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Destiny—he’d probably never really think of her asDusty—was faster than he had anticipated. Stronger, like his Devaney. Scrappy like his Dylan. Stubborn like his Dorie. She kept trudging forward. He heard her curses when she slipped on some ice.
But his daughter didn’t give up. Not for a moment.
Resilient like his Dahlia.
He stayed where he could see her. Be there if she needed him.
They were only two miles from town. She might just be able to make it two miles. It would solve his dilemma on how to get her home. Not his first choice, but all he wanted was her safe at the inn where she belonged. Where he had no doubt his brother would watch over her like a hawk.
He’d known, when he left, he was leaving the girls with a far better man than he could ever be.
He wanted to be able to drive her right up to the front entryway of the inn that had been his family’s life’s work for as long as he could remember back. But he couldn’t.
He’d rather forfeited that right twenty-three years ago.
Still…he wasn’t going to let her walk through the snow that far without her coat. He just wasn’t. Arthur caught up to her. “Destiny Marie. Wait.”
“Leave me alone.” Her words were slurred. From the drugs? Or the cold? Panic threatened. It was damned cold out there. She could freeze to death in this. He slung her coat over her shoulders.
Maneuvered her arms into it. Zipped it closed.
He wrapped the blanket over her shoulders.
Arthur pulled his own knit hat off his head and put it on his daughter’s. “I’ll drive you home in the morning, sweetheart. I promise. You can’t walk home in this snow now. You just can’t.”
“I can. I will. Not staying with you and her. I’m not. I want to gohome.But…Slater Davis’s not here to carry me now.” She was still slurring. Leaning against him. He never should have drugged her. Never. He’d screwed up again. “I wantBen.He’s looking for me right now. Ben…and…Gil…and Fletch…and…and…”
There probablywerepeople looking for her now. Arthur wasn’t stupid. Someone would have found her truck alongside the highway. They’d only been a half mile or so outside of town.
“Come on.” He could carry her. If he had to. And he would, too. If he had to. Arthur turned her. Back toward where they had come from.
They must have made it almost a half mile before he heard it.
The sound of a big engine. Coming.
He ducked behind a large pine. He watched, hand gripping his gun, in case he needed it to defend his daughter. He’d die to defend one of his girls. All of them, Geena all the way down to their Dorie.
A sound behind him had him turning.Destiny.She was moving. Toward that truck.
Faster than Arthur had anticipated.
Destiny stumbled to the edge of the road. Waved her arms. Almost went to her knees. Arthur bit back a scream, fear the damned truck would hurt her having him moving closer. Fast. If she stepped out into the road, they could hit her.
Just like that, the truck stopped. With almost a screeching sound. It slid on the snow. Opposite direction from his daughter.
Doors opened. Men’s voices could be heard.
Arthur darted behind the nearest tree.
Three men piled out. Young, strong, fit.
From the distance he watched from, in the early morning sun, they looked like some of those bastard Tylers he remembered from so long ago.
Even with winter gear on, he’d recognizeTylerswhen he saw them. Damned hotheaded, good-for-nothing bastards. If something bad was going on in Masterson County, it was highly likely Bruce Tyler or one of his ilk were involved. That was the way it had always been. Bruce or Marty. Always doing something they shouldn’t.
He would never forget Bruce ramming his fist into Arthur’s face—because of something that had supposedly happened between his sister Jessica and Bruce’s brother Marty so many years ago. Before Marty had dropped dead from a heart attack, shocking everyone in Masterson who’d known him.
That was ridiculous. Jess wouldn’t have gotten tangled up with a damned Tyler.
