Fire? Sylvie was instantly wide awake, fear cascading over her. She threw on a sweatshirt over her sleep shirt and pulled on jeans. After thrusting her feet into her boots, she ran outside. Billows of smoke were coming from the far corner of the barn, but she noticed the horses were all out in the corral.
What in the world?
Dawson had found the long garden hose and turned it on. He pulled it toward the barn but it probably wouldn’t make it the entire distance. She knew there was another hose inside the barn, they used it for cleaning stalls, so she let him take the outside, while she went in.
The smoke was thick and heavy. She started to cough and pulled up the edge of her sweatshirt to cover her nose and mouth as she found the water spigot. Her eyes watered and burned, but she cranked the water on high and began spraying the walls of the barn.
Doing so only created more smoke, but she didn’t care. Her goal wasn’t just to save the barn structure but to prevent the fire from spreading. Wildfires were dangerous, and while June wasn’t the driest month of the year, they hadn’t seen a ton of rain, either.
The seriousness of the situation had her murmuring a desperate prayer.
Lord, please help us control this fire!
Soon other ranch hands came running to help.
“Check the horses,” she said, her voice ragged from smoke. Several spun away to do that.
She was grateful for the additional hands, but didn’t relinquish the hose, continuing to spray water over every surface, while slowly moving deeper into the barn. Her efforts combined with Dawson’s seemed to be working. The smoke thinned, revealing blackened wood.
But no flames.
Not trusting her smoke blurred eyes, she continued soaking the barn with water. As upset as she was with the fire, she couldn’t help feeling relieved the animals were outside.
Logically she knew that meant the fire had been set on purpose, but with no intention of hurting the livestock.
Harming the horses would lower the value of the property.
“Sylvie? Where are you?” Dawson’s voice was rough, too.
“Here.” Her voice was worse, barely loud enough to be heard. A fit of coughing hit hard, as she lowered the hose and examined the interior of the barn.
The fire was out, leaving charred wood and a large hole in the wall. It took her a moment to realize there had been a stack of hay piled there earlier. It was gone now, burned to a crisp. Clearly it had been used to start the fire.
“Sylvie!” Dawson’s voice was louder now, and she turned to find him coming up behind her. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
It took her a moment to realize the ceiling of the barn was also charred black from the fire. Understanding the entire structure was unstable, she allowed Dawson to tug her away. She stopped just long enough to shut off the water spigot, tossing the hose into the equipment room and then heading out into blessedly clear mountain air.
Still, she couldn’t seem to stop coughing. Dawson was coughing too, but not as badly as she was. Kilo was running back and forth, obviously concerned about the fire and the horses. Dawson pulled her far away from the barn, where the breeze could wash over them.
After several long minutes, she was able to breathe without feeling like she was swallowing razor blades. She dragged her gaze up to meet Dawson’s. “That fire was set on purpose.”
“I know. The damage was only to the structure, not to the livestock.” Dawson pulled her into his arms for a tight hug. “This is serious, Sylvie. If Kilo hadn’t started growling and wanting to go out, I wouldn’t have seen it in time. The fire could have spread throughout the entire ranch.”
“I know.” She leaned on his strength for a long moment before pulling away to rake her gaze over the damaged barn. Ranch hands swarmed the area, muttering amongst themselves. She had no idea if one of them was responsible, or if the fire had been started by Sean, Paul or even Josh.
She didn’t want to believe any of them would do this to her, but the evidence was glaringly obvious that someone had.
“We’ll need to work on repairs come morning,” she said. “At least it’s June and not the middle of winter. The horses will be okay outside for a few days.”
“Sylvie?” Josh crossed over to join them, his brow creased in a frown. “What happened?”
“You tell me.” She didn’t bother to hide the edge in her tone. “You’re the foreman, how did this happen under your watch?”
His eyes widened in shock and he actually took a step back as if she’d slugged him in the gut. “I don’t know. It’s the middle of the night, anyone could have done this.”
“Are all the ranch hands accounted for?” Dawson asked.
Josh swung to look at him. “Two guys, Eddie and Calvin left yesterday to visit their respective families. But everyone else was in the bunkhouse when we woke to the scent of smoke.”
“The livestock were put in the coral before the fire was set.” She drilled him with a steely gaze. “Whoever did this didn’t want to injure the animals.”
“I thought maybe you got the horses out,” Josh admitted.
“No, the arsonist did that,” Dawson drawled. “Pretty nice of him to make sure the horses were okay, don’t you think?”
Josh flushed at the veiled accusation. “Look, I didn’t have anything to do with this. I smelled smoke, woke up and came outside to see you two fighting the fire. Why would I try to take down the barn? Repairing the building makes more work for me.”
“For all of us,” Sylvie corrected. “Get the horses separated into different paddocks for the rest of the night.”
“Sure thing.” Josh’s tone was subdued as he turned away. She had no idea if Josh was telling her the truth or not. At this point, she didn’t trust anyone.
Except Dawson.
For a nanosecond, she considered the possibility that Dawson had started the fire, then had come inside to wake her up. Then she shook off the thought.
Dawson had risked his life to fight the fire. He’d been with her on lizard trail when the boulder came down and had shoved her out of the way, deflecting the pitchfork that had come flying toward her. There was a slim possibility he was working with an accomplice, but her gut said otherwise.
The man had put his life on the line over the years while serving his country as a SEAL. Besides, what was his motive? If she were honest, she would admit that Dawson didn’t seem the type to settle down as a rancher. Why else would he have spent twenty years in the Navy?
He didn’t want her ranch, and she believed him when he said his father didn’t want it, either.
But someone sure did.
“Sylvie? What’s going on?”
She spun toward her father’s voice. He stood in the doorway, gaping at the activity taking place yards from the house. Dawson put his arm around her waist and walked with her toward the house to talk to her dad.
“There was a fire in the barn, but it’s been taken care of now.” She tried to smile reassuringly. “Nothing for you to worry about. None of the horses were inside.”
“How did that happen?” Her dad looked bewildered. “Where’s Josh?”
She swallowed a sigh. Part of the reason the ranch hands didn’t respect her authority might be because her father leaned on Josh rather than on her in times of crisis. He claimed to be retired, but then went to Josh with any problems, rather than coming to her.
“I told him to take care of separating the horses. He claims he was asleep when the fire started.”
“You don’t believe him?” Her father asked.
“I didn’t say that.” She glanced at Dawson, trying to silently warn him not to spill the beans on the threats against her. He frowned but gave a small nod of agreement. “Dawson noticed the fire first, then alerted me. Thankfully, we were able to douse the flames before they got out of control.”
“Kilo was the one who warned me about the fire,” Dawson said. “He growled the minute he smelled smoke. I didn’t realize Sylvie had gone inside the barn to use the hose inside the building. If I had known, I’d have switched places with her.”
“God was watching over you both,” her dad said.
She nodded then dropped to her knees to hug the lab. “Thank you, Kilo.”
“Tell Josh I want to talk to him when he’s finished,” her father said. “A barn fire is unacceptable.”
She rested her forehead on the top of Kilo’s broad head for a moment before rising to her feet. “I’ve already made that clear, Dad. The important thing now is to keep the livestock safe and to repair the barn as soon as possible.”
“Sylvie has the situation under control, Connor,” Dawson added. “She risked her life to go inside the barn to fight the fire. And she’ll talk to the ranch hands especially if there’s a chance one of them carelessly started the blaze.”
Her father’s gaze softened. “I’m glad you’re not hurt, Sylvie.” He leaned against the door jamb, then turned away. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
“Sure.” She watched as her father slowly retreated. “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said to Dawson.
“You deserve recognition for what you did tonight.” Dawson was frowning at the ranch house. “Your father should know you’re more than capable of running the ranch.”
“He does.” Most of the time. She sighed, then added, “I think it’s a knee jerk reaction for him to seek out Josh. They worked together for twenty years.” She glanced one more time out at the damaged barn. “We’ll need to get started on the repairs ASAP. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
“I’ll stick around and help,” Dawson offered.
“Only if your dad doesn’t need you.” She said the words although deep down she wanted nothing more than for Dawson to stay with her. Not just tomorrow, but until they’d figured out who had targeted her.
An alarming realization, in more ways than one.
Dawson was torn between helping his dad and staying to protect Sylvie. He followed her inside, knowing that if he had a choice he’d stay right here.
But that wasn’t fair to his father or Max. He told himself that Sylvie should be safe while working with the ranch hands on rebuilding the barn.
Although the simple truth was that Sylvie wouldn’t be safe. Not until they caught the guy responsible.
He considered calling his teammates for help, but then decided against it. Dallas was the only one who knew anything about ranching and last he’d heard the guy was dealing with his own family issues. Nico was still searching for Ava, and the other guys had all found women to spend their life with.
There was no doubt one of them would come running if he called, but what could they do? He didn’t think they knew how to ride, except maybe for Dallas, and that was a large part of working the ranch.
It would be difficult to keep up with Sylvie without being able to ride a horse.
No, he’d feel better if he was the one keeping her safe. Even if that meant finding help for his dad.
His clothes reeked like smoke. Before he could find a way to ask Sylvie for spare clothes, she showed up in his doorway holding several pairs of jeans, shirts, socks and boxers. “These are from my dad and Sean, hopefully you’ll find something useful.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He gladly took the clothing. She went into another coughing fit that made him frown. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She waved a hand. “Fine. It will take time for my lungs to recover.” She tried to smile. “Good thing I never took up smoking. That should help, right?”
“Right.” His gaze dropped to her very kissable mouth. “Uh, thanks again. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” She turned away.
“Come, Kilo.” He stepped back and pointed to the spot on the floor next to the bed. “Lay down.”
Kilo stretched out and rested his head between his paws.
Changing out of his smoky clothes helped, but the stench lingered annoyingly in his nostrils. Dawson managed to get a few hours of sleep before Kilo nudged him.
He pushed himself upright with a groan. In the cold light of day, his abdominal muscles and the rest of his body ached as if he’d run a marathon rather than fighting a fire.
Man, he was getting too old for this.
Ignoring the pain, he got up, dressed in the borrowed clothes and opened his bedroom door. No surprise to see Sylvie’s door was open and there were noises coming from the kitchen.
The woman had more stamina than the energizer bunny. Admirable and annoying at the same time.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice still raspy from the smoke. “I need to take Kilo out.”
“That’s fine, coffee will be ready by then.” Her voice was worse than his, and he wished she’d consider getting checked out at the local clinic. Unfortunately, the town was a good twenty minutes away, and he doubted she’d agree.
The only bright side was that Chief Deputy Rick Holmes was due to come out this morning to talk about the threats Sylvie had reported. At least the deputy would be able to see the damage for himself.
Would the sheriff’s department would agree to post a deputy on the ranch for a couple of days? It couldn’t hurt to ask.
When he returned to the kitchen, the scent of coffee intermixed with the lingering odor of smoke. He wondered how long it would take to get that smell off him.
Why anyone smoked cigarettes was a mystery. He could barely stand the smell.
“Why don’t you let me make breakfast?” He took a few minutes to give Kilo fresh food and water. “I can whip up some eggs for us.”
She raised a brow. “First offering to clean up and now offering to cook? I’m impressed.”
“It’s not a big deal, I have to cook for myself all the time.” He gently nudged her out of the way. “Sit down and rest a bit. When do you think Deputy Holmes will show up?”
“I have no idea.” She did as he asked, cradling her coffee between her hands. “He’ll have to take the threats seriously now.”
“He better.” Dawson quickly broke eggs into a bowl and whipped them together. He poked his head in the fridge, found plenty of fixings for omelets and helped himself. “I’ll make some for your dad, too.”
“I’m not an invalid.” Connor’s voice was terse as he came into the kitchen. The older man moved gingerly toward the table, then slowly lowered himself into a chair. “What’s this about the sheriff’s department?”
“I thought we should report the fire,” Sylvie said quickly. “Just to be on the safe side.”
“I’m sure it was a careless accident.” Her father scowled. “No need to drag the deputies into our personal business.”
“I hope you like omelets,” Dawson interrupted, sensing an argument. “When do you expect Rhonda Joseph to be back?”
“She should be here by Monday,” Connor replied. “I’m sure Sylvie and I can manage another four days.”
“Absolutely,” Sylvie agreed. “Although I’ll need to come up with something for dinner. The chili will only last another day or two at the most.”
Dawson wanted to ask why Connor didn’t make dinner but kept his thoughts to himself. Maybe the older man hadn’t bothered to learn how to cook. He vaguely remembered his dad mentioning how Sylvie’s mother had passed away after suffering a brain aneurysm about fifteen years ago. Living in remote locations could be detrimental to getting access to medical care. He’d heard her mother was gone by the time they’d gotten the chopper fired up for transport.
Still, he was irked that Connor expected Sylvie to run the ranch and to cook.
“There’s plenty of meat in the freezer,” Connor said. “A pot roast would be nice.”
Dawson ground his teeth together, but Sylvie just said, “Good idea, Dad.”
The omelets didn’t take long. He plated the first two for Sylvie and Connor, then took the last one for himself. He joined them at the table. “I’d like to say grace.”
Connor nodded and took Sylvie’s hand as he bowed his head. Dawson had to give him credit for that, and tried to let go of his resentment on Sylvie’s behalf.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for this food we are about to eat. We ask that You continue to guide us on Your chosen path. Amen.”
“Amen,” Connor echoed.
“Amen,” Sylvie added.
“Dig in,” he joked, remembering how Kaleb had always prayed before they’d eaten MRE’s which hardly counted as real food. Then again, having something to eat was better than nothing.
As they ate, he noticed Connor only ate about half his omelet before pushing his plate away. He knew the poor guy probably didn’t have his normal appetite back, and felt guilty for being annoyed with him.
He knew what it was like to feel weak and helpless. Hadn’t he taken his bad mood out on the nursing staff? He’d apologized afterwards, brought them treats to make up for his less than pleasant behavior. But he knew his peace offering hadn’t taken the sting from his words.
More reason to give Connor the benefit of the doubt.
“Thanks for breakfast, Dawson,” Sylvie said, breaking the silence. “It’s delicious.”
“Not a problem.” He made a mental note to check out the freezer when he was finished. He could easily throw a roast in a slow cooker, assuming they had one. He’d noticed there were potatoes and carrots in the fridge that he could add as well.
“Call the deputy and tell him there’s no reason to come all the way out here,” Connor said. “I’m sure they have better things to do.”
“Actually, I think Deputy Holmes should come out to see the damage,” Dawson said. Sylvie glared at him, but he pushed on undeterred. “Maybe the fire was the result of someone being careless, but imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t gotten it under control. The fire could have taken over half the mountain, maybe even reaching the neighboring ranches. If you ask me, it would be good to have the ranch hands questioned by the police. Maybe the person responsible will think twice before doing something like that again.”
“Bah,” Connor groused. “The fire is over and done with. Seems like they should be more concerned with real crime.”
“How do you know this isn’t the work of someone who has struck before?” Dawson pressed. “Maybe one of the ranch hands likes to start fires for fun. We both know the ranch hands often move from ranch to ranch, especially if they stir up trouble. Have you acquired new staff recently?”
Connor considered this. “Sure. You know how things go, some of these guys have itchy feet. They don’t all stay in one spot forever. I think we’ve had four new guys start in the past few months, right Sylvie?”
“Yes. Tim March, Stuart Acorn, Vance Tippens, and Roland Carver.” Dawson was impressed with how easily she rattled off the names.
“See what I mean?” Dawson pinned Connor with a serious look. “What if one of those guys had caused trouble on another ranch? There’s no way to know if you have a bad egg if you don’t talk to the authorities.”
Connor seemed to consider this. “Maybe.”
“Dawson’s right, Dad.” Sylvie patted his hand. “Even if the new guys aren’t responsible, I think it’s a good idea for Deputy Holmes to put this on record in case something similar happens again.”
“More coffee anyone?” Dawson stood and reached for the pot.
“No thanks,” Connor said. “I’m fine.”
Sylvie nodded and pushed her mug within reach. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He refilled his and then resumed his seat. He was glad Sylvie had eaten all of her omelet.
“Dad, maybe you should get some rest.” Sylvie’s gaze was full of concern. “You have another radiation treatment coming up next week, don’t you? You need your strength.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Connor sighed. “Only two more to go. I’ll be glad when they’re over for good.”
“I know, Dad.” Sylvie finished her omelet and stood. “Come on, let’s get you settled in front of the TV so you can watch your favorite shows.”
“Daytime TV sucks,” her father announced. “If it wasn’t for those streaming services you arranged for me, I’d be bored out of my mind.”
“I know, Dad.” It sounded to Dawson as if Sylvie and her father had this same conversation often. He finished his meal, and his coffee. When Sylvie and Connor left the kitchen, he gathered the plates, filled the sink with soapy water, then explored the freezer.
By the time Sylvie returned, he had dishes washed and rinsed, and the roast thawing in warm water. “Hey, the beef roast was a great idea. If you can find a slow cooker, I’ll do the rest. It won’t take but a few minutes to cut up the potatoes and carrots. I’ll take care of it so you don’t have to.”
“Dawson, I didn’t expect you to take over Rhonda’s chores,” she protested. “That’s not your job, it’s mine.”
Since he still thought Connor could have helped, he shook his head and tried to lighten the mood with a grin. “Hey, one thing the military teaches is teamwork. I was forced to count on my teammates to survive.” Then his smile faded. “I wouldn’t be here today if not for my buddies looking out for me. Our last mission—suffice it to say it was the worst extraction we’d ever been through.” And Jaydon hadn’t made it through, at all.
“I can believe it,” she said, her tone sober. “I’m sure you faced many dangerous situations.”
“A few, but none like what you’re experiencing here, Sylvie.” He wasn’t lying. “We fought the enemy, yes, but that was what I’d signed up for. It’s very different when the bad guy is someone close to you.”
“Yeah.” She looked so lost and forlorn; he could barely stand it.
He dried his hands on a dishtowel and carefully drew her into his arms. Kilo bumped his head against his thigh, but he ignored the dog. “We’re going to get through this, Sylvie, I promise.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she relaxed into his embrace. “I hope so, Dawson. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
His heart broke for what she was going through. The very idea that her brother or ex-husband could be responsible for hurting her like this, made his blood boil.
Sylvie lifted her head from his chest, and gazed up at him. This close, he could see the tiny flecks of yellow around her pupil in her green eyes.
Then she shocked the daylights out of him when she lifted up on her tippy toes to kiss him. It didn’t take but a nanosecond for the sweetness of her lips to fire into his brain. He cradled her close and kissed her back the way he’d wanted from the moment he’d pulled her to safety.