Imperfect Justice (24 page)

A wool throw lay on the back of the couch and she tossed it around her shoulders before heading to the back door. She heard her name just as her hand touched the doorknob.

“Have you locked things down with Misty yet?” Gerald Monroe asked. His deep voice easily penetrated the glass and wood of the French door.

“Not yet. But I’m making progress,” Jared said, a confident air in his tone.

Had her growing feelings been so transparent? It was embarrassing to think he knew she was falling for him when she’d tried so hard to keep it to herself.

“I hope so. The last thing this family needs is a messy custody battle. You can’t allow her to take the baby out of Montana, son. You’ll have no leverage at all if she falls in love and marries someone else.”

Despite the warmth of the throw wrapped around her, Misty suddenly felt cold, a chill running through her veins at Gerald’s words. She’d thought they’d made a connection the other night but perhaps it was all about the baby for him.

Jared said something she couldn’t make out and then he said, “Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve got this under control.”

Stepping back, her hand dropped from the doorknob as pain sliced through her chest, almost bringing her to her knees. She was being played. All this time she was thinking they were growing closer, but this was really all about
control
.

Screw Jared. Screw the entire Monroe family.

She’d been fine without a family before and she’d be fine in the future. She didn’t need them.

But it hurt. This was why she’d never let herself be vulnerable before.

Straightening her spine, she pasted on a smile and opened the door. The pungent stink of cigars slapped her in the face and before she could say anything witty or profound she was coughing and hacking from the thick smoke hanging in the air.

“Jesus, Misty, you shouldn’t be back here with all this smoke.” That was Ty’s voice. She couldn’t see very well because her eyes were watering and her dinner had crawled its way up to her throat. Misty didn’t like cigar smoke at the best of times but apparently the baby liked it even less.

Strong arms lifted her from her feet and carried her back into the house. It was Jared she was sure. She’d know him anywhere; even through the stench of cigar smoke she could detect his woody citrus scent. He laid her on the couch while someone else pushed a glass in her hand.

“Drink,” he commanded. “It’s just ginger ale for your tummy.”

She sipped at the cool liquid as he dabbed at her watery eyes with a handkerchief. “I’m okay. I guess the baby doesn’t like cigars.”

“I heard you gagging,” Jared confirmed. “I don’t know what we were thinking going out there to smoke. Even if you hadn’t stepped outside I would have reeked of the stuff. I’ll get undressed in the garage when we get home.”

“You okay, honey?” Ty asked, rubbing his forehead. “We’re sorry we made you sick.”

“Very sorry.” Gerald strode into the room with a sheepish expression. “It was my idea. I’d forgotten cigars made Rita sick as a dog too.”

How could she stay mad at three handsome men who looked so chagrined? Wait, she could stay mad at them for trying to control her and the baby. She handed the glass back to Jared and took a deep breath, determined not to show how upsetting their conversation had been.

“Can we go home now? I’m very tired.”

“Of course. I’ll get your coat.” Jared was gone before she could protest that she could do it herself. Ty and Gerald were looking at her as if she might explode or puke or both. Luckily it meant she didn’t have to say anything even as Jared returned and bundled her up in her coat and gloves.

She hugged Ty and Gerald and then followed Jared to his truck, thinking of what she would say when they got home. His smooth moves and charm might work on other women but she was done being bamboozled.

Misty was mad and she wasn’t going to be silent about it.

Misty had been quiet during their five minute drive back to the house. She’d stared out the window ignoring Jared, and then as soon as he stopped the truck she’d jumped out and stomped up the porch steps. She must be really pissed off about the cigar smoke making her sick and she was right to be. He should have known better.

But he knew how to get on her good side.

After shedding his coat, he slid his arms around her and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Why don’t I run you a nice hot bath? While you’re in there having a nice soak I’ll make some hot chocolate. Extra marshmallows.”

She was stiff in his arms when she normally melted against him. “Misty honey, I’m sorry about the cigar smoke. Dad was right, we should have known better.”

Misty was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. Shaking off his embrace, she stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why are you apologizing, Jared? After all, you have me
under control
, right? Isn’t that what you told your father? Misty is
under control
.”

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, she looked mad as hell. Her cheeks were red, her lips pursed, and she was tapping her toe as she waited for his response. So tiny, she looked like a pissed off golden-haired fairy. But now was not the moment to say that out loud.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jared tried to think of how to explain. She’d obviously overheard part of his conversation with his dad and completely misunderstood what he was trying to say.

“Misty, let’s sit down and talk about this. Like adults.”

Her violet eyes narrowed to slits. “Are you trying to say I’m acting like a child?”

Son of a bitch.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I’d just like us to sit down and talk.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” she retorted, beginning to pace back and forth across the living room. “I want to tell you how angry I am with you. You’re trying to control me and I won’t have it, Jared. I won’t have someone pulling my strings.”

Her voice had gone up an octave and he didn’t have a clue as to how to calm her down. He only knew she didn’t understand.

“I am not trying to control you,” he argued, holding on to his temper. Her stubborn posture was keeping her from really listening to him. “You have to know that, Misty.”

“Then why did you tell your father that I’m under control if you’re not trying to do just that?”

“That’s not what I said.”
Not exactly, anyway
.

“All I know is that since I’ve met you, I’ve given up on my dream to move to Seattle and I’ve let you railroad me into living here. Now I have new clothes and a new phone. Next thing I know we’ll be married and I’ll be running around to have dinner on the table by six and making sure Jared Junior’s shoes are all in a row in his closet. Everything has been Jared Monroe’s way. When do I get my turn?”

He could feel the back of his neck grow hot. She was angry and he understood that, but she was deliberately making things sound worse than they were.

“You needed a place to live and you needed new clothes and a phone. Yes, you could have purchased them yourself but it made me happy to buy them for you,” he said through gritted teeth.

“And as long as you’re happy that’s the important thing,” Misty replied, nodding her head.

“Yes. Shit. I mean, no. Of course I want you to be happy. That’s why I’ve done all these things. So you’d be happy and taken care of. Are you trying to tell me that you’re not happy after all I’ve done?”

She’d turned her back on him and he could see her shoulders tremble with emotion. When she looked at him again there were tears shining in her eyes.

“Jared,” she said softly. “You did those things for you. Not for me. I’m not saying what you did wasn’t nice or good or that I’m not appreciative. I am. I’m saying that ultimately you did it because that’s what you wanted. You want me to live here. You want me to have different clothes. You want us to get married. Why? Because it makes you happy. You want to change me into someone you could be with. Someone your father, and siblings, and yes, even the town could approve of. I didn’t need any of this to be happy. I already was. I was happy just being with you and having this baby.”

He didn’t know what to say.

So he didn’t say anything. He turned and stomped out of the house and into the night, anger churning in his gut and driving him away. If he didn’t leave he’d say something he didn’t want to or didn’t mean. He’d be cruel and nasty. He could defend himself in a hundred different ways and show her how wrong she was but he was too mad to even form the words.

Nothing she said was true. It couldn’t be. Because if it was it meant he was a real asshole.

Chapter Nineteen

J
ared had been gone for hours. It was times like this Misty wished she drank coffee. Right now she was curled up in a chair in front of the fireplace and sipping some of the apple cider she’d begun to crave a few days ago and wondering if she screwed everything up.

Was she completely wrong?

Was the feeling that she had been doing all the compromising incorrect and selfish? She didn’t want to think she was the ungrateful type. She never had been before – that she knew of. But the niggling feeling in the back of her mind that kept saying over and over that while Jared’s actions were sweet and giving…he was getting pretty much everything he wanted.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being subtly manipulated and by someone who excelled at it. Was he so good he didn’t even know he was doing it? That would explain his stunned expression when he’d practically run out of the house.

Or maybe pregnancy hormones were making her crazy and paranoid.

She wanted to be a real partner to Jared. If she was going to marry him, and right now the answer would be a resounding no, they had to come to the relationship as equals. She wouldn’t allow herself to be marginalized. That’s how she’d been feeling lately and she didn’t want a lifetime of it. She’d spent most of her formative years that way and she wasn’t anxious to keep doing it.

Caring about Jared didn’t mean not seeing his faults. It meant accepting them but he had to accept hers as well. He couldn’t mold her into being someone else.

He had to love her for who she was right now. Not the person she might be someday.

And that was the crux of all of this. She wanted Jared to love her.
Her
.

Tonight when he’d boasted to his father that he had her under control it had hurt deeply. She was falling in love with this bossy, maddening man with a gentle way about him. She’d wanted him to feel the same and it looked like his feelings were far from her own. It was all about winning. About being on top.

Boy, Gerald Monroe had really done a number on his middle son. Jared was so competitive he was even competing with her. He wanted to win so badly he was willing to squash her own dreams and desires. If he wanted to make this work between the two of them he was going to have to give. Just a little.

Jared need to show her that he recognized that there were two people living in this house. Two sets of needs. Two sets of wants.

But she had to own her part of this. It wasn’t all on Jared.

She’d allowed this to happen. Heck, in her own way she’d encouraged it. She was so used to her needs and wants not mattering – to her own mother, no less – she’d given in right and left to Jared’s subtle demands.

No more. If this was going to work, there needed to be more compromise and less folding like a cheap tent when the pressure was on. Now the only issue was how to explain it to Jared.

Jared had walked in the cold dark for a long time trying to work off the anger Misty’s words had inspired. With every step he’d told himself that she didn’t understand. She was being selfish and petty. Even ungrateful. By the time he found himself on Ty’s front porch, he was completely sure he was in the right and Misty in the wrong.

Ty opened the door with his usual grin. “What brings you here, big brother? Shouldn’t you be home taking care of Misty?” Ty’s smile fell instantly. “She’s okay, isn’t she? Is she sick?”

“She’s fine and I tried to take care of her. Not that she appreciates that.” Jared brushed past Ty into the house and knelt in front of the fireplace. He was frozen in spots that no man should ever have to thaw out. “So I decided to take a walk and clear my head.”