Read Online A Cowboy Firefighter For Christmas (Smokin' Hot Cowboys 1) by Kim Redford - Free Book Online

head at Misty. “Doubt it was me.”

Chapter 6
    Misty took a deep breath as she watched Trey walk away. With a backside like that, he hardly needed anything else going for him. Instead, he had plenty of everything that could set a gal ablaze.
    When he reached the dark green pickup with TOB&B painted in white on its side, he turned and started back.
    Misty opened the sliding door, wondering what he wanted to say.
    Ruby leaned out. “Keys are on the driver’s side floorboard!”
    “Thanks. I’ll get them,” he said when he reached the open door. “Now, ladies, don’t go starting fires—of any kind—without me.” He mischievously winked. “Misty, your half-naked firefighter will be back with grub real soon.”
    “What about me?” Ruby asked, humor bubbling in her voice.
    “What do naughty gals get?” He tried to look stern, but his eyes were twinkling too much for it to be effective.
    “Naughty guys, I hope. And a rack of ribs.”
    Trey laughed hard, shook his head, then sauntered back to the truck, got inside, and drove away.
    “Hot, ain’t he?” Ruby said in her raspy voice. “That Duval clan and their cousins, the Steele family, are notorious for attracting more fire than they can put out.”
    “No opinion, one way or the other.” Misty tried to sound businesslike, or at least prim and proper.
    “Hah!” Ruby pointed at the tail end of the pickup as it sped down the road. “No point fooling yourself right off the bat. Love ’em or hate ’em, there’s not a woman ever lived who didn’t have an opinion on the Duval and Steele males.”
    “I met his cousin Kent.”
    “Now there’s a heartbreaker if ever there was one.”
    “Do any of them actually get married?”
    “Guess you mean, why settle for one cow when you can milk the herd?”
    “That’s not what I meant.”
    “’Course it is.” Ruby leaned near and lowered her voice. “Truth is, when those guys fall, they fall hard. It takes a real special woman to bring them to their knees with a diamond ring in their hands.”
    Misty sighed as she closed the door, realizing she’d appeared too interested in the local cowboys.
    “Kent and Trey haven’t been roped and hog-tied.”
    Misty chuckled at the image. “Maybe they ought to be.”
    “If you held the rope, I doubt they’d complain.”
    Misty refused to go down that dangerous road. “I’m just here for a peaceful getaway. I doubt those guys are what you might call peaceful.”
    Ruby gave a big guffaw that filled the breezeway. “Just the opposite.”
    Misty adjusted her shoulder bag, more than ready to end this conversation. She glanced down at her luggage.
    “Here I am jawing while you’re wanting your room and a bath, aren’t you?”
    “That’d be lovely. I’m afraid I’m a little smoky and smelly after the fire.”
    “I can tell you right now the folks of Wildcat Bluff County appreciate you pitching in to stop that grass fire.”
    “Glad to be of assistance.”
    “Some people would’ve gone on by. You showed a big spirit, particularly a generous Christmas spirit.”
    “You really like Christmas around here, don’t you?”
    “Nothing better.” Ruby sighed, rubbing her forehead as if in pain. “But this year? It’s not easy getting in the right frame of mind, what with the heat and drought and fires.”
    “Can’t last forever.”
    Ruby cocked her head, giving Misty the once-over. “That’s the spirit. And there’s a pretty Christmas angel for some Christmas spirit in your suite.”
    “Did Trey suggest it?”
    “Trey?”
    “He called me his Christmas angel for stopping to help.”
    “Did he now?” Ruby’s eyes glinted with interest. “Guess he’s got Christmas on his mind.”
    “Suppose so.” Misty reached down to pick up a bag.
    “Let’s go upstairs.” As Ruby started to get Misty’s other piece of luggage, the front sliding doors snapped open.
    At the sound, Misty turned around to look, expecting Trey or Kent. Instead, she saw a woman with