Wildfire Smokejumper Trilogy

Chapter 2-5

Grayson Clyde Masterson was being a royal pain in her butt. For one thing, he actually was a skilled rider. It allowed him to constantly maneuver his mount to be closest to hers. For another, he’d appointed himself the assistant ride leader and had pretty much everyone convinced that he and Laura were a charming couple.

At what point do you tell a paying tourist to back off and go to hell? Mom and Grandma had taught her that point came after they paid you. So she slapped on a smile and did her best to stay beside the two newlyweds who were trying hard not to have their first fight during this ride; she was moderately experienced, but he was definitely in the veteran-of-a-single-beach-outing category.

At least the trails on Mount Hood didn’t lend themselves to cantering or galloping over grassy fields. The trails here crossed small streams, wandered through forests so silent that sunlight almost made a sound of its own—the horses’ heavy hooves dropped almost silent upon the duff of moss and decaying needles.

Laura brought them to a standstill at the edge of a clearing she knew well. Grayson tried to ride forward anyway, but thankfully Exeter knew to pay more attention to Laura than to her rider. The others gathered close beside her. The new groom unintentionally driving his mount between her and Grayson. She snagged Mickey Brown Eye’s bridle to stop his forward progress close beside her and the boy let out a huge sigh of relief.

Boy. He was maybe three years younger than she was, yet he was young and eager and happy…and newly married. She was getting tired of not receiving a text from a guy she’d met once in a bar. She was getting tired of shoving aside her feelings… But now was not the time and she shoved them aside once again.

When Grayson went to speak, she shushed him. She pointed to the clearing and settled in to wait. Behind the thin screen of trees, the seven horses sniffed forward, scenting the grass ahead, but she kept them in check.

With a huffed sigh, Exeter and Mickey looked balefully at each other. She wanted to laugh. These two were always making sly comments on her rider assignments for them.

Mister Ed’s ears perked forward.

“Watch this,” Laura whispered, to make sure everyone was paying attention.

Moments later a Roosevelt elk popped its massive head into the far side of the clearing and looked right at them. The sun caught its long brown muzzle and large floppy ears. For a moment, it almost looked as if its head had been mounted at the forest’s edge. Then it broke the tableau by stepping into the clearing to nuzzle the grass, revealing its half-ton of bulk.

Several of the tourists had their cameras out, but she signaled for them to wait.

A long half-minute later, a smaller version of the elk trotted into the clearing, its spindly legs looking far too slender to keep the elk-colt upright. It trotted around its mother.

“Make sure your flashes are off so that you don’t spook them,” she whispered to the tourists clustered around her and they began snapping photos. She backed up Mister Ed quietly until she could get a decent group shot with her own camera. She kept the elk family lined up in the gap she’d created with her own departure.

“Hey everyone,” she called softly. They all turned to look at her, including the mother elk out in the clearing. She snapped the photo.

It was a great shot—the calf had been in mid-prance—definitely her best photo of the season. She’d make sure everyone got one. But she’d have to crop Grayson out before she gave it to Bess for the display board. His knowing leer gave her the creeps. Maybe she’d crop him out of everyone’s photos.

Next he’d be knocking on her cabin door. Thankfully her address wasn’t listed anywhere.

Well, if he ever did show up, she’d show him a few other things Mom had made sure she’d learned. A wilderness guide had to learn a lot more survival skills than just how to ride a horse.