Page 51 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

“My hero!” I cry as she hands Tabby the bottle.

“Oh… I don’t know if we should.” Holding the bottle of rose-colored liquid, Tabby nibbles at her bottom lip. “We’re gonna be in so much trouble as it is.”

“You are certainly right about that, little firecracker.”

Fuck.

Dane

“Oh, Dane, I meant to tell you” —plucking a card from his hand, Bram frowns before setting it face down on the table and pulling a new card— “I talked to Josie. She fessed up that Nessie lied about having a bunch of friends and family back in New York.”

“Really? Interesting.” Studying my own cards, I hum thoughtfully as I consider this new information. “I wonder why she’d lie about that.”

“Maybe to scare us.” When I look over at him, Colt shrugs. “It’s what I would do. Make it seem like keeping me is dangerous because people will be looking for me. Turn myself into a high-risk target.”

“That makes sense. She does love horror movies, so that could be something she’s picked up along the way.”

Axel makes his own trade as his turn comes around. “She seems like she’s gotten more settled in the past couple days.”

Glancing up from the abysmal set of cards in my hand, I glance over at my eldest brother and shrug. “Maybe. Either that or she’s just biding her time for another escape attempt.”

To my left, Eli chuckles. “That one gets my vote. Your girl is a spitfire, for sure.”

“She is. I’m actually a little disappointed she hasn’t given me another opportunity to chase her through the woods.”

Ford shakes his head. “I still don’t know how you can be so blasé about that. What if she gets hurt? Or lost?”

Lifting my phone, I waggle it at him. “Tracking device. Remember?”

“Right.” But instead of relieving his clear anxiety over Vanessa getting lost in the woods, his frown only deepens. “Still not sure how I feel about you chipping her like a dog.”

“Look, she’s going to try and escape anyway. This lets me find her, no matter how sneaky she is.” Shrugging, I set the phone down and fan my cards back out in front of me. “Honestly, I’m surprised I’m the first one to think of it, considering how often we end up having to hunt down naughty Little girls who have snuck out of the house.”

“He might have a point,” Axel says, leaning back in his chair with a thoughtful frown. “I know our family on the island puts theirs in lockets, but with how much our Littles enjoy playing outside an internal device really makes more sense.”

“Let me know and I’ll ask Gunther if he has more. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy chasing my Little one through the woods without worrying I might lose her.”

Eli shakes his head. “I don’t get the appeal of constantly chasing after your Little girl like that. My Little one is going to be a sweet, quiet babygirl. She’ll be perfectly happy to sit at the kitchen table while I cook, coloring or reading or whatever.”

I share a knowing look with my older brothers. While I have no doubt Eli truly believes what he’s saying, we all have our suspicions that he’d actually be bored to tears with the sweet, quiet Little girl he swears he wants.

But before any of us have a chance to tease him about it, a noise from the hall draws our attention to the closed door of the den.

Every one of us goes on instant alert, silence engulfing the room as we listen with the vigilance of men who have seen the worst of what can be done to another human. Another soft thump reaches my ears, followed by a loud giggle and the sound of shushing.

The tension that had gripped us a moment ago vanishes as we all grin at each other.

“Sounds like our naughty girls are up to something,” Colt says, his eyes glittering with the kind of delight only a true sadist can feel.

Nodding in agreement, Axel looks over at the door. “Where do you think they’re going?”

“Kitchen.” At Eli’s gruff response, we all look his way and he rolls his eyes. “What else are Little girls going to sneak out of bed at midnight for, if not snacks?”

“He makes a good point.” Reaching over, I clap my younger brother on the shoulder. “We might make a Daddy of you yet.”

Eli glares and Ford rolls his eyes, but our elder brothers all laugh.

“All right, all right.” Ever the leader, Axel pushes to his feet. “What do you say we go see what our naughty Little girls are up to?”