Daddy's Little Darling (Montana Daddies 2)

His eyebrows rose. What was she dreaming about now? She raised her arm as though to fend off a blow and his temper ignited. Had someone hurt her? Abused her? This aunt of hers? She cried out in pain from having moved her injured hand and he gently lowered the limb back to the bed.

“Easy, Charlotte.”

“Don’t. Don’t hurt me.”

Christ. She was killing him. He leaned in closer. “Daddy’s here, little darling. No one will hurt you while I’m here.”

To his shock, she immediately settled. That wasn’t what he was expecting.

“I’m sorry I can’t be what you want, Brian. That I’m not woman enough. I’ll try harder. I promise. I’ll stop daydreaming. I’ll try to socialize more. Please.”

Fuck. He’d had enough of this. He was about to tell her to forget all about Brian and her aunt when he stilled. She was so guarded when she was awake, could this be an opportunity to find out a bit more about her?

It would be a breach of trust. And privacy. But little girls shouldn’t keep anything from their daddies. However, she didn’t know yet that she was his. He would have to wait.

“Charlotte, Brian isn’t here. He can’t hurt you.”

“He left me. Like everyone else.”

He took a deep breath in, let it out. Her voice was so lost and lonely. Everyone left her?

Just like you have for the last week, asshole. Didn’t matter that he hadn’t known about her past. Or that they didn’t know each other well. He’d had a duty of care to her.

He’d failed her.

Yep. Asshole was too nice a word to describe him.

“Charlotte—” he started to say.

“You’re kicking me out? But I have nowhere to go!”

Fuck.

Tears ran down her cheeks. She was killing him. “You’re safe here. This is your home now. With me. On Sanctuary Ranch.”

He knew he was making some huge presumptions without talking to her first, but seeing her curled up in a ball, so helpless and scared had broken the last of his control.

“No. No. No.” She shook her head back and forth. Shit, she was getting herself all worked up. “Can’t let myself pretend this is home. This place is too good for me.”

Too good for her? What the hell?

“Have to be good. Work hard. Not create problems. Can’t lose this job. But he’ll fire me if he knows…” her voice trailed off.

Shit. He guessed the he was him. He’d fire her if he knew what? About her past? Or because she was taking food? He didn’t give a shit about the food. Stealing wasn’t good. However, something was off about all this. She seemed to be scared of losing this job, which didn’t gel with someone who would steal from the hand that was feeding her.

And even if she was stealing, he wasn’t going to force her to leave.

“You don’t have to go anywhere. You can stay here as long as you want. Make friends. Have a family. I promise you.” He brushed his fingers through her gorgeous hair.

She frowned slightly. “Can’t. Clint doesn’t like me.”

He froze. “What makes you say that?” It was so far from the truth it wasn’t even funny. He wanted to know where she’d gotten that outrageous idea.

“That kiss. It disgusted him. Avoiding me. Be lucky if he doesn’t tell me to leave. Got to do a good job. Can’t let them down. It’s what I always do. Fail people.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He didn’t know how much she was taking in, but he hoped that at least on a subconscious level she could hear what he was about to say. “You could never disappoint or disgust me. It’s my fault I’ve been keeping a distance. I foolishly thought I was protecting myself. And you. But no more. From now on, you’ll see so much of me that I promise you’ll soon get sick of the sight