Page 67 of All Bets Are Off

Candy didn’t respond. She just waited.

“My father’s name is Ryder,” I offered.

She still didn’t respond. “That’s my father’s office,” I practically exploded, pointing toward the open door where I was already supposed to be seated in front of my father.

“Oh.” Candy’s eyes went momentarily wide. “I didn’t realize.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if trying to put the last few pieces together. “I guess that makes sense. That explains why there’s more than one Mr. Stone.”

“Yes.” I refrained from patting her on the head like a goofy puppy. “May I go in?”

“Of course.” Candy’s smile was back. “Tell your father he has a tee time in exactly seventy-five minutes. Don’t let him be late.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I assured her. “My father is never late for his tee times.”

There was no smile on my face as I marched into my father’s office.

“You’re late,” he announced, not looking up.

“That’s because your secretary couldn’t wrap her head around how there could possibly be two Mr. Stones.”

Dad raised his chin, seemingly thinking about it. Then he sighed. “I don’t think this one is going to last.”

“Do any of them last?” I challenged.

“No, but I keep hoping.” Dad’s gaze was studied as it roamed over me. “You look a little … windswept. Were you out somewhere?”

Well, that was a loaded question. “No, I had lunch with Olivia. We lost track of time. We were talking about a few things. I had to hurry over from the other tower.”

“Ah.” Dad’s expression was impossible to read. “You two seem … happy. Are things going well?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I mean … it’s a bit of an adjustment for Olivia to get used to living in a hotel. She seems pretty happy, though.”

“Why wouldn’t she be? She went from ordinary living circumstances to extraordinary in the blink of an eye.”

I gripped the arm of my chair, then reminded myself that my father had always been a jackass. He wasn’t really attackingOlivia. No, this was an attack on me. “Olivia is an extraordinary individual already,” I insisted. “I’m sorry you can’t see that.”

Dad held my gaze. He seemed to be looking for something specific. I gave him nothing as I simply stared back. Finally, he sighed. “You seem … more settled than you did even six weeks ago,” he admitted. “Apparently, married life suits you.”

“It does,” I agreed.

“I still don’t understand how you managed to hide it from your own family.”

Was that what was really bothering him? Was he annoyed because he thought I’d gotten one over on him? That would be so … Ryder Stone. “I already told you why we didn’t,” I reminded him.

“Yes. Rex is apparently too delicate to handle his sister dating his friend.”

“Rex is a good big brother who would die for his baby sister,” I countered. Not for the first time, guilt panged in my chest. If Rex knew what I was doing to his baby sister, he would rip my head off. Best not to think about that. I cleared my throat and forced myself to focus on the here and now. “I don’t blame him for wanting to protect her. She’s great.”

“And yet you didn’t want to protect your sisters when growing up,” Dad pointed out.

“That’s different.”

“Why?”

“Because my sisters can protect themselves. Also, they’re older than me. I can’t protect what I’m afraid of. They’re like those women who have snakes for hair. I’ll turn to stone if I look them in the eye too long.”

For some reason, that struck my father as funny. “I never really thought about that,” he said on a half laugh. “It’s true, though.”

I joined in. It was rare that my father wanted to laugh with me rather than at me. His amusement ended almost as fast as it started, though.

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