Lexi stopped in her tracks. Damn it. Jack was the one threat she couldn’t counteract. “Please don’t tell Dad.”
Her mom smiled. “You know he melts a little when you call him that, but it won’t make a damn bit of difference. You’re lucky that Lucas has been hiding this from him or he would have already gotten involved.”
She did not want to bring her father into it. She didn’t want Jack to know how stupid she’d been.
“Please don’t tell him.”
Her mother’s foot tapped against the ground, a sure sign of her growing impatience. “Then you should get talking.”
“Promise me you won’t tell him.”
Her mother shook her head shortly. “I can’t, baby girl. You know I can’t make that promise. I promise I’ll try to help you without involving him.”
Lexi took a deep breath and finally confessed to her mother.
Chapter Twelve:
Leo, Shelley, and Wolf
Shelley stepped out on to the porch and looked over the grounds of the Talbot mansion. It was almost dusk. Her shower was just about done. She closed her eyes and tried to memorize the moment. The afternoon had been sweet, filled with friends old and new. She wanted to remember everything.
Except the crap with her mother-in-law.
She enjoyed the silence for a moment and then her eyes got wide as she opened them because a big black truck pulled up, carefully maneuvering its way through the multitude of cars parked on the driveway and lawn. It drove past the circular drive and up to what looked to be the guesthouse.
Jennifer Talbot hurried across the lawn as though she’d been expecting that truck to show up. She stopped when she got to the truck bed, looked down, and then began to unleash holy hell on the men who stepped out of the truck.
The cowboys held up their identical hands as though pointing to each other to take the blame.
Shelley couldn’t hear the argument, but there was no way Jennifer was happy with whatever they had done.
She turned away and wondered if Leo and Wolf were having fun at their party. Shelley loved spending time with all the women from Bliss and her friends from back home, but she was craving a couple of minutes to herself. The wedding had become the whole center of their world, and she couldn’t wait to get back to focusing on her men. She missed their mornings together.
Leo would get up first, putting on the coffee for her while he went on the balcony and practiced some yoga. She would get up and watch him, his lean and limber body moving with such grace.
Then Wolf would walk in, scratching his belly. He would lie down on the couch, put his head in her lap, and go back to sleep for a while.
She missed those sweet mornings. What would mornings be like when she had some kids? Would it be hectic and chaotic? Or would she find a deep peace in sitting down with her family and eating breakfast?
The way she had with her momma and daddy and Trev. Her mom and dad were gone now, but there had been a piercing sweetness to sitting across from her brother and having him pass her the syrup.
And now Trev was a dad. He had a baby girl. Shelley was an aunt. It was a responsibility she didn’t take for granted. She had a place in that girl’s life. She just wasn’t sure it was a good one.
Was she really still afraid of her choices? Had Bryce damaged her so badly that she was worried about what she would do to a child?
“Ma’am?” A masculine voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
Shelley turned and saw a man walking across the porch. He was dressed in jeans and a Western-style shirt. His hair was gray and cut in a severe style. She didn’t recognize him at all. “If you’re looking for the men’s party, you’ll have to go up the mountain.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be welcome up there, but I might have better luck with you.”
“With me?” She kind of didn’t like the sound of that. Had Cassidy sent another crazy to plead her case?
“Yes. You’re Shelley McNamara, ain’t you?” His eyes narrowed, looking her up and down.
Yeah, she really didn’t like that look. And now Jennifer Talbot was gone and there was no one on the lawn. She definitely didn’t like how quiet it was. She could hear the party going on in the back, but she’d been through enough crap in her lifetime to know when it was all right to be alone with a man she didn’t know.
Never.
“I think I saw her in the back. I’ll go get her for you.” He might be the kindest man on the planet, but she wasn’t taking chances.
She started to move toward the door to the house, but he stepped in her way.
“I know you’re Shelley and I know you’re marrying my boys.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “You’re Leo and Wolf’s dad?”
He shrugged a little. “Not that they acknowledge it. Probably best for them, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist on a little family time with them. Leo is being real stubborn about everything. He’s just like his good-for-nothing mother.”
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, but they weren’t about sadness. Anger started to burn through her. She knew exactly what it felt like to be told she was useless. Bryce had tried to make her feel utterly worthless. She’d wasted years on him, trying to be a good wife when there was nothing she could do.
Had Cassidy’s husband done the same?
“What do you want?”
He put a hand on his hip and stared at her for a moment as though trying to assess the best way to answer the question. “I want what’s coming to me. Now the way I see it, you three have yourself a mighty nice setup. You all work for that fancy city slicker, the one with all the money.”
“Are you talking about Julian Lodge?”
“Yeah, that fellow. I read about him. He’s got a pretty wife.”
He was really setting off her every ick factor. If the man in front of her knew exactly what Julian Lodge would do to him if he laid a hand on Dani, he wouldn’t think she was so pretty. He would think she looked like his painful death. “What about Julian?”
“My boys both work for him, right? When I heard about this wedding, I did a little checking because I thought it was weird that Stef Talbot would be hosting my white trash boys. Turns out they ain’t so white trash anymore.”
She hated the term. She’d grown up fairly poor and in the South, so she’d been called by that name more than once. “They’ve been very successful.”
“Real rich now. Leo’s got some sort of fancy degree. He was always a smart kid. Must have got that from me. Wolf is just as dumb as his momma, though. If I went to him, he would probably just try to kick my ass. So I have to think you’re going to be the reasonable one. I mean, you like your life, dontcha, girl?”
Yep, her rage was getting pretty volcanic now, but she put a blank face on. Leo had been keeping this from her, and maybe from Wolf. She knew why he was doing it. He was trying to make sure their wedding was as happy as possible for her, but it looked like she would be the one handling this small problem. Because there was no way she was letting this asswipe anywhere near her men again. He’d done enough damage. She needed to find out what his plan was. “I like my life a lot.”
His eyes roamed up and down her body, making her wish she had a turtleneck sweater on and maybe a suit of armor. How this man had produced the two kindest men she knew, Shelley had no idea.
Except she suddenly did. Cassidy had made them kind. Cassidy had raised them to be gentlemen and true friends to all those around them. DNA had nothing to do with it. Cassidy’s will and perseverance had ruled the day.
“Well, the way I look at it, you should probably want to keep that nice life with your pretty clothes and shoes and such.”
“I intend to.”
“What would that fancy boss of yours say if he knew where Leo and Wolf came from? It looks to me like my boys have him fooled. I don’t know how they know Talbot, but they probably have him fooled, too. You’re moving around in high society, but that society won’t keep you for long once they find out that Leo and Wolf come from a man who spent more time in prison than he did out of it.”
If Julian Lodge didn’t already know that, she would eat her Jimmy Choos. But she played along, letting a horrified look cross her face. “Prison?”
“Yes, girl. I done a nice bit of time and for some pretty ugly crimes. That Julian fellow might be open-minded when it comes to you sleeping with both boys, but how is he going to feel about a criminal’s son watching over his daughter?”
Wolf’s job was security for Dani and Chloe. He also watched over Finn when Julian was worried about one of his cases. It was obvious to Shelley that Robert Meyer hadn’t really done his homework. He’d looked up Julian Lodge and seen exactly what Julian had wanted him to see—an upscale businessman with a beautiful wife and daughter. It was the image Julian presented to reporters. The last thing the very private Julian would want was newspaper stories about his ménage lifestyle.
On the surface, Julian might look like the type of man who would be horrified to discover his seemingly steady bodyguard actually had a dark past. Many businessmen in his position would immediately fire the bodyguard and find someone more suitable.
Julian Lodge would just shoot Robert Meyer and consider the world a better place.