Burning Ambition

191 Pages·2011·1.05 MB·English

by  Knupp Amy

Joe sat down hard in the worn chair at his desk
He was still able to make out Faith’s feminine scent lingering in the air, and
even that ticked him off.
He’d blown it. Whether you looked at it professionally or personally, he’d
said all the wrong things, in the wrong way, when she’d confided that she didn’t
know what to do about her dad. He hadn’t intended to come across as an
unfeeling bastard. Wasn’t trying to threaten her or the chief. If she was just
another firefighter, just one of the guys, he would’ve handled it—her—better.
She was getting to him, and that wasn’t okay. Even if he didn’t care what her
dad, the chief, thought. Even if he wasn’t trying to get the assistant chief job.
It wasn’t okay.
It was unprofessional and somewhat embarrassing that the department got
one woman on its staff and the damn captain couldn’t keep a rein on his
thoughts.
Dear Reader,
During my research for The Texas Firefighters series, I was more than a little
surprised to learn the status of women in the fire service. It’s the twenty-first
century, right? Women have made big strides in attaining equality in the
workplace…in most occupations. They’re still fighting for respect in fire
stations, though.
When I first considered writing a female firefighter character, I knew this
would likely be an integral part of who she is. Faith Peligni is the first woman in
the history of the San Amaro Island Fire Department, and she’s driven to prove
herself—because of that and because her dad is the fire chief. She has to fight
not only the image of being a weaker female but also of being favored because
of her father’s position.
The worst thing she could do is fall for someone in the department—
especially an officer. Captain Joe Mendoza can’t afford to have feelings for
Faith, either, as her dad is his mentor, his boss and has heavy influence on the
promotion Joe hopes to attain.
But she does…and he does.
I hope you enjoy Faith and Joe’s journey from off-limits to happily-ever-
after! Thank you for picking up my book. If you’d like to learn more about my
other books, please visit me online at www.amyknupp.com or contact me at
[email protected]. I enjoy hearing from readers!
Happy reading,
Amy Knupp
Burning Ambition
Amy Knupp
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Knupp lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two sons and five cats.
She graduated from the University of Kansas with degrees in French and
journalism, and feels lucky to use very little of either one in her writing career.
She’s a member of Romance Writers of America, Mad City Romance Writers
and Wisconsin Romance Writers. In her spare time she enjoys reading, college
basketball, addictive computer games and watching big red fire trucks race by.
Burning Ambition is her eighth book from Harlequin Superromance. To learn
more about Amy and her stories, visit www.amyknupp.com.
Books by Amy Knupp
HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE
1342—UNEXPECTED COMPLICATION
1402—THE BOY NEXT DOOR
1463—DOCTOR IN HER HOUSE
1537—THE SECRET SHE KEPT
1646—PLAYING WITH FIRE*
1652—A LITTLE CONSEQUENCE*
1658—FULLY INVOLVED*
Acknowledgments

Thank you, yet again, to the most patient retired firefighter ever, for talking
me through countless fire scenarios and answering another thousand questions
for this book.
Thank you to Denise McClain for answering my medical questions so
willingly (and to your dad for giving me an enjoyable glimpse of a hard-core,
old-school firefighter.) Thank you to Doug McCune for educating me on the
finer points of baseball spring training.
Thanks to Tasha Hacaga, Emily Becher and Kay Stockham for the
brainstorming, the inspiration and the motivation. And for accommodating my
sudden odd music “needs.”
To my parents, thanks for being the best unpaid promotional team a girl
could have.
To my boys, thank you for putting up with a less-than-spectacular summer
when every other phrase out of my mouth was “after my deadline”!
And as always, thanks to Justin for having an extremely high tolerance for
midnight plotting sessions and an uncanny knack for knowing when to slide a
margarita in front of me.
CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT