Page 1 of Fierce Protector

Chapter One

Ledger was used to being dirty. Crawling on his belly through the mud—and worse—the jungles of South America had taught him to endure the grit of filth. He’d spent an entire month being rained on too. He could still feel the hideous chill of wet socks on his sore feet.

Being coated in sticky sweat and the straw that he and his buddies just baled that afternoon was a new sensation for him. He itched all over and couldn’t wait to jump in a cold shower. But first, he had been summoned to a meeting in the big, beautiful Gracey home.

He couldn’t walk into the place covered in this much dirt.

A big hand came down on Ledger’s shoulder. He tensed at the hard grip, his own hand twitching toward the unknown man’s wrist, prepared to rip him off his feet.

He glanced around at the owner of that hand. Hunter gave him a nod of greeting.

Damn, he was too edgy these days. After months and months of living in solitude, it was taking him longer than he thought to remember how to be around his fellow Navy SEALs.

“You may want to spray off with the air hose before you walk in the house. Ivy just did the floors this morning.”

“I hear she can be a hard-ass if she doesn’t like you. I don’t want to get on her bad side.” His jab at Hunter’s girlfriend hit its mark, but instead of scowling, his friend grinned.

“Yeah, she’s a real ball-buster.”

“And I bet you love having yours busted.”

Hunter’s mouth quirked. “I don’t kiss and tell. Hurry up and spray off that straw so we can get this meeting over with.”

He turned and loped across the expansive yard between the house and garage.

More meetings. What could this one entail? It seemed like his buddy Colton was holding one daily. A group of former SEALs preferred the rigid protocol they’d left behind, but the past two meetings hadn’t given any of them new information about the attacks taking place on the Gracey Ranch. Ledger understood the urgency, but he was getting sick of the rules.

When he entered the garage, he scanned the dim space until he spotted the air compressor against one wall. When he dragged the hose outside and blasted the air over his chest and arms, bits of straw swirled to the ground. He did the same with his jeans and boots. Lastly, he pulled off his cowboy hat and let the air wash over his face and hair.

Feeling much more like a welcomed guest and less like a dog with fleas, Ledger replaced the hose and closed the garage door before returning to the log-sided house.

As soon as he entered, he caught the scent of floor cleaner and something spicy with an undertone of vanilla.

He strolled into the dining room. “Somebody baking a pie?”

All three of his friends looked up at him. Colton, Hunter and Carver, aka Wolfman, were already seated at the heavy wood table. Colton and Wolfman were streaked with dirt, and Hunter’s hair was plastered against his head. All four of them had been hard at work since dawn, but they had two wagons stacked with bales to show for their efforts.

Colton waved a hand at the center of the table where a candle burned in a jar. “Meadow’s been trying to make the place homier.”

Ledger pulled out a heavy chair, the wood legs scraping on the floor causing him to inwardly cringe. It wasn’t just loud noises that spiked his adrenaline—it was any noise.

He needed to work harder on coexisting with the living. In the real world. He didn’t notice the other guys having freak-outs when they heard a bang.

As he settled at the table, he drew in a breath of the vanilla spice-scented air, appreciating the efforts that his buddy’s woman went to make the place a home. After what the Gracey family had endured, they deserved some peace and comfort.

Colton began the meeting by leaning forward to fiddle with the computer tablet propped in the center of the table. By now they all knew that tablet meant they were holding a video call, and the head of WEST Protection security was joining them, which likely meant new developments.

His gaze swung to Wolfman, eyeing the healing cuts and fading bruises from six guys jumping him. Ledger was damn glad that he hadn’t lost another friend. Too many losses shadowed all their pasts.

A man’s image popped onto the screen, and Ledger angled his seat to see him better.

Colton took charge of the meeting. “Hi, Ross. Thanks for joining us.”

“I don’t have much time, but I wanted to touch base with you guys.” He tugged on the brim of the white Stetson Ledger had never seen him without.

Wolfman sat forward, arms folded on the table. “You found information on the bastard responsible?”

“We did. You guys were right—Eli Feldman’s a big investor. He owns a ton of property in the state of Montana. My team dug around and found the name of the company that purchased the loan from the guy we just put behind bars.”

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