Delivering His Gifts (Mountain Men of Liberty #10)- K.C. Crowne Page 0,15
two of them.
“Guys, please—”
Greg I couldn’t control. His eyes were narrowed, and I knew that look on his face, one of fierce determination. He wasn’t going to let another man win this argument. So I turned my attention to Mason.
“Mason, with all due respect, please stay out of my personal affairs and back up.”
Mason looked stunned for a moment, but then seemed to shake himself out of the macho tough guy mode and did as I asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds. I just didn’t like the way he talked to you.”
“I appreciate that, but—” My head snapped around. “Ow, Greg, what the—”
Greg grabbed my arm, taking me by surprise. He pulled me over toward him. “We need to talk.”
It was like something had snapped in Mason. The moment Greg placed his hands on me, Mason lunged forward and ripped it away from my arm. Greg stumbled backward but managed to keep his footing. Then he rushed toward Mason.
It was too late for me to tell Mason to stay out of it; he’d already pushed Greg to his limit. I rushed between the two men, putting myself in the path of danger. Anything to stop the fight that was about to go down in my front yard.
“Guys, Skyler is coming out,” I hissed loudly.
Both men froze. If there was one thing I could say about Greg, it was that he would never let his daughter see his bad side. Sometimes I thought it might be because he was a good dad, other times I thought it could be to keep her from talking and telling the courts anything that would reflect poorly upon him.
Whatever it was, he stopped as if someone had flipped the switch to “Good father” instead of “Asshole.”
“Sweetie!” he exclaimed, rushing toward Skyler. “There you are.”
I breathed deeply for a few moments, relief washing over me. I was still shaking from the threat of violence.
“Danielle, I’m really sorry,” Mason whispered.
I shot him a look of death. “When I say stay out of it, I mean stay out of it. I have my reasons.”
If Mason looked too attached to me, too protective, it would give Greg ideas. Bad ideas. Dangerous ideas. As thankful as I was for him standing up for me, I had to make it clear - it was way out of line.
“I know, I know. I just don’t take too well to men manhandling women,” he said softly.
I could hear the genuine regret in his voice, and one look at him and his puppy dog eyes, it was hard to stay angry at him for long. His intentions had been honorable, to say the least.
“He’s a totally different man around her,” Mason murmured, speaking the obvious.
“Yep. Welcome to my life,” I stated flatly.
The way he could turn on and off the anger scared me. I wasn’t sure if the other emotions I saw from him were real. Most days, I was convinced it was all an act.
My entire body was stiff, as it often was when Greg was around. I waited until he loaded Skyler into his car and drove off before I could even breathe again.
I had almost forgotten about Mason as I waved bye to my daughter, my chest tight with anxiety as my little girl rode off with Greg. I hated the weekends she went with him, even though he’d never shown any sign of being abusive to our daughter. For all intents and purposes, he appeared to be a good dad. A doting father who often spoiled her with expensive toys and clothes. The courts loved him, and that’s why we had shared custody. That and he was rich as all hell and could afford the best lawyers money could buy, while I was often stuck with legal aid. I did well for myself, I was successful, but no one went into animal rescue and dog training to get rich.
A few moments after their car disappeared into the distance, Mason cleared his throat beside me. “I mean it, I’m sorry, Danielle.”
“It’s okay,” I said, still looking out toward the road. Greg had never done anything to make me think he’d hurt Skyler. I couldn’t even imagine it. But there was still a knot in my stomach every time she left with him. I plastered a smile on my face, trying to shove away all the bad feelings, and focused on my client.