AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tylers were no good. And always had been. Brawlers with bad attitudes, mostly. Some were flat-out drunks and just trouble. He had no doubt Phil and Nick—Bruce’s brothers—had turned out just as bad. Bruce had been a lazy, shiftless, beer-guzzling grifter, robbing whoever he could for a damned buck. Or driving for Morris Preston. That was it.
The rest of those Tylers hadn’t amounted to much. It just wasn’t possible.
“Dusty. Thank God, woman! Come here, baby. Come here,” one of the men said. “I found you. We found you. We’ve got you. You’re safe now, baby. You’re safe.”
His daughter stumbled toward the young man in the middle. “Ben!”
Arthur stayed right where he was. And watched.Dusty.That young man had called her Dusty.
She knew that boy. She went right to him, right into his arms and everything. The boy just held her close. She clung. She knew that boy well. Very well.
A boyfriend, maybe? She was a beautiful girl—there would be men interested in her. And the way that boy washoldingher…
Some of the tension in Arthur lessened. He pulled his body farther under the large, sheltering bows of the pine. He didn’t want those three to see him. That would just put Geena in jeopardy. And the girls. Those three boys were young and strong and probably able to thrash him just as much as he deserved.
He still had four of his daughters missing out there somewhere. And those four weren’t safe.
“Ben! I knew you would be looking for me.” Arthur would never forget her slurred words. Or the way that boy adjusted the blanket around Arthur’s daughter’s shoulders. The way he was holding her.
“Always. Forever, baby. I never would have stopped looking for you, Destiny Marie. Forever. I’m here now. I’m here.”
Then the young man scooped her close and held her. Like he loved her.
“Dusty, babe, open your eyes. Open them. She’s…out. Gil, she’s not opening her eyes.” The guy’s voice held panic now. Arthur’s daughter was limp in his arms.
Arthur tensed. It was just a muscle relaxer. It should have her out for a few more hours. It surprised him she’d made it as far as she had.
“Get her in the truck, Ben. The sheriff can meet us at the hospital. Let’s go,” another man said in a slightly lower tone. One that sounded a damned lot like Bruce Tyler.
Arthur studied him quickly. Yeah, it could be Bruce standing there. His blood ran cold, imagining Bruce having one of his daughters like that. His hand tightened on the .38 reflexively. Ready, if he had to.
He’d die for his daughter. In a heartbeat. That was his baby girl there. Bruce Tyler wasn’t going to hurt one of Arthur’s girls ever again.
The guy turned. Better into the early morning light. Arthur relaxed some.
It wasn’t Bruce Tyler. The man was far too young for Bruce. And the hair far too light blond.
But those boys were Tylers.
And that just meant trouble.
Arthur stayed right where he was, and watched.
42
Ben scoopedher into his arms. “Come on, baby. Open your eyes.”
Fletcher helped him lift her, Dusty clutched tightly to Ben’s chest. Like deadweight.
Gil helped steady them. “We’ll get her to the hospital. Then we’ll take her back to my place, with me and Sage. Pamper her a bit. Or Nikki’s. She’d like to go to Nikki’s. Hell, we’ll take her back to the inn and set up guards over her ourselves. A Tyler to guard every corner.”
Ben barely heard his brother. All of his focus was on the woman in his arms. “She’s been sedated. It…someonedidthis to her.” He’d seen the effects of sedation before. He battled the rage. As he imagined reasons someone would do this to her. “We need to get her to the hospital. Find out what that bastard did to her. When I find him, I’m going to kill him.”
Ben carried her to Gil’s truck. Fletcher already had the back door open. He leaned down to help lift her in. Ben handed her to his younger brother while Gil called Sage.
His brothers were men he could count on. He was never more grateful for that than he was now. He never would have found her if they hadn’t been searching together tonight.
Gil had been the one to see her. On his side of the road. In that dark coat, a dark blanket around her.
