Daddy's Little Liar - Maren Smith Page 0,27

up for lunch. Grabbing his wallet from his desk, he checked his phone one last time for messages. Nothing.

She’d better be in Santa Fe, and she’d better be all right, or…

Or what?

He hadn’t even known her before yesterday. He had no right to be this proprietary over a woman he barely knew, wasn’t in a relationship with, and never would be. She didn’t live here. She didn’t live anywhere close to here, and Santa Fe was still sixty good miles down the road.

He was being every bit as much of a dick as one of Iris’s many boyfriends. That wasn’t the man he ever wanted to be.

Georgia was right to want to make a clean break.

Sighing, he put his phone in his back pocket and went to lunch.

Los Amigos wasn’t packed when they got there. At this time in the afternoon, he hadn’t really expected it to be. They got a booth with a highchair for the baby, who he tried hard to pretend wasn’t there. He liked kids too much, and every time he looked at her, all he could think was, if only things had worked out differently, she’d have been his.

He wasn’t much in a mood for talking, neither was Iris. She spent most of her time keeping the baby occupied until their food arrived. The longer the silence went on between them, the worse it felt.

“Are you working?” he finally asked, poking at his enchiladas.

“Not since the baby,” she confessed. She’d never been the most dependable holding a job. He could see how being a stay-at-home mom would be her preference. She didn’t have the education for anything but retail or fast food, and she’d hated every minute she had to deal with customers.

In her situation now, that was a double-edged sword. It kept her dependent on the men she gravitated toward since their divorce. Men who didn’t mind taking on the financial responsibility of a woman and her child because it got them a clean house, meals on the table, and sex whenever and however they liked. Nowhere was Iris more adventurous than in the bedroom. Those relationships had proved temporary because not one guy had wanted anything permanent. It left her in a tenuous position and with men like Brian, stuck with putting up with things she should never have had to in order not to be left homeless and with no money.

That was a cactus thought—pricking him the longer he considered it.

“Where are you planning to stay?”

“Mom offered her spare room. I went there first,” she confessed, “but the house was locked, and my key doesn’t seem to work. I didn’t see her in the field and couldn’t reach her on her cell.”

Damn it, Margo.

Kace was very careful not to aim his glare at her. He scalded his enchiladas instead, but he knew what this was. So did his ex.

“She’s setting us up.”

“It won’t work,” Kace said bluntly.

“No, I know,” she agreed. “It’s okay, Kace. I’m not completely useless. I’ll figure it out.”

There it was—a hint of the old Iris he used to know, peeking through the bleak facade.

“She won’t be out of touch forever, just long enough for me to put you up in the hopes we’ll...” He stopped. In the hopes, they’d what, remember how good it felt when they’d been together? That was probably what Margo was hoping.

“I don’t expect that,” Iris said flatly.

“It won’t work,” he reminded, shooting her a look. He wasn’t completely heartless and wasn’t about to leave her and the baby to sleep the night in her car. “You can have my bedroom. I’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll bet dollars to donuts, your mom resurfaces tomorrow, delighted at how well her plan worked. We can talk to her then.”

When Iris didn’t say anything, he glanced up. She wasn’t looking at him but at something behind him, her face paler than the napkin she held clutched in her suddenly too-tight hand.

Swiveling around in the booth, Kace was in time to see a dirty red pickup skid to a stop just behind her car, blocking it from leaving. A sandy-haired man in work jeans, a t-shirt, and an open flannel shirt jumped out, slamming the door before he stalked toward the restaurant.

Brian.

“Stay here,” he ordered, already heading for the door in angry, long-legged strides that mirrored the other man’s. He was out the first set of doors and in the entryway when Brian spotted him. Recognition widened his eyes, and he almost fell, snapping around so fast.

Kace