by Francis Ray
“Why do you look so unhappy?”
She hesitated. “He heard you chastise one of the construction workers for being careless and causing an accident. Although the foreman said it was justified, Jess doesn’t like loud noises and he’s a bit afraid of you.”
Blade covered her hand. “Are you sad for him or me?”
“Both.”
He briefly squeezed her hand. Sierra was as caring as she was beautiful. Only Mary had worried about people’s opinion of him. He’d never given a damn … until Sierra. “Eat up. Martin said I was to put any leftovers in the refrigerator and dirty dishes in the sink. Val will take care of them in the morning.”
“You’re challenged in the kitchen, too?”
“A bit.” The corners of his mouth kicked up.
Sierra scooped up a bite of salad. “Welcome to the club.”
Sierra woke up with a smile. Blade was the reason, and she wasn’t running from it any longer. From the mind-blowing kisses he had given her last night, he wasn’t, either.
Throwing back the covers, Sierra went to shower. It had probably helped that yesterday afternoon Dominique had come by after dropping the photographs off at Blade’s office to tell her that, for what it was worth, she didn’t think he was playing games.
Dressed, Sierra went downstairs. As soon as she saw Jess and his flower, she’d promised Blade, she’d come up for breakfast.
She stepped onto the sidewalk and turned toward the entrance of the construction site. Her heart leaped into her throat. She began to run, annoyed because her fitted skirt hobbled her.
“Jess.” Worried, she squatted down beside the big man on his knees. His hands covered his face; his wide shoulders shook with the force of his sobs. Less than a foot away, the flower he had lovingly cared for lay crumpled and mashed, the delicate yellow petals ripped away.
“Jess, it’s all right. I’ll get you another flower.”
“He’s as stupid as they say he is,” a male voice jeered.
“A grown man crying over a stupid flower,” another male voice joined the first one. “Makes me sick to my stomach.”
Furious, Sierra rose to face the two men who had spoken. “Did you do that to his flower?”
Both men appeared to be in their early twenties, clean-shaven, wearing hard hats, faded jeans, and steel-toed boots. “So what?” one of them asked.
“It was mean and spiteful,” she told him.
“Hey, Jess, you going to let her fight your battles for you?” one asked with a sneer.
Sierra placed herself in front of the cowering Jess. “Back off. Now!”
The younger and leaner man stuck his thumbs into the front pockets of his worn jeans. “If you’ll come back to our truck, maybe we can discuss it.”
“This discussion is over,” she told them.
The smirk vanished from his face. “Looks like we got a woman, Mike, who needs to be taught the proper respect for a man.”
“When I see one, I’ll show respect,” she told them, stepping out of her backless sandals. “All I see are two braying jackasses.”
Anger stole across their faces. Scowling, they moved menacingly toward her.
“Touch her and you’ll regret it,” promised a deadly voice behind her.
The raw fury in Blade’s voice made her blood run cold. Even Jess stopped crying. Either the hecklers were too angry to care, or they just didn’t recognize Blade. They forgot about Sierra and rushed Blade.
As the nearer one ran past her, Sierra stuck out her foot. He went down cursing. She turned to see Blade send the other man to his knees with a sharp karate chop to his neck. Blade reached Sierra just as the first man struggled to his feet. With one swift jab to his nose, Blade sent him down again. This time he didn’t get up.
Seething, Blade grabbed Sierra by her arms. “Don’t ever get in the way again!”
Sierra bristled. She had never liked being told what to do. “It’s debatable who got into whose way.” She watched Blade fight to control his temper; then the construction foreman and several men rushed up to grab the men.
Blade released Sierra because he was afraid he’d shake her if he didn’t. He fought to control the violence that strained to be free and drew in a calming breath. He couldn’t believe she’d defied him. Again. A red haze had formed when he saw her in danger.
“We have them,” the foreman said.
“Write their severance checks and get them off my site immediately,” Blade told him, his unbending gaze locked on Sierra. “Pass the word, Crane. If any man thinks of harassing Ms. Grayson, he won’t like the consequences.”
“Jess, too,” Sierra added, defiantly meeting Blade’s chilling stare. “No one harasses him again.” It was a good thing she’d grown up with a strong-willed mother and four brothers or she never would have been able to stand up to Blade. The crew, including Jess, quickly scattered, leaving them alone.
“Don’t defy me, Sierra.”
“Then don’t put me in a position where I have to,” she countered. She’d grown up with overprotective men, but Blade’s anger seemed more somehow. He was livid. If she hadn’t known better, she’d think fear drove him.
Shane appeared out of nowhere. “Blade, you have a call.”
After a long, tension-filled moment, Blade walked away. Sierra let out a relieved breath she hadn’t known she was holding.
“Giving in isn’t always losing, especially when it might lessen another person’s worry,” Shane said, and then he followed Blade.
For some odd reason, Sierra felt chastised. Then she decided it wasn’t her fault that men wanted to be macho. She could take care of herself.
Her steps were slow as she returned to Navarone Place. Deciding to skip breakfast, she went to the sales office. She was barely settled when her cell phone rang. “Hello.”
“This is Shane. Blade had to leave on business. He’s not sure when he’ll return. Good-bye.”
Sierra clutched the phone. “Running away” was more like it. This time he had made sure she wouldn’t be able to find him.
NINE
Sierra needed answers.
Blade wouldn’t give them to her. Neither would Shane. But she knew someone who might. Too keyed up to sit, Sierra placed the call, then paced.
“Good morning, Casa de Serenidad,” the hotel operator greeted her.
“Faith McBride-Grayson, please. Sierra Grayson calling.”
“Certainly, Ms. Grayson. She’s in her office. I’ll connect you. Have a good day.”
“Thank you,” Sierra said automatically, but her day was shaping up to be anything but.
“Good morning, Sierra,” Faith greeted in her perpetually cheerful voice. “You just missed Brandon.”
“It’s you I wanted to talk to.” There was no sense beating around the bush. “It’s about Blade.”
“Everything is all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes. No.” Sierra blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know. He’s hiding something from me, something in his past, and I think you know what it is.”
There was a long pause. “Have you asked Blade?”
“That would be the sensible course of action, but I have a strong suspicion that he wouldn’t tell me.” Sierra stopped pacing and sat on the edge of her desk. “Call me crazy, but until whatever it is, is out in the open, he’ll never be happy.”
“You’re right.”
Her grip on the phone tightened as she came upright. “Then you’ll help me?”
There was another long pause on the phone, then, “I’m sorry. I can’t. But I will tell you that Blade deserves happiness.”
“How am I supposed to help him find happiness if I don’t know what makes him look so tormented at times?” Sierra asked tightly.
“You’ll find a way, Sierra. Few things have ever stopped you when you’ve made your mind up.”
“Who said my mind is made up?”
“I can hear it in your voice. You care about him,” Faith replied softly. “Don’t worr
y. We’ll keep this just between us.”
Sierra tunneled a hand through her hair. “Faith, don’t read too much into this. Blade and I clash.”
“That’s to be expected,” Faith told her with assurance. “You’re both used to having your way. Compromising isn’t in either of your natures.”
“I can compromise when I have to,” Sierra told her sister-in-law. “Blade is the one who can’t.”
Faith laughed. “I bet if I asked Blade, he’d say just the opposite.”
Sierra wrinkled her nose. “He likes giving orders.”
“And you don’t like taking them.” Faith laughed again. “You’re a smart woman, Sierra. You’ll find your way.”
“It would help if you’d tell me what I want to know.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t betray a confidence. I hope you understand.”
“I knew before I called that it was a long shot. Brandon is a lucky guy.”
“I’m the lucky one,” Faith said softly.
“Let’s agree that you both are. Tell that brother of mine I said hello and give him a hug for me. Good-bye.”
“I will. Good-bye.”
Disconnecting the call, Sierra dialed Luke’s house. Perhaps his wife, Catherine, a respected child psychologist, could help her understand why Blade’s response had been so dramatic.
“Hello.”
Luke. Sierra’s shoulders snapped back. Her intuitive oldest brother was the last person she wanted to talk to at the moment.
“Sierra.”
She could have gladly strangled the person who had invented caller ID. “Luke, you’re home.”
“Where else would I be at this time of morning?”
Sierra’s gaze went to her watch. Nine thirty, which meant it was eight thirty there. She’d been so caught up in finding answers that she had forgotten about the time difference.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she quickly answered. “I guess I’m not acclimated to Central Time yet.”
“You haven’t had any problems before today,” Luke replied.
Of all her brothers, Luke was the only one she had never been able to get anything over on, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be a first time. “I was up late working on a national campaign for Navarone Place. Dominique did an incredible job taking photographs. We worked on it most of yesterday. I made a video. Sabra won’t be the only Grayson immortalized on film,” she said.
“You’re talking fast.”
“I’m just excited.” Having an ex-FBI agent as a brother had distinct disadvantages at times.
“Sierra, I’m giving you one more chance to tell me what’s the matter. If I don’t get a straight answer, I’m catching the next flight to Dallas,” he promised. “When I ask again, I’ll be looking you in the face.”
Luke didn’t bluff. She told him everything. “There was no reason for Blade to get so angry. You and the others taught me how to take care of myself.”
“Sierra, you had better be glad that I’m not standing in front of you,” Luke said, his voice clipped. “You are not invincible. Any scum who’ll attack a woman doesn’t care about fighting fair.”
“I know that. I was just helping him,” she defended.
“He didn’t need your help, as he proved, and getting in the way could have distracted him enough that things could have gone the other way,” Luke warned. “You’re old enough and, I hope, smart enough to know the difference between being fearless and being reckless.”
Each word stung as he had intended. “I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t take that flight.”
“At first maybe, but not later. All of us miss you.”
“I miss all of you, too.” She breathed easier. He was willing to let it pass. “And I promise to learn discretion.”
“I wonder if that’s possible,” he said slowly. “You’d spit in the eye of the devil and count the cost later. That worries me.”
He couldn’t have said anything else that would have impacted her as much. She idolized Luke. “I promise, Luke,” she said again.
“See that you do, or I’m taking that flight.”
She tucked her lower lip between her teeth. “Okay. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye.”
Sierra slowly pulled the headset off and placed it on her desk. She’d been scolded by three men in less than two hours. Since Luke was the only Grayson, that was a record.
Blade strode out of his penthouse toward the elevator, his mood growing darker with each determined step. It had been doing so since he’d talked, make that tried to talk, to Sierra. She didn’t know the meaning of the word “restraint.” She believed just as Mary had that there wasn’t any situation she couldn’t handle. He would never forget or forgive himself that because of him Mary had been proven wrong in the worst possible way.
Stepping onto the elevator, he realized Shane was already inside. Blade hit R with a balled fist. Anger and rage shimmered around him. He wanted to keep hitting. Instead he slammed his palm against the paneled wall of the elevator.
He’d failed to keep Mary safe as he’d always promised. He couldn’t face the possibility of failing again. She’d paid the price for his incompetence. Never again.
Blade’s cell phone rang. He ignored the second and third ring coming from the inside of his sports coat. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. On the fourth ring it went into voice mail.
Shane’s cell phone rang. “Shane.” His sharp gaze cut to Blade’s rigid body. “Falcon says to answer your phone.”
“I don’t want to speak with Dominique.”
“Daniel.”
On cue Blade’s phone rang again. The elevator door slid open. He stepped out and started up the short steps that would take him to the roof and the waiting helicopter. The motor started; the blades slowly began to turn.
“We’re about to board the chopper,” Shane said. “Perhaps—” He made a slashing motion with his hand across his throat. The pilot cut the motor.
Furious, Blade turned on one of his two best friends. “Why the hell did you do that? I don’t want—”
“It’s about Sierra.”
For a moment Blade couldn’t breathe. “Not that,” Shane quickly assured him. “Daniel sounded pissed, not scared.”
Blade’s fingers fumbled for his phone. After what had happened to Mary, he’d been scared, then enraged. “Is Sierra all right?”
“Thanks to you,” answered a deep male voice.
“Who is this?” Blade demanded, putting his hand over his ear as a low-flying aircraft passed over the rooftop.
“Sierra’s brother, Luke Grayson. As to your next question, I asked Daniel to track you down after Sierra called.”
Opening the door to the stairwell, Blade stepped back inside. “She called you?”
“Not intentionally.”
Blade rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not following you.”
“I’ll try to lay it out for you. Sierra is as independent as they come. Her call was not the norm. Something serious happened besides just her stepping in when she shouldn’t have. You want to tell me what that was?”
Besides his acting like a crazed manic? “I’m not sure I’m following.”
“All right, Blade, I’ll let you play dumb this time. I owe you one, but that doesn’t mean I won’t come down on you like a falling mountain if you hurt Sierra.”
“We both know, if I hurt Sierra, she’d be the first one to get in my face,” Blade said.
“And I’d be the second of many. Later.”
Deep in thought, Blade flipped the phone closed. There was only one reason for her to call her brother. Blade opened the door and found Shane waiting.
“Do I send the chopper back to the hangar or are we going to the airport?”
“The hangar.”
Determined not to mope, Sierra left the sales center as soon she got off the phone with Luke. If she couldn’t solve the mystery surrounding Blade, she could at least help Jess feel better. A quick
phone call with the W concierge gave her the information she needed.
In less than an hour she was back at the site wearing a hard hat and trying to locate Jess among the many men at the site. She’d ask someone, but once any of the workers, women and men, recognized her, they took off.
Blade’s doing.
“Ms. Grayson, can I help you?”
With the Etruscan-style planter in her hands, Sierra turned carefully to see the foreman. He didn’t look happy to see her. “Good morning. I was looking for Jess. If you could point me in the right direction I’d appreciate it.”
His gaze flickered from the planter filled with English ivy, pink geraniums, and pink begonias. “Ah, are you planning on giving him that?”
“Just showing it to him. I’ll keep it in my office until he gets off.” She pointedly glanced around. “Where is he?”
A frustrated sigh drifted from the man’s chest. He pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt. “Come in. This is Crane. Send Jess to level three. Over and out.” He shoved the device back in place. “If you want to go back downstairs, I’ll bring him to you.”
Sierra stood her ground. As much as possible, she was going to show the workers that she was just an ordinary person and they had nothing to fear from her. “I’ll wait.”
“Here he comes now.”
Sierra saw Jess hurrying toward them. He smiled at her, then spoke to his boss: “You want to see me, Mr. Crane?”
“She does.”
Sierra held out the planter. “This is for you. The woman at the nursery said it needs sun. There’s a bronze stand, too, if you want to use it.”
Jess looked from the plants to Sierra, then back again, as if not quite understanding.
Sierra patiently held the planter. “I’ll keep it in my office and you can pick it up after you get off work.”
“For me?” His fingers gently touched the pink blossoms. “They’re pretty.”
“And I know you’ll keep them that way.”
He nodded, then lifted his long arms wide as if to hug her. Quickly she stepped back. “You’ll make me drop the flowers.” Jess grinned and touched the blooms again.