Page 13 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

My ass hurts far too much to sit on the cold hard wood of the living room floor. “No, thank you.”

Everyone in the room seems to hold their breath as Gray raises a brow. And I realize why they seem so concerned. Gray may actually be scarier than the men, despite being smaller physically than her brothers. There’s just something about her that screams danger. “That wasn’t an offer, little girl. Sit, or you can have another date with my hairbrush.”

Just the mention of that damn brush is enough to make my ass throb. Throwing my hands behind me to protect my abused flesh, I shake my head. “No! You can’t spank me!”

“Um, actually.” Glancing between me and Gray, Marjorie clears her throat and flashes me an apologetic smile. “She can and she will. It’s better if you listen to her, Vanessa. If Auntie Gray has to spank you, then your Daddy will be really mad and he’ll probably spank you again too.”

“He’s not my Daddy! Why are you buying into all this crap, Marjorie?”

“Because it’s not crap,” she says, so quietly I almost don’t hear her. “They’re my family.”

“Enough.” Gray’s firm voice cuts off my next round of arguments as she pins me with a fierce glare. “We are not going to argue this to death, Vanessa Marie. Now, be a good girl and sit right here so Auntie Gray can do your hair.”

“That’s not my name,” I whine, hating myself more than a little for sounding so childish even as I drag myself over to stand in front of her.

A ghost of a smile dances on Gray’s lips. “Then tell Auntie Gray your name, little one.”

Telling them anything more about me feels like a bad idea. I probably shouldn’t have argued with them about my name in the first place, but I did, so now I’m stuck. “Vanessa Dawn,” I mumble.

“What a pretty name for a pretty Little girl.” Her gaze flicks to the side and her smile warms considerably. “Your cousin brought you a present.”

The smallest of the little dolls smiles shyly as she drops a throw pillow onto the ground between Gray’s feet. “I know how much Auntie Gray’s brush hurts, so I thought you could use this.”

“You do?” I can’t imagine anyone hurting the sweet woman in front of me, and anger wells in my chest at the thought of her enduring the same pain I just experienced.

“It’s kind of a tradition at this point,” another doll says with a grin. “I’m Lanie, by the way, and that’s Tabby. You already know Josie, from what we’ve heard.”

Before I can answer, Gray clears her throat and points to the pillow. “Vanessa Dawn, if I have to tell you to sit again, I’m going to make it very uncomfortable for you to do so. You can chat with your cousins while you’re getting your hair done.”

They aren’t my cousins and you aren’t my aunt. The protest clogs my throat, desperate to be released, but I manage to swallow it down. I really, really do not want to be spanked with that damn brush again.

So I force myself down onto the cushion Tabby provided, sending up a little prayer of thanks that it does actually make sitting a bit easier. But it isn’t until I settle fully that I remember I am completely naked from the waist down and have been for some time. Embarrassment rushes to my cheeks, an inferno I can’t hold back no matter how hard I try.

Thankfully, nobody comments on it. Marjorie and the other little dolls settle around me, their expressions open and expectant as Gray pulls the tie from my hair so the loose waves cascade down around my shoulders.

“Oh, your hair is so pretty,” Tabby says with a sigh, reaching forward to gently run her fingertips over the loose strands.

“Isn’t it?” Envy tinges Marjorie’s voice, but she’s smiling when she says it. “Mine is just this plain brown but Vanessa has those gorgeous hints of red in hers.”

“I wonder if our Daddies would let us dye our hair.” Head tilted to the side, Lanie studies her own deep brown curls. “I’ve always wanted something crazy, like pink hair.”

Behind me, Gray chuckles as she runs the evil brush through my hair, gently removing the tangles as she goes. “There is no way your Daddy is going to let you destroy your hair, Melanie Brynne, so you might as well put that idea right out of your mind.”

Huffing out a breath, Lanie leans back on her hands, her bottom lip pushed out in a pout. “I never get to have any fun.”

“Uh-huh,” Gray drawls, her tone dry as the desert. “That must have been some other Little girl whose Daddy let her have a half-birthday sleepover and let her stay up well past her bedtime and eat so much candy she was sick for two days.”

Pink blooms on Lanie’s cheeks. “Okay, maybe I get to have some fun. But that’s not the same as dyeing my hair fun colors!”

When Josie and Tabby chime in with their very vocal agreement, Gray sighs. “All right, all right. I’ll talk to your Daddies and maybe we can get you girls some fun highlights.”

A cheer goes up among the dolls, and I can’t help but smile at how excited they all seem. For just a moment, it doesn’t matter to me that I don’t want to be here and that I’m pretty sure they’ve brainwashed my friend into believing she does want to be here. In this moment, I’m just a girl, surrounded by friends laughing and enjoying their lives.

But then Lanie’s gaze slides toward Marjorie and curiosity fills her eyes. “So… did you really come to rescue Josie?”

Gray’s hands, which have been doing some kind of complicated work with my hair, freeze as if she’s waiting for me to confess some deep, dark secret.

It isn’t really a secret though, is it? So there’s no point in lying. “I did,” I say with a shrug. “I got worried when she didn’t check in for a while, and then I saw the flyer about the signing she’s doing at that little bookstore in town and that’s when I really knew something was up.”