Nate’s job is putting out fires, not just as a fireman, but he puts out wildfires. One day on the job, he is in the middle of helping his crew put out a huge fire, he notices a small house in the middle of the fire. Nate rushing in and saves a family. Not just any fire, a senator, and his family. Nate was injured and now has to take some time off. Nate decides to go home to see his family.
Brenna is going through a very rough time in her life. Her ex has remarried, running for mayor, and is trying to take custody of their two kids. Brenna is having a very hard time facing the weekends without the kids. Brenna way to cope is to drink. Brenna and Nate at the age of sixteen were young and in love, until that day when her father is killed. All the evidence pointed to Nate’s dad. No matter how much he claims that he is innocent. Now he is out of jail, one of the reasons that Nate is returning home.
I really enjoyed SMOKE SCREEN by Terri Blackstock, it has everything: romance, mystery, as of course some thrilling moments. Blacksock also showed the love of a family. Nate’s mother never gave up on believing her husband, and the whole family came back to believing and loving each other. It also showed what a mother would do to protect her children, as Brianna knew she had to clean up her life.
One father was murdered. Another was convicted of his death. All because their children fell in love.
Nate Beckett has spent his life fighting wildfires instead of the lies and rumors that drove him from his Colorado hometown. His mother begs him to come back now that his father has been released from prison, but it isn’t until he’s sidelined by an injury that he’s forced to return and face his past. But that means facing Brenna too.
Fourteen years ago, Nate was in love with the preacher’s daughter. When Pastor Strickland discovered Brenna defied him to sneak out with Nate, the fight between Strickland and Nate’s drunken dad was loud—and very public. Strickland was found murdered later that night, and everyone accused Roy Beckett. When the church burned down not long after, people assumed Nate set the fire to get even for his father’s conviction. He let the rumors fly and left town without looking back.
Brenna is stunned to learn that the man convicted of murdering her father has been pardoned. The events of that night set her life on a bad course, and now she’s fighting a brutal custody battle with her ex and his new wife where he’s using lies and his family’s money to sway the judge. Brenna is barely hanging on, and she’s turned to alcohol to cope. Shame and fear consume her.
As Nate and Brenna deal with the present—including new information about that fateful night and a wildfire that’s threatening their town—the past keeps igniting. Nate is the steady force Brenna has so desperately needed. But she’ll have to learn to trust him again first.