Through The Fire (Guardians, Inc. Book 2)

by Belle Calhoune

  The figure began walking toward him, closer and closer until he didn’t have to stare anymore. The minute he’d spotted the copper colored hair it had been a dead giveaway. Sierra.

  Within seconds she’d reached his side. “We need to talk,” she said abruptly, skipping all the niceties and getting straight to the point.

  It was better that way, Caleb thought wildly. Straight to the point. Abrupt. He liked it straight. Then he wouldn’t be sucked in by her small talk and fooled into thinking that she wanted him in her life again. He was so tired of hoping and wanting. It made him feel like a fool. But then his insides began to flutter like a hundred butterflies were crashing around inside of him.

  **

  From the moment Sierra had spotted Caleb sitting at the bar in Tumbleweeds she’d been determined to face him head-on, rather than running to the bathroom and hiding from him as she would have preferred. No more running!

  “Sierra, you remember Matt Cruz?” Caleb asked as he jutted his chin in the direction of his buddy.

  Sierra nodded and coolly smiled in Matt’s direction, instantly remembering the cold and unfriendly Matt Cruz. Back in the day he’d been Caleb’s best friend, and in addition he’d been a thorn in Sierra’s side, constantly telling Caleb that they were all wrong for each other and that he should cut her loose.

  Judging by the way he was looking at her now, Sierra thought grimly, time hadn’t changed him one little bit. He was still a judgmental so-and-so, and a woman-hater to boot, she imagined.

  “How could I forget,” she said dryly as Matt tipped his cowboy hat in her direction and sent her a grudging smile. “You were Caleb’s shadow, always popping up wherever he went. It’s nice to know that some things never change.”

  “So Caleb tells me,” he said in a snide tone that hinted of secrets exchanged between old buddies.

  Sierra glared at Caleb, suddenly feeling betrayed by the fact that he’d discussed her with his best friend. Matt Cruz hadn’t liked her back in the day and she doubted that he liked her much now, so she could only imagine what he’d said to Caleb about her. Why is it, she thought, that male friends always felt threatened by their closest friend’s girlfriend? Not that she was Caleb’s girlfriend, she hastily reminded herself. Those days were long gone.

  Before Sierra could pull Caleb aside to ask him how his grandfather had made out in the storm and give him a tongue-lashing for his attitude the other day, Marissa came walking over to where Sierra was standing at the bar next to Caleb and Matt.

  “Marissa, you know Caleb, don’t you?” Sierra asked, certain their paths had crossed in the last eight years in a town as small as Briarwood.

  Caleb graciously reached for Marissa’s hand and shook it, while Marissa gave him one of her winning smiles, the same smile that had made her Briarwood’s best selling real estate agent for the last four years running. She was the perfect salesperson, Sierra thought with a smile. Bubbly and perky with just the right touch of intelligence and class. Although Marissa could be a bit dramatic at times, Sierra considered her a friend for life, one who had proven her mettle time after time.

  “You’re Marissa Santana?” The question hung in the air for a moment, flung from Matt’s lips like a grenade being hurled at the enemy. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Matt Cruz had a bone to pick. At this moment Marissa happened to be the unlucky bone.

  “Yes,” Marissa said sharply, instantly responding to his churlish attitude, “who’s asking?”

  “Sheriff Matt Cruz,” he said, his lips curling with distaste.

  Marissa looked queasy for a moment upon hearing his name, and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment, or maybe it was shame, as he stared a hole straight through her.

  “Er...ah, I don’t think we’ve met,” Marissa said clumsily.

  Matt’s sharp features were grim, his lips set in a deep frown, the raisin colored eyes dark and brooding.

  Marissa visibly shivered as he responded in a voice filled with challenge, “No, we haven’t met, but that sure didn’t stop you from telling tales all over town about me and old widow Jenkins.”

  For a moment time stood still and Marissa looked as if all the blood in her body had rushed to her head. She had no idea what to say to this tall and forbidding man who looked like he was capable of first degree murder. Especially since she was guilty. She’d gossiped about him on more occasions than she could remember. Evidently, word had gotten back to him through the town grapevine and he was far from being pleased.

  Caleb coughed uncomfortably and said, “Excuse us, Marissa, Cruz. Sierra's itching to get out on the dance floor.” Caleb reached for Sierra’s hand and pulled her none-too-gracefully towards the dance floor, then pausing to yell over his shoulder, “Don’t kill each other while we’re gone.”

  Marissa watched her best friend’s desertion, wishing she was standing anywhere but here. Anywhere but trapped by Matt Cruz’s unrelenting stare and his dark, brooding expression. What in the world had she done now? she asked herself.

  Marissa sighed dramatically and said, “Just exactly what am I being accused of?”

  Matt Cruz folded his arms across his chest, managing to look more imposing by the minute as he drew himself up to his full six foot three inches. “You are hereby accused of being a small-minded, obnoxious, gossip. You are hereby accused of meddling in other peoples’ business and spreading false, malicious rumors about town. You are hereby accused of slurring the reputation of one of this town’s most respected and benevolent women. For what purpose, I ask, other than sheer nastiness?”

  With tears in her eyes Marissa stood her ground, refusing to run away from this confrontation, even though every instinct within her was urging her to turn tail and get out of dodge. After his announcement he glared at her with hate in his eyes and angrily stormed away from her, his powerful body filled with outrage. For a few moments she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes prickling with unshed tears of humiliation and rage.

  She’d stood there like a fool and let Matt Cruz get on his high horse and tear her to shreds. And for once in her life her mouth hadn’t been in working order. She’d been speechless.

  Blindly, she wiped all traces of tears from her face and raced to the bathroom, where she ended up locking herself inside a bathroom stall and hiding out. In two seconds Matt Cruz had summed her up and found her unworthy, labeling her as “obnoxious” and “malicious.” If she lived to be the age of old widow Jenkins she would never forget the look of pure hatred on his face and the venom that had dripped off his tongue. Only she could inspire such hatred in a perfect stranger, she thought bitterly. Only Marissa Santana could mess up so royally.

  As she sat on the toilet she placed her head in her hands, huge sobs wracking her body as the pain of Matt Cruz’s words seared through her. Small-minded. Obnoxious. Malicious. As always, she had made a huge mess out of things.

  ***

  “Your jeans are too tight, darlin’,” Caleb announced in a matter-of-fact voice as he held Sierra in his arms of the dance floor.

  “My jeans aren't too tight, Caleb. They fit just right and they’re perfectly respectable.” Sierra couldn’t suppress the defensive tone that had crept into her voice the moment he criticized her attire.

  Caleb nodded his head knowingly, letting his eyes slide down the length of her. “I bet you had to shimmy into them and then lie down on your bed to zip them up.”

  “I did not!” Sierra argued, feeling annoyed that he was picking on her and critiquing her jeans. After all, in his 501 jeans and T-shirt, he wasn’t exactly dressed to impress. Not that he didn’t look gorgeous, she conceded, as her eyes automatically drifted to his taut physique.

  “Did too!” he teased, showcasing his pearly teeth. Sierra couldn’t figure Caleb out. He’d dragged her to the dance floor and was acting playfully toward her. If she didn’t know better, she might even think he was softening toward her.

  “Hush up! You’re talking so loud everyone is staring,” Sierra warned as she sho
t him a disapproving glare.

  “I know why the men are staring,” Caleb said knowingly as he winked at Sierra. “It’s those too-tight jeans.”

  Sierra rolled her eyes. “One more word about my jeans and I’m leaving you here to dance by yourself.”

  “Please don’t do that,” Caleb said with a grin, his smile lighting up his entire face and causing butterflies to dance in her stomach. “Dancing with you is like floating on a cloud.”

  Sierra suppressed a tiny smile at Caleb’s over the top flattery. She shook her head ruefully as she said, “I knew I should’ve stayed home tonight.”

  Caleb twirled her around in his arms, then brought her back toward him. “If you’d stayed home tonight, we wouldn’t have been able to two-step.”

  “You’ve had too much to drink!”she said in an accusatory voice. “That’s why you’re acting like this.”

  “Not at all,” he said dryly. “I had a few beers but that hardly makes me drunk.”

  “I hope you’re not driving,” she said in a prim voice, her limbs still trembling from contact with Caleb. Why was she torturing herself by being held in his arms? He didn’t want her. He’d made that perfectly clear on numerous occasions.

  Suddenly he pulled her towards him so that his breath was warm and hot against her cheek. “Are you going to see that I get home safely?” he whispered, inhaling the vanilla scent of her perfume.

  Right away she shook her head and said, “No. Isn’t that your shadow’s job?”

  Caleb smirked at her response. “Cruz left five minutes ago. I saw him storm out. It seems that the sight of your friend Marissa sent him into a funk. Did they have something romantic going on at any point?”

  “Absolutely not,” Sierra said emphatically. “She definitely would have told me that.”

  Caleb shrugged. “Maybe she sold him a bad property or something.”

  Sierra bristled. “Never!” she said in a fierce tone. “Marissa is as professional as they come. She would never do something like that. She’s very successful as a realtor.”

  Now it was Caleb’s turn to roll his eyes. “It was a joke. Lighten up! You’re supposed to be laughing right about now. Get it? I joke. You laugh. Everyone’s happy.”

  “Ha Ha!” she said dryly, her face not cracking a smile even though she felt like grinning. Just being in his arms and dancing with him was enough to make her weep with joy. Having him laugh and joke with her and treat her like an old friend made her feel as if all was right with the universe, even though she was a bit confused at his sudden change of heart. The only thing she could surmise was that the beer was doing the talking for him rather than his bruised heart.

  “Remember...the warmth of days gone by,” he sang softly in her ear, the words of the song echoing their own relationship. Was he deliberately teasing her with the words of the song? Or did he too hold a soft spot in his heart for the way things once were between them?

  “This loneliness has crushed my heart,” she whispered, finishing the verse of the song, her eyes locking with his own as she gazed up at Caleb. She wanted him to see all the loneliness she’d endured through the years, all the longing and the love that she’d stored up in her heart. For him. Only for him.

  It was sweet torture being held so tightly in Caleb’s arms and not being able to say the things she wanted to tell him. She closed her eyes as he pulled her closer to him, surrendering to all of the emotions she’d been waging war against ever since her arrival in Briarwood.

  Suddenly, Sierra felt the vibration of her cell phone in her hip pocket. She pulled away from Caleb’s arms, every nerve ending in her body pulsing with life due to his touch. Desperately trying to shake off the momentary feeling of loss from not being in his arms, she explained, “It’s my phone. I told Hollis to text me if anything happened out at the ranch.” She took the phone out of her pocket and stared intently at the screen. “Oh no! He texted me 911, which is our code for an emergency. I’ve got to get to the ranch.”

  The seriousness of the matter was not lost on Caleb, who immediately responded, “I’m going with you. You might need me out there, especially if the vandals have struck again. I want to be there.”

  In that instant their eyes met, her deep brown eyes connecting with his golden tiger’s eyes in a look of mutual need and understanding. She needed him to come to the Diamond Lil with her equally as much as Caleb needed to help out with the situation. At the moment they both wanted the same thing, which was a miracle of sorts in her opinion. They always seemed to be on different sides.

  With a quick nod of her head she gave Caleb permission to drive out to the Diamond Lil with her. It made sense to bring him along for back up in case the situation became dicey, she reasoned. Who was she kidding? she asked herself. She wanted him along for more reasons than protection. She wanted him with her because she loved him. And if she had her choice, he’d never leave her side.

  Chapter Eight

  Sierra drove out to the Diamond Lil with urgency, her foot clamped down so heavily on the accelerator that the car was racing down the interstate at eighty miles an hour. She never drove this fast, almost bordering on reckless, but fear was forcing her to act on pure instinct. And her instinct was telling her that she was urgently needed at the Diamond Lil. She'd raced out of the bar with Caleb on her heels after pausing for a few moments to let Jacey and Marissa know what was going on. After promising to update Jacey on the situation as soon as she could, Sierra headed to her car with Caleb on her heels.

  On the drive to the Diamond Lil, Caleb sat in the passenger seat not uttering a word, his expression unreadable in the dark interior of the car. The only audible noise was the slight hum of the radio and the soft whir of the tires. Once they arrived at the ranch, Sierra navigated the car down the road toward the barn where she spotted Hollis’s truck parked. They both jumped from the jeep and began running towards the barn

  Sierra had expected to see hordes of people milling about the ranch, but not a single soul was up and about.

  Sierra turned towards the bunkhouse in the distance, her mind registering the fact that not a single light was glowing inside. It lay in darkness. It seemed odd that if there was a disturbance at the ranch none of the ranch hands would’ve been apprised of the situation and awoken from their sleep. The prolonged silence was eerie in light of the emergency page she’d received. It didn’t make sense.

  “Hollis! Where are you?” Sierra called out, her nervousness increasing as the silence ensued.

  “Hollis! It’s Caleb and Sierra,” Caleb yelled out, as he paced the length of the corral, his body tensed for action as if he was expecting an ambush attack.

  At the same time they heard a low, muffled cry from the stables, one that caused Sierra’s nerves to stand on end and her fingers to tremble with nervousness. They both jumped into action, Sierra two steps ahead of Caleb as she pushed open the creaky, wooden door leading into the stables. When she would have barged through the door ahead of him, he pulled her behind him and made a silencing motion with his finger to his lips. He then pointed to the gun in his holster, which served as a frightening reminder to Sierra that there could be serious danger around the corner.

  “Since when do you carry a gun?” Sierra whispered.

  “It’s a long story. Some of my buddies and I set up a group called Guardians, Inc. We help protect people who need our assistance. Don’t worry.” He spoke in a low voice, then put his finger up to his mouth in a shushing motion.

  Guardians Inc? Surely there was a story behind that type of organization. Who was Caleb helping? Was it dangerous? It sounded pretty heroic. She put it in the back of her mind, fully intending to ask him more questions at a later time.

  “Over here, guys.” They heard Hollis’ voice ring out from one of the stalls. They followed the sound of his voice, entering a large stall that was brightly lit up with lanterns.

  “What’s going on?” Caleb asked as he caught sight of Hollis crouched on the ground next to a jet black Arab
ian.

  “We’re delivering a baby, son,” Hollis said with a wide grin, “and if all goes well, I’ll be passing out cigars in a minute.”

  “Morning Star,” Sierra whispered as she crouched down next to Hollis and began patting the Arabian’s head and crooning soft words in her ear. Morning Star was her horse, one that she’d been given as a tenth birthday present by her parents after months of begging for her own horse. She had given her the name Morning Star because she had a star-shaped birthmark in the middle of her forehead. Morning Star possessed a gentle spirit and a natural grace that quickly earned her a place in Sierra’s heart. In her best of times and her worst of times, Morning Star had always been by her side, the most faithful of companions. She’d missed her dearly over the past eight years.

  “Yep, she’s becoming a momma right before our very eyes,” Hollis said. “I’m sorry about calling you away from your evening out on the town, but Simone and I thought you’d want to be here.” Hollis nodded towards a shadowy figure in the corner of the stall, a figure that had gone unnoticed as they entered the stall. Aunt Simone sat quietly in the corner, dressed from head to toe in mourning black, her attractive face glowing with happiness and excitement over the impending birth of Morning Star’s foal. For the first time since the reading of the will Simone appeared to be content and at ease, a total departure from her sullen behavior of the last few days.

  “You thought right, Hollis,” Sierra reassured him. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.” She glanced in her aunt’s direction and smiled at her, silently rejoicing at the fact that her aunt appeared to be putting her bitterness regarding Sierra’s inheritance behind her.

  Sierra quietly made the introductions between Aunt Simone and Caleb, then turned her full attention to the birthing of Morning Star’s foal.

  “Do you remember Morning Star?” Sierra asked Caleb, knowing that she’d told him on several occasions all about her horse and how much she meant to her. Morning Star had been the earth, sun, moon and stars all rolled into one in Sierra’s opinion. Not a day went by when she hadn’t ridden Morning Star across her familys’ land, galloping from one adventure to another with her most trusted companion.