Chapter 5

Grace raced past Nickolas and bolted straight in the ranch's direction.

“Shit.” Nicholas sighed. He knew he had just blown his one and only chance to impress her.

He debated between chasing after her and letting her cool off.

Before he could decide, Jason appeared, panicked and breathless.

“Sir…” he shouted as he came closer to Nickolas. And Nickolas was struck by the look on the young man’s face.

“What is it?” he asked and decided against loading him with questions.

Jason was not quick with his mind. When he had something important to say, if you were interested, it was always best to give him time to gather his wits about and let him tell you at his own pace.

Once he had reached his boss, he crunched next to him, to catch his breath. “A fire-“ he wheezed.

“Where?” Nickolas couldn’t wait for him to finish the sentence but looked up, and accurate enough, there was smoke rising to the sky.

Panic seeped through him, and he broke into a run, letting the smoke led him to its origin.

Once he had the barns in full view, he could see where the fire was coming from. It was from the horses stables.

Most of the man who worked the fields had gathered around the burning stables with buckets of water, trying to quench the blazing flames.

He could see the horses outside on the corral. He closed off the short distance to where the other man were and took his own bucket and started dashing at the fire.

The more they worked, the more the fire intensified, that after a while, they stopped for fear of being burned and looked as the stables went up in indistinguishable flames.

Jason arrived still wheezing; The man had a weak chest.

“All the horses escaped.” Jason said, and Nickolas agreed by nodding his head. He knew horses could smell a sign of danger from a mile away.

“And what about the workers?” he looked around the men who were gathered.

“Me and Tommy were at the old barn, Then we smelt something burning and come out to find the stables on fire.

I rushed in to open for the horses, but the fire spread out so fast we could not stop it, and that's when I rushed to call you, Sir.”

“You did well, Jason.” He patted the other man’s shoulder and strode away from the burning scene and towards the ranch.

The fire was already dying out, but with it half of the stables was gone. The man did good tonight, it was too much for them but it could have been worse. The only important thing was that none of them were harmed and neither were the horses;

Buildings could be replaced but never a life.

Nickolas felt drained, if there was any chance of making amends with Grace, it was growing slim by the minute as he now had to deal with the fallout that was created by a mysterious fire that started from nowhere and consumed half the stables.

Lilith was behind the front desk, although her neck was strained to see the commotion about the fire, she had not left her post, there were still guests to be attended to, despite the crises that had befallen them outside.

He stopped at the desk, and she blushed.

“Do you have the information of the guests that arrived today?”

"Yes sir," She said and handed him the logbook

“Six people checked in, Two couples and a mother with her daughter.”

Lilith could never seem to control her little crush when she was around her handsome blonde boss.

“Do you know how long they are staying for?” He wanted to know the details of their guests personally, as to give them the best possible stay at the ranch.

“They didn’t specify sir,” the girl blushed an even darker shade of red.

“That’s okay, just make sure everyone is happy and that they have everything they need.”

“Yes sir.” He drummed his fingers on the table and walked away.

After climbing the stairs and reaching the landing, he looked at Grace's suite.

He wanted to give her space but he couldn't leave things the way they were.

Under normal circumstances, he told himself as he took the few steps that led to her door, but there was nothing normal about their story, he needed to see her and talk to her.

Inside, Grace was battling under a storm of frustration.

“No!” she wanted to scream, but the shock had her sitting mute on top of the covers of her double bed, courtesy of Mark and the ranch or whoever the hell he was.

How did he know who she was? She had concealed her identity so carefully.

After Nickolas’s death on their honeymoon, she had reinvented herself. That was why she had moved to the states and married that stupid fool, Owen; she knew that if she was carrying someone else’s surname, no one would give her a second glance.

But even after all that hard work, on her first day at the ranch, Mark had seen straight through her.

A soft small knock came from the door, and she looked around the room not sure if she should arm herself. But, she soon realized how stupid that idea was. She was safe here. Maybe it had been a misunderstanding.

She opened the door a crack and stood holding it.

Mark peeked around first and then looked at her, “Is it safe to enter?” he teased her and she felt like a nut job with the tweezers she was holding behind her back.

“Those look really dangerous.” Mark said, looking at her hand behind her. Her strength left her, she dropped her hand to her side together with her guard.

The man seemed to know what to say to her to disarm her.

Still, she had to be careful around him. “Was there anything you needed, Mark?” she forced her voice to be steady, didn’t want him knowing how much he had affected her with those two simple words.

“I wanted to check if you were alright; you looked upset when you left the pond.” Mark said.

He knew he had made a mistake by letting his tongue slip, but that was all it has been, a slip of a tongue, one he wasn't going to repeat until he knew she trusted him.

Now that Grace was here with him, he didn’t plan on ever letting her out of his sight, but he had to be careful around her, exposing his true identity would put her in danger with the people who wanted him dead.

“I know that this is a difficult time for you; I was wondering if…” he looked at his shoes, not sure how he should ask her, and what if his question would offended her.

She moved backwards and opened the door even further. “I’m sorry, come in.”

Mark went inside, looked around like he hadn’t seen the interior of the room a hundred times before.

“It’s a beautiful room you have here; definitely beats the old one.” He said with a sly smile on his face.

“It does." She beamed as she looked around as well.

"But I am afraid I will be leaving soon.” she said.

Marks face fell and he scrambled for words to recover from the shock. “But you just got here; you didn't do any of the activities you said you would try.”

Grace moved to the bed and sank on it. “I know, you've been a godsend but I am afraid if I stay here for more than a day, I won’t be able to pay for any of this.” She pointed around the room.

“If it's money you are worried about, I can talk to my boss and I know he can fix something for you.” He was digging himself further into his own lie. Maybe it was time he stopped digging.

“Let’s just say I know him very well.” He was chose his words carefully and he could tell that she was thinking about his proposal and that was all he needed; for her to think about him.

***

Much later, after Nicholas had left her suit; Grace sat in her chair thinking about his proposal to stay a while longer.

As she thought over Mark's proposal, she couldn’t help but feel a connection to the man, and she knew she would sound crazy if she tried to voice it out. But, there was so much about his mannerism that reminded her of Nickolas.

Her Nicko…

Will she ever get over Nicko’s tragedy? There were things she could not change from her past, but as much as she wanted to sit and sulk. She had done that already and right now, she was not ready to watch her life and heart fall apart again with grief.

Armed with an answer to Mark's proposal, she walked out of her room to look for him. Lilith said he would be around the stables since the fire broke out earlier.

Grace walked around the burnt structure and looked at the corral, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

She was about to turn back and head to her suite when she thought she heard someone inside the burnt stables.

There was a lot of rumble where some of the roof had fallen in; she took careful steps. Her curiosity aroused.

The little of the light that hadn't been destroyed was flickering, ready to give in any minute now, but it was enough to see what resembled a two figures in the shadows.

The place was a danger zone, anything could fall. She couldn’t understand what someone could be doing inside until she inspected closer as much as the light would permit; but she gasped out loud in shock at the scene in front of her.

Dizzy with shock, she retraced her steps and ran back towards the house to her room.

After she closed her door shut, she looked at her hands; she was trembling. She needed to come down and get her breathing under control.

What the heck had she just walked into? She breathed out a long sigh. “Oh god, oh god.” She couldn’t sit still, she needed to get out of here before…

A light knock sounded from the door.

Damn it. They must have followed her to her room!

The knocking became stronger and more persistent. The door shook, whoever was on the other side was getting impatient.

Ok, she could just act like she saw nothing but before that thought could take root in her mind, the door knob turned; and opened slightly, she found it strange because she had locked the door.

She stood at the center of her room, breathing in and out. When the door opened, a man with a red beard walked in. His build told her that he was the man from the stables.

He walked in and closed the door behind him.