Lucy protested, and Caden felt a strange connection to this beautiful, prickly, unreadable woman. In the barn she’d been fiercely protective of her mother, but here it felt like she was as opposed to this whole charade as Caden.
“I’m happy, Lucy-Goose.” Maureen stepped away from Garrett and walked toward Lucy. An image of a coyote approaching a defenseless and cornered jackrabbit sprang to Caden’s mind.
He could almost feel Lucy shrink back, although she remained ramrod still. He had the strangest urge to step between the two women and shield Lucy from whatever invisible power her mother was aiming in her direction.
“You want me to be happy. Right, sweetie?”
There was a fraught moment when Caden wasn’t sure how Lucy would respond. He could feel the emotions swirling through her from where he stood. Then her shoulders slumped and she whispered, “I do.”
Maureen wrapped Lucy in a tight hug and murmured something in her ear that Caden couldn’t quite make out. Then she bounced back to Garrett’s side.
“I have a lasagna in the oven. Shall we have our first family dinner together?”
“Sounds good to me,” Garrett said.
“I have a headache after traveling all day,” Lucy told the group, all the spunk and sass he’d heard earlier in the barn gone from her voice. “I think I’m going to head up to bed.”
“Take care to drink enough water,” his father told her, moving forward with Maureen at his side. “It’s easy to get dehydrated at this altitude, especially coming from sea level.”
“I will,” she whispered. “Thank you, Mr. Sharpe.”
“Call me Garrett,” his father said with another chuckle. “We’re family now.”
Not yet, Caden thought. There was still time to turn around this sinking ship, and based on the exchange between Lucy and her mother, maybe an unexpected ally had just arrived on his doorstep.
“You’ll join us, Caden,” his dad said.
He wanted to refuse, but there was so much hope in his father’s eyes. He couldn’t disappoint the old man again. Not after everything Caden had put him through in the past and his secret determination to run off Maureen Renner.
Guilt stabbed at his chest when he thought of how sad his father would be when his engagement ended. But Caden had to believe it was better to end things now, before Garrett made things legal. He knew what could happen when his father’s heart was truly broken, and he couldn’t allow that to happen again.
“I just need to wash up,” he told Garrett and earned another wide smile.
Maureen led Garrett out of the family room, toward the kitchen. Caden expected Lucy to move toward the stairs, but instead she walked forward and touched the tip of one finger to several of the brightly colored Christmas lights.
“You can help me stop this,” he said into the quiet.
Her shoulders stiffened and she gave a slight shake of her head but didn’t turn around.
“Come on,” he coaxed, moving closer. “You have to see this for the farce it is.”
“Your father seems happy.”
Caden opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again. He couldn’t deny his dad’s upbeat spirit since Maureen had come into his life. In fact, Caden couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard Garrett laugh and smile the way he did when Maureen was near.
But that didn’t matter. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t right. And he sure as hell didn’t believe Garrett and Maureen were meant to be.
“It won’t last,” he answered instead. “With her track record, you know it’s true. You could talk to her.”
She turned to him now, her eyes flaring with emotion he didn’t understand. “Does my mother seem like the type to be influenced by anyone else’s opinion?”
“She’s going to hurt him,” he said quietly.
“You don’t know that,” Lucy shot back, but her gaze dropped to the floor.
Caden muttered a curse under his breath. “You’re going to hurt him,” he accused, lifting a finger and jabbing it at her. “A gold digger and her accomplice daughter. And now my father wants to give you access to his finances.” He blew out a breath. “Hell, was this the plan all along? Are you two professional grifters or something?”
“Of course not,” Lucy answered, but there was no force behind the words. None of the anger he would have expected at his bold accusation, which made him understand how close he’d come to the truth.
“I won’t let this happen.” He stalked toward her, crowded her back against the mantel, trying to use his size and his anger to intimidate her.
But he realized his mistake at once. This close, the scent of her perfume wound around him, and he could see the freckles dotting her cheeks. He wanted to trace his fingers over the pattern they made, feel her softness against his rough skin.
And there was something more. A sorrow in her eyes—a loneliness that called to the empty space inside him and made him feel a little less like the outsider he knew himself to be.
He gave himself a mental head shake when her gaze softened and she swayed toward him. What was it about Lucy Renner that broke through his defenses like they were made of air?
She was dangerous to him and, more important, to his father. The thought of how broken Garrett had been after Tyson died brought Caden back to reality like a bullet piercing his skin.
“I’m going to make sure this wedding doesn’t take place,” he said through clenched teeth. “Even if my father can’t see you for what you are, I do.”
Lucy’s head snapped back like he’d slapped her. “You don’t know me,” she whispered.
“But I’m going to,” he promised. “Every detail until I expose you and your mother. Mark my words, Lucy Renner. You will not survive me.”
Before she could respond, he turned and stalked out of the room.
* * *
“You have to let him go.” Lucy sat on the edge of the bed in the master bedroom of the main house the following day. “Stop it now, Mom, before it goes too far.”
Maureen pulled a dress out of the closet and turned to Lucy, holding it in front of her chest. “For our New York trip, Garrett made reservations at Tavern on the Green. I’ve always wanted to eat there. It’s a landmark, you know? One of the Real Housewives even renewed her vows there. What do you think about this? Too fancy or not enough?”
Lucy sighed. The dress was perfect. It was a deep forest green color with a scoop neckline, fitted without being slutty. Maureen would be stunning in it. Lucy should know. She’d helped her mother pick it out back when Maureen was trying to catch husband number three. “Why Garrett Sharpe, Mom? He isn’t your type. Fitting into his life is a stretch, even for you.” She pointed to the mounted caribou head above the bedroom’s
