Summer's Indiscretion(Divine Creek Ranch 7)(49)

“Thank you, darlin’,” Kemp murmured, sliding a single fingertip up her arm and then cupping her shoulder. “Would you like some company on the ride?”

Very intuitive, Kemp.

Ace nodded slightly at his suggestion. It was a good idea and what they should’ve done to begin with. Then Summer might not have been so badly frightened by the vehicle harassing her.

“Sure,” she murmured, still looking a little dazed.

Ace smiled, wondering if she was counting the days, hours, and minutes until they could truly be intimate like he was.





Chapter Thirteen



Summer was relieved that Kemp was riding home with her. She watched with slight amusement as he folded his large, muscular frame into the front seat of her little red Miata. The man was built like a tank and obviously found it to be a challenge. When he realized she was watching him as he struggled with the seatbelt he grinned at her.

“Having difficulty, big man?”

Finally strapped in, he chuckled and gamely replied, “Nope. I’m ready to go.”

She backed out of the parking space and followed Ace. “So what will you do with the information Mrs. Sheridan gave you? Will you go see that other woman?”

Summer’s heart fluttered when he laid his hand on her thigh and stroked her gently. “Eventually, but not yet. First we have to figure out her motivation for doing this. In my experience, when people voice moral outrage like she is doing on that blog, there is usually a deeper, more private reason for it. She’s using the moral outcry as a means to punish you and the other girls for something else entirely. At least that’s my supposition right now.”

“What will happen in the meantime?”

“We’ll watch her. I hope now that we have a link, we can discover who is attacking the shop and you girls. There may or there may not be a connection between the two. The man who broke into your shop may be working on his own or he may have a connection to her. It’ll take some careful digging.”

“I know that she is guilty of libel, but if she’s connected with the other more serious incidents, I’m not sure how I feel about a mother being taken away from her child.”

“If she’s connected with the fire and the vehicular attacks and the break-in, she’s got much bigger worries than just libel. She’s gotten herself into this mess, darlin’. Don’t worry about it for now. Give us a chance to discover her reasons for doing this and see how this all works out.”

“Okay. I just hate the thought of a mother and child being separated.”

Kemp stroked her thigh and squeezed gently. “That’s because you’re a nice person, darlin’. These things have a way of working out sometimes. Let’s just wait and see.”

She glanced at him as she drove down the highway and caught him gazing at her, an inexplicable look in his eyes. “What?” His hand was very warm where it rested on her leg.

Kemp looked out the windshield and shook his head before looking back at her. “Being around someone who puts others before herself is nice. I’m used to dealing with lowlifes and people who do things for purely selfish reasons. I grew up with a father who thought only of his own selfish desires. I deal with people who look good on the surface but are rotten underneath.”

“Was your father abusive?”

Kemp was silent for a moment but finally replied, “Yes.”

He didn’t say anything else, and since he didn’t appear upset by the admission, she pressed just a little, softly asking, “What did he do? Was he physically abusive?”

Kemp looked out the windshield as he replied, “Yes. Toward my mother, me, and my sisters. When he didn’t have work, or things weren’t going well, he would drink. He was a mean drunk, and when he lost his temper, he took it out on us. If we stepped out of line, disagreed with him, or made mistakes, he lost his temper. He was very volatile, even when he was sober.”

“If you made mistakes?”

“Yes, like made a mess and didn’t clean it up or broke something. If I—” He looked down, and when she glanced at him, she could see the tension in his face and the set of his broad shoulders.

“If you what?” she whispered as she placed her hand over his on her thigh and entwined their fingers together, letting him know she was there for him.

“If I stepped out of line, argued with him, or showed how I felt about what he did, I got his fist or his belt.”

Oh, God. “If you showed how you felt?” That might explain why Kemp was so stoic and self-possessed. It might also explain how his nose had gotten broken.

“If I reacted to his tirades, the things he yelled at us, or how he treated my mom and my sisters. If I showed emotion he beat me for it. Or at least he did until I grew big enough to defend myself and my family.”