Ablaze: Erotic Romance

Ablaze

Fireside Series 1

By Morgan Black

Copyright 2013 by Morgan
Black

Smashwords
Edition

Ablaze

Published By Metamorphosis
Books

Copyright © 2013 Morgan
Black

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places or events are entirely the work of the author.
Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or places is entirely
coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized
editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted
materials.

Cover art by Cover Up
Designs

I tucked my scarf into
my
North Face
jacket, doing my best to trap the heat inside of my coat. I
would need it on the long ride to the hunting cabin on the other
side of the property. It would take us at least three hours by way
of snowmobile to arrive at the little secluded cabin in the woods.
I had convinced Daddy that two friends and I would be messing
around for the next couple days. Movies, girl talk, and plenty of
alcohol to keep us toasty. What I hadn’t disclosed was that my two
girlfriends weren’t really coming, and instead I had invited my
almost boyfriend, Collin. After I was accompanied out by Luke, one
of our ranch hands, it would be just me and Collin Fawnsworth for
the next blissful seventy-two hours.

Collin’s father owned a ranch much like my
own and his pockets were overflowing with money. It was true that
we had grown up living similar lifestyles, and I hoped that
spending some quality time together would really solidify our
upcoming nuptials. If you think that arranged marriages aren’t
happening in the United States these days, you know nothing of the
ranches of Colorado. All wealthy land owners with daughters find
another wealthy land owner with a son to whisk her away, probably
on bareback into the sunset. That is unless you are my father, who
thinks a winter wedding between myself and Collin would be more
appropriate. I think his reasoning is that you’d be crazy to take
your clothes off in this type of frigid weather, and let’s be
serious he doesn’t want to think about his daughter in that
way.

I put my hands in my gloves, wiggling my
fingers to make sure they were fully in before going outside. I
looked out the window one last time, a small chill going through my
body. It really was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and
created a gleam on the newly fallen snow. I could see across the
ranch pretty far, looking out over an acre into the mountainside.
There my visual ended, meeting the roughness of the trees. They
seemed foreboding, but I shook the feeling off as it was such a
perfect winter day.

With my hand on the doorknob, I called out
to Linda, our cook, “See you in a few days!”

I saw her smiling face pop around the corner
of our massive kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. “You have
a good time, dear, but be careful, Cheyenne. My knee is tellin’ me
a storm is coming.”

She rubbed her left knee gingerly. It’s her
indicator. Linda is always predicting the weather, and to her
credit she’s usually right. Nonetheless, on such a perfect winter
day I couldn’t imagine that any harm could come to me.

“
I gotcha. See ya!” I
smiled at her before allowing the blistering cold to touch my
cheeks as I left the comfort of my home.

The snow felt soft underneath my boots as I
made my way across the open land to the barns. They house our
cattle and horses, but also all of my father’s big toys, including
the snowmobiles. He had moved most of the equipment to the out
buildings last year after he purchased another car. His toys could
no longer fit in the six car garage that we owned. The machinery
was a bit excessive, it was true, but I appreciated them being out
in the barn as I could go out more often to visit the horses under
the guise of checking on the ranch hands. Daddy didn’t like his
toys bothered. As I approached the back of the stable, I could hear
a few horses neighing in the distance. They didn’t appreciate being
cooped up like this, but with the snow last night my father was
afraid that some of the yearlings would freeze. The yearlings were
wild and mischievous, and they valued their freedom over anything
else, probably even their lives. Being in the stables made them
restless and uncomfortable, and sometimes I felt just like
them.

I stomped the snow off my boots and closed
the door behind me, feeling the warmth of the heated barn take the
sting out of my skin. I walked through the office and found Fred,
the head of our household, making small talk with Luke, one of the
newest additions to our staff. I was slightly on edge that he was
the one taking me out to the hunting cabin, but I knew that Fred
was too old to make the trip, though he would never admit it.

I had been watching Luke for the two months
he had been working with us. I hated to admit it, but a small crush
had formed. Luke was tall and robust, and easily filled out our
ranch uniform. I could tell he had done manual labor most of his
life by the state of his muscular build. Whenever we had
encountered one another on the property he would always tip his hat
and say, “Good morning,” or “Good afternoon,” but he never extended
the conversation. Sometimes conversation doesn’t matter,
though.

Occasionally I would catch him stealing
glances at me while working. Once, when I was brushing down a
horse, he stood by the stall, placing feed in one of the buckets
for an extremely long time. Admittedly, I had taken some extra time
to brush the horse as well, giving him a nice glimpse of my ass in
my riding pants. Luke was gorgeous with gray eyes and shaggy brown
hair, but he was completely off-limits. I was all right with that
as long as I didn’t have to have any direct interaction with him,
but today fate had decided to intervene.

“
Ahh, miss.” Fred tipped
his head slowly in my direction. “Luke here was just finishing up
with the snowmobile. It appears that one of them is not working.
I’m afraid you’ll have to ride together.”

I rolled my eyes. I was already annoyed that
I had to have chaperone, but now I had to hug onto Luke the hunk
for next three hours in the freezing cold. “Fred, why don’t I just
go alone?”

Secretly, I was looking forward to holding
onto Luke for the next several hours, but I couldn’t show that.

“
Your father has highly
discouraged you from riding by yourself, miss. And you know I have
to agree. These woods can be dangerous at this time of year, you
never know what you’ll come across.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. I would’ve
fought harder with Fred over this issue, but I knew he wouldn’t
disobey my father even though sometimes I felt like Fred was more
of a father to me than mine really was. Fred and Linda had come
into our lives when my mother got sick, I was around six at the
time. When she passed away only two years later they became
surrogate parents. My father locked himself in his office for over
a year, working on building up the ranch. He had been wildly
successful and we were rich, but with money not with love. Not to
say that my father didn’t love me because I knew in his own way he
did, it was just difficult for him to show it. Fred, on the other
hand, had always been there for me, cheering me on as a child and
supporting from the outside as I became an adult. In his eyes I was
still “Little Miss,” his princess. Linda had kept me fed and warm,
and cleaned my boo-boos as a child. I still felt the need to say
good-bye to her every time I left the house, even if it was just to
go for a ride on one of the horses. They took care of me and my
father provided for me, I was lucky.

“
Fine,” I finally agreed.
Luke looked up from his work, his gray eyes meeting mine under his
chocolate bangs, a smudge of grease underneath his chin. When our
eyes met there was a magnetism there that neither of us could deny.
I could stare into those gray pools for hours and that worried
me.

Why did I think Luke was so dreamy when I
was on my way to see Collin?

Fred broke into my concentration, “The cabin
should be prepared for you, miss. We sent a worker there yesterday
to stock the cabin for the next few days. Now remember, your cell
phone won’t work out there, but there is the landline. The electric
should keep the place nice and toasty for you and your companions.
Is there anything you’ll be needing for your journey?”

“
No, Fred, thank you. Luke,
are you ready to go?”

“
Just about. I need to get
my pack, miss.”

I squinted my eyes at him in confusion;
there was no need for him to bring a bag. He’d be back before
nightfall, my father made sure that we would be leaving early
enough for that. After he turned his back to me and was just out of
earshot, Fred said, “He likes to be prepared … you know, for
survival. He knows the dangers of the wild. Perhaps better than any
of us.” Concern crossed his face for only a moment. I could tell
that he cared for Luke. The corner of my mouth raised as I thought
of how he also cared for me.

“
Fred,” I said, putting my
hand on his arm, “we’ll be fine. It’s really not that far. I wish
you and Daddy wouldn’t worry.”

“
Can’t help it, miss,” he
replied as he smiled, covering my hand with his own. “I will always
worry about ya.”

“
I know,” I murmured,
returning his gesture. He kissed me softly on the cheek before
walking away. Luke rushed past him and climbed on the snowmobile.
He strapped his pack on the machine next to my luggage.

“
You ready?” he
asked.

I nodded and jumped on, wrapping my arms
around his tight chest. Even through the layers of our coats I
could feel his strong torso muscles rippling as he turned on the
snowmobile. Fred opened up the door, and within seconds we were
flying through the snow. It didn’t take long for my cheeks to start
to sting from the biting cold, but the heat that was radiating from
the body in front of me blocked some of the wind. After a while of
flying past trees and riding through the beautiful glistening
white, I snuggled my face down into the back of his jacket in order
to keep my skin from becoming raw. He smelled like the woods, a
piney scent that was hard for me to not be attracted to. I had
always been in love with the outdoors, and as Luke careened around
rocks and other obstacles I felt like he was in his natural
territory. He knew these woods well, which surprised me considering
he had only been with us for a short time and all of this was our
property. Suddenly, what Fred had said rang in my ears. What had he
meant about knowing the woods, about being prepared for survival? I
knew enough of how to get a fire going and even to skin a rabbit or
a squirrel if I needed to eat out here, but it was never something
I would have to do. Was it something he had done? Had he needed to,
in order to survive? I shook my head, trying to release the
thoughts of Luke out here in the cold by himself. It made me queasy
just thinking about it.

After what seemed like hours, Luke stopped
to take a stretch break. “We’ll get going again in a few minutes.
My neck was starting to hurt, I hope that’s okay.” His eyes never
met mine when he spoke, almost like our moment of connection in the
barn was too much for him.

“
It’s fine with me.” I
shrugged.

He nodded and walked off into the woods. It
was only about ten feet from me and I could still see him pulling
his arms above his head and shaking out his legs. I took a moment
to look at the massive trees around me. Gorgeous limbs covered in
newly fallen snow. I could hear the soft song of birds chirping
nearby, possibly calling to their mates to return home. As I looked
through the trees I noticed it certainly wasn’t as sunny as it had
been before. The foreboding feeling I had earlier in the day crept
up into my mind again. Perhaps Linda had been right in that a storm
was brewing. I shocked myself when I realized my first thought was
of Luke’s safety. I would be fine in the hunting cabin and I would
have Collin to keep me safe, but Luke was alone. He would be
traveling back over this same path, which later today might be much
more treacherous than it was now.