Author: Jaci Burton

He was still staring daggers at Mac. Mac was still ignoring him.

So, apparently, was Lily. “Anyway, since we’d come this far south and were in the neighborhood, I thought we’d stop by and visit for a day.”

John finally dragged his venomous gaze away from Mac and placed it back on Lily, his demeanor immediately changing. He smiled, his facial features relaxing, his voice softer. “I’m glad you did. I don’t see nearly enough of you anymore.”

“My job keeps me busy.”

“You could do the same work here in Dallas.”

“So you could continue to run my life and interfere like you did when I was on the force? I don’t think so.”

John lifted his chin and sniffed. “I never interfered in your life or your job.”

“Oh, please, Daddy,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “You did everything but have me fired.”

“You chose a very dangerous line of work. I insured your safety.”

“You meddled.”

Mac leaned back and got comfortable while the two of them bickered back and forth. This was interesting, and he enjoyed seeing Lily get riled, especially if it meant standing up to her old man, something she hadn’t done nearly enough of when she was a teenager. If he hadn’t been one hundred percent certain John West could have had him tossed into jail, he would have stepped in the day he’d shown up at the garage and dragged Lily out, claiming she was too good to be hanging out with a loser like Mac.

Not that he had disagreed with the old man at the time.

The next day Lily had been back at the garage, leaning over the hood of the car Mac was working on, vowing that her father was not going to dictate the terms of her life, wasn’t going to force her to attend a college she didn’t want to go to.

Then she claimed in no uncertain terms that it would be a cold day in hell before she joined her father’s company. She’d told Mac that she intended to live her own life as she pleased and not according to the whims of her dad.

Mac hadn’t believed she’d be strong enough to break the iron grip John West held over her. He’d always told her to be her own woman, stand up for herself and not let her dad lead her around on a chain, but he didn’t think she’d actually do it.

He’d been wrong. He would have liked to have been there when she’d stood up to her father and refused to attend the college of his choice, refused to major in business, instead opting for police science. He’d bet John West was near apoplexy that day.

“It really doesn’t matter how long we argue about this, Dad,” she finally said. “I’m not moving back here. I like my job in Chicago and I intend to stay there.”

Interesting. Mac wondered if she really meant that or if she’d just said it to dig at her father.

Her dad didn’t get a chance to respond, because a servant stepped into the doorway. “I have the rooms made up for Miss West and her guest.”

John nodded and looked back at Lily. “Your room is the same as always,” he said to Lily. “We had a guest room prepared for Mac.”

Lily snorted. “Totally unnecessary, Daddy, since Mac will be sleeping in my room with me.”

Zing.

John stood, his face darkening. “That’s unacceptable.”

Lily stood, too, crossing her arms. “I’m an adult now and can make my own decisions. If you have a problem with that, Mac and I can leave.”

Mac was still enjoying the show and wasn’t about to get involved. Besides, Lily was handling herself great and no way was he going to interfere in her moment of triumph over her father.

“Lily,” her father said, his tone harsh. “I will not tolerate you sharing a bed with—”

“One more word and I’m out of here,” she warned. “I will not allow you to insult Mac or me with your snooty, antiquated notions of propriety. I’m well over twenty-one and capable of making decisions about my sex life without your input, thank you. If you don’t want me here, fine. Say so now and I’m gone. But let me make this perfectly clear. If I stay, Mac stays. In my room with me. That’s the way it will be and I don’t want to hear another word about it. If you can’t live with that, then now is the time to speak up.”

John’s face was red. Mac just knew the man wanted to blow up at her, to read her the riot act about how he felt about Mac. He stared down his daughter for a few seconds, and Lily calmly stared back at him.

John finally sighed. “You know I want you here. I don’t see you enough as it is. You’re welcome to stay.”

She waited, her booted foot tapping on the wood floor.

“You and Mac are welcome to stay here. In fact, dinner will be ready shortly.”

She nodded. “Good.” Lily turned to Mac. “Why don’t you get our things and bring them inside?”

“Fine with me.” Mac went out, grabbed their things, brought them in and laid the bag at the foot of the stairs, then rejoined Lily and her father in the library.

“Would you two like to freshen up and change before dinner?” her father asked, eying them up and down.

Mac arched a brow and glanced over at Lily. “Damn.

Left my suit in my other Harley.”

She snickered, then shook her head at her father. “No, we’re good, thanks.”

“Very well.” He led them down the hall and through double doors into the dining room.

Mac really did need a suit for this. A white table cloth covered what had to be a ten foot oval table which centered about twelve chairs that gleamed with dark, polished wood.

The cushions were white. Guess he’d better not drop any food on them. He waited for John and Lily to take their seats—John at one end, Lily to his left. He sat on the other side of Lily.

Was he out of his element here or what? Lily, of course, seemed right at home, taking the cloth napkin and flipping it out to her side, then letting it sail over her lap as if she’d done it thousands of times. Then again, she probably had, so it was second nature to her. Mac was lucky if he remembered to use napkins when he ate. Weren’t they just for wiping the dripping stuff off your fingers and mouth?

Okay, maybe he was torturing himself, but he’d rather sit in the kitchen and eat with the help. This was uncomfortable.

At least until Lily turned her head, smiled at him and said, “Relax, will you?”

Two servants came in and poured wine in one of the glasses, ice tea in the other, then proceeded to bring in their meal. Salad first. Mac was hungry, but he waited while Lily and her father passed around a silver bowl that he guessed contained the salad dressing. He loaded his salad with dressing and started eating, grateful when the staff brought bread.

They hadn’t eaten much on the drive down, so his stomach made loud rumbles. He caught the disgusted look John cast his way, but could care less. The guy might be an ass, but at least he served good food. Mac ate every bite of each course offered. He was going to have to thank the folks in the kitchen.

Those people could cook.

“How is your work progressing, Lily?” John asked.

“Fine.”

“Chicago is a very dangerous city to do private investigative work.”

“Dallas can be the same way,” she said, taking a sip of her wine.

“At least here you had friends on the police force.”

“I have friends in Chicago, too. And I’d still have been on the police force here, if not for your interference.”

“I hardly think we need to rehash this. You shouldn’t have become a police officer in the first place. You should have joined me in the family business.”

Lily lifted her shoulders, then dropped them as she exhaled. Mac could only imagine her tension, though outwardly she seemed calm enough. He wanted nothing more than to pull her out of there, take her up to her room and massage the stress away.

“I did exactly what I wanted to do, as we discussed when I graduated high school.”

John laid his fork across his plate and dabbed at his lips with the napkin. “I can’t help but think those decisions were somehow…influence by others.” He cast his gaze to Mac.

“Oh, please,” Lily said. “Mac had nothing to do with my decision. This is what I wanted to do. Do you think I was so brainless that I couldn’t come up with an original idea on my own?”

“You never mentioned the police academy to me.”

“Why would I have? You’d have just shot the idea down as ridiculous. You had it set in your mind what I was going to do from the time I was five years old. Nothing I wanted would have mattered.”

“That’s not true. I would have listened.”

“Bull. You never listened to me when I tried to talk to you about what I wanted.”

“I would have. Had you anything of value to say.”

Mac really wanted to come to Lily’s defense, to tell John West that his daughter was capable and intelligent. But he wanted Lily to fight her own battles, knew she wouldn’t appreciate his interference, so he let it slide. But the way John continued to berate Lily grated on Mac’s nerves. He poured another glass of wine.

“I had plenty to say. Only no one was listening.” She didn’t look at Mac, but he felt like her words were meant for him, too.

Damn.

He almost cringed. He hadn’t listened to her either.

Even he had pushed her away. In a way, he’d been like her father, thinking he knew what was best for her. He had a hell of a lot of nerve being angry at her dad, when he had done the same thing.

He gave Lily a lot of credit for thumbing her nose at both of them and going her own way.

“You were only eighteen,” John continued. “You didn’t know what you wanted. And you always made the most idiotic choices.” Again, he slid a sideways glance at Mac. “Sadly, I’m not sure you’ve changed all that much.”

Lily calmly cut a piece of chicken and shrugged, not even looking at him when she replied. “You never had faith in me, never believed in me. I guess you haven’t changed all that much, either.”

She stated it matter-of-factly, as if her father’s words didn’t hurt.

Did she grow up with this every single day, having to endure this man berating her; never feeling as if she measured up, as if what she wanted hadn’t mattered? How frustrating that must have been for her. John West treated his daughter like an employee asking for a raise—with complete disregard for her needs, wants and desires. He was the coldest man Mac had ever known.

Mac seethed inside, wanted to climb across the table and knock the son of a bitch across the room.

For so long he thought Lily had everything, that she’d gone slumming when she’d come after him. Mac always thought he and Lily had nothing in common. Hell, they had everything in common. No wonder she’d clung to him. And he’d failed her, hadn’t given her what she’d needed most.

She’d needed him, and he hadn’t been there for her.

He was no better than her old man. He felt ashamed, and he didn’t like that feeling at all. It burned like a knife in his gut.

After dinner they moved back into the library for brandy. With this kind of ritual it was a miracle the family wasn’t a bunch of alcoholics. Drinks before dinner, wine with dinner, brandy after dinner. Mac liked a drink now and then, but damn, these people were lushes. He and Lily both declined the brandy, deciding instead on coffee. Mac excused himself to find the kitchen so he could tell the staff how much he enjoyed dinner. Their wide eyed looks of shock told him they weren’t appreciated all that often, but they smiled and nodded their thanks.

As he made his way back to the library, he could hear that the arguing between Lily and her father was on again. He hung back in the hall, waiting to make his reappearance.

“I suppose Mac isn’t invited?” Lily asked.

“Your friend would not be comfortable at the country club.”