Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(29)

“No denying Jonah paid me a good salary over the past four years.” The truck we’re sitting in is proof. I bought it last year, paid all cash.

I’ve had little else to spend money on, besides sending a chunk to Angie every quarter.

It won’t make up for our shit, but I know she needs it. So do the kids.

Not everybody gets a nine-figure inheritance. Ours was damn near ruin.

Good paying jobs don’t come like pennies, either. If I ever leave Dallas, I’ll be hard pressed to find something that pays this well, because I can’t let those payments stop.

Bella just looks at me, studying me, checking for any sign I’m lying. Hard to blame her.

“In case you’re wondering, my contract only runs six months, plus severance.”

Bella nods. “The required six months.”

“You want me gone after that, it’s your call.” I shoot her a look that says I’m serious, then take another bite of my burger. “I’m here to help protect your business, Bella. Not crawl up in it.”

She folds her half-eaten burger in the wrapper and drops it in the bag. “Well, thanks for being honest. We’ll just see what six months brings. I’m kinda glad you’re here. It’s no big secret I have a hard time standing up to my mom and dad. Kids are supposed to listen to their parents. That was drilled into my head. Mom’s famous words were, 'if you don’t, you won’t be spending summers with your grandfather ever again.'”

She tosses her container half full of fries into the bag. “You know what I was thinking about last night, Drake? If Gramps hadn’t died but got ill instead...if he needed someone to take care of him. My parents wouldn’t have batted an eye about me coming here. In fact, they’d probably have told me to deal with it, just so none of his precious money would be wasted on extra nurses. They’d have told me everything I did wrong, too. And if you think they’d ever thank me, you’re fooling – Drake?”

I look down at my cup in a daze. It’s dented, two dimples on each side formed by a death grip. Disgusted, I set it down again.

“Just listening,” I tell her. “You’re more right than you’ll ever know, thankfully.”

There’s no doubt. I’d lived the scenario she’s describing once, except I’d been the asshole to tell others they were doing it wrong.

“Thanks again for the talk this morning. I know everything you said was true. You don’t hold back, and I guess in this situation...I like that.” She twists, her cheeks slightly flushing, looking out the passenger window. “And it really pisses me off that no one ever told me before you.”

Fuck.

I toss my trash in the bag and start the truck. After a quick stop at the window-high trash can where I deposit the bag, I head out of town.

She doesn’t say anything on the way back to the ranch.

Neither do I.

We’ve talked enough for one day.

My job isn’t to be her friend or confidant. It’s to protect her life and the assets she’s inherited. It’s a familiar job.

In the Army, I’d been assigned to units guarding more than one diplomat. You’d be surprised the kind of trouble elite muckety-mucks can get themselves into. Sometimes the kind that got good men killed.

This won’t happen here, of course. And Bella’s already shown me more gratitude than any of the pricks I was under orders to safeguard.

I shoot a glance her way, then look at the highway again. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have told Jonah about my experience in the Army.

The milk can comes into view after what seems like forever. Lifting my foot off the gas, I turn on the blinker. The mailbox is on her side of the truck, and I pull up flush next to it.

She rolls down her window, collects the mail, and drops it on her lap.

I back up, then pull in the driveway for the last couple miles of our ride.

She flips through the letters. “So much junk.”

“Seems like ninety-percent of it is nowadays.”

“I wish I’d written him more often,” she says. “Just so he’d have gotten something worth opening instead of all this crap.”

Poor girl. It’s gonna be a long time before the grief shakes off her shoulders.

A few minutes later, as the barn, house, and other sheds come into view, her whole mood changes.

I wonder why she’s laughing frantically.

“See that?! That black thing with four legs? It’s called a horse, Drake. His name’s Edison. And I do believe he’s right where I left him.”

“I see him,” I say, but I can’t help joining in laughing at my defeat. I’m not a sore loser.

It’s because I see something else. With the air locked tight in my lungs, I ask, “Is that your parents’ car?”

“Oh, crap,” she mutters, her eyes going wide, catching the dull light seeping through the clouds. “Be warned. They aren’t going to like you.”

“I know.”

Truly, I’m not going to like them either. Already don’t.

I damn sure don’t like the other vehicle I see either.

It’s a black Suburban with the Jupiter Oil logo on the driver’s door, a lightning bolt scepter fashioned after paintings from Roman mythology. The vultures have landed.

“We didn’t lock the door,” she says, scratching her neck.