Daddy’s Wild Girl (Montana Daddies #16)

Chapter 43

43

“ C orbin! We’re gonna be late! I’m so sorry I slept in!” she stumbled over her own feet as she rushed out of the bedroom and into the living area of their cabin. To her shock, he was sitting at the table, drinking coffee.

“Whoa, darling girl. Calm down or you’re going to hurt yourself.” Putting down his coffee, he grabbed hold of her and lifted her onto his lap. “Shh, everything is all right.”

“It is?” Her heart was racing. She’d slept like the dead last night, which was really unusual for her. Normally, she tossed and turned for ages and woke up several times.

She guessed maybe being in Little space was therapeutic for her in some ways.

Which reminded her to check her emails to see if her therapist had replied.

“It is. I promise. It’s okay that you slept in. I let you sleep. You needed it.”

“You won’t get in trouble with Kent?”

He smiled. “No, baby. I’ve actually taken the morning off to spend with you.”

“Yeah? Yay! What are we going to do?”

His face grew serious.

“Oh no. I don’t like that face. That’s the face of someone who is taking me to get shots.”

“No shots. I promise. Although that reminds me that your gummy vitamins have arrived. Let’s get you fed and caffeinated, and then I need to tell you something.”

“Maybe you should tell me now.”

“No. Because I know you won’t eat if I do.”

Great. That didn’t sound good at all.

But she let him feed her some scrambled eggs and toast, although her nerves prevented her from eating too much. Corbin sighed as he looked at her half-filled plate.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wincing. The asshole hated when she didn’t eat all the food he’d prepared.

“It’s okay. It’s my fault for telling you there was something going on first.”

She grimaced. “I’ve got to stop being so jittery, haven’t I?” She hated walking on egg shells, waiting for him to do something mean. “I know you’re not him . . . it’s just that sometimes I react before my brain can catch up.”

“I’m not offended, darling girl.” He sat at the table next to her, taking her hands in his. “I just want you to be happy here with me.”

“I am. I promise.”

Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead. “Good. Now, I think I have an idea of who is writing those messages to you.”

“Really? That’s good news.” Hope filled her until she took in the tension on his face. “What is it? Who is it?”

“Well, I suspect that it’s your mother.”

God.

He hated that look on her face.

The hope crumbled, replaced by shock, then anger and betrayal.

“What?” she whispered. “But it can’t be. We were attacked and you said that meant it couldn’t be her.”

“That’s the part I’m not completely sure about, but it could have been a random attack. I looked into crime in that part of the city over the last six months, and there have been a few knife attacks and robberies.”

“Oh. There have?”

“Yes. It is not a safe area for you to be living in. Luckily, you won’t be living there anymore.”

It infuriated him to think about what could have happened to her, living alone in that area.

But he breathed through it.

“What makes you think it’s my mother?”

“As you know, we traced the IP to the San Francisco Public Library which was of no help. But then I studied the messages again. Some of the words are spelled in British English rather than American.”

She sucked in a breath. “Holy heck. How did I not notice that?”

“My guess is that you didn’t pay much attention. And it’s only two words on two different messages out of dozens.”

She nodded quietly.

He squeezed her hands. “You know that this isn’t definite proof, right? I mean, it doesn’t mean that it was your mother. It could be someone else who writes their words like that.”

“Someone else who writes in British English who would have a reason to hate me?”

He hated that she thought her mother hated her. But he also understood it. Her mother hadn’t done anything to prove otherwise to her.

“Unfortunately, we can’t go accusing her with just this flimsy proof. Plus, there is still the attack to consider.”

She blanched. “You don’t think that she . . . that she would hire someone to hurt me?”

“No, darling girl. I’m not saying that. Just wondering if it’s a coincidence or not. What we need is for her to confess.”

“That won’t happen.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “What reason would she have for doing this, though? It’s just costing her money having you guys here. Unless she thought it would push me into coming home. That’s the only thing I can think of.” Closing her eyes, she breathed in slowly and deeply. Then she opened her eyes. “Or it’s related somehow to her announcing that I’m going to be on The Benner Life . She thought it would push me to come home, and then maybe I’d somehow agree to the show? Or perhaps that would be the opening episodes? Me moving home because of the stalker? Why advertise it so soon though? Urgh, I don’t know.” She rubbed at her forehead. “Whatever she’s got planned, we need to get ahead of it.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“If she’s somehow going to use this for publicity, then perhaps we should announce it first.”

“Announce that you have a stalker?” He shook his head. “Nope. That’s not happening.”

“Why not?” She gave him a surprised look.

“Because that might just lead to other people getting the idea to send you awful messages or to start stalking you.”

“I think they’ll do it anyway, but I guess I see your point. What if we just threatened to release it to the public? Like I could write up something and send it to my mother’s publicist as a heads-up? See if that gets them to at least contact me.”

He stood and paced. “It’s still risky if the publicist runs with it.”

“She won’t without my mother’s permission.”

Corbin wasn’t sure he liked this idea. But he could see how it might work. Perhaps. It had been Hayes’ suggestion too.

“Just remember that it’s risky. It might backfire and she might clam up.”

“What have we got to lose?” she asked. “I need to know whether it’s her, Corbin. And she’s not going to confess. But she might get angry enough to let something slip.”

“But what if no one is around to hear her outburst? We need to catch her by surprise while we’re there.”

“Which would mean actually getting hold of them,” she muttered. “I’ll send something vague to her publicist. As in, we know who the stalker is and we’re going to send the information to the papers. Just giving her a heads up. Without saying it’s her.”

“That could work. I’ll let Kent know you’re up for it so we can work out how best to do it first.”

She stood and moved toward him. Opening his arms, he drew her close and kissed the top of her head.

“It would be a relief in some ways to know it’s her. I know that sounds terrible, but it would be the last straw. And it would mean there wasn’t someone out there with a knife trying to get to me.”

“I’m still sorry that this is happening, darling girl. You don’t deserve any of it.”

She leaned back to smile up at him. “I never would have met you if this hadn’t happened, though. And so it’s not something I’ll ever regret.”

“Hmm, I think we were destined to meet.”

“Yeah, maybe it was a wish come true, huh?” She had a strange look on her face before she drew away. “So, I need to do something. Can we go horse riding? Or climb a tree? Or BASE jumping? I’ve always wanted to try that.”

“No BASE jumping,” he told her firmly. “But horse riding, we can do.”