Page 67 of Wilde Nights in Paradise

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes,” she said more gently, “you do. I know everything you do is out of love, but it’s too much. It’s smothering. You have to stop.”

“You’re my daughter. It’s my job to protect you.”

“You can’t protect me from everything. If you try, it’s going to drive a wedge between us.” And as much as he sometimes annoyed her, the thought of losing him over something so fixable, of never seeing him again due to their shared stubborn gene, made her throat tighten up. “I don’t want that. I want you in my life, Daddy—just not controlling it.”

His shoulders hunched slightly, which she hadn’t thought possible. He always walked, stood, ate, and probably even slept with the erect posture of a Marine in formation. In her entire life, she’d never seen him slouch. “I just want you safe and happy.”

She rubbed his arm. “I am safe now.” Happy was another beast altogether, one she hadn’t tamed yet. True, for a short time in Key West, she’d thought…

But that was over.

She’d make her own happiness, starting tomorrow. She’d go to the animal shelter and pick out a cat. She’d cut back her hours at work, find a hobby or two, and eventually start dating again. In time, she’d find her own kind of happiness.

She supposed she had Jude to thank for that. She’d been frozen in the past for eight long years, unable to move forward, but three weeks in paradise with him had started thawing her. Then his betrayal had cracked away the last of the ice, leaving her exposed, forcing her to make a decision. Change or perish.

She chose change.

Her father was staring at her with worry pinching his eyes, the creases radiating outward until they disappeared under the edge of his service uniform cover. “You’re not happy.”

“No,” she admitted. “But I will be.”

The air settled thickly in the silence that fell between them.

Finally, in another uncharacteristic move, he shifted on his feet. “What happened between you and Wilde after I left Key West?”

“Dad…” She sighed. Okay, so change wouldn’t be easy, especially not for someone like her father. She had a feeling this was the first of many similar conversations. “I thought we just discussed this. What happened is none of your business.”

“No, I think it is.” He motioned to her car. “Get in.”

“Why?”

“I have a story to tell you.”

She stared at him for a moment. She wanted to stand her ground and demand he explain himself, but the coolness inside her car beckoned. She slid behind the wheel, waited until he walked around the hood and slid into the passenger seat. Then she turned to him, suspicion making her voice sharper than she’d planned. “What kind of story exactly?”

Sighing, he pulled off his cover and rubbed a hand over his hairless head. Libby had always liked his baldness. He used to bend over as he tucked her in every night so she could kiss the crown of his head. The memory made her smile inwardly. If there was one constant in her life, it was her father’s love.

“It’s the story,” he began without meeting her gaze, “of a father trying to protect his daughter. Of him taking it a step too far when she fell in love with a man he didn’t want her with.”

Libby sucked in a breath. “Oh my God, Dad. What did you do to Jude? Is he okay?”

He flinched as if her words had slapped him across the face. “He’s fine. Back home, working with his brothers. I wouldn’t hurt him, and it shames me that you think I would.”

“I don’t! At least—I just—The way you said—” She pressed her lips together and took a second to gather her wits. “What did you mean by that?”

“I was talking about the past.”

Her stomach sank into her toes. “When?”

“Jude came to our house one day eight years ago in full uniform, even saluted when he saw me. He’d come to ask me for my blessing to marry you.”

She could picture it so clearly, Jude walking into the lion’s den in full dress uniform. Saluting her father. Asking his question…and getting shot down. “You told him he didn’t have your blessing, didn’t you?”

Misery radiated off him as he shook his head. “I didn’t want you marrying a Marine.”

“How could you?”

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