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“It . . . it’s not that s-simple. You don’t know who he is.”
“Then you will just have to tell us.”
It was Alec who spoke, but when she turned her head to see him, he was staring down at Ryleigh with a frown on his face.
Right. Because he’d just learned that he had a younger sister. That his father was dead. All of that had to be messing with him. With Tanner.
Ryleigh stared up at her worriedly, then over to Alec.
“I think everyone should stay here. With me,” Linc said.
She attempted to wriggle down from Tanner’s hold, but he tightened his hold on her.
“Tanner, let me down.”
“No.”
No?
“They’re not staying here,” Alec replied. “They need protection.”
“I’m a cop,” Linc said.
“And you barely have any security,” Alec said. “Your guns are probably locked up and inaccessible to anyone else on the property. Plus, you have to operate within the law.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Linc muttered. “Of course, they’re locked up when I don’t have them on me. And we all have to operate within the law.”
Alec and Tanner just stared at him.
She understood where they were coming from. She didn’t plan to follow the law when she killed Stefan.
“Ryleigh is my sister,” Alec said. “Kye is my nephew. Lilac is my brother’s woman, and he is her guardian. That leaves Opal. You want to come with us, Opal? We’ll take care of you.”
“Not really sure that a ranch is my scene, but I go where my girls go.”
“Fine, then. It’s settled. All of you start packing except Lilac. She needs to rest.”
Wow. He’d done a complete one-eighty, huh?
“I’m their guardian, Alec,” Linc said.
“Not anymore. And if you stand in the way of me protecting my sister and nephew, then we are going to have trouble,” Alec said in a low voice.
“You . . . you really believe me?” Ryleigh asked.
She was staring up at Alec in wonder, tears dripping down her face. Alec watched, his face softening.
Walking toward her, he crouched in front of her. He didn’t touch her. He just sat there as Ryleigh wiped her cheeks.
“I do. I don’t know why our father kept you from us. Why he never said anything. Maybe it was because of your mom. It sounds like he was a much better father to you than us, but I do believe you. Kye looks like Tanner when he was a baby. And you have Jaret’s eyes. Maybe Beau’s chin. There are bits of us in you.”
“You . . . you don’t have to take us in, though,” Ryleigh said. “I know we don’t know each other. We can stay here and maybe . . . maybe get to know each other.”
God. Please don’t reject her.
There was such hope in Ryleigh’s voice that it hurt Lilac. If Alec pushed her away . . . she didn’t know what it would do to her best friend.
She didn’t need to worry though.
