The flame leaped higher.
Alec’s foot touched the ground outside the truck.
He gripped Amber close to his chest, rising to rush away.
“Get back!” he shouted to the growing crowd, just as the hood blew open, missing the tree trunk and cracking against the roof of the cab.
He staggered forward, but stayed upright and didn’t lose his grip on Amber.
Three hands arrived with fire extinguishers, aiming them at the engulfed truck.
Stephanie backed away from the heat. Remembering the cell phone in her hand, she quickly dialed Royce’s number.
Another pickup pulled up, and Alec lay Amber carefully across the bench seat.
“Don’t try to move,” he warned her.
“Hello?” Royce’s voice came into Stephanie’s phone.
“Royce?” Her voice shook.
“Stephanie?”
She didn’t know what to say.
Alec scooped the phone. “Alec here.” He took a breath. “There’s been an accident. Amber’s fine.” A pause. “No. No one else was in the truck.” He glanced at Stephanie, then down at Amber. “She’s conscious.”
He moved the phone away from his mouth. “Can you talk to Royce?”
Amber nodded, so Alec handed her the phone. Then he motioned to everyone else to back off. They obeyed, with the exception of Wesley who still hovered next to Stephanie.
When Amber put the phone to her ear and listened, tears welled up in her eyes. Stephanie instinctively moved in to comfort her, but Alec stopped her with his arm.
“Don’t touch her,” he whispered, keeping his arm braced around Stephanie’s waist.
He reached into his pocket, retrieving his own cell phone.
Stephanie looked at him with a question.
“Medical chopper,” he said in a low voice, turning away from Amber to speak to emergency services.
Stephanie’s attention immediately returned to Amber. Blood was still oozing from the cut on her forehead, and there was a wicked bruise forming on her right shoulder. Her blouse was torn, her knuckles scraped.
Was she really okay? Had Alec lied to Royce? And what did Alec know anyway? He wasn’t a doctor.
Okay, so he knew enough to pull Amber from a burning truck.
That was something.
That was huge.
While Stephanie, Stephanie had been stupid enough to march out in front of Amber and cause all this.
Her chest tightened with pain, and a sob escaped from her throat.
Alec turned back. His arm moved from her waist to her shoulders, and he gave her a squeeze. “It’s not your fault,” he rumbled in her ear.
But his words didn’t help.
“Listen to me, Stephanie.” He kept his voice low. “Amber is fine. The chopper will be here in fifteen minutes. But it’s just a precaution.”
“You’re not a doctor,” she snarled.
“No, I’m not.”
“I’m sorry.” Stephanie shook her head. “You pulled her out. She could have-”
“Stop.”
Amber let the cell phone drop to her chest. “Royce is on his way.” Her voice was weak, but just hearing it made Stephanie feel a little better.
“The medical chopper’s going to beat him here,” Alec told Amber, lifting the phone and gently smoothing her hair away from the wound.
“Want to bet?” Amber smiled, and Stephanie could have wept with joy.
Somebody had located a first aid kit, and Alec gently cleaned the blood from around Amber’s head wound and placed a square of gauze to stop the bleeding.
“Are you okay?” Stephanie dared to ask her.
“Did I hit you?” Amber asked back with a worried frown. “Are you hurt?”
Stephanie quickly shook her head. “No. No. Not at all. I’m perfectly fine. Just worried about you.”
“I’m a little stiff,” said Amber. She wiggled her fingers and moved her feet. “But everything’s still working.”
Stephanie mustered a watery smile.
Amber’s eyes cut away to focus over Stephanie’s shoulder. “I guess that’s it for the truck, though.”
“It was pretty spectacular,” Wesley put in.
Alec frowned at him. “A small fire can do a lot of damage.”
Amber looked back at Alec. “Thank you,” she told him in a shaky voice.
“I’m just glad you’re all right.” His smile was so gentle that something warm bloomed to life inside Stephanie.
Amber was going to be okay, and it was because of Alec.
Royce’s truck appeared over the rise, tires barely touching down between high spots on the dirt road. A cloud of dust rolled out behind him.
And then he was sliding to a stop at the scene. He burst out of the driver’s door, hitting the ground running as the thump, thump, thump of the chopper blades sounded in the sky.
Alec watched the towing company employees winch the wrecked pickup onto the flatbed truck. He’d talked to Jared in Chicago, and they agreed to have it removed as quickly as possible. Royce had called to report that Amber would be released from the hospital in a couple of hours. Alec was relieved to learn that Amber’s recovery would be short.
She had a few stitches in her forehead, but there were no worries of a concussion. Other than that, she’d only suffered scrapes and bruises. Royce was getting them a hotel room in Missoula, and they were coming home in the morning.
Steel clanked and cables groaned as the half-burned hulk inched its way up the ramps. Several of the ranch employees stood to watch. But it was nearing eight o’clock, and most had returned to their jobs or their homes once they heard the good news about Amber.
Stephanie appeared beside Alec, tucking her cell phone into her pocket and pushing her messy hair back from her forehead. “Amber’s making jokes.”
Alec was also relieved to see Stephanie getting back to normal. She hadn’t been injured, but she’d seemed almost in shock there for a few minutes.
“And how are you doing?” he asked.
“Just a little worn-out.” She stilled to gaze at the flatbed that was silhouetted by the final vestiges of a sunset.
“You sure?” he probed.
“I’m sure,” she confirmed, voice sounding stronger.
“Good for you.”
One of the towing operators was tying down the pickup, while the other started up the engine of the flatbed. Work here was done.
He turned, then waited for Amber to start back to the house with him. Lights had come on in the staff cottages. The scent of freshly cut hay hung in the cooling air. And the diesel truck rumbled away down the ranch road, toward the long hill that wound past the main ranch house to the highway.
“I was looking for a media file,” said Alec as the engine faded and the crickets took over. “A what?”
“That’s why I came to find you earlier. Do you have documentation of your jumping career publicity?”
She looked confused.
“I’ll need the background information to calculate the dollar value of the exposure,” he elaborated.
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s not to understand?”
“You can switch gears that fast?”
It was his turn to draw back in confusion.
“You just risked death to save Amber.”
“Risked death?” he chuckled, but then he realized she was serious.
“How did you know how to do that?” she asked.
“It’s not exactly rocket science.”
She peered at him through the dim glow of the yard lights. “Were you with the fire department or search and rescue?”
“No.”
“You pull a woman from a burning truck and carry her to safety only seconds before it explodes. How does that not rattle you?”
“That’s the Hollywood version.” He steered their course around the corner of the big barn, linking up with the path to her front porch. “I kicked out a windshield. I didn’t defuse a nuclear weapon.”
“You risked life and limb.”
“You know you tend to overdramatize, right?” He did what needed to be done, and only because he was the closest guy to the wreck.
And, quite frankly, it wasn’t fear of the fire and for Amber’s safety that had stuck with him. The worst moment had been that split second before he’d pulled Stephanie out of the way of the truck.