on Peter coming. He looked furious enough to eat nails, and her gaze flew to her father just behind him. She needed all the protection she could get.
Beneath his side-whiskers, her father's face went gray when he saw her. Remembering what she wore, Georgina grabbed the blanket and pulled it more securely around her shoulders. But the damage was already done. Peter's livid expression revealed that he had seen all she had meant to show. She just hadn't counted on anyone coming but her father.
She glanced briefly to Daniel. He was watching her with an enigmatic expression that could have meant anything but almost certainly meant that he had seen what she wore—or didn't wear—beneath the blanket. She felt heat flushing through her at his look, and she turned back to her father.
"You're no daughter of mine," he hissed before turning around and walking out.
Stunned, Georgina stared after him. She didn't know what she had imagined would happen when he found her, but it certainly hadn't been this. How could her father walk off and leave her in the hands of two furious and highly volatile young men? Her gaze swung fearfully to Peter.
She had never seen him look so dangerous. His eyes had grown stone-cold as they gazed on her, and his beard-stubbled jaw tightened menacingly as he turned to Daniel lounging against the door. It was then that she noticed Peter carried a rifle.
Chapter 13
"We don't treat ladies with disrespect in Ohio," Peter announced with a deceptive calm. "We have a solution for those who try."
"Peter! Stop it. You're jumping to conclusions. Before you make a fool of yourself, just listen..."
But Peter wasn't listening, as usual. He was glaring at Daniel. Daniel merely folded his arms over his chest, smiling back. Smiling! Georgina knew she should have killed them both the night before. She was beginning to prefer the bespectacled journalist to his counterpart who smiled with fury in his eyes. Genuine fear lodged in her middle for the first time.
"The lady's talking to you," Daniel pointed out unnecessarily.
"I'm talking to you. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you're going to pay for this. Did you think you could walk into town and destroy my business and steal my girl and walk away again?"
"I haven't destroyed your business—yet. And I haven't stolen Georgina. There she sits. Take her with you if you like."
"Daniel!" Irate, Georgina struggled to get up from the chair. It wasn't an easy task with the blanket wrapped all around her and in constant danger of slipping from forbidden parts, but she made it to her feet. "I'm not going anywhere with anybody."
Both men ignored her protest.
Finally stifling his fury sufficiently to face Georgina, Peter turned in her direction. "If you'll tell me you made a mistake and that you want to go home again, I'll forgive you this once. Just collect your clothes and we'll get out of here."
That took her entirely by surprise. Shocked, Georgina stared at him, searching for some sign that Peter really wanted her to go with him. If there was any pain in his eyes, she couldn't see it. She couldn't see anything but his fury and his humiliation. She desperately wanted to believe that he would take her back because he wanted her, but she wasn't that naive anymore.
"Hanover Industries means that much to you?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Your family means so little?" Peter retorted. "Get up and get your clothes and I'll help you out of here." Still clutching the rifle, he returned his attention to Daniel, expecting her full obedience.
"When my family allows other families to starve for the sake of their own pockets, they mean that little to me. I'm not going anywhere."
Daniel rolled his eyes heavenward and interceded. "You'd better take his advice, Miss Merry. You won't like what will happen next, otherwise."
She started to cross her arms and glare back, but remembered the blanket just in time. She grabbed it and kept it from falling, much to Daniel's disappointment, she could tell from his interested gaze. She flushed at the look in his eyes. Why was it that he always made her feel so... so naked?
"I'm fully prepared to take care of myself," she informed him coldly, before returning to Peter. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Your family is an even greater disgrace than mine. Go back and fire another clerk and work off some steam, if that's what you want."
Peter shook his