Wildfire — Lynn James

Two women have a passionate interest in the same piece of land...

Elaine Thomas has a sworn duty to protect National Forest Service land, especially from vicious and destructive poachers. About to soundly scold a thoughtless squatter for camping out in rapidly approaching winter conditions, she's flummoxed when she's the one who gets a lecture about tromping on precious seedlings from a woman as beautiful--and possibly forbidding--as the high country itself.

Botanist Devon McKinney has permission to be camping in the protected area as part of her report on the area's recovery from a toxic spill, but Ranger Elaine is not at all the ham-fisted voice of authority she'd expected in the Pacific Northwest high country. Nevertheless, she bristles at the suggestion that she doesn't know how to survive the conditions.

Neither woman has any professional intention of tolerating the least deviation from her assignment. Fortunately, working together gets easier and easier, though both women may yet learn that a fire running wild will burn.