Page 68 of Wilde Nights in Paradise

He finally met her gaze, and in his eyes, she saw his shame, but also a kind of desperation she’d never seen before. “Elizabeth, do you have any idea what I put your mother through every time I left for a tour? Neither of us wanted that for you. I didn’t want to take the risk you’d end up a young, heartbroken widow. Or, God forbid, a young widow with young children to care for. I wanted you to finish school, make a career for yourself.”

Tears blurred her vision, and she blinked them furiously back. “Who says I wouldn’t have?”

“Statistics.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “What about what I wanted?”

“It wasn’t a consideration,” he admitted. “It’s my job to protect you.”

Funny, Jude once said those exact same words to her.

“Dad…” But she couldn’t yell at him. He was obviously already aware of his mistake so what would yelling accomplish? “Oh, Daddy.”

“A day later, I found out he’d already proposed to you before he ever came to ask my permission.” He hung his head. “It was not one of my proudest moments. I had this ugly idea of your future embedded in my mind, and I thought I had to stop it, so I tracked Jude down, roughed him up a little, threatened to ruin his career, his life, to poison you against him while he was overseas. That last bit broke him. You should know he would have endured all of the rest, would have put up with me making him miserable for the rest of his life, but the thought of returning home to find out you hated him—that broke him.”

You’ve indulged him?

The surprise in Jude’s voice at that realization suddenly made a lot more sense. For years, he’d thought her father had absolute sway over her. What must have gone through his head when he found out that wasn’t the case?

I’m a fucking idiot.

Oh, he wasn’t the only one in this situation. She punched her father’s shoulder as hard as she could. His head snapped up in surprise, and his eyes flashed anger followed by hurt.

“Thatwas for ruining the best thing I ever had!” It wasn’t until he reached over and folded her in his arms that she realized she was crying freely. He rocked her as he had in her childhood when soothing her from a nightmare.

“I’m so sorry, Libby. As much as I try—” His voice broke. “I’m not perfect. I hope someday you can forgive me.”

She held on to him as tightly as she could and buried her tears in the front of his uniform. “He cheated on me again. After you left, I followed him to a bar and saw him with another brunette. Why is it always a brunette?”

“Oh, sweetie, no.” Firmly, he set her away from him and wiped at her tears with his big thumbs. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t Jude Wilde cheating. For all of his faults, he’s not a cheater. He never has been.”

She sniffled. “He cheated before.”

“No. I told him he had to break things off with you in a way that you’d never want to take him back. The woman you saw him with? She was another Marine. I asked her to help him with the charade.”

“Youmadehim hurt me?”

Her father nodded. “I thought it was for your own good, but I was wrong. He’s not a cheater.”

“Then what was he doing with that brunette on Duval Street?”

He drew a breath. “I called him that night and warned him away from you again.”

“Dad!”

“It was wrong, I know, but maybe that’s why he was at the bar. You should go ask him.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then let her go and placed his cover back on his head. As he pushed open the car door, he hesitated and looked at her for a long moment. “And tell him…he has my blessing.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jude snarled as a shadow fell over the papers on his desk, blocking out the crappy office lights. He’d spent his week up to his elbows in the expense reports Reece demanded he fill out, and he just wanted to finish this last one, go home, and drown his sorrows for the weekend.

He didn’t want to talk to anyone and thought the F-U force field he’d constructed around himself would keep them all at bay. Then again, some of his brothers had no concept of self-preservation.

He lifted his gaze and scowled at the owner of the shadow. Camden stood beside the desk unapologetically blocking the light with his big frame. Sam the Cat lay across Cam’s wide shoulders, content to hang there like a fluffy orange scarf and doze. Since Jude had no idea when Seth would be home, he’d brought the feline back to D.C. with him, and Sam had quickly won over the hearts of his brothers, earning himself a spot as Wilde Security’s spoiled mascot.

“You’re in my light,” Jude snapped.

“Yup.”

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