Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1 by BJ Wane (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

needed you, and you weren’t there.” Leaning down, he brushed her lips before sliding his mouth down her neck. “To make matters worse, you weren’t there when I got home. Why?”

“I wasn’t sure…” She tilted her head, giving him easier access to her soft skin.

“About what?” he murmured, stroking her pulse with his tongue.

“I can’t think straight when you do that.”

He nipped the tender spot between shoulder and neck, liking the easy access the scooped neckline of her blouse offered. If he didn’t have more pressing matters to discuss with her, he’d forgo talk altogether. “Try.”

“Well, you never said anything about me staying after….afterward. How was I supposed to know where you wanted me?”

“You know, Lisa,” he said, lifting his head to give her a close, direct stare, “you’re quite a contradictory person. There are times you have no problem speaking your mind, and others when you shy away from asking a simple question.”

Frowning, she placed her hands on his chest but didn’t attempt to push him away. Maybe she was learning how immovable he could be about certain things. Hoping to catch her off guard, he stated, “We’ll work on that, but I’m warning you, it might take months, years even for me to straighten you out.”

“Huh?” Her eyes rounded in a dumbfounded expression. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying if you love me half as much as I love you, we’re looking at a lifetime of working on your issues. Ah shit.” Pulling her into his arms, he stroked her long, blonde hair. “No tears. My heart’s been through enough in the last thirty-six hours.”

“I think,” she hiccupped, “I love you a lot more than half.”

“Excellent. Come sit with me. I have news.” He ushered her over to the sofa and settled her on his lap.

“You know who he was,” she stated stiffly.

“Yes, and it won’t be easy to hear. His name was Bruce Pomeroy, and he was your half-brother, and, until recently, the only heir to a fortune.”

She drew back, her brows dipped in a perplexed look. “I don’t have…my father’s son?”

“Yes, almost two decades older than you, and his father, whom Lyle has talked to, is Frank Pomeroy.” He went on to relate what the senior Pomeroy had told Lyle, not surprised when she adamantly shook her head when he mentioned her inheritance.

“No, no way. I want nothing from him. That ship sailed when my mother died young, working herself to the bone to provide for us. I won’t let him use me to assuage his late-in-life guilt for abandoning his responsibility to her and me.”

“Okay.” He understood her attitude and wouldn’t push her. She needed time to digest everything. It just happened he had the perfect way to distract her from thinking too hard on the fact her own brother had wanted her dead.

“Your shoulder!” Lisa exclaimed as he surged to his feet with her in his arms and headed for the bedroom.

“Is fine, but you can kiss it, for starters, if it’ll make you feel better.”

She kicked off her shoes as they reached the hall, whispering in his ear, “Yes, Sir, it definitely will.”

Epilogue

Phoenix, two months later

Lisa paused on the threshold of the large, stately home and rubbed her sweaty palms down the sides of her white cotton slacks. She’d debated for an hour over what to wear, but since this was her first experience with meeting a parent who had been absent from her entire life, she’d opted for cool and casual. She rang the bell then turned, taking one more look at Shawn and Father Joe who stood leaning against Shawn’s packed SUV.

Her heart turned over, the sight of the two most important people in her life giving her that boost of courage she needed to see this through. Father hadn’t stopped beaming since they popped in on him as soon as she and Shawn had arrived in Phoenix last week. To say he was pleased with seeing them together and hearing they were staying together was an understatement. Telling herself the priest was the only parent she needed at this stage of her life helped her make the decision to give in to Frank Pomeroy’s pleas for them to meet. Of course, Father’s lecture on “to err is human, to forgive, divine” also chipped away at her reasons for having nothing to do with the man.

But it was knowing she would be returning to Idaho with Shawn, living with him on his ranch, and starting a full-time job teaching second grade in the fall that bolstered her into agreeing to come here today. They’d cleared out her apartment, getting rid of anything that didn’t fit in the cruiser, and she’d enjoyed lunch with her former principal to turn in her resignation. All that was left was to ease an old man’s conscience.

One side of the tall double doors opened, and Shawn gave her a thumbs-up as she pivoted and entered the cool foyer.

“Hello, Ms. Halldor,” the smiling, plump woman wearing a maid’s uniform greeted her. “Mr. Pomeroy is waiting for you in the sitting room, if you’ll follow me.”

The white marble floor gleamed, and Lisa wondered how it was kept so clean and shiny when she entered a white carpeted room and saw Frank Pomeroy seated in a wheelchair by the marble fireplace. Before she had time to question why anyone would need a fireplace in Phoenix, he beckoned her forward with a wave of one gnarled hand.

“Come in, come in. Let me look at you. Regina, bring us some refreshments.”

“Please, don’t go to any trouble. I can’t stay long. There are people waiting for me.” Sucking in a breath, she crouched in front of the wheelchair, grateful she resembled her mother. “I just stopped by to tell you I’m sorry about your son, and to reiterate