Sitting down on the leather chair next to the loveseat, Tracewatched and waited. He watched as she pretended to fall asleep fast, lashes fluttering like she was acting for an audience of one hundred rather than one. Santa wouldn’t be the only one keeping an eye out this season.
He banked the fire, killed the lights. He moved off the loveseat once he knew for sure she was asleep and lay down on top of the comforter on his bed beside her. Pulling her back against his chest, he locked his arms around her waist like a seatbelt. She stiffened in her sleep, but didn’t wake.
It turned out Kip wasn’t the only one who’d had a long day. He’d been up before the sun and worked hard all morning. Not to mention riding the fences after he’d had his talk with Boone in the barn. He’d checked on Daisy several more times, and thankfully, she seemed to be well on the mend. Before he realized it was creeping up on him, sleep took him hard.
He had no idea how long he’d been asleep when he woke to cold sheets. According to his clock, the time was 3:18 a.m.
The fire was low. The embers were glowing orange.
And Kip was gone.
Damnit.
Trace was out of bed and pulling on jeans before his brain fully engaged. Where had she gotten off to. And how the hell had she left the bed without waking him? One quick scan of every room in the suite confirmed she wasn’t there.
A piece of paper on his pillow caught his attention. Maybe she told him where she was going. When he reached it, fear and rage coursed through him. He could tell her hand had been shaking as she wrote the six simple words.I had to leave. I’m sorry.
It was the tear stain that pushed him over the edge. When he found her, he was going to show her just how important she was to him. Somehow, in the past six months, she’d become his everything. Then, he was going to show her she didn’t know what sorry really meant.
She couldn’t have gone far. She didn’t have a car. If he found her walking back toward town, she wasn’t going to be able to sit down for a very, very long time. Something flickered through the window facing the barn. Darkness still blanketed the snow, but a faint light glowed from the window of the barn’s loft. Not bothering with a shirt, he grabbed his hat and coat and headed out the door.
The snow crunched under his boots, refrozen by the single-digit temperature. She’d better have her coat and gloves with her.
The barn door creaked when he pushed it open. That was fine. He wasn’t trying to sneak up on her. Daisy shifted in her stall but stayed quiet. Soft snorts and the smell of sweet hay and leather filled the air. He climbed the ladder one-handed, slow, with a heavy tread to give her plenty of warning he was on his way up.
She was cross-legged on an old quilt, wearing her coat over her Christmas jammies, gloves, and boots to the side. Even though he made enough noise to alert everyone on the ranch, she bent over her open sketchbook under a hanging lightbulb. Colored pencils were scattered around the quilt like confetti.
He squatted down beside her without a word. She’d drawn a bird’s eye diagram of the ranch. It included every road, every fence line, every creek crossing. He had no idea how she knew where those were, but she did. Red X’s marked every gate and possible exit. Dotted blue lines snaked from the lodge to each one, through the forests to the north, across the mountains to the west, down the Wild River to the south, and back to Wilder to the east.
She didn’t look up when his shadow fell over her, just kept filling out her map.
“I already got the saloon mapped,” she said, voice small but steady. “And my apartment. I have bug-out bags in both. One in my trunk.” Then she gave him her eyes. “I’m fast, Daddy, and I know what I’m doing. I can be gone in four minutes.”
His Little girl. He’d been right. She’d been on the run for a long time. And yet, here she was, waiting for him to find her.
He rested his elbows on his knees, knowing what he said and did in the next few minutes would make or break them. He spoke in as gentle a voice as he could manage after the scare she’d given him. “You’re in trouble, little fox.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Her sad eyes sent him to his ass. He opened his arms to her. “Come here.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
To his credit, Trace didn’t smile, but he couldn’t say the corner of his mouth didn’t twitch. She wanted to come to him so bad it hurt. He could see it in the way she gripped her hands and the longing in her eyes. “I see. And why is that?”
Had he gone too far that evening? Maybe he should have taken her home, but she wasn’t safe there. Besides, she’d had a wonderful time today, allowing her Little to run free on the ranch with the other girls. She’d blossomed.
She opened her mouth, but shut it again. Her entire body changed, tensed, and he braced. “I-I-I have to leave. I need you to take me home.” Before he could respond, she wilted. “I have to go. Please?”
Not a chance in hell. If he thought she’d be better off, he’d give in to her demand in a heartbeat. But she wouldn’t be. Not physically. Not emotionally.
She might hate him, but whether she knew it or not, he was already her Daddy in his heart, and he couldn’t…no, he wouldn’t put her in any situation that might harm her.
Nodding, Trace forced a lazy grin. “I understand. But it’s too late to go now. You’ll be going home in just a few hours anyway. Why not wait?”
She clenched her hands tighter. Her face was burning, but hewasn’t sure if it was with embarrassment, anger, or relief. “I asked you to take me earlier.”
He relaxed his body and widened his smile. “That’s true,” he admitted. “But you agreed we would have a Daddy, Little relationship on the ranch. You did mean I’m the Daddy, right?”
