The pain that filled her face nearly had him softening. But he couldn’t do that. He needed to make this clear.
What if you’re wrong? What if her being here is just a coincidence?
Didn’t matter. He still didn’t want her here.
“I did not come here for you,” she told him in a low voice. “I’m here for me. A fresh start. I certainly am not here for any money. I wouldn’t take a cent of that man’s money even if I was starving and living on the streets!”
She glared down at him. She felt ill over the idea that he thought she could be here for that old bastard’s money. Never. It hurt that he could think that badly of her, but she guessed she couldn’t blame him. He didn’t know the truth of what had happened.
Not that it seemed he was interested in learning.
Her phone started ringing and she picked it up, looked at the screen.
“Leave it,” he grumbled.
She ignored him and answered the call. A hint of dread filled her stomach, tightening it into knots. Sylvie never called unless she wanted something. And Daisy’s well was starting to run dry. “Sylvie, sweetie? Everything okay?”
A sob greeted her on the other end.
“Sylvie? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“All men are bastards.”
The knot in her stomach unraveled. So it was a problem with Jack, Sylvie’s boyfriend. Personally, she didn’t like him but she’d always been careful not to say anything to Sylvie. Her sister had a fiery temper to match her red hair and Daisy knew that a surefire way to get on her sister’s bad side was to say something about her jerk boyfriend.
Unfortunately, that meant Sylvie often got hurt, since she seemed to have a knack for choosing the worst men.
“Oh sweetheart, what happened?” She didn’t say anything about the fact that she hadn’t heard from Sylvie in days, since she’d left Kansas City to drive here. That she hadn’t answered Daisy’s multiple texts and had let her calls go to voicemail.
Nope. She didn’t say anything about that right now. Sylvie was hurting. She didn’t need her sister getting on her case.
“He-he’s been cheating on me!”
“Please stop crying. Are you all right? Where are you?” Music thumped through the phone. Was she at a club? Shoot. And Daisy couldn’t get to her to pick her up. Guilt filled her.
“Sylvie, please talk to me. Have you been drinking? Do you have a ride home?”
More sobs. Shit. What was she going to do? Then suddenly the phone was plucked from her hand. “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
What was he doing? He wasn’t sure. He only knew he’d had enough of sitting here, being ignored, listening to her grow more agitated and worried.
“Sylvie? Are you there?” he barked.
At once the sobs he’d heard stopped. That happened awfully quickly.
“Who is this?” she asked. He stepped back from Daisy, who was trying to snatch the phone from his hand.
“One moment and I will explain.” He placed his hand over the mouthpiece, ignoring the outraged spluttering on the other end. It seemed he would have to deal with one female at a time.
“Daisy, sit down,” he said firmly.
“Give me my damn phone back. You have no right to take it. That’s my sister on the other end. Give it to me.”
He just pointed at the sofa and shook his head. She stomped her foot. Brat. “Sit. Now. You tried to figure out what’s happened, she obviously wasn’t answering you. It’s my turn.”
“She doesn’t even know you!”
“Do you want to stand here debating the point, with your sister growing more agitated or are you going to behave yourself and sit?”
She saluted him.
Total brat.
But she sat. A sense of satisfaction went through him.
“Sylvie, are you there?”
“Yes, who are you? Where’s my sister? Is she all right?”
“Your sister is fine. Now that she’s behaving herself.”
Daisy gasped and gave him an outraged look. She attempted to stand; he shot her a stern look and she sat back down. Good.
“Sylvie, I’m Jed Carson. You probably don’t remember me—”
“I know who you are. What are you doing there?”
He ignored that question. “What seems to be the problem?”
There was another beat of silence. He could hear music in the background. She was calling her sister from a bar?
“Do you need a ride home? Have you called a taxi?”
“I can get myself home,” she muttered. “I want to talk to my sister.”
“No,” he replied. He knew he was being high-handed and an asshole. But if the sister was in actual danger, then Daisy wasn’t equipped to handle the situation.
“Sylvie? Tell me what is going on? Where are you?”
“My asshole boyfriend is a cheating bastard.”
He raised his eyebrows. Right. “Sorry to hear that. That’s the only reason you wish to speak to your sister?” He had no experience with cheating boyfriends. Obviously.
“Yes. No. I need some money. I’m broke. I haven’t got enough cash to pay for a taxi home.”
“Right. I see.” He put his hand back over the mouthpiece. “Your sister needs money for a taxi home.”
Daisy frowned. “But I just sent her some two days ago. It’s all gone?”
He didn’t like the sound of that. She was still supporting her siblings? “Is she in college? Does she not work?”
She shook her head. “No, she works full-time. I just send money to help out. Tell her I’m putting some into her account right now.”
“Your sister is putting taxi money into your account,” he told Sylvie. Not his business.
“Okay. Good. Thanks. Can you tell her I’ll call her tomorrow?” She’d hung up the phone before he could even reply. Hmm. Seemed she’d called less to complain about the asshole boyfriend and more because she needed money. He was starting not to like Daisy’s sister much.
Daisy rushed back into the room. “Done. Can I talk to her now?” She held out her hand, her exasperation clear.
He felt bad about having to tell her Sylvie had ended the call as soon as she’d heard her sister was transferring the funds.
“We got cut off,” he told her. “Think she said something about her phone going dead.”
“Oh. Well. I’m glad she got time to tell you what she needed. Of course, if you hadn’t stolen my phone, I could have figured out what was going on quicker and had time to find out what happened with Jack-the-jerk.”
She glared up at him. He wondered why the hell he’d felt the need to guard her feelings. Why did he care? He damn well shouldn’t.
He needed to get out of here. Away from her.
“I’m going. Listen, do us both a favor. Leave town. I’ll talk to Ellie about releasing you from the lease.” He couldn’t have her here. He couldn’t be at Sanctuary knowing that she was just an hour’s drive away. He delivered the final blow. “There’s nothing for you here. And there never will be.”
* * *
The next morning, she sat cuddled up on the sofa. A blanket settled around her like a hug. Normally being snuggled up brought her a lot of comfort. But not right then. She was still reeling from what happened last night.
There’s nothing for you here.
Yeah, she was getting that. She didn’t need to be smacked around the face with it to make her see it.
Didn’t she? Only a fool would have come here, chasing a man after ten years. A man who didn’t want her.
Do us both a favor.
Her thumb crept its way into her mouth as she shuffled the worn piece of material back and forth beneath her nose, inhaling the scent. It was actually just part of a blanket she’d had since she was a child. It had gradually worn away until only a rough square was left.
She knew it was kind of ridiculous that at her age she still had a snuggly and that she liked to suck her thumb. Nobody els
e knew about it. Wasn’t like she ever shared her bed with anyone. And her siblings certainly didn’t know. She’d always kept it in a special box under the bed, bringing it out only when she needed it.
Which was pretty much every night.
She sighed. She really needed to get up. After Jed left, well more like stormed out of the house last night, she’d gorged herself on a whole block of chocolate, felt so ill and upset that she’d vomited most of that back up and then she’d climbed into bed, only to spend most of the night tossing and turning.
Now she had a killer headache and her stomach still felt miserable. She’d never been much of a drinker so she could only guess that this is what a hangover felt like. Still, she had clients with deadlines and she didn’t have the right to wallow in misery and let them down. That would be a surefire way to lose them.
So, she took a deep breath and pushed all the hurt from last night down deep. Deep inside where no one would get it and she slammed the lid on that box shut and locked it. She was certain at a later date, that it would come back to haunt her. But right now, she needed to function.
The phone rang and she groaned. Who would be calling her? Sylvie? She quickly pushed off the blanket and rolled, grabbing it and answering the call without even bothering to look at the caller ID.
“Hello? Sylvie, is that you?”
“Um, no, sorry, it’s Ellie.”
Ellie? Oh shit, Ellie. Her landlady. Well, soon to be ex-landlady she guessed. Sadness filled her.
“Oh, right, sorry, Ellie.”
“Is now a good time to talk?”
“Sure. I guess so.” She sat up, having to bite back a whimper of pain as knives slashed through her head.
“You all right?” Ellie asked, sounding concerned. “You sound like you’re in pain.”
Tells welled in her eyes at the other woman’s concern.
“Sugar hangover,” she told her. “I ate my weight in chocolate last night. And gummy bears. And I think there were even a few Twizzlers.”
There was a beat of silence. Then Ellie burst into laughter. “Oh sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. I can’t say as I’ve ever had a sugar hangover. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much chocolate before though.”
“Stick with me, I’ll show you how. Sugar is my crack.”
More giggles. Then they died off. “A sugar hangover the next day doesn’t sound that pleasant.”
It wasn’t. It really wasn’t.
“I hear you’re leaving.” There was a note of sadness to Ellie’s voice that cut her to the quick.
“You’ve spoken to Jed.”
“Yeah. I get that you two have history, but you don’t have to go, do you?”
Now she felt terrible.
Worthless slut.
Her breath left her in a shuddering gasp and she reached down to pinch her thigh. Hard. So hard tears entered her eyes.
She was not worthless. Or a slut.
“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered, surprising herself. Surprising Ellie too if the silence that filled the phone was anything to go by.
There was nothing for her back in Kansas City. Sylvie didn’t need her. Except for money. She sucked in a breath. She knew deep down that that’s the reason why she’d called last night. Not because she was upset about Jack-the-jerk. If she needed someone to talk to then she’d call her friends.
Not her sister.
After all, what did Daisy know about men?
Not a thing.
Do us both a favor.
Why did she have to leave town? She loved this house. She’d only been here a week, but she’d made a place for herself. And she barely went anywhere so what were the odds she would run into him?
“You don’t want to leave? But I thought Jed said. . .”
“I know he’s your friend and—”
“Actually, I don’t know him that well,” Ellie interrupted. “Bear knows him a bit better than me, but I’m not sure anyone knows Jed that well. I mean, we’re loyal to him, he’s a part of Sanctuary so if you hurt him, I will come after you.”
The threat might have made her laugh under other circumstances, Ellie was tiny and she didn’t appear to have a mean bone in her body, but it just made her feel sad. Because she didn’t have that sort of loyalty, not even from her own family.
They love me. They’re just independent. Adventurous.
Uh-huh.
“I understand. I’ll pack up and be out of here by the end of the day.” Turns out it was a good thing her belongings fit into the trunk of her car.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” Ellie said. “I know that I don’t know you either, but I like you, Daisy. And you seem a bit sad and lost. I don’t want you to leave. Sounds like you don’t want that either.”
“I’m just. . .tired.”
“Yeah, I get that. When I crashed during that snow storm, I was exhausted from taking care of my parents for years. They were sick. Or at least they made me think they were sick. I did everything for them and I was just tired. Then I met Bear. And he showed me that there are people out there who are good. Kind. Honest. Now we look out for each other.”
“I want that.” Shit. Did she just say that? “Damn, I think that chocolate last night had something in it that loosened my tongue.”
Ellie giggled again. “Look, why don’t you stay awhile? See if you like it here?”
“Jed doesn’t want me here.”
“Jed ain’t God.”
She let out a startled laugh.
“Look, I might be loyal to him because he’s one of us, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be loyal to you too. Just don’t hurt him and we’re good, all right?”
“I didn’t know Jed lived here. Honestly. This is some weird coincidence. saw this house online and felt like it was where I was meant to be.”
“I get that,” Ellie said quietly. “Don’t go. Jed probably won’t even notice you’re still here.”
She sucked in a breath at that. Ouch.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Ellie said quickly. “Oh shit. I just meant that he hardly ever leaves the ranch except for work. That’s all.”
“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “You’re right. He won’t notice.” And even if he did, well, she’d just have to make it clear that she hadn’t stayed because of him.
She just had to figure out how to do that.
“I’ll stay.”
The squeal that hit her ears made her flinch and then grin. Well, at least someone was happy she was here.
4
“I’ve decided to try online dating,” Daisy told Ellie as soon as she picked up the phone. She was sitting in front of her laptop, staring at the dating website in front of her, her stomach rolling with nerves. She felt so ill she thought she might vomit. Even the big bowl of ice cream with Hershey’s chocolate sauce poured over the top wasn’t tempting her. In fact, she’d barely managed to eat or sleep these past few days.
Since Jed told her to leave.
Part of her worried that he would turn up again, demanding to know why she hadn’t done what he’d ordered. The other part of her was disappointed that he hadn’t arrived on her doorstep, demanding to know why she hadn’t done what he’d ordered.
Contrary much?
When he’d looked at her so coldly a part of her shriveled up and died. She didn’t like that she was so vulnerable to him. She thought she’d built up walls to protect herself. Turns out that didn’t work against Jed. She hadn’t made them Jed-proof.
Damn it.
“Shut up,” Ellie said.
“What?” she asked distractedly. What sort of photo did she have that she could upload? Did she even have a current one?
“You are not online dating.”
“I am.” Well, thinking about it. “How else am I going to meet someone?”
“You don’t need a dating site. I know heaps of handsome single guys just looking for a special relationship with a girl like you.”
What did that mean? “
A girl like me? What single and desperate? An introvert with no life?”
“You have a life. Although when is the last time you left the house?”
Umm.
“The cookout?” she guessed. Online shopping made it so much easier to stay in the house and hide.
Ellie sighed. “Maybe you would meet someone if you got out and about. What if the guy you go out with is some sort of psycho axe murderer?”
“I don’t think there’s a category for that on Tinder.”
“Smart-ass.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure there are better ways for axe murderers to find victims.”
Ellie sighed. “I worry about you.”
“I’m fine. I just. . .I don’t want to regret not trying. I’m not ready to end up a lonely old maid. And my idea to meet a guy by hanging out in the meat aisle of the grocery story doesn’t seem to be working,” she joked.
“You eat meat? I thought you lived on candy and chocolate.”
“Pretty much, guys ‘round here don’t look like they eat much sugar though.” Most of the men she’d seen were fit and ripped.
“I don’t think any of JSI’s boys do,” Ellie replied. “Their bodies are their temples. And boy, you can tell.”
“Says the woman with her own hunk of spunk.” Whoops. What if Ellie took offense to her noticing how gorgeous her man was?
But Ellie just sighed dreamily. “He sure is.”
Daisy made pretend gagging noises.
“Oh hush,” Ellie told her. “You won’t be a lonely old maid. Let me set you up.”
“With who?” she asked suspiciously.
“There’s a number of really great guys here at Sanctuary,” Ellie said enthusiastically.
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because Jed lives there? What if they’re friends with him? What if we fall in love and I move in with them? How awkward would that be?”
“Daisy, what you and Jed had was over a long time ago.” She’d told Ellie the very basics of how they knew each other.
“Ouch,” she muttered.
“Not saying it to be mean, but I’m sure he wouldn’t worry if you started dating a guy from here.”
Daddy’s Lost Love Page 4