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“Don’t even talk, Jocelyn. You just listen to me, girly. And you listen good. I’ve had about all I’m going to take of your selfish attitude. How dare you keep your phone off when I expressly told you not to? How dare you treat me with such deliberate disrespect? If you had a husband who would control your actions and find a way to slap some respect into that smart mouth of yours, you’d never treat me this way. But you just do anything and everything you want to, don’t you?”
Logan’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open a little as he listened to Jocelyn’s father spout off, thinking he was spilling his rage to his daughter. Logan was appalled, but listened with a growing understanding of Jocelyn’s previous home life and current relationship with her father.
“I know you didn’t go to New York like I instructed. I can only assume you’ve gone back to Montana to waste your time. If you’d listened to me, you already would have found your sister where I told you to go look. Now get your sassy behind in gear and go to New York like I told you this instant! You never listen to me. But you’re going to this time. No man is ever going to want a woman like you unless you make some big changes to your mindset. You’re too damned independent. You should have found a husband at college. What a waste of money that turned out to be. Maybe then you’d know how to treat me with the reverence I deserve. And another thing…”
Logan pulled the phone away from his ear. His gaze went in the direction of where Jocelyn now slept. The angry tone now blasting one eardrum certainly made one part of her life clearer.
If this was the way she was treated by her father, it was no wonder she felt the way she did about having a man control her. But she’d let them tie her up anyway. She’d trusted them enough to allow them to dominate her for pleasure. Logan’s measure of her already ample worth went up ten notches.
The vitriol her father spouted continued on the phone Logan held. Unsure of what to do, Logan decided not to speak. He didn’t think that her father hearing a man’s voice on her phone at this early hour would make his tone any lighter or happier. Then again, he also didn’t want to hang up on him, since he thought he was yelling at his daughter. Likely he’d call back even angrier than he already was if the connection was broken.
“…you need to shape up and fly straight or you’ll never get a man. Owning your own business and thinking you’re smarter than everyone else isn’t going to get you far in this world. You need a man in your life to keep you in line. If you don’t change, you’ll die alone. Are you hearing me, girly?” He didn’t wait for her to answer his question, he just kept spitting out line after line of how Jocelyn was such a huge disappointment, how she didn’t do anything right, and how he thought she should live her life, et cetera.
After seven solid minutes and continued spewing of what her father considered Jocelyn’s many shortcomings, Logan had heard enough. He clicked the button to end the call. Logan definitely had a much better understanding of the family life Jocelyn dealt with. He would never feel sorry for her, but he certainly had a new respect for her choices in life. With obviously no support of her skills or the fact that she owned a successful business, her father would likely never be convinced of her worth. Unless she got married and had a husband to order her around, put her under his control, and keep her in her place.
Logan turned the phone off completely when it began to ring again. He once again pondered the idea that she’d overcome her reluctance to give over control to them. Under the same set of circumstances, he couldn’t honestly say he would have done the same. He retrieved his phone, making a quick phone call to Zane, who agreed to take care of the stable for the next couple of days.
He discarded the idea of coffee, moving through the kitchen toward the stairs like he was led by a string. Logan took the stairs two at a time, wanting, no, needing to see her. Hold her close, breathe in her scent. Show her if not with words, instead with his actions his newfound appreciation. He was lying to himself at the notion that he hadn’t fallen completely in love with her already.
