“We’re having a moment,” Charley said. “Go away and leave us alone.”
Turner came striding toward them. “Have a moment later. The fucker just came through the gates.” With a hand on each of their shoulders, he separated them. “I’ve been looking for you all over.”
Although he was talking to her, Charley responded. “You didn’t look very well,” she said. “If Poppy wasn’t in your room, where else did you think she’d be?”
“Talking to my girlfriend here, Shrimp,” Turner said. “Don’t need your input.”
Charley’s hands rose to her hips. “Apparently you do. You’re going to be at this meeting thing with the asshole?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” Charley said to her brother and stepped in close to point at his face. “You better look after her. This Holden guy is a piece of work and I don’t think his balls are big enough to actually stand up to any of the men. If he gets in her face—”
“You think I need you to tell me how to deal with him?”
“Yeah, I do,” Charley said. “Because you’ve known about this forever. Way longer than the rest of us. If you really loved Poppy—”
“Okay,” Poppy said, stepping into the narrow space between the siblings. “We’re fighting battles on enough fronts already. We shouldn’t be fighting them with each other too. Charley…” She gave her friend another quick hug. “I love you for defending me. If tonight doesn’t work, we’ll try it your way.”
As Poppy left her friend’s embrace, she backed up against Turner, hoping he’d take the hint and begin to retreat.
He stayed put. “I love you, Shrimp.”
The younger woman was more suspicious than surprised. “I’ll still think you’re a jerk if Poppy gets hurt again.”
“I will be,” Turner said. “And it won’t happen.”
He took her hand and led her out of the room and down the stairs, but stopped about halfway to turn to her.
“What is it?” Poppy asked when he didn’t say anything. Laying a hand on his cheek, her concern rose. “You don’t have to come in with me. If you want to go to dinner with your family—”
“I won’t let you down,” he said, hooking an arm around her waist to pull her against him. “I’m trying to figure out how to convince you that you don’t need to be there.”
“What?”
“He shouldn’t have the right to look at you, much less breathe the same air as you. Charley is right, I should’ve done something about this as soon as you told me.”
“What could you have done?” she asked, appreciating the sentiment though it was unnecessary. “You didn’t even know you loved me until a week ago.”
Her feelings had been apparent to her since the beginning. Even though Turner had fought his, she suspected he’d had an inkling that she meant more to him than his consciousness would admit. In spite of that, neither of them had been in a position to do anything about Holden’s insanity. Anyway, it hadn’t reached fever pitch—not counting the declaration at the altar—until he’d put out the ridiculous bounty.
So much made sense now that Poppy was aware of Violet’s affair. At least she could take solace that she wasn’t crazy. Holden’s confession of love had been unexpected, completely out of the blue, but it hadn’t been about her. She hadn’t missed any mixed signals or led him on without knowing. Holden was using her, probably like he’d used Violet to get closer to the family fortune.
“Do you trust me to go in there alone?” Turner asked.
Dinner, for the majority of the family, was taking place in the dining room as usual. Rather than invite Holden to join them, the new information had led to a change of plan. They were supposed to be meeting with Holden in the drawing room, at the other end of the house.
“My father only just found out about this today,” she said. “I don’t know how he took the news, it was just Violet and my mom in there with him when he learned the truth.”
“Pres will be at this thing with the asshole.”
“Yes,” she said, coiling her arms around his neck. “You want to support me, but I want to support you too. We should do this together.”
“If Abernathy speaks to you, if he so much as looks at you… Candy-Cane, I’m not sure I trust my restraint. He’s put you and your family through so much… Pres is used to keeping his shit together in front of these Richie Rich types, he’ll watch my back.”