Page 11 of Guarded Knight (Echo Valley #3)

Gabriel wasn’t in the apartment when I woke. No scuffed boots by the door. No coffee mug in the sink, not that he’s the type to leave one. All that’s left is a perfectly folded throw blanket on the couch, like he hadn’t slept a wink, which he probably hadn’t.

The sight of him gone should have relieved me, instead, it summoned the impossible conundrum that is Gabriel and Lara. How can someone so loyal and considerate, who shows me so much love not love me… like that?

It never felt right to ask why he ditched Starlight Canyon, protest or do anything but be understanding. When Gabriel came back and we talked, a slew of life’s worst nightmares were rearing. His mom died. Luis was depressed. And amidst all that, something overseas broke him.

Yeah, I wanted something with him, but was it really right to press when he was dealing with all that?

Anyway, I went off to Golden Sierra college and wasn’t home either at that time, so I gave him space and I took mine.

But while I stayed in state and still went home every third weekend to see family, and hopefully him, Gabriel started only showing up in town for what seemed to be posterity. A tick-box exercise for big events. He never came “just because.”

I tried to understand he was broken, but don’t broken people rely on the ones they love? Wouldn’t he have wanted my support? To stay connected?

One year turned into the next, and the pain of him not being in my life was so thick it required walls to contain it, not allow it to spill over on family gatherings and raise the suspicions of my parents or Xander. Why should I be hurt that Gabriel is off living his life?

Unless I’m madly in love with him…

I already had Joy Hunter to deal with.

I resist putting any attention on the riddle and move about my morning, completely distracted by the thought that he might knock on our front door at any minute.

I almost convince myself he’s gone for good until Freya and I step onto the sidewalk and I spot the black truck parked at the end of Grenvista Trail on Main Street.

Freya waves at him like they’re old friends. “Guess your knight in shining armor is still on duty.” She speaks without moving her lips too much, as if Gabriel can lip-read.

He probably can.

“I am down with the sexy protector energy. For you, of course,” she adds.

She thinks she’s being disrespectful toward Kevin, but every time she thinks someone else is cute, I celebrate it.

Maybe not Gabriel, though. Not that I have any reason to be jealous. And not that I’d worry about Freya even if she didn’t have a boyfriend, she’s already girl coded that G is off-limits, even though I’ve never given her a reason and don’t have one.

We’re not together, and I’m leaving Echo Valley right after this Cameron thing is sorted, so zero attempt to make a move is in the cards.

Why am I even thinking like this?

G’s in the driver’s seat, arms crossed over his chest, sunglasses on despite the overcast sky, and without his eyes, it only draws more attention to his cracking jawline. He focuses on us like we’re a two-woman presidential motorcade.

He rolls down the window as I approach, and my body flickers with heat when he looks over his sunglasses with those sexy hooded eyes of his.

“We’re taking you up on working at Monarch Hills today if that’s okay,” I say flatly. “I’m not doing it for you. Freya wants to see the horses.”

I might have said the last bit more for myself than for him. After all, his five o’clock shadow wraps around his full lips in a way that makes me question whether I’m blaming Freya just to save face.

His mouth twitches. “Copy that.”

Gabriel one. Lara zero.

He knew the minute Freya invited him in last night he’d be able to use her to manage my whereabouts.

She is a weak spot for me. I only have one brother, and she’s been the sister I never had, not to mention a kindred spirit.

For as different as we can be personality-wise, a lot of our wounds and fears are wired from the same sickly childhoods.

We get each other. And we both truly understand that life is too short and every day is a gift.

I like to make her happy just as she does me.

The moving van got picked up last night, and Freya’s car hasn’t been transported here yet. I sold my Vespa so neither of us are able to drive over to Monarch Hills.

But I don’t need to explain this to G.

Sigh. I’m sure he knows everything. He makes details his business.

He starts the engine. “Hop in.”

It’s not a long drive to Monarch Hills, only a couple of miles, walkable if you have the time, and the tree-lined streets of ponderosa pine along the way are not only gorgeous but remind me both of vacation and of home.

Before long, we pull up in front of tall, wrought-iron gates and two stud-muffin guards on either side like pillars. Gabriel gives them a salute, and one goes into a small gatehouse.

The gates open slowly as if unfolding fate before us. It’s all very grand in a way that the Mendez ranch back in Starlight Canyon wasn’t, and yet, Monarch Hills, despite being some sort of Western Kennedy compound, doesn’t have the feel of a wealthy man’s pet project.

Despite the opulent gate and immaculate Spanish-style matching houses we pass, there’s an inviting feel about the ranch. I know from Xander all but Gabriel’s sister, Shay, live here now.

I’m happy for the Mendezes. They went through a lot losing their matriarch, Carmen, and Luis went through the darkest time you might wish on a person. He lost his wife, all of his children were away from home at that time, and to top it off, that was a very, very scant two years for ranchers.

As we drive around the private roads, it certainly has a warm sense of a place where people come to heal.

Luis sure seemed healed last night, and maybe then some, because he spent a lot of time chatting over cookies and offered to drive a beautiful sixty-something woman named Julia home since she’d had too much of that sangria.

Everyone deserves love. I hope Luis finds it again.

Freya sighs next to me. “Damn, Lara… I could get used to this.”

“I thought you said you’d never live anywhere smaller than Santa Fe?”

“We don’t know what we don’t know…” She presses her forehead against the window with the whimsy I love in her.

It’s true. Monarch Hills has a vibe to it. Still, for me, there’s something disarming about being surrounded by so much open space. It makes it harder to keep things in.

My gaze lands on the back of Gabriel’s neck, touchable tanned skin with that dark, sexy hairline.

He’s still a perfect ten. I couldn’t stop thinking about how good he still looks last night.

It’s going to be hard to keep putting mortar between the bricks in my wall, when in addition to still being hot as hell with rock-hard biceps any woman would want to curl up in, he’s also living up to my best friend’s fantasies right before my eyes.

The sigh she let out upon realizing he wasn’t still on the couch this morning was the same that passed through my system, I just didn’t let it out.

Because boundaries are easily destroyed by swoony men with a face carved by God and muscles like his.

I need the boundaries and zero reasons to stay. I promised myself I wouldn’t let anyone be responsible for me but me.

Gabriel parks near a low building I assume is the stable office, close to the barn, the stables, and just beyond them, a stretch of green paddocks and what looks like a racetrack.

Xander told me G’s brother, Santi, has become a world-class breeder.

Good for him making use of his talent with horses.

I always thought that guy might die in the dirt at a rodeo with a ring of women around him crying streams of black mascara tears.

Before I can fully take in the expanse of barn roofs and split-rail fences, Freya’s already out of the truck and heading over to admire one of the thoroughbreds being trailed through the area by a beautiful stable hand with long, dark hair and blue eyes, not much older than us.

She’s not like the cowboys back home. She’s stunning in that glossy, catalog way, and her dusty jeans cling to her hourglass curves like they were painted on. I glance at Gabriel, expecting him to be ogling the new scenery.

But his aviators are trained on me.

Heat flickers under my skin, unwelcome and far too familiar.

Freya approaches the woman and lifts her hand toward its muzzle. “May I? It won’t bite, will it?”

The stable hand laughs. “Not this one, but it’s a question worth asking.” She darts her gaze over to Gabriel, as if to ask if he’s going to introduce us.

“Freya, this is my brother, Santi’s, girlfriend, Kat.”

Wow. Santi settled down? She must be something else. Suddenly, she’s gone from a stable hand to being a boss bitch in my estimation. I didn’t think that guy would settle down any more than I’d thought he’d make it to his thirties.

“Kat, this is Lara,” he points to me, “and her roommate, Freya. They’re in Echo Valley for a bit.”

“Nice to meet you.” Kat flicks one of those this is interesting looks at Gabriel then clicks her horse back into walk. “I need to get Fuego out, but don’t be strangers.”

She leads the horse off, and a low chuckle behind me pulls my gaze to the door of the office building, where familiar broad shoulders, rolled-up sleeves, and fuck-you tats on thick forearms greet me.

Rio Mendez almost grins, though I’m not sure his lips ever curve upward enough to surpass almost. “Lara Young. Haven’t seen you since you were what… seventeen? Eighteen?”

“In the flesh.” I rock on my heels, letting my nervousness get to me for the first time since landing in Echo Valley. Rio has that effect on people.

He sips from a steaming mug. “You look healthy. It’s great to see.”