Below the Frost Line #970618

When the smoke clears, the roots remain.
Tess Morrow doesn’t do “Morrow legacy.” She does fuel loads, defensible space, and the raw, physical work of the fire line. After twelve years away from Ironwood, she’s back as a Forest Service firefighter, and she’s strictly here for the season. She has a protocol for every disaster except the return of a man who remembers her before she was the woman behind the yellow Nomex—and who wants to tell the world about the valley she’s trying to protect.
Eli Park is back to write the story of his life. A national journalist with a notebook full of questions, he’s determined to capture the essence of a town that has become a miracle of conservation. He needs the truth, and he thinks he can find it in his interviews and data. What he doesn’t expect is a woman who sees right through his professional detachment, and a wildfire that doesn’t care about his narrative arc.
As the ridge burns and the community mobilizes, Eli and Tess must navigate a landscape under siege. In the high-stakes world of wildland fire management and the visibility of a national spotlight, they find a connection that is as intense as a spot fire. But for two people who have spent their lives as observers of everyone else’s home, the hardest part is admitting that they’ve finally found their own.
Below the Frost Line is the ninth novel in the Ironwood Rescue series—a high-tension, standalone contemporary romance featuring a return-home arc, wildland firefighting, and the healing power of the ground beneath your feet.