there when it came.
A sharp, terrified scream.
The sound raised the hair on the back of Aidan’s neck, and he dropped everything to run toward the burning boat, Ty right behind him.
The scream came again, clearly female, and Aidan sped up. No one knew better than a firefighter what it was like to be surrounded by flames, to have them lick at you, toy with you. It was sheer, horrifying terror.
They had to get to her first.
Behind them came Sam, Eddie, Cristina and Aaron, directing water on the flames to clear Aidan and Ty’s path down the dock toward the boat. Twenty feet, then ten, and that’s when he saw her. A woman standing on the deck of the burning boat, wobbling, the flames at her back.
“Jump!” he yelled, wondering why she didn’t just make the short leap to the dock-she could have made a run for safety. “
Another explosion rocked them all. Aidan skidded to a halt, spinning away and crouching down as debris flew up into the air to match the intensifying flames. The chief was shouting into the radio, demanding a head count. Aidan lifted his head and checked in as he took in the sights. The boat was still there. With his heart in his throat, he searched for a visual on the woman-
She nearly jumped out of her skin when he landed next to her. “It’s okay.” He dropped to his knees at her side to try to get a good look and see how badly she was injured, but the smoke had choked out any light from the docks and she was nothing but a slight shadow. A slight shadow who was hunched over and coughing uncontrollably.
“The boat,” she managed. “It k-keeps b-blowing up-”
“Can you stand?”
“Yes. I-” She let out a sound that tugged at his memory, but he pushed that aside when she nodded. She got up with his help, twisting away from him to stare up at the flames shooting up the mast and sails. “Ohmigod…”
He pulled her closer to his side, intending to jump with her to the dock and the hell off this inferno, but several things hit him at once.
The name of the boat painted across the outside of the cabin, flickering in and out of view between the flames.
No. It couldn’t be. Then came something of far more immediate concern-the rumbling and shuddering of the deck beneath their feet. “We have to move.”
“No. No, please,” she gasped. “You have to save the boat.”
“Us first.” He couldn’t have put together a more coherent sentence because of all that was going through his head.
Blake’s boat. God, he’d all but forgotten that Blake had owned a boat.
Then there was the woman in his arms, facing away from him, but invoking that niggling sense of familiarity. There was something about her wild blond curls, about the sound of her voice-
The warning signals in his brain peaked at once. In just the past thirty seconds, the flames had doubled in strength and heat. The deck beneath their feet trembled and quivered with latent simmering violence.
They were going to blow sky high. Whipping toward the dock he got another nasty surprise-the flames had covered their safe exit.
On the other side of those monstrous flames stood Ty, Eddie and Sam, hoses in hand, battling the fire from their angle, which wasn’t going to help Aidan and his victim in time. Cristina was there, too, with Aaron, and even in the dark he sensed their urgency, their utter determination to keep him safe.
They’d so recently lost one of their own; there was no way they were going to let it happen again.
“Ohmigod,” the woman at his side gasped, staring, as if mesmerized, at the sight of the flames closing in on them.
She wasn’t the only one suddenly mesmerized, and for one startling heartbeat, Aidan went utterly still, as for the first time he caught a full glimpse of her.
He knew that profile.
He knew her.
At the sound of her name on his lips, uttered in a low, hoarse, surprised voice, her head whipped toward his, eyes wide. Her wavy blond hair framed a pale face streaked with dirt and some blood, but was still beautiful, hauntingly so.
She was Mackenzie Stafford, Blake’s sister. Kenzie to those who knew and loved her, Sissy Hope to the millions of viewers who watched her on the soap opera
She was not a stranger to Aidan, but not because of her television stardom. He knew her personally.
“I can’t-I can’t hear you.”
People never expected fire to be noisy, but it was. The flames crackled and roared at near ear-splitting decibels as they devoured everything in their path.
Including them if they didn’t move, a knowledge that was enough to pull his head out of his ass and get with the program. Old lover or not, he still had to get her out of there alive. But she was looking at him through Blake’s eyes, and his heart and gut wrenched hard. There was maybe twenty feet of water between
“D-do I know you?”
He wore a helmet and all his equipment, and in the dark, not to mention the complete and utter chaos around them, there was no way she could see him clearly. Still, he had to admit it stung. “It’s me, Aidan. Hold your breath now, on my count.”
“Aidan, my God.”
“Ready?”
“The boat’s going to go, every inch of it, isn’t it?”
Yep, including the few square inches they were standing on. In fact, it was going to go much more quickly than he’d have liked. Since they couldn’t get to the dock, it was into the ocean for them, where they’d wait for rescue.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s got to be another way.”
Unfortunately there wasn’t, and he quickly stripped out of his jacket and gear because the protection they offered wouldn’t be worth the seventy-five pounds of extra weight while treading water and holding up Kenzie to boot. At least she was conscious. She didn’t appear to have on any shoes, or anything particularly heavy on her person, all of which were points in her favor. “On three, okay? Remember to hold your breath.”
“I don’t think-”
“Perfect. Go with that. One-” He nudged her in front of him, pushing her to the railing.
“Aidan-”
“Two-”
“Hell, no. I’m not going into the-”
He dropped her into the water, and she screamed all the way down.
2
KENZIE HIT THE ICY OCEAN, and as she took in a huge mouthful of water, she realized she’d forgotten to hold her breath, a thought that was completely eradicated when
