Finn kissed her before she moved out of the kitchen.
Chapter Fifteen
Dani felt her heart pounding as she pushed out of the dining room doors. She could hear the men behind her. Even Finn had gotten in on the conversation. They were talking about strategies and how best to protect her. Julian had Leo calling in some security professionals.
Why the hell would Julian care?
It took everything she had not to sob. The tears were right there, stuck in her chest. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t fall for Julian Lodge, but she had. She’d been so stupid. She should have known he didn’t give a real damn about her. She’d been obedient. That flipped Julian’s switch. The minute she stepped out of line, he’d dumped her.
And then ordered her to protect herself. She could still feel his hands tightening around her upper arms. He’d held on so tight as he’d ordered her to the guesthouse. His face had been a mask of cold rage, but his eyes had told a different story.
Damn him. She could see in his eyes that he was far more engaged than he let on. Why couldn’t he just admit it? Why did he have to pull all this bullshit? Even if he did care, if he never admitted it, what did it mean?
It made sense to Dani. It was the way her whole life had gone. Nothing had been easy. It was only fitting that the two men she’d loved were hard cases. Finn was only just accepting who he was, and Julianoh, shit. She loved Julian Lodge.
Why? Why did she have to love Julian Lodge?
“Dani?”
Dani whirled around. Leo Meyer stood in the doorway. He was dressed simply in a T-shirt and jeans. He was a delicious-looking man, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Julian’s sophistication or Finn’s easy western charm. And right now she found him very annoying. “What the hell do you want?”
A hard glimmer came into those eyes, and Dani remembered what he was. He was the number two Dom in Julian’s private world, and right now, he looked the part. An indefinable air of authority came over the man, and he seemed to grow an inch as he stared at her.
“I would greatly prefer to be friends, Danielle.”
She really wouldn’t want him as an enemy. And she had been rude. “I’m sorry, Sir. Do I call you Sir?”
Just like that, the easygoing man was back. A smile crossed his face. “Yes. You would call any dominant either Sir or Ma’am, as applicable. It’s polite. Julian, you would call Master, after everything is settled between the three of you.”
Like that was going to happen now. He would be Sir forever if he had his way.
“Hey,” Leo said, walking up to her. Concern was written on his face. “Don’t look so sad. We already called the police. Julian and I are going to meet with the sheriff in a few minutes. Jack has Lucas, and they’re headed back this way. We’ll call in the feds if we have to. Julian has long arms. He won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I’m not afraid,” she stated dully. She wasn’t. She seriously doubted anyone would come after her. She wasn’t important enough. That was the trouble. She would follow orders because it was just stupid to fight him on this. Everyone was worried about Lexi and rightly so. She wasn’t going to add to the trouble just to prove some stubborn point.
“Then why do you look so sad? Is it about that little fit Julian threw? Sweetheart, that was actually progress. It gives me great hope for the future that he got that upset.”
Somehow she just couldn’t see it as good. He’d told her to get out. If he did that every time she made a mistake or had a different opinion, her life would be miserable anyway. She couldn’t live like that, always afraid she would make a misstep. God, she’d lived like that most of her life. It had been easier when she was a kid, but even then judgment had been the air the people of Willow Fork breathed. She’d always been that trashy Bay girl. Her mother had worked as a waitress at a truck stop. She hadn’t had the best taste in men, but she’d been a good mom. It hadn’t been her fault that first Dani’s dad and then Val’s had run out, neither one willing to get married.
It had gotten so much worse after her mother died. She had been eighteen years old raising an eleven-year-old girl. The lectures had come hard and fast from the church ladies. Hillary Glass and her cronies had shown up after the funeral with Jell-O molds and tuna casserole. They’d explained that she had to be a role model for her little sister. She had to watch her step or someone might call social services.
She’d known from that day on that she had to be perfect or she could lose everything. Tears clouded her vision. She couldn’t do it anymore. She could handle the spankings. Hell, she kind of craved that. For Julian, it was a weird way of saying he cared. It was the complete and utter dismissal she couldn’t take. She couldn’t worry about making a wrong move and losing what she loved. It was too much.
“Don’t, sweetheart.” Leo’s arms came around her as she began to cry.
“Leo, is there a reason you’re pawing my slave?”
Dani looked up, and Julian was staring at her from the doorway. Finn was at his side. He started toward her, but a single hand stopped him. Julian moved in front of Finn, taking a dominant position.
“She’s upset. You can’t tell me not to help her when she’s upset,” Leo said, but his arms were quick to release her.
“I certainly can. She’s mine. If she requires comfort, she’ll come to me.”
Danielle frowned. “You’re the reason I need comfort in the first place. I don’t want comfort from you.”
Julian’s broad shoulders inched up in a negligent shrug. “Then you may go without. Leo, if you’re through molesting my property, we need to go to the sheriff’s office. We’re taking Ms. Walker with us to give her story to the local police. Samuel and Finn will remain here. Samuel, I assume you know what to do.”
“I’ll shoot anything that even vaguely looks like that little weasel. Don’t worry. As long as Dani and Finn stay here, we won’t have a problem.” Sam already had a shotgun in his hand. He looked like a man who knew how to use it.
A small woman with dark hair walked out of the kitchen. Benita was the Barnes-Fleetwood family’s housekeeper. She also had a shotgun in her hands. “The children are playing quietly. Two of the ranch hands are watching them. Ricky is enjoying playing princesses with Olivia. Truly, I never expected he would look so nice in a tiara.”
“Is everyone armed now?” Dani asked.
Seeing the housekeeper with a firearm brought home the danger they were in. Maybe Julian was wrong about this Jeremy guy coming for her, but he was out there, and he meant Julian harm. Despite the fact that he was a jerk, Dani couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to him.
“Yes,” Julian replied gravely. “Everyone is armed, and they will protect you. I’ve contacted the security agency. They’ll be here in an hour, and they’ll transport you, Finn, and the children to a safe house. Abigail will be joining you.”
Sam’s eyes got wide. “Damn. Does she know that yet?”
“I don’t believe Jackson has informed her. I believe he intends to have her taken into custody whether she likes it or not. You should mind him, Samuel, or you’ll go to a safe house as well.”
“Okay, I get it, but can we tell her that I didn’t have anything to do with it? I would just like it to be on record that I didn’t have anything to do with locking her up.”
“This is why you’re not the Dom, Samuel,” Julian said. He turned back to Dani, and she felt the weight of his stare. “I see your mind working, Danielle. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it isn’t fair that Jackson would lock up his wife.”
It had been exactly what she’d been thinking. “It’s her daughter. She has the right to look for her.”