He just gave her a look like he thought she’d lost her mind. Yeah, she probably had. But now she wanted to giggle at the idea of him wearing a collar with a bell on it.
“You were supposed to be following me to your room,” he stated.
“Well, if you want someone to follow you, then you should walk at their pace instead of a hundred miles an hour,” she complained. “And I don’t want to go to my room yet, anyway. I’m going to do some reading in here.”
North shook his head. “No, Jared wants you in your room. He has someone coming to visit. Now, come along.”
“No.” She stared at him sassily. What was he going to do if she refused? Pick her up and carry her to her room?
Seems that was exactly what he was going to do.
She let out a cry as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
“Let me down! North! Put me down!” She slapped her hands down on his back, trying to wriggle free.
“Stay still,” he ordered. “Before you fall and hurt yourself.”
“If you just put me down then I wouldn’t be at risk of falling and hurting myself,” she complained.
“Quiet,” he ordered as they walked down the hall. Well, she guessed that was what they were doing.
“North! Let me down!”
“What is going on here?” Jared asked.
Uh-oh.
Daddy sounded mad.
And why did she just call him Daddy?
She whacked her forehead with her hand. What was wrong with her?
“I’m just taking her back to her room. She refused to go,” North explained.
“I didn’t refuse to go!” she complained. “You left me for dust! I couldn’t keep up. And then I wanted to read in the library. But you went all alpha on me and picked me up and carried me. I could get sick up here, you know.”
“North, put her down.”
North suddenly set her on her feet, making the room spin slightly.
Shoot.
“Are you all right? Angie?” Jared asked.
He slowly came into focus.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“I need you to go wait in your room for the next hour,” Jared told her. “I have to have a meeting and I don’t want you seen.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s one of the family and I don’t trust them with you. So go with North.”
Why did he sound so cold? So different than he had earlier?
“Fine,” she grumbled. “Come on, North. Keep up.”
