Delinquent Daddy (Banks / Kincaid Family #2)(44)

Frowning as the gong echoed through the house, Ellie dusted her hands off on her hips and started toward the entrance. She'd just hit the living room when Cassie barreled out of her room.

"No!" Ellie said sternly. "Back into your room, missy."

"But—"

"Back," Ellie repeated.

Sending her mother a look from hell, the nine-year-old stormed back into her room and slammed the door. Ellie sighed. Though her nerves were about to snap in half, Ellie forced herself to remain calm. Cassie was just in a mood.

Give her a day or two and her temper would cool. Then Ellie would go into Cassie's room, sit on her bed, and they'd have 166

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

their mother-daughter talk, working everything out. They always worked things out. They were a pair, a team.

Nothing could keep them apart for long.

Bolstered by that thought, Ellie opened the door and froze.

Boston lifted his face, and their gazes held fast.

"Oh, God. What're you doing here?" she blurted out, instantly sick to her stomach.

No, no, no. He couldn't come here tonight. Not with Cassie in the mood she was in. Okay, Ellie trusted her daughter to want to stay once she was calmer and more rational. But she had no idea what Cassie would do if she saw her father now.

Boston quietly studied her a moment before answering.

"Cassidy called me."

Ellie's face drained of color. Clearing her throat, she reached for the doorframe to keep from passing out flat on her face. "She...what?"

He nodded. "She asked if she could come live with me."

Ellie's stomach contorted with pain. No. He couldn't take her baby girl. He just couldn't. Folding her arms over her chest, she cocked her brows and said, "So, you've come to pack her up and leave together, just like that, hmm?"

Boston sighed. "No. I came because... Damn it, Ellie. Will you let me in?" When Ellie didn't budge, he lifted a hand to signal peaceful intentions. "I only want to talk to her."

And convince her to leave me so she can go live with you, Ellie wanted to snarl. But she kept silent. No, she couldn't say anything to really tick him off, or he'd have Cassie out of here in seconds. Realizing she'd have an even bigger fight on her 167

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

hands if she tried to keep the two of them apart right now, she reluctantly stepped aside.

Obviously, Boston had been expecting the fight.

Hesitating, he paused and looked at her. Then he nodded a brief thanks.

Stepping carefully over the threshold, he glanced her way one last time as if he expected her to change her mind. Then, he passed through the living room and started down the hall.

Ellie moved to the hall entrance to watch him. He knocked softly on Cassie's door and opened it. When Cassie's ecstatic cry echoed back, Ellie cringed. Boston disappeared through the doorway and shut himself inside with his daughter.

That was when Ellie decided it was time to have her breakdown.

She hurried to the kitchen, out the porch/laundry room, through the back door, and onto the patio. There was a tattered old picnic table sitting on the cobblestone deck. She collapsed onto the bench, clutched her stomach, and looked up at the house, wondering if Boston was busy helping Cassidy pack.

She could fight him. And she could fight Cassie. But there was no way she could fight them together. If they wanted to be with each other, there was no way Ellie could deny it.

Cassidy was the most important person in the world, and if Boston was what she truly wanted, Ellie knew she'd grant it.

Even if it destroyed her in the process. She'd die for her daughter if she had to.

Cassidy was lying on her bed, staring at the wall when Boston tapped on her door and popped his head inside.

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"Hey," he said quietly.

She glanced over, looking moody and rebellious. But when she saw him, her eyes shot open. "You came!" she screeched and leaped off the bed.

Boston slipped inside and softly closed the door behind him. He barely caught Cassie as she launched herself into his arms.

"You really came," she repeated in awe and nuzzled her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms tight around him.

"I told you I would," he murmured and stroked her hair as he carried her to the bed. Boston sat and settled her on the mattress next to him. He pondered idly as he did so, wondering if he would've kept her nestled on his lap if he'd known her for the past nine years and ten months. If he was familiar and comfortable with his daughter, would he have set her next to him like she was someone else's daughter and kept that polite distance between them? Or maybe he would've kept her close and continued to run his hand comfortingly down her back.

A wave of regret hit him. He'd missed so many years.

He waited a beat for the anger to follow, the resentment against Ellie. But he didn't experience it. Instead, he focused on Cassie, intent to make up lost time.

"Now," he said. "What's going on between you and your mother?"

"Nothing," Cassie mumbled, ducking her head. "I just want to come live with you."

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Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"Well, I don't think nothing happened," Boston said, staring down at the top of Cassie's hair. "I think something definitely happened."