Chapter 6

6

Someone pounded on the door fifteen minutes after six the next morning. Fletcher was in the kitchen, pulling on his socks and waiting for his breakfast to warm up while his new housekeeper was still sleeping. He jumped up before the knocking could wake her.

She’d tossed and turned all damned night. Whimpered a few times—nightmares, he’d bet on it. Of course, it would be nightmares. She’d been through hell just a few days ago. That didn’t just go away after a good night’s sleep or anything.

How could it? She’d been a first-row witness to what had happened to her cousin just days ago, had found two dead men no older than she was murdered in her family’s backyard a week ago, and four months ago had nearly been killed by a deranged lunatic who was riding around with a professional hitman. That would be hard for anyone to handle, let alone a woman in her early twenties who had grown up isolated and protected the way she had.

He wasn’t ready to deal with her right now, anyway. After the power had come back on, waking him for the day, he had just stayed right where he was—and watched her. Wondering what he was supposed to do with her next. It hadn’t been hard to watch her—when she wasn’t watching him back.

He’d gotten a kick out of watching her for as long as he had. She’d made cute faces in her sleep. She still seemed to be filled with energy, with life, even while she was asleep. He’d not been able to look away. He hadn’t figured out why, but he just hadn’t.

The knocking came again.

Fletcher pulled open the rear kitchen door. Just to see his brother Ben standing there. With Dylan’s father right next to him. Ben grinned at him with that stupid expression that meant Fletcher wasn’t going to like what was about to happen.

“Yo, baby bro. Held daddums-in-law off as long as possible.” Ben stepped inside, shivering. “Damn, it’s cold. I was all curled up around my woman, keeping her warm and toasty, when this guy pounded on our door, demanding to know what you were doing with baby-Dylan.”

“Lucky you,” Fletcher said, eyeing Talley like the asshole the older man was. Dylan’s words were still playing in his head. He’d admit it—he wanted to swing. Right at the man’s nose. “We lost power from about eight until three this morning. She’s still sleeping, Talley. Don’t wake her, or I will kick your ass. I’ll really enjoy it too.”

More today than he even would have yesterday. No denying that.

Someone had to say it, and since Ben was going to be the guy’s son-in-law, Ben probably couldn’t do it. But Fletcher could. He wished the guy wasn’t twice his age. Fletcher really wished it right now.

“What have you done with my daughter, Tyler? Where is she?” He pushed his way in. Fletcher shared a look with Ben and then let him. Better for Dylan to get this over with rather than dragging it out. And with both Fletcher and Ben there, Talley wouldn’t be able to be too big of an asshole with his daughter.

Fletcher could run him off for her just fine. He didn’t really want the man’s daughter there, but hell, if he had to—he’d keep her right where she was for as long as she wanted to be there. Just to get her away from this asshole.

He was starting to understand why she had jumped on this bet thing. She’d been running away—probably from the man in front of him and the damned inn. Where she felt she didn’t belong like the rest of them. He could only imagine how much that had hurt.

“Fed her to the cows out back. Wasn’t that hard to do, considering how small she was,” Fletcher said. Hell, he just couldn’t help himself. Talley wasn’t going to bully him like he was apparently so adept at doing to his daughter. “She’s still sleeping, what do you think? Didn’t I just say that?”

Ben smirked. His brother was pissed about something. Fletcher could put two and two together. “Told you my brother wouldn’t do anything to her. Well, nothing Dylan doesn’t want him to do, anyway.”

“No good Tylers,” Talley said. “Destiny Marie might not see through your ilk, but I do.”

“ Dusty likes my ilk, Daddy Dearest. I was trying to show her my ilk when you interrupted. Didn’t I already tell you that this morning? Don’t you want grand-Tylers soon? You are not getting any younger, Artie. You are just not. I have to get busy! ”

“Damn it, Tyler! You aren’t married to my daughter yet! Dylan Geraldine!”

Fletcher put his hand on the slightly taller man’s chest. Stopping him right where he was. “This is my house. You will follow my rules here, or I will throw your ass out in the snow and leave you there. There’s a highway right there you can follow back to where you belong.”

No one missed his reference to what Talley had done to Dusty. He’d held his daughter against her will, drugged her, and then she’d escaped in the early morning hours—in the damned snow. Fletcher and his brothers had been searching all night—they’d found Dusty walking along the highway. Drugged and staggering and inches away from falling into that highway. Fletcher would never forget, nor would he forgive this man for that. Not for a moment.

“I want my daughter and her things, now. She isn’t staying here with you another minute, Tyler.”

“That’s my choice, not yours,” a feminine voice said behind Fletcher. A small hand touched his back, scorching him. Fletcher wanted to stay right where he was—between her and this asshole. As long as he had to. “Took you longer than I thought it would to find me. Tracking devices not working?”

“Your mother had a bad night. No thanks to you,” Talley said. He glared down at her. “You’ve caused nothing but trouble lately, and we all know it. It needs to stop, young lady.”

Dylan had turned away—but not before Fletcher saw the pain in her eyes. Pain that seriously just pissed Fletcher off. Dylan had been through hell lately. Everyone could see that. And it hadn’t been of her making.

He immediately stepped in front of her. Pain in the ass though she might be, Talley didn’t have the right to hurt her that way. “Back off, man. Now.”

“I’m sure Mom will be just fine. Aunt Rhea is right across the yard, right next door to you. And isn’t the supersexy sexy Dr. Lowell right there too? If Dixie isn’t available, to be at Mom’s beck and call and everything. Though I really think Dixie is being far nicer to you two than she should. Considering that whole left on the doorstep thing.” Dylan crossed her arms over her chest. Her hair was sticking up in every direction. There was a crease from the pillow on her pale cheek. She had really silky, soft-looking skin. “Now, why did you show up at my job today?”

“You are not staying with this man alone. Your mother about had a panic attack when she heard. And she had to hear it from Dixie an hour ago when she came by with your mother’s prescription, not you.”

“I am twenty-three, Daddy-kins. I do not need your permission to take a job. Nor to live with a man, either, for that matter. I am free to do what I want, remember? We have had this discussion before. If someone has a marker, I can write notes on your hand so you won’t forget.”

“Do not talk to me like that, young lady. Get your things.” He reached for her, wrapped his hand around her shoulder, like he was going to physically force her out of Fletcher’s house. “I am taking you home to the inn right now. And you are staying there.”

Hell, no. Fletcher was there fast. He grabbed the man’s wrist and squeezed. “Out. Now. She stays.”

He bit back fury, seeing that asshole’s hand on her narrow shoulder like that. Like Talley was ready to just yank her up.

How many times had the guy put his hands on her like that? Talley was bigger than Fletcher was—Fletcher wasn’t a small man by any means, either. And Dylan was most definitely not big at all . “You won’t put your hands on her. Ever. ”

“Hell, I’m not going to hurt my daughter. I have never even spanked the little brat. Something I am starting to regret. Maybe she would have learned better. What do you think people will say about you shacking up with a damned Tyler? Did you think about that?”

“Lucky girl?” Dylan said, her characteristic sarcasm hard to miss. “Well, those that don’t know him, anyway. Or me, for that matter. He doesn’t even think I am a real woman, remember? Relax, Dad, my taste doesn’t run to redheaded rancher boys now, anyway. I prefer hot, sexy actors voted number four sexiest man in Hollywood just last year.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear from your little spies? I do not have a thing going with Fletcher Tyler. He is my boss, Dad. My boss. That’s work life. As for love life, I have a date with Quade Davis, the actor who plays Wonkus McBubbles. Tonight, actually. Around seven. He’s taking me somewhere. I didn’t ask details. I was too busy drooling.”

“What the hell is a Wonkus McBubbles?” her father asked.

He’d just asked that of the daughter who habitually wore Wonkus McBubbles and Prince Rufus tennis shoes. And T-shirts. Proudly. Who had been running around with Quade Davis for at least the last two weeks. Everyone knew Dylan was dating that dork. Everyone.

Dylan smacked a hand over her face. “My burdens are so heavy. Go away, Dad. Just go away. I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

“I have had enough of your nonsense. This little rebellion of yours is causing more problems for your family than you are solving.”

Dylan’s cheeks were turning red. But it was the glassy hurt in her face that Fletcher couldn’t miss. There was no way in hell his own father would have pulled that kind of manipulative BS. No way.

Fletcher crossed his arms over his chest before he reeducated Arthur Talley on how a father should act. The hard way. Hell, he wasn’t stupid—Dylan would do anything for her family. And her father was using that against her. Guilt-tripping completely. Asshole.

No wonder she’d run right to Fletcher’s house, the first chance she had. He wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t have done the exact same thing.

Fletcher was her escape.

Now her reaction to that stupid bet was making more sense.

She’d used him to get away. Her declared mortal enemy forever was a better bet than her own father, her own family, right now.

Damn it. Now he got it.

“This isn’t a little rebellion. This is me getting on with the rest of my life. Or at least figuring out what I want next. Now, go. Or, so help me, I’m going to start swinging from the light fixtures in the inn lobby with Quade Davis. Tonight. We might even be naked while we do it. And you can’t tell me to stop.” She looked at Fletcher. She shrugged, but he could see the embarrassment. “I do apologize for the baboon masquerading as a father standing in your kitchen. I would say it won’t happen again, but who knows? He’s a bit much. So how would I know? Don’t hold him against me, okay? I can have a jackass for a father and still darn your socks and wash your undies just fine.”

She turned back to the other men. “Ben, sweetie, do not hold him against Dusty, either, okay? Go away, Dad. Now…I am going to settle into my new room down the hall. Before I have to be back at the inn to work there too. See, Dad? I am learning how to be a real Talley too. I haven’t abandoned the inn and diner. I didn’t even leave Dorie on the doorstep with a note saying I don’t want her any longer or anything like that. Do you know how much restraint that took?”

Ben coughed. Fletcher smirked. That was a good one.

“Damn it!” Talley yelled, moving toward her again. Ben and Fletcher both stepped in front of him.

“What? What did I say that was so wrong? I didn’t leave the baby on the inn doorstep, Daddy. I left her inside! You should take lessons!” Dylan shot her father a grin—one very much like Dusty’s most wicked. “Or possibly notes? Now, goodbye, dear Father, goodbye. I will deal with you later. ”

“There has never been a more infuriating kid on the planet!”

“Well, see, there is something else we are going to have to disagree on. I am the most infuriating woman on the planet. Despite what Fletcher thinks, I am a woman. That means I get to make my own decisions now. You are going to have to cut the strings sometime. This dependency you have on me is so unhealthy—for both of us. It’s not you . It’s me. Well, actually, it is you. Leave me the hell alone, now. Thank you. I love you. Have a good day. Go home and eat your prunes.”

Just like that, she took off down the hallway, talking to herself about jackass fathers. And blessing his heart since he just didn’t seem to know any better. That she should have raised him better than that and everything.

Talley turned back to him. “You do one thing to my daughter, put your filthy hands on her, anything, and I will rip you apart.”

Well, he hadn’t considered putting his hands on Dylan before—except possibly to chuck her out the window—but the man in front of him had him almost wanting to do just that. Put his hands on Dylan and see what happened.

“Like to see you try it, old man.” Fletcher wasn’t as practiced at martial arts as his brother Ben, but he could take care of himself just fine. Especially with this asshole twice his age. “She’s a full-grown woman. Why don’t you try respecting her right to make her own decisions?”

And quit putting that hurt look in her eyes.

Dylan had deserved so much better than this.