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“What happened?” Eric asked.
“Best I can figure, the lightning that passed through the area last night struck a tree,” Liam said.
“It didn’t rain on your side of the hill, did it?”
Liam shook his head.
“So the fire is on the other side of the property from where you were working?”
“It’s everywhere now. The wind has blown it around.”
“No way to know right now,” Eric said. “If it wasn’t started by a lightning strike, then a chainsaw must have let off a spark. You didn’t see anything?”
“No. But we were moving quickly. I had a feeling the fire threat would be raised in the next day or two and we’d be left loading trucks or sitting on our hands, unable to harvest. I was pushing the crew, and somehow we missed the smoldering. It’s my fault.”
Georgia wrapped her arms tightly around her torso to keep herself from rushing over to her brother and hugging him tight. Liam hid it well, but inside she knew this was tearing him apart. To be responsible for a fire, a force of nature that could claim lives and ruin homes—no one deserved to shoulder that alone.
“My land, my crew, my responsibility,” Eric said. “I should have been out there with you. How bad is it?”
“We’re going to need to put in a fire line,” Liam said. “I called the fire department and the department of forestry on my way here. They’re going to come at it from one side, and I told the chief I’d talk to you about cutting the line on the other.”
Georgia bit her lip. Cutting a fire line meant felling trees to stop the flames from jumping, and digging a trench. It would take all night, probably well into tomorrow. She knew the men would work fast to keep the fire from spreading. She prayed it would be enough to keep the neighboring communities safe.
But either way it would be a while before Eric came home again, longer before they had a chance to talk about what had happened earlier.
Eric headed for the hall. “I need to change into work clothes. Wait here and then we’ll go.”
Liam turned to her, his brown eyes filled with concern. “You sure you’re OK? You don’t look like yourself.”
No, she wasn’t OK. Not even close. “Just thinking about all those people who might be forced to leave their homes.”
Liam’s mouth formed a grim line. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep them safe.”
“I know you will,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure there isn’t something else bothering you?”
There was. The emotional fallout from one mind-blowing orgasm. But she wasn’t about to share that fact with her brother. And compared with a forest fire, her problems seemed small and irrelevant.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Have you been sleeping?” Liam asked. “Are you having nightmares again?”
“I’m sleeping,” she said. Sometimes.
Not much scared her now. Not jumping out of planes or driving too fast. But sleep? The nightmares were so vivid, so terrifying, she often woke barely able to breathe. And those were the good nights.
When she’d been living with Liam, there had been times when she hadn’t woken up fast enough. The nightmares had held tight to her, and she’d screamed her heart out. He’d ripped her away from
the dreams, begging her to wake up. If her screams terrified a grown man like Liam, what would a small boy like Nate do if he heard them?
Georgia didn’t want to find out. Since she’d moved in with Eric, she’d done her best to sleep only when thoroughly exhausted and then only for a few hours at a time. So far, it had worked. To be safe, she’d also asked for a room on the other side of the house from Nate. In Eric’s sprawling timber-frame home, it was a simple request to accommodate.
“I’m fine, Liam,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. You have a fire to deal with. Focus on staying safe.”
“Always,” Liam said.
Eric strode into the room. He’d traded his tailored office clothes for a pair of faded jeans and plaid flannel, sleeves rolled up to reveal the strong muscles of his forearms.
