Jamie's Revenge (6 page)

Then they’d have little Miss Jamie all to themselves. Caelen’s plan even held the element of surprise to it. No doubt Jamie was spending all her time trying to convince her daddy not to give her to them. Well, that wasn’t what they were going to ask of
Sheridan
. At least, not directly.

Finally, the old man appeared, turning the corner on the den’s door as Brodie measured himself out a shot of whisky. Without a word, he walked right up to take the drink right out of Brodie’s hand. Throwing it back, he had it waving in front of Brodie just a blink later. A silent demand for a second, Brodie filled the glass up a little higher, more than willing to get
Sheridan
liquored up if that increased their chances of riding out with Jamie that evening.

The second glass got carried over to the large chair reserved just for
Sheridan
. Settling into it, the man appeared his age as tiredness and concern etched his wrinkles deeper. Finally with a sigh, he opened up the conversation.

“Jamie’s settled down for a nap now. I got a bell on her door, so we’ll hear her just fine if she stirs.”

Neither one of the brothers responded to that, recognizing just how important showing the right amount of respect was. Instead, Brodie brooded by the mantle while Caelen perched with the same tension at the edge of his seat. There would be no easing the stiffness holding their muscles taut until
Sheridan
agreed to Caelen’s and his plan.

After a deep breath,
Sheridan
’s gaze finally lifted to meet his a second time. “Okay. I’m braced. Why don’t you tell me the real story behind this boy Danny?”

“What did she tell you?” Caelen asked, drawing
Sheridan
’s somber look in his direction.

“Well, she said he seemed like a very nice, proper young man, which I take to mean she thought he was weak and easily manipulated. She said it was her own exuberant anticipation that made her reckless enough to accept his offer of a ride to the ranch. Given that she said you were both rude and insulting when you approached her in town, I take it to mean she agreed to go with this boy out of rash spite.”

“And did she tell you just how determined she was not to listen to reason,” Brodie demanded, feeling the hot smite of his anger boiling anew as he considered just how close Jamie had come to harm. “Did she tell you I told her it wasn’t safe and that we’d bring her home?”

 
“Those are not the kind of details my daughter focuses on,”
Sheridan
retorted with a hint of dryness. Brodie could never tell if the man found humor or despair in his comments.

“That boy was no good,
Sheridan
,” Caelen added in softly. “He intended to do more than just rape your daughter. He intended to make her suffer.”

A roll flexed over
Sheridan
’s muscles, and Brodie could well imagine it came from the same place his did—a deep well of anguish at the very idea of Jamie suffering. “And did she lie about liberating herself before you arrived? Even shooting the man?”

Since he couldn’t say no, Brodie’s agitation just intensified. “She got lucky.”

“Or maybe you trained her better then you knew.” There came that odd sense of mirth in the old man’s response. It was there and then gone as he looked back at Caelen. “Either way, it appears after all these years, I find myself having to extend a lifetime debt for seeing to my daughter’s safety.”

“It’s a debt that could easily be paid by simply changing her title to my wife.” Caelen pressed for their ultimate goal, but it didn’t surprise either brother when
Sheridan
resisted.

 
“And why should I even consider that option?”

Caelen set his empty glass down very carefully on the table before responding with slow precision. “I think you need to face the honest reality that Jamie needs a husband to keep her safe. A strong one…preferably two.”

Sheridan
didn’t even consider that for a second. “That’s her decision to make, Caelen. If you want her hand, you’re going to have to find a way to get her to give it to you.”

“Your opinion does hold sway,
Sheridan
.”

Sheridan
finished off his drink before settling his glass onto the table. “Five years ago, you hurt my daughter something bad. Maybe that don’t mean much to you two, but it means something to her and to me.”

“We did what was right,” Brodie shot back, not about to be taken to task for standing with honor.

“Right for who?”
Sheridan
returned.

“For her…and don’t give me that look,
Sheridan
. Five years ago you agreed with me.”

That got the old man out of his seat. “Five years ago I was afraid of what you might do to my daughter. Now I am afraid of what you did do.”

“
I didn’t do anything
.”

“
You broke her heart
.”

Caelen intervened fast before either
Sheridan
or Brodie’s temper turned the conversation away from their goal. Not that Brodie would lose this battle, even if it came down to a matter of force.

“Maybe we did,” Caelen offered up as a compromise. “Maybe we treaded too heavy on Jamie’s tender feelings five years ago, but you got to ask yourself,
Sheridan
, what price are you willing to pay for that sin? What price are you willing to let Jamie pay? ‘Cause we both know that as angry and hurt as she is, she’s going to make trouble. It’s already started, and she almost already paid a very high price.”

That had
Sheridan
’s jaw tensing as he breathed out in annoyance. “You don’t have to tell me about my own daughter, Caelen. Nor do you have to tell me how to keep her safe. I am her father.”

“And you’re here pretty much alone. Nobody but Mike around to help you rein her in and run this ranch for how many weeks?”

Sheridan
’s brown eyes narrowed dangerously. “And just where are you going with that?”

“I’m just thinking, Bridgette is about to have that baby any day now,” Caelen drawled. “It seems to me she might like to have some company, especially female company. I mean, she’s kind of grumpy with just us guys around.”

“Tending to her pregnant sister would keep her busy enough to stay out of trouble,” Brodie weighed in. Drawn back to the plan by Caelen’s calmness, his aggression faded back into pure tension as he waited for
Sheridan
’s response.
 

He might have had white hair and been a man, but
Sheridan
shared his daughter’s tendency to turn that stubborn chin defiantly up. “You do have a point. I guess I could bring her by during the day.”

“You never know when a baby is going to come,” Caelen retorted instantly. “They can drop in the middle of the night, and if that happens, I’m sure Jamie would be a great comfort to Bridgette during the birth.”

“Besides, you don’t have the men to spare to run Jamie back and forth every day,” Brodie added.

They hesitated again, giving
Sheridan
the opportunity to protest or accept. He did neither. Instead he lifted to his feet as he swiped his glass off the table. “I need another drink.”

“Let me,” Brodie stepped up.
 

“You do realize that even if I agree to this, that won’t save you once my boys and your brothers return,”
Sheridan
commented with a touch of smugness as Brodie poured his drink. “If you don’t have my girl wed by then, they’re going to put a hurt on you and then try to get within a foot of her.”

“
Sheridan
, I’m going to have that girl of yours married by the end of the week.” Brodie handed him the double shot of whiskey. “I’ll have her pregnant by the time all them boys return, and just think how much a baby will force Jamie to settle down.”

Sheridan
smirked at that. “You have a long way to fall, Brodie.”

“Is that a yes?”

With a lift of a brow and a slight shrug of his shoulders,
Sheridan
caved. “I think it might be wise for Jamie to go spend some time with
her sister
.”

“Of course.” The agreement came easy to Brodie’s lips, as did the smile. He’d deliver Jamie to her sister, right after he wore the stiffness paining his dick out.
  

* * * *

Jamie pushed the peas around on her plate, not bothering to eat one. Despite the hunger grumbling in her stomach, she didn’t dare take a bite of the meal her daddy had laid out for them. To a man they expected her to brood in her seat in silent defiance of her father’s decree. A sullen protest, that’s what the old Jamie would have given them.

The new Jamie secretly smirked. They thought they were so smart. Brodie and Caelen had conned her dad not into giving her to them, but to her very pregnant sister who probably wouldn’t be up to the task of keeping an eye on Jamie. There could be no doubt just what kind of mischief Brodie and Caelen planned get into behind Bridgette’s back.

Let them try
. Jamie had learned one important lesson from all her time in the parlor house, men suffered more when their lusts were denied. All she had to do was give them enough, just a tease here and there to keep them in a riled state that would sooner or later boil into painful need. Then they would break and that could only happen faster staying over at the MacAuley ranch.

Brodie and Caelen had inadvertently solved her main problem, how to stay close to them. Her daddy had given her the opportunity, but more importantly, he hadn’t given the MacAuley brothers any direct authority over her.

The only thing that got to her was the idea of actually having to help her sister give birth. It would be small and petty to walk away from Bridgette in her time of need just because she felt uncomfortable, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a little anxious.
Just another new experience to add to this adventure.

It would be added soon, too, from what her daddy said. Hell, it could happen tonight, thanks to Brodie and Caelen’s insistence that they head for their home this evening. Well over a two hour ride, the summer’s sun gave them the light to be able to push for the late ride. Jamie knew what really motivated their rush. She could see it in the scorching glances they sent her way.
 

Brodie and Caelen hoped to sneak her past Linc and Bridgette under the cloak of darkness. Instead of taking her to the main house, they’d probably ride right to the little cabin Bridgette had told her they’d moved into.
Let them try
.

“Jamie,” her daddy leaned in from his post at the head of the table. “I’d feel a little better if you actually ate something.”

“I’m not hungry.” Cold and hard, she made that statement with an unflinching look as she stared down her own daddy, a perfect imitation of her childhood sulk.

The difference came from her father, who didn’t instantly chastise her but instead covered her hand to give it a little squeeze. “Come on now, honey. You’ll be all worn out for your reunion with your sister if you don’t get some food in you.”

“It’s going to be dark when we get to the MacAuley ranch, Dad. Bridgette will probably be worn out herself.”

Sheridan
sighed that long suffering sound that he used to try to guilt Jamie out of her foul mood. “Well, at least seeing your sister should put a smile on your face.”

“It’s not my sister that puts a frown on it but the company she keeps.” Jamie couldn’t help but to follow that comment with a resentful glance at Brodie. “It’s a little foul by my standards.”

This time her dad’s squeeze pressed the bones in her hand together. “Jamie, do I have to remind you that you will be a guest in your sister’s home?”

“No.” Even if she only pretended to bend, the pain to her pride had her honestly muttering. “Sir.”

“And what kind of behavior does a proper guest display for her hosts?”

“To be gracious and smiling.” Now she couldn’t even look Brodie’s way, assured that he had his gloat on.

“And isn’t there something you have to say to Brodie?”
 

“I’m sorry I called you,” her father’s hand tightened in warning, “what I did, Brodie.”

Sheridan
’s response came instantly, with the cut of disproval in his tone. “That is not how an apology is given, Jamie Anne Traynor. Now, I want you to look that man in the eye, and give him the
sincere
apology he is due.”

Growing with the help of a deep breath, Jamie straightened in her seat and lifted her gaze back to meet Brodie’s sparkling one. Oh, he loved this moment. The very fact of which made it that much harder to give it to him, but she tried. “I’m really sorry, Mr. MacAuley, that you’re a colossal ass, and I can’t stand you.”

 
“Jamie!”