Guarded Heart Read Free

our situation.”
    “Ranger Calder is the best. She is a good fit for any
situation.”
    The female herself spoke up. “Not this one. Sorry, Master
Destan, but this guy is hopeless.”
    He was hopeless? Brook was the only hopeless
individual in the room. She wouldn’t know what happiness was if she’d landed on
an island made of fluffy cotton candy and ice cream peaks that was home to an
indigenous population of fuzzy kittens. She was incapable of tender emotion. He
couldn’t work with someone like her.
    “Calder—”
    “No,” Morgan said, interrupting Master Destan ’ s long-distance reproach. “She’s
correct. I’m hopeless because I’m unwilling to work with her particular brand
of act-first-and-question-later operation. If we must have a Ranger, I want one
who will protect me without collateral damage.”
    There wasn’t an immediate response. The lack of one made
Morgan uneasy. His fear was partially realized when the man spoke next.
    “The Rangers weigh every situation for the best possible
outcome,” Master Destan said.
    “I’m sure that they do—”
    “If I may interject,” Irvin said from his position at the
desk in the middle of the room. The older man—his trusted advisor and uncle on
his father’s side—focused his full attention on Morgan. “You need protection.
That man pulling a gun on you in Macy’s was a close call. The Great Lakes
Region needs her priest alive. If this Ranger Calder is their best Ranger, then
I think we owe it to the covens to set aside our differences and work with
her.”
    Work with Brook? That was like asking a goldfish to
work with a school of piranha!
    Brook spoke up, her throaty voice sounding rougher than when
the discussion had begun. “Differences aside, I can’t protect people who will
fight me at every turn for what they think are character flaws.”
    Morgan pressed his lips thin. He didn’t think she had
character flaws. It was an irrefutable fact.
    Irvin faced her. “Then what do you suggest we do for
protection?”
    Brook folded her arms in front of her chest, thrusting her
pert breasts up an inch higher. “The priest should give up his position to
someone capable of holding it.”
    Morgan drew in a long breath through his nose, battling down
his ire even as Brook’s superior chastised her for her rudeness. Frustration
flooded his insides faster than he could ever recall—this was one time he
believed the common wisdom that Water witches experienced emotions greater than
that of any other creature on Earth.
    This woman was unbearable. He wanted her out of his office.
    “I am capable of holding my position,” Morgan said,
simmering with checked anger.
    The blasted woman’s lips curved into a maddening smirk. Her
gaze swept down him as if to say his current pose—seated at a chair at a tiny
table—was the only position he could hold for any length of time.
    Her words accented the expression. “A few months and you’re
already calling the Rangers for help—”
    “ Calder, ” Master Destan said reproachfully.
    She lifted her palms up in a sign of surrender her boss
wouldn’t see.
    “I don’t need a bodyguard,” Morgan said for the tenth time
since Irvin had made the suggestion. “I survived one assassination attempt.
I’ll survive the others.”
    The slow lift of Brook’s eyebrows implied she was dubious of
his claim.
    “Morgan,” Irvin said with a similarly reproachful manner.
“You need a bodyguard. Ranger Calder comes highly recommended. I think you
should work this out.”
    Morgan shook his head in time with Brook. They were in
agreement about one thing—this would never work. They were simply too
different. Being forced to spend more than a few minutes in each other’s
company generally turned into a debacle that lived on in infamy.
    “Calder is our best Ranger,” Master Destan said. “And if
Calder wants to continue being a Ranger, she ’ ll find a solution for you, Priest Seaton.” He paused.
“And when she does