Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(65)

"Now, Kylie," he said. "I'm positive you can spare a few minutes of your time to visit with me."

She felt the tension building inside her and inside the room. Her stepdad wasn't going to back down, and from the looks of things, neither was Burnett.

This was not going to end well.

Chapter Twenty-three

Kylie concentrated on looking at her dad and tried not to focus on the scene happening behind him-the scene being a nonverbal argument between Holiday and Burnett. An argument that rivaled the old silent movies that included some very angry hand motions and some very unhappy and telling facial expressions.

"Uh," Kylie said, a complete stalling tactic because face it, she didn't have a clue what to say.

"Of course you should go spend some time with your dad," Holiday finally blurted out.

Burnett's jaw clamped down so tight, Kylie would bet his teeth had just shortened a quarter of an inch.

Holiday stood up. "However, Kylie has a test in her next class. How about you coming back in about an hour or an hour and a half and you two can go to lunch somewhere. I think Kylie was telling me the other day that there was a hamburger joint in downtown Fallen that she wanted to try. What was it, Burgers R Us?"

Kylie nodded, clueless about the restaurant Holiday had mentioned.

Burnett's expression lightened; either he was seeing reason, or he was on to Holiday's plan. Kylie just wished she was on to it, too, because she was clueless as to what was going on.

Her father turned to Kylie. "I guess I could go take a drive and come back around eleven. It is pretty country out here."

"That would be good," Kylie said.

"Okay," her stepdad said, and reached out and drew her in for one of his super heart-melting hugs. The warmth from his embrace seeped into her chest and it should have made her panic subside. And it probably would have if over her stepdad's shoulder she didn't see the sword falling point down from somewhere above. It hit with force and caused a sharp clank as it lodged itself, standing straight up in the middle of Holiday's desk.

Kylie's heart lurched and she felt her father flinch at the noise. One thought ran amok in her head. How was she going to explain this to her stepdad?

Burnett flew into action at vampire speed. He snatched the sword, knocked over Holiday's glass of tea, and then hid the weapon behind his back in one swift move.

Only a fraction of a second later, her father pulled loose and swung around to check out the clatter.

"What the fu ... frack?" Jonathon muttered, and then blushed when he realized what he'd almost said.

Burnett scowled at Jonathon. Holiday smiled and should have won an Oscar for her acting. "Dang it, I swear this is the second glass of tea I've knocked over today."

Her dad just looked back at Kylie, who hadn't breathed since the sword's miraculous appearance.

"I guess I'll see you in an hour and a half."

She nodded and inhaled.

"You're up for this?" he asked.

She got another gulp of oxygen into her lungs and hopefully to her brain."Are you going to walk me out?" he asked.

Feeling a bit like a bobble head doll, she nodded again, then added a smile to it, hoping to appear more convincing.

Her stepdad took one step and stopped and looked at her. "Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

A ghost she could have handled, she thought.

"I'm fine." The two words came out squeaky. Unfortunately, she simply wasn't an awarding-winning actress like Holiday.

* * *

"I think it's doable," Kylie told her dad, and glanced up from the brochure of a guided hiking tour through the Grand Canyon-a trip he wanted to plan for them this summer. "It looks great." It wasn't really a lie, but she'd bet Chris, the vampire sitting a table away from her and her dad at the restaurant, might have heard her heart say differently.

She felt Lucas, sitting across from Chris, glance at her and her heart gave a little tug. Burnett had picked two people-two he thought her father was less likely to recognize-to play secret bodyguards during her lunch. When he'd told her he would have two people stationed at the restaurant, she hadn't considered he would pick Lucas. Little did Burnett know, Kylie half feared her stepdad would recognize Lucas as the kid who'd lived next door to them. The kid Kylie had accused of killing her cat.

Thankfully, her stepdad hadn't given Lucas a second glance so far. Neither had he noticed the hawk following the car all the way into town. She'd bet her best bra that the hawk answered to the name of Perry.

Kylie had taken the time before her dad's return to find Miranda and make sure she was okay. The little witch was still shook up. She'd made up with Perry, but had an appointment to have a sit-down serious talk with Holiday. No doubt there would be some consequences for her actions. While Miranda didn't look forward to the consequences, she accepted her wrongdoing.

"I thought you would like it," her father said, drawing her attention back to the present. "It's sort of like the one we did in Taos, New Mexico. There'll be some kayaking, but nothing too dangerous."

Her dad's eyes lit up with excitement. Kylie felt bad not sharing his thrill. She'd pretty much spent the last forty-five minutes here, praying that sword wouldn't come and stab any of the restaurant's patrons.