LITMIR.BIZ

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course.” The son of a bitch kept restarting fires on the scorched ground he’d already burned. The only good thing about this was that there wasn’t enough fuel left to keep the fire burning. Usually the hay bales he poured gasoline over burned out quickly, and the fire didn’t spread. But occasionally the guy started new areas of the forest on fire—like he had when he’d torched the woods where Cody’s cabin had been.

      “You need to relocate,” Wyatt said.

      He could have laughed again, but it would have had a bitter ring to it. He’d been told so many times that he needed to move—that he wasn’t welcome anymore.

      “You kicking me off the team?” he asked. And he was surprised that his voice didn’t crack with the emotion that overwhelmed him. But he wasn’t a kid anymore. He could take care of himself; he had for years.

      “Of course not,” Braden said. “We’re kicking you off the cot.”

      “We all offered you a bed,” Wyatt reminded him. “You can crash at any one of our places.”

      Until he inevitably wore out his welcome.

      “You don’t get enough of me now?” he teased.

      “I’m usually not there,” Wyatt said. “I stay at Fiona’s.”

      Or she stayed at his place. Despite Cody’s teasing, he didn’t want to interfere in his friend’s relationship. The Hotshots were sometimes gone for weeks at a time, so they needed to spend as much time as they could with their loved ones when they were in town. That was why he had also refused to stay with Dawson Hess, Zimmer’s other assistant. Cody hadn’t wanted to put a crimp in his new relationship with the hot reporter, Avery Kincaid.

      “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Last night was my last night here. I found a place.” He actually didn’t want to stay there, but now he had no choice. He just hoped like hell he was better at avoiding temptation than his teammates.

      * * *

      HER HAND SHAKING, Serena Beaumont set the court order on her desk next to her mother’s portrait. She blinked back tears, so that she could focus on the picture. She had been told—many times—that she looked like her mother. Sure, she had the same long black hair and dark eyes. But she felt the resemblance ended there. She didn’t have Priscilla’s delicate features or the inner beauty that radiated from the portrait. Nor did she have her mother’s strength.

      She was about to lose the family home that her mother had fought so hard to keep—so hard that it had probably led to the heart attack that had taken her too soon a year ago.

      Serena drew in a deep, albeit shaky, breath and lifted her chin. She wasn’t giving up yet. Sure, it was a lot of money. But she didn’t have to sell the house. She only had to come up with half the value of it.

      A year ago she’d been turned down for a loan. But that had been before she’d gotten more boarders in the house. Now she could show that the property could support itself. Or it would...

      If she could rent out the rest of the rooms...

      Only four of the eight bedrooms were rented. In order to show any kind of profit, she needed to fill the house—like it had been filled when she was little.

      When the sweet-talking man who had gotten her pregnant abandoned her, Priscilla Beaumont had become a single mom to her twin daughters. But she hadn’t raised Serena and Courtney alone. She’d had Grandma’s help. They had lived in this house with their grandmother, an aunt, an uncle and some cousins. Serena was the only member of the Beaumont family left in the house now. She was the only one who cared about her heritage—about how her great-great-grandfather, a French trapper, had settled down near the village of Northern Lakes and built this house for his Native American bride.

      Two and a half stories with a double-decker wraparound porch, the plantation-style house had also served as a stagecoach stop, although coaches hadn’t often passed through this remote area of Michigan. Adjoining the Huron National Forest, the house was still miles from the village of Northern Lakes. Maybe that was why it was hard for her to find boarders. Most people would rather live in town.

      Serena loved the house and the property. She’d already come close to losing it, but the local Hotshot crew had stopped the fire before it had consumed more than the acres of forest that were now just scorched black earth.

      She and the house had survived then. They would again. Somehow...

      She drew in another breath, but this one was steadier. It wasn’t just her anxiety making it harder for her to breathe; it was the stifling heat. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck, beneath the thick fall of hair.

      If she were to get any more boarders, she would need to fix the air conditioning unit. It had been broken for a few weeks. Mrs. Gulliver and Mr. Stehouwer didn’t mind; the heat didn’t bother the octogenarians. Mr. Tremont was younger than them—probably only in his forties or early fifties. But he wasn’t home much. Neither was Stanley, and when the teenager was here, he was usually outside—like he was now.

      The kid lounged on the wide front porch. She could see him through the window of her office, which had formerly been the front parlor since its burled oak pocket doors opened onto the wide foyer. Those doors were open, and so was the heavy front door and every window, but no breeze blew through the house.

      The air was so still that the sound of an engine startled her. She glanced out the window but could see only the grill of a truck as it pulled up to the house. Then she heard Stanley call out, “Hey, Cody!”

      Her pulse quickened more than it had when she’d opened the thick envelope from the lawyer’s office. Then her heart had raced with fear; now, it pounded with excitement.

      Just looking at Cody Mallehan was exciting. With his blond hair, clear green eyes, and muscular build he was beyond handsome. He was probably also bad news for a woman like her.

      He was a player. Or so her friends had warned her. The few times she’d seen him before today he hadn’t flirted with her, though. Of course, they’d talked business then because he’d brought Stanley as a boarder.

      One truck door slammed. Then another opened. Maybe he was bringing someone else to rent a room.

      She glanced at her mother’s portrait. Mama would have cautioned her to stay away from a man like her father, who was only passing through. Everyone said that Cody Mallehan grew bored quickly—with women and locations. He wouldn’t be sticking around.

      That was good, though. Serena didn’t need him; she just needed the business he brought her. She was too smart to fall for a man like him anyway. She was in no danger of losing her heart; Serena’s only concern was that she not lose her house.

       2

      CODY WAS GLAD that he saw Stanley first—sitting on the porch swing of Serena Beaumont’s ridiculously large, yellow-clapboard house. He’d lived in group homes that had been smaller than her place. It was a great boardinghouse.

      Not that she had many boarders. The last time he’d stopped by, she’d just had a couple of old folks and Stanley. Probably because it was too far from town. The house was slightly closer than his cabin had been, but the long drive had still given Annie enough time to lick him nearly half to death. He should have made the dog ride in the pickup bed.

      “Out!” he told her, pointing at the ground. Finally she leaped down from the passenger’s seat.

      “Annie!” Stanley exclaimed with joy. He dropped to his knees and embraced the mutt who jumped all over him, licking his face.

      “Don’t act so surprised to see her,” Cody said. “You’re the one who brought her back to the firehouse—after I told you to take her to the humane society.”

      “I did,” Stanley replied, quickly and defensively, “when you told me to.”

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