practiced.

Thin excuses, all of them.

Then hed heard she was seeing John Selzer, the used-car salesman who liked his women loud and accomplished in the flirting department, and Hank had realized that hed fallen right back into his old pattern of crushing on Samantha Rowe, setting himself up for nothing but failure.

Yeah, hed already spent years doing exactly that, before Samantha left town with a guy on a motorcycle, taking Hanks heart with her.

He wasnt doing that again.

But inside the community center, with her eyes on him, it had been all he could do not to pump Jim Hinds for information when theyd hooked him up to the 12-lead. Jim was awake by the time they got there, though his gray color made it clear he wasnt doing well. His rhythm had been far enough off that theyd packaged him for the ambulance, which had rumbled off code two, leaving Hank and Coin and Tox standing on the sidewalk in front of the center where Samantha Rowe was apparently teaching women to defend themselves.

Yo! Were going to get pizza to take back to the station. Tox banged the engine door shut.

No, started Hank. I know what youre trying to"

Back soon, said Coin with a grin.

You both suck, Hank growled. Hurry it up.

Because Tox and Coin were both going in to Juniors Pizzeria, Hank was the one who, by default, had drawn the short straw and had to stay behind with the engine.

Normally it didnt bother him. He was, after all, the most junior of the crew, and it happened to him a couple of times a week. He got to put the radio on the channel he liked (country, which had the added benefit of seriously irritating Tox when he got back in the rig). He didnt mind talking to citizens as they walked by"and everyone had something to say when they pa.s.sed a fire engine"even when they were actively criticizing the department. I cant believe youre just sitting here, waiting for someone to have a fire. Hard day, son? Are my tax dollars paying you to look at your phone?

Hank would just shrug and say, Someones gotta do it, sir. Because those same citizens were the ones who would expect them to arrive at their homes twenty seconds after they dialed 911, and on those days, they were nothing but grateful to see the fire engine turning down their street. Some of the guys hated taking the flak, but Hank didnt mind. His shoulders were broad enough.

But right now? Sitting in front of Samantha Rowes self-defense cla.s.s while his partners got pizza? Tox and Coin were jerks, plain and simple. It never paid to admit a weakness to anyone in the fire department, never.

And Samantha was a weakness, all right.

That moment, what was it, eight months or so ago now? When theyd pulled up in the engine, when theyd seen that car perched on the edge of the pier, smashed halfway through the railing, teetering and swaying"Hank had known that whoever was inside had to get out, and fast. If the car hit the water, it would be bad. Really bad.

But then Hank had gotten to the side window and looked inside the vehicle to see Samantha Rowe in the pa.s.senger seat"completely unconscious.

The girl who had broken his heart. The woman hed compared all other girlfriends to"it hadnt been fair to them, of course. He knew that. But he couldnt help it. When he was dating Joanne, hed compared her plain brown eyes to Samanthas brilliant green ones. When he and Nicole had been an item, hed remembered Samanthas enormous, almost startling laugh, placing it next to Nicoles timid one.

Hed learned about Platonic ideals in a college cla.s.s (had she been in that cla.s.s too? No, probably not. If she had been, he wouldnt remember a darn thing about the subject). Samantha was his Platonic ideal of the perfect woman"confident, beautiful, smart, and funny.

And there, on that pier, shed been an inch away from death, and he was one of the men working to save her.

In a movie, he would have been the one to cut open the door, to pull her to safety just before the car plunged to the water so far below.

In reality, he was one of a team of guys who worked fast and accurately. Tox pulled her out and Coin was the one who helped the medics lift her onto the backboard.

In a movie, her lashes would have fluttered just as she was being wheeled away. They would have locked eyes and exchanged pieces of their souls as she was loaded into the ambulance.

In reality, she didnt wake up for hours. Not until she was at the hospital, and when he went to check on her, hed been rewarded by a super-friendly greeting. The kind one gave an old acquaintance from college, in fact. Which was exactly what he was to her. They should catch up! Have coffee sometime!

d.a.m.n it. Hed pretty much planned on never seeing her again, and now that she was in town, and he knew he was going to have to, hed planned on just trying to stay away from her.

Instead? Hed stepped right into the friend zone. Shed grabbed him one morning at Mabels Cafe and bought him a cruller. Bought him a cruller. Wouldnt even let him buy her a coffee.

If he could just get her out of his system, once, for good What would that be like?

How would it feel to go on a date with a nice woman he didnt compare to Samantha? Maybe he could finally make a go of it with someone, someone he could introduce to his Gramma Maureen, the woman whod raised him. Someone he could settle down and fall in love with, someone he could have those babies everyone else was having. Hank dreamed of kids, a pa.s.sel of them, running around the house, filling it with noise and dirt and rambunctiousness.

Hed just never been able to picture anyone to have them with. Anyone that didnt look like Samantha, that was. Every girl of his dreams that he imagined had that same thick brown hair hanging to her mid-back, each one had those sparkling green eyes and that nose that slanted upward, right at the very tip. Every dream girl had her figure, too: just right, not too slim, with"lets face it"a rack that just wouldnt quit.

Three women exited the Darling Bay Community Center chattering excitedly about the drama of Jim Hinds. .h.i.tting the dirt. One smiled up at him, and he smiled back, his teeth clenched. Hopefully Samantha had a lot to do inside and wouldnt come out till theyd left. She probably needed to put whatever they worked with away, and probably had to close windows and doors and set the alarm No such luck.

Samantha waved at him cheerfully as she came out of the building.

Hank! Im so glad you were on the engine that came to help Jim! She stood at the foot of the open door and looked up at him. Where are the other guys? Can I come up? She started climbing the steps before he answered, leaving him to scramble backward in surprise.

Whoa, was the only thing he could think of to say.

CHAPTER THREE.

WHAT? SHE PULLED back. The way Samantha barreled forward, Hank knew she was probably used to having to self-correct. Im not supposed to be up here?

Not technically, no. She wasnt. The only people allowed on board were either paid by the Darling Bay Fire Department or specially cleared for ride-alongs. If Chief Barger rolled by and looked up to see a citizen in one of his rigs? Heads would roll, and the first head spinning would be Hanks.

But instead of telling Samantha Rowe that she couldnt climb up, Hank reached a hand down to help pull her up. He felt that stupid grin cross his face, the one he always got when she was anywhere around. Dummy. Come on. Watch your head there. He pointed her to the spare jumpseat. Are you okay?

That was terrible! So scary! she said, leaning forward so she could rest her elbows on her knees. For a moment, he forgot she was talking about Jim Hinds and thought she was talking about the climb up. Shed always done that to him"confused him until he didnt know what was up or down. Her hair, that wonderful brown waterfall, fell forward and, for a moment, hid her eyes. Was she crying? Hank felt two simultaneous urges: to leap forward and wrap his arms around her and to throw himself out of the rig. No way was he worrying about her again. No way.

Samantha looked up at him, but instead of tears, her bright green eyes were sparkling with excitement. That was amazing, what you did.

They really hadnt done much. Theyd a.s.sessed Jim and strapped him to a gurney. His pulse on the 12-lead was strong enough that they didnt even go code three. Nah.

She laughed, that sound as pretty and sweet as whatever light scent she was wearing, the scent that Coin with his dogs nose would be able to pick up as soon as he climbed back on board. You saved a mans life.

Saving lives was what they did. And Jim hadnt been a save so much as a push to the hospital where he definitely needed to be seen. Something was wrong with the guy, but nothing immediate. h.e.l.l be fine. h.e.l.l be home tonight, nursing those bruises that got put on him by your group of aggressive women. What were you doing to him in there?

Samantha flapped her hand. Ah, you know. Beatin the tar out of him. Every girls gotta learn how sometime.

It looked like you were killing him.

No, it didnt! Did you see how well he was suited up?

It wasnt easy to get through all that padding to get the leads on, so yeah. But did you see that bruise on his right arm?

Samantha looked a little guilty. Its possible that Myra Tenbottom got a little carried away with her kicking. But that just means she was really into it.

Hank straightened his legs. The hardest thing about being the firefighter in the back of the rig was that it wasnt big enough to fully stretch out. Right now while the door was still open was the ideal time to do it. So, what is it that you do in there, anyway?

I teach women how to defend themselves against would-be attackers.

Thats great.

Samantha looked surprised. Really?

Of course.

The reaction Ive gotten in this town doesnt always go that way.

Darling Bay could be a little provincial, but What do you mean?

Samantha looked out the small window as if looking for someone. Men usually wonder out loud who it is were going to beat up. She made air quotes around the last two words. I always tell them that if theyre that worried about it, maybe they shouldnt be around the women that train at Daring Darling.