Wild Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

inventory in the cluttered kitchen.
    She picked up paper as she went, stuffing it in cardboard boxes and setting the trash out behind the supply shed. All the glassware, dishes, and pots and pans needed washing, but they should have enough. So far her list boiled down to food items, paper goods, and extra lightbulbs.
    She looked at her watch. Mark was flying Anne in at noon. Colin and Greg should arrive with the horses shortly before that. If she hustled, maybe she could be down at the barn when they came in.
    The day was warming. She changed into jeans and a seafoam green T-shirt. Sneakers for now—riding shoes later , she promised herself, then she settled on the deck to finish out her list of needed supplies.
    Greg and Colin were late, but the charter flight out of Lariat was right on time. Kara tried to stem her curiosity, but as the small bush plane bumped along the landing strip, she tossed her pad and pencil to a log bench on the deck and followed Ryan down the hill.
    Anne greeted them with a smile. “Wakara,” she said softly, “Little Moon. We will be friends.”
    There wasn’t a hint of doubt in her voice, and Kara nodded. Why had she called her Little Moon? Anne held her gaze for a few seconds more, then focused on Ryan, who was bobbing around behind Kara pointing his finger and making gun sounds.
    â€œPow, Pow. I gotcha, ya dirty scum.”
    Kara rolled her eyes. “Ryan, cut it out.” She smiled an apology in Anne’s direction and dragged Ryan in front of her. “Too many John Wayne movies.”
    Anne nodded. She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and bent to look in his eyes. “You are Ryan, fast and brave.”
    Ryan would not leave her side after that. He dogged their footsteps all afternoon while Kara was trying to show the new cook around the kitchen and storage shed.
    They were so busy, she forgot to listen for the horses. When Colin stuck his head through the door, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
    â€œHey, Wakara, what’s up? I thought you’d be waiting at the barn with a pail of grain. That horse of yours is wild! Kept trying to push ahead. I think she knew you were at the end of the trail.”
    Kara grinned. “I’m sure she remembered that trail. It was her favorite last summer.”
    She introduced him to Anne, then looked around the kitchen. “Sorry, I can’t get away right now. Give Lily a treat for me, will you? I’ll be down to brush her later.”
    â€œNo problem.”
    He turned to Ryan. “Where ya been, kid?” He said with an exaggerated drawl. “I been lookin’ all over for ya. What are ya doing in the kitchen with a bunch of women when ya could be outside helping me break in this new rope?”
    Ryan frowned and looked up at Anne. Kara knew he was torn between his fascination with the new cook and his desire to be with Colin. She was just about to order him out, when Anne smiled and nodded toward the door.
    â€œYou will go,” she said. “A stiff rope must be bent to be useful.”
    The boy’s eyes brightened. He hitched up his jeans and swaggered after Colin. More John Wayne. Kara had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
    â€œA boy of six needs the company of men as much as he needs a mother,” Anne murmured as she bent to inspect the oven in the butane gas stove. “Not so much, a girl just turned fifteen.”
    Kara felt her face flaming and realized she had been staring after Colin.
    She quickly changed the subject. “That thing must be at least fifty years old, but it works, and you don’t have to rely on electricity. Dad doesn’t like to run the generator much during the day. He said he’d fill the butane tank this afternoon.”
    Anne smiled, reached for the cleanser and a brush, and began scrubbing.
    For a few minutes Kara stood and watched, thinking about what she’d write to Tia: Dad said she was in her forties. She looks a lot younger