Delinquent Daddy (Banks / Kincaid Family #2)(30)

"Are you telling me you didn't get permission to take Cassidy tonight?"

"Permission?" he said incredulously. "She's my child. I don't—"

115

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"Yes, you damn well do," the woman growled sternly, and Ellie suddenly realized this matriarchal figure was his mother.

She looked too much like Boston not to be. When she turned her attention to Ellie, Ellie instinctively moved a leery step back.

But the woman gave her a beseeching look. "Please excuse my son," she begged. "Sometimes, he just doesn't think."

"What? You're siding with her?" Boston yelped. "Jesus, Mother. She purposely kept my daughter from me for damn near a decade. I think I deserve one night."

But Diane Kincaid merely lifted a hand to shush him. " She is Cassidy's mother," she argued. "She's been the one raising this child. She's your daughter's ultimate guardian and caregiver. Legally, you have no right to her, and you know that."

"Yeah," Boston snorted. "Because... she...kept...my child from me. Did you not hear that the first time?"

"Boston," his mother said calmly. "You're the lawyer here.

You should know better. You have no claim to Cassidy. I doubt your name's even on the birth certificate."

"It's not," Ellie cut in, earning a scowl from both Boston and his mother.

"She could have you arrested for kidnapping," Diane finished. She and her son glanced Ellie's way again, obviously wondering if she'd do just that.

"I just want my daughter," she told them. Turning, she grabbed Cassie's hand and said, "Come on. We're going home."

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Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"What?" Cassie exploded. "No! I want to stay. What does he mean you kept him from me?"

Ignoring her daughter's final question, Ellie glanced toward Nora, who was standing with a quivering Keller cowered next to her. Her friend gave a slight, supportive nod.

Boston stepped forward. "But she hasn't even eaten yet,"

he entreated.

"Can't she stay long enough for supper?" his mother added.

Her daughter wrapped both arms around her left leg.

"Please, Mom, please."

Ellie glanced at Cassie...then Boston. Then she turned her attention to the dozens of curious people standing behind him, watching the show with avid interest. They were going to think she was the Wicked Witch of the West.

But she didn't care.

Tightening her grip on Cassie's hand, she said, "Let's go,"

and turned away from Boston and his family.

She should've known better, but when her daughter wailed out her disapproval, Ellie still winced at the volume. Cassie hadn't thrown such a royal fit since she was four, but she truly outdid herself now. Thrashing and screaming, she dug her feet in and struggled against Ellie's hold, fighting for all she was worth.

"I want to stay with my daddy," she cried over and over again.

It'd been a few years since Ellie had held her child, but she tried to pick Cassie up anyway. The girl immediately flailed 117

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

her limbs out, catching her right in the face with a swinging elbow.

"Cassidy!" Boston chided in shock. He stepped forward as soon as Ellie cried out. While she was busy touching her bruised cheek, he bent down in front of their daughter and took her arms. "Calm down."

"I want to stay with you," she howled.

"I know," he said softly. "But right now, you have to go home. I'll see you soon."

"When?" Cassidy demanded to know.

Boston glanced up toward Ellie as he quietly repeated,

"Soon." He sucked in a breath and got back to his feet. "Be good for your mom, okay?"

Cassie was still rebellious, but at least Ellie was able to drag her to the car after that.

It was a quiet trip home. Even Nora and Keller didn't dare speak. Not until Ellie had pulled into her drive and parked did her friend glance over and quietly say, "I'll talk to you later,"

before she hustled Keller across the yard to their own house.

"Into the bathtub," Ellie told her daughter.

"But—"

" Now."

Ten minutes later, she sat in the darkened living room, bawling into her hands. She hated this. She hated hurting her daughter. She hated being mean. But damn it, she was the injured party here. Boston had scared her to death tonight.

He'd taken off with her child. Why was everyone mad at her like she'd done something wrong?

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Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

When the doorbell rang, she surged to her feet, needing Nora's support more than anything. She didn't even stop to wonder why her friend was at the front door when she always came to the back until she'd already opened the portal. When she found someone who was completely not Nora, she tried to slam it shut.

Boston stuck his foot in the jam just in time. "Ellie. We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you," she said and was totally horrified when a sob seeped out.

"You can't run from this," he murmured, his voice a little too coaxing for comfort. "We need to figure out what we're going to do."