Free WINTER'S KISS by Mahogany SilverRain

 
     
    WINTER’S KISS
     
    By
    Mahogany SilverRain
     
    *****
     
    PUBLISHED BY:
    Lulu Press, Inc.
     
    Winter’s Kiss
    Copyright: © 2009 Mahogany SilverRain
     
    All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
     
     
    *****
     
    WINTER’S KISS
     
    *****
     
    Kendra sighed as she banged the last CAUTION sign in place. It was winter and the icy cold air she breathed made her lungs hurt and stung her eyes and nose. She hated the cold, but loved her job as a park ranger in the first and oldest national park in the country, Yellowstone. Hell, for sixty thousand a year as a single woman with no kids, she’d brave the cold. Her family criticized her career choice saying, “black women had no place being outdoors with wild animals and such, leave that to those crazy white men.” Though women have been park rangers since 1917, men still outnumbered them, even fewer were minorities and Kendra was one of a handful of black women that worked in a national park as a ranger, most black women do not work or live in Wyoming. It also didn’t help that she was the only black person she saw on a daily basis, but some African American families would come through during the summer. Besides, she’d loved being outdoors for as long as she could remember. Though not thrilled by wildlife or animals in general, she would be the first to defend their right to live protected and free inside the park. She stood around five foot six with smooth mocha brown skin, curvy with thick legs, small waist and a round bottom. Her lovely gray eyes had come from her paternal grandmother, who was French-Canadian.
    Being one of the few African American women in her field, she was often invited to go to schools in the area and talk to children about careers in the environmental outdoors, law enforcement, and geology. She loved when minority children would view her with wide eyes and ask all kinds of questions about being a ranger. She especially loved the questions about “Smokey the bear”.
    Only two roads to the park were open during the winter months, between the n orth e ntrance , (Gardiner, Montana), a nd Cooke City, M ontana, which is near the border of Montana and Wyoming, and from Mammoth Hot Springs to the parking area at the Upper Terraces , but the latest weather report said a blizzard was coming and her superiors thought it best to close the park for the next few days. They’d already evacuated most of the tourists and would be campers that were not staying in the park hotels earlier that day. Kendra could hardly believe anyone would want to camp out in this weather, especially with the nice warm hotels and cabins near the springs, but every year, someone tried. The good news was most of the animals were hibernating for the winter but the wolves and bobcats would still be out hunting for food, though they were hardly ever spotted in the heavily populated areas. Still, it was a thought that had her hurrying to post the signs and lock the gate.
    She was on duty till morning and as soon as she was done, she’d head to the Lamar Ranger Station for the evening. It was a large facility that included lodging for the rangers who stayed overnight. If it turned out to be a bad