Trial by Fire Read Online Free Page A

response. “You know the people who live here?”
    She nodded, causing the cute hair thingie to bob. “Joan and Greg Hargrave. They’re on a cruise with my parents, who live right across the street.” She jabbed a thumb toward the mini mansion hunkered behind her car.
    “I’ve been coming by to check on things. Bring in the mail, water the plants. When I pulled into my parent’s drive, I got out, saw the fire through the windows, and called 911.”
    Talking must’ve irritated her parched throat. She paused and covered her mouth, coughing a couple of times. He leaned forward in concern, instinctively curling his fingers around hers.
    “We’ve got some bottled water on the quint. Can I get you one, Miss McKenna?”
    Swallowing, she sent him a shaky smile. “That would be nice.”
    Faster than he’d ever moved, he grabbed a bottle and returned to her side. Twisting off the top, he handed it over, watching as she sent him a crooked grin.
    “Thanks, you’re a doll.”
    He stared in fascination at the column of her throat as she tilted her head back and took a long draw of water. A doll? Him—a brute who stood six-six and topped two sixty on the scales?
    Doll. A meaningless endearment. She probably used that phrase all the time, on everyone. But the way she said it, warm and breathless, as if she really meant it, made his insides turn funny flips. Stupid.
    She lowered the bottle, recapped it, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Kat.”
    Cat? He looked around. “I’m sorry?”
    “My name. Katherine with a K, but my friends call me Kat. Miss McKenna is what my students call me.”
    “Oh! Sure. Kat,” he murmured, trying the name. Yeah, Kat. All soft and green-eyed, perfect to pet and make her purr. “It suits you. I’m Lieutenant Howard Paxton. Please, call me Howard.”
    Call me anything you want, while I’ve got you flat on your back, sinking my co —
    “Not Howie ?” Her cheek dimpled.
    He snorted. “God, no. The last guy who called me that wound up with a busted lip.”
    Julian walked by, rolling up a hose. “Sure did. Asshole. ” He kept going, disappearing around the side of the quint.
    “Hey, it was an accident! And eighty-six the language around the lady!” Howard called out. Jerk.
    Kat giggled. “You always let your men talk to you like that, Howie?”
    He arched a brow and frowned, secretly pleased she felt comfortable enough in his looming presence to nettle him in fun. “Hmm. A woman with a dangerous streak. Kind of like running into a burning house with a frigging water hose.”
    “Guilty as charged. I couldn’t just stand there like a dork, for all the good I accomplished.”
    He laughed, unable to help himself. “Dork? I haven’t heard that word since I was a kid. What grade do you teach?”
    She bristled a bit. “First. And no smart-ass comments about how I don’t look or act like a teacher, whatever that means. I get that a lot.”
    “I think it means you’re not the stereotypical old, dried prune wearing an apple jumper and a sour expression because your life has passed you by,” he pointed out. “I’d take it as a huge compliment.”
    “Holy cow. Let me guess, you described your first-grade teacher.” An amused smile played on her lips.
    “Yep. Mean old biddy, rest her black soul. She used to smack the backs of our hands with a ruler to make us pay attention.”
    “Well, when you put it like that . . .” Kat sighed. “I just get tired of being judged by my appearance. People take one look at me and assume I couldn’t possibly hold a master’s degree in education.”
    If anyone could relate to being judged on appearance, he could, but his experience in that area wasn’t all negative. Particularly with the female persuasion. A typical bachelor point of view he suspected this lady wouldn’t appreciate.
    Switching back to a safe topic, he asked, “Why come by so late on a Saturday night? Or Sunday morning, I should say, since it’s nearly