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I was wrong.
Was I ever wrong.
She pushed past me, coming to stop an arm's length away from the widow.
“How dare you touch him like that. Who do you think you are, lady?”
Miss Milton straightened her shoulders, her chin lifting to the sky with a haughty air. “The name’s Lois Milton. I am the woman who spends more money at this resort than you could dream up in a lifetime. Malachi and I have history.”
History? No. Unless she’s referring to the many times I’ve tried to steer clear of her.
She looked down her nose at Maisy. “Whoareyou?”
“Look,” Maisy careened on without answering, “I don’t care who you are…”
“Maisy,” I tried, letting my hand fall to her shoulder.
People were already gathering at the end of the hallway. Rumors about a confrontation would scatter within minutes. I needed to get this situation behind closed doors so I could deal with the widow’s assault on Ethan. Not to mention, I was livid over the way she’d spoken about the woman who held my heart.
But Maisy couldn’t be stopped.
“I saw how you act with the hosts at the pool,” she continued. “You can’t just treat these men like they’re your personal toys. They are people, doing you a service. Making your day a little brighter. Your vacation, a little nicer. Andyou, you are nothing more than acustomer.” Maisy spat the word like it was poison from her lips.
Miss Milton cackled loudly at that, the sound echoing through the hall to make me cringe.
“Oh, you poor dear,” Miss Milton cooed, daring to take a step toward Maisy. “Look at you. How sad that you can’t see it.”
“See what?”
My gut told me nothing good was going to come out of that woman’s mouth. I grabbed Maisy’s hand to pull her away, but it was too late. The widow’s words were an arrow, and she’d already fired the shot.
“You’re nothing special. Did you really think he was spending time with you because he wanted to? No, darling. You also, are nothing more than a…customer.”
I literally saw when the arrow hit Maisy. Could see it in the slight jerk of her body as the pain welled and then swiftly turned back into anger.
With a sound that was something between a gasp and a growl, she lunged at the widow.
But this time, I got there first
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her backwards against my hard chest. “Maisy,stop. Don’t do this.”
“Let me go,” she snapped.
“I can’t.” I kept my voice as calm as possible even though I could hear the call for security over the radio strapped to my belt. “I can’t let you loose until I know you’ll walk away.”
“Walk away?” This time, her fury was directed at me. “You expect me to walk away after this… this…craneof a woman put her hands all over you?” Crane? Come to think of it, Miss Miltondidresemble the giant bird.
I lowered my mouth to Maisy’s ear, hoping like hell she could hear the urgency in my tone and understand.
“Yes. I need you to walk away. I need you to let medo my job. I will handle this.”
A tense moment ticked by and then I felt the fight bleed out of her. “Fine,” she said. “Fine. Let me go so you cando your job.”
I didn’t like the sound of her voice, and when I released her and she turned to leave, I hated her expression even more. Damn it, she was hurt. And until I dealt with Widow Milton, there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.
The widow clucked her tongue as Maisy started away. “Chin up, girly,” she said with a satisfied smirk. “There are eleven more pool boys for you to play with as long as you’ve got the cash.”
“Enough,” I barked. Oh, I was going to make sure Widow Milton never stepped foot in any resort on this island again.
