Protected by a Hero

by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne

  “This is good,” he said a minute later, after he’d dug in.

  “Cass made it,” Jo told him proudly.

  “Cass, you are a hell of a cook.”

  They subsided into silence again and the others finally began to eat.

  When a few minutes had passed, Brian decided to stir things up a little. After a month at USSOCOM, he needed some action, and he wouldn’t get anywhere until he got them talking.

  “Here’s what I don’t understand. I’m sitting at a table with five beautiful women. How come none of you has a husband?”

  Sadie’s mouth dropped open. Two spots of color appeared high on Cass’s cheeks. “That’s none of your business.”

  “Maybe we’ve learned men aren’t worth the trouble.” Lena leaned forward, fork high in her hand as if she meant to stab someone. “Besides, I have a boyfriend. Who knows where it’s going?”

  “It better not be heading toward matrimony,” Cass snapped at her.

  “It can go wherever I want it to,” Lena retorted.

  “I’ll marry when the right man asks me,” Sadie said.

  Alice blinked and frowned. “Husband?” She sounded as if she didn’t understand the word.

  “Some people think marriage is obsolete,” Jo said loftily, shoveling her fork into her green beans.

  Cass turned on her. “Who says that? Sean?”

  “Maybe.”

  Brian watched them bicker. This was too much fun. It was like launching a hand grenade into a wasps’ nest.

  “You’re way older than any of us.” Alice turned to him suddenly. “Why aren’t you married?”

  “Who’s to say I’m not?” he countered, although her accusation stung. He wasn’t way older. Maybe five or six years older than Cass.

  “Are you?” Cass asked.

  Was that a flash of disappointment in her eyes? Of course it wasn’t, he chided himself. He was a stranger to her. He’d have to remedy that as fast as he could. “Not yet. But I will be soon.” Cass nodded and concentrated on her food.

  “Who’s the lucky lady?” Lena asked sardonically.

  “She’s sitting at this table.” He wanted to take back the words as soon as he’d said them. What the hell had made him set off a bomb like that? How many times did leaping before he looked have to get him in trouble before he finally learned?

  “What?” Sadie said.

  “Who?” Jo demanded, looking from one to another of her sisters.

  “You’re an idiot.” Lena cut a bite-size chunk off her slice of roast beef. Cass just stared at him, fork and knife suspended above her plate.

  “It’s Cass, isn’t it?” Alice said suddenly. “I saw—” She bit off her words and busied herself with her food as the rest of them turned to stare at her.

  “What did you see?” Cass demanded.

  “Nothing. I saw him coming here—looking for you. That’s all.” Alice popped a hunk of beef into her mouth and chewed.

  “That had better be all,” Cass told her with a shake of her head. “Don’t be so gullible. Mr. Lake’s just having you on.”

  “No. I’m not,” Brian told her firmly, deciding to throw caution to the wind one last time. “Alice is right. I didn’t just come to fix the house. I came to marry you.”

  In all her years of interacting with ranch hands, Cass had dealt with angry men, lazy men, suspicious men and stupid men, but she’d never dealt with a proposal from a stranger. Not even Bob had tried that.

  “Mr. Lake—”

  “Brian.”

  “Mr. Lake—”

  “At least call me Lieutenant. Or you could just say sir.”

  “Mr. Lake, I don’t know how it is where you come from, but around here a man gets to know a woman before he asks her to marry him.”

  “Who said I was asking?”

  Cass blinked and tried again. “I never said I had any interest—”

  “Again, I’m not asking you to marry me, Cass. Not now. I’m just letting you know my intentions. Where I come from, that’s the honorable thing to do.” Brian took a bite of his beef and closed his eyes. “Heavenly. I’m going to be one spoiled man when we tie the knot.”

  Cass stood up, dropped her utensils on her plate, caught her napkin before it slipped to the floor and slammed it on the table.

  “Cass,” Lena warned.

  “I’m fine,” Cass snapped, but she ached to head out on the range with a bushel basket of fireworks. Some M-80s ought to do it. They were hard to find, not like in the old days when any stupid teenager could blow things up if he wanted to. Cass felt sure that was all for the best. Most people weren’t careful like she was. Still, at times like these she wished the drugstore stocked them. Next to the pads and tampons would be appropriate.

  Instead, she went to the sink and poured herself a glass of water, even though she already had one.

  When she sat back down, she refused to meet Brian’s gaze. She wasn’t going to let him get to her, no matter what he said.

  “So you’re a sailor, huh?” Lena said, sizing him up. “What’s wrong; Army wouldn’t take you?”

  “Army didn’t have the specialty I wanted.”

  “And what was that?”

  “Explosives. I like to blow shit up.”

  Cass choked on the water she’d just drunk. Sadie thumped her on the back.

  “What a coincidence,” Lena said. “Cass likes—”

  “Dessert. Chocolate.” Cass stood up again and carried her plate to the sink. “Sadie, help clear the table.”

  “I’ve barely started eating.”

  “Take a load off, Cass. I’ll do the dishes tonight. When I’m done.”

  Everyone fell silent at Brian’s pronouncement and Cass stared at him. What the hell was the General up to now? Sending them an explosives expert who did dishes, too?

  A ripple of unease ran through her. She didn’t like the idea of the SEAL staying in the house. If he knew about explosions, would he figure out what she was doing when she went off on her own? Would she have to stop turning to fireworks when she got angry? She hated the thought of censoring herself. Without that outlet for her feelings, she’d actually have to…feel them.

  To hell with that.

  When she didn’t answer, he just smiled. It shouldn’t have affected her, but it did, sending a tide of heat through her body that left her uncomfortable and flushed.

  “You can help dry,” he offered. “It’ll be like playing house.”

  Cass barely bit back a curse, and she had to work hard through the rest of the meal and the cleanup afterward not to lose her cool. Her sisters seemed to think it was all a big joke and she was glad when they scattered and left her and Brian to finish up.

  She thought she’d never seen a sight as sexy as the muscular man elbows deep in sudsy water. Their dishes looked fragile in his large hands but he worked carefully and didn’t chip any of them.

  She was drying the last pan when Brian said, “See, we’re perfectly compatible. We’ll be married in no time.”

  Cass hung up the pan and threw her towel on the counter. “All right. That’s it,” she said.

  “That’s what?” He pulled the plug from the sink and let the water drain out.

  “Let’s go. Now.” She headed for the door.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” She led the way outside, across the yard and through Sadie’s garden toward a tall clipped wall of an evergreen hedge, not looking back to see if he followed. She knew he was behind her. Could sense his steady gaze on the back of her head.

  It was a measure of their family’s moral code that very few of Chance Creek’s citizens had ever gotten lost in the Two Willows hedge maze, because it was entirely capable of baffling unsuspecting wanderers. Even as little children, before their mother had died, their father’s prolonged absences had given Cass and her sisters such a deep understanding of what it meant to be left behind that they had tacitly decided no one would ever feel that kind of pain on their watch. They h
ad escorted each new visitor through the maze in an orderly and thorough fashion—Cass remembered holding her friends’ hands—until the guest had memorized the way and could be trusted to explore the maze on his or her own.

  Amelia had planted the maze as a child and tended it as long as she lived. Sadie had taken over when she passed, the way she took over all the gardens on the ranch. The maze remained as it had ever been, the shrubbery as tall as the roof of the house, but precisely clipped into passages that never changed. You would think that between their pedantic method of revealing its secrets and the number of times she’d traced the paths it held, the maze would hold no more magic for her.

  You’d be wrong.

  Because something was special in that part of the ranch. Even newcomers remarked on an uncanny sense that things were different here.

  Brian stopped at the entrance to the maze. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve never seen one of these on private property before.”

  “In!” Cass pointed toward the opening.

  “What’s going on?” Sadie, clippers in hand, popped out from the passage that branched off to the left.

  “Jesus, Sadie, don’t do that!” Cass put a hand to her heart. “I’m taking Mr. Lake to the standing stone. Time to sort this out.”

  “Ooh. I want to come.” Sadie lay the clippers down and stripped off her gardening gloves.

  “We didn’t ask for company.” But her sister ignored her protests and Cass decided to be grateful Lena, Alice and Jo weren’t here, too.

  “You think you can lose me in there?” Brian demanded.

  “I won’t give you the chance. We’ve got an appointment to keep.”

  Brian raised an eyebrow, but allowed her to escort him through the tall evergreen shrubbery to the center of the maze, where a large, rectangular obelisk stood. The standing stone had inspired Amelia to plant the maze around it all those years ago. No one knew who’d decided to wedge the large piece of granite vertically into the ground, or how they’d carried it here from Silver Falls, twenty miles away, where it must have been quarried. All that had happened so long ago the story hadn’t been passed down. What had been transmitted from generation to generation was the stone’s uncanny ability to answer questions.

  The stone didn’t speak, of course. And its answers didn’t always come clear at first, but they did come, and often in a smack-you-in-the-face kind of way. The Reeds had learned not to enter the exercise lightly and they warned their friends to exercise caution, as well.

  But strangers were fair game.

  “After all, any grown-up knows not to ask a question you don’t really want an answer to,” Alice had once said.

  “Nice rock,” Brian said, clearly unimpressed.

  “Go ahead. Ask.” Cass folded her arms over her chest again.

  “Ask what?” Brian cocked his head.

  “Ask the standing stone if you and I are going to get married.”

  “You think it’s going to answer me?” He grinned and Cass shook her head in exasperation. Really, the SEAL was far too handsome to go around smiling like that. When he did she went all funny inside.

  She didn’t like that one bit.

  “It’ll definitely answer,” Sadie said helpfully.

  “Be specific,” Cass directed. “You have to word things carefully. The stone will only be as clear as you are. Ask your question, then wait for an answer.”

  “You’re putting me on.”

  Cass had a feeling Brian could be stubborn when he wanted to. Sadie jumped to her rescue. “If you ask and don’t get an answer, Cass’ll let you kiss her.”

  Cass turned on her, but before she could lay into Sadie, Brian laughed out loud. “You’re on.” He faced the stone, and as angry as Cass was, she decided she wanted to see what happened next, although she took a step away from Brian just in case he tried to steal that kiss before the stone could give its response. SEALs were trained to be sneaky, after all.

  “I’ll get you for that later,” she murmured to Sadie.

  Sadie shrugged.

  “Oh great and wonderful Standing Stone, in your wisdom, nobility and…” Brian thought a moment. “And rectangular-ness, please reveal to me the truth. Will I marry the fair Cass?” He ended with a little flourish, like a bow mixed with a gyrating dance step.

  Sadie gaped at him. “You are so going to pay for that, you know.”

  “Sweetie, I’ve fought in battles where bad guys were shooting back at me. This guy’s solid…” He rapped on the stone. “But he’s immobile. I’m not worried.”

  Cass could only shake her head. “Well, that’s that. Now it’s just a matter of time.”

  “Time until what? Until we kiss?”

  He was truly insufferable, Cass thought. Hot, but insufferable. Thank goodness his time at Two Willows was temporary. They’d put up with him until he fixed the house, then wave good-bye as he went back to wherever he came from. All this marriage talk was insufferable.

  “Come on,” she said, and led the way back out. When they exited the maze and started toward the house, the light breeze that had been playing around all day kicked up into a fiercer gust, and Cass had just lifted a hand to push her hair out of her eyes when a stiff square of paper slapped against Brian’s cheek. He yelped in surprise, then chuckled as he peeled it off his face. “What the heck is this?”

  “It’s an invitation.” Sadie was by his side in an instant, tiny next to his hulking frame. She took it from his hand and straightened the well-worn paper. “A wedding invitation. From Boone and Riley Rudman’s wedding last spring. I was looking for this. I wanted to add it to my keepsake album and couldn’t find it.”

  “How on earth did it get out here?” Cass asked.

  But Sadie had stopped in her tracks, her mouth open. “You… you two are going to get married,” she said.

  Despite the warmth of the day, delicate chills traced a path down Cass’s spine. She knew without looking that Brian had drawn nearer. He took the invitation from Sadie’s hands.

  “This is my answer?”

  “That’s how it usually works. The clearer the answer, the surer you can be it’ll come true.”

  “Not this time,” Cass said. She snatched the invitation back. “This is about Boone and Riley’s wedding. Not mine.” But even as she spoke, her heart sank. If someone else had received this kind of answer, she would have counseled them the exact same way Sadie had. She met her sister’s gaze and silently pleaded with her to agree, but Sadie simply shook her head.

  Cass knew Sadie was right. This had happened to her so many times in the past. To other people, too. Children and grown-ups alike standing just the way she was now. Protesting the answer they’d come seeking but didn’t expect to get.

  Brian took the invitation back from her and held it up. “Seems to me your stone could hardly be any clearer. You and me. Rings. Cake. Presents.” He obviously still wasn’t taking any of this seriously, but Cass had to. Of course it was silly to believe a stone could answer your questions. But it always did.

  And it was always right.

  “Sadie—meeting in the pagoda. Now. Tell the others.”

  Sadie dropped the clippers she’d just picked up and broke into a run before Cass even finished. “You’re not invited,” Cass told Brian bluntly.

  Brian held up his hands in a placating manner. “None of this is my fault. You’re the one who told me to ask the stone.”

  Cass wasn’t listening. “Go back to the house and stay there,” she said. “Go to bed, or do whatever soldiers do when they’re not necessary. I don’t want to see you again tonight.”

  “Sailors. I’m a Navy SEAL, remember?”

  “Whoop de do.” She should have known he wouldn’t listen. As she retraced her steps, he kept pace with her. Cass was far too flustered to think of a way to shake him off. When she spotted Bob Finchley’s truck in the driveway, and the man himself striding toward them from the direction of the barns, her heart sank. The last thing she needed was another
run-in with him. Didn’t he ever call it quits? Why was he on her property at all?

  “Evening,” he called out when he got near. Dressed in jeans, boots and a t-shirt that had seen better days, a battered brown Stetson on his head, he looked like the quintessential cowboy, something Cass used to find masculine and attractive. Now she saw that on Bob it was just… wrong. It had something to do with his lanky brown hair, the rolling way he walked… and the fact he’d rarely done a lick of real work the entire time he’d been on the ranch.

  All her anger rushed up at once. Bad enough he’d stolen from them and played her like a fine violin. Now he was back to gloat?

  “What do you want, Bob? Get out of here before I have you arrested,” Cass demanded. She wished she could follow through on that threat, but there was no way to do that without letting the General know how badly she’d failed. Bob knew she hadn’t told anyone about the stolen money. She was too afraid the General would take the ranch away from her to do that. When she’d first confronted the overseer about it, he’d left the ranch—and stayed away for several weeks—but once Bob figured out there wouldn’t be any legal repercussions, he’d started to come back around. Cass didn’t know what to do.

  “Just came by to say hello to my girl.”

  “Give me a break.”

  “How about I give you a kiss instead? Everyone in town is talking about our engagement.”

  He actually leaned in to try. Cass lifted her hands to shove him away, but before either of them reached the other, Brian stepped between them. “Evening,” he said. “Name’s Brian Lake. How about you show yourself off the ranch?”

  Bob surveyed him. “How about you shove your foot up your ass? Cass, come on. Let’s ditch this asshole and go watch the sunset.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Cass saw red. She ached for an M-80. A whole string of them. Maybe—

  Bob sidestepped around Brian and confronted her. “Honey, you’ve got to settle down. I know you’re mad. I know you think I did something wrong, but I didn’t. I was only planning for our future; yours and mine. We’re too good together to throw that away over a little mistake—hey!”

  Brian had stepped forward, grabbed Bob’s hat and tossed it a dozen feet away.