He stood only a few feet away, but held the penny out for her. Laney took it, examined it.
“This is one of those flattened pennies with your name on it.” She brought her eyes back to his. “What’s this from?”
“My dad was actually sober for a few hours one time.” How sad was it that Ryker could pinpoint the exact hours his dad had gone without a drink or a fix? “There was a carnival outside the city, and he took me. He got this with my name on it, maybe because he felt he owed me something. I have no clue why, but this was the only thing he’d ever bought for me. This was the only time in my childhood he’d actually taken me anywhere.”
Laney’s eyes filled as she clutched the penny in her hand. “Are you worried about being a father?”
“Hell, yes, I am.” Ryker rubbed the back of his neck, glancing to the floor before going on. “What do I have to fall back on? What part of my past says I’m ready to help raise another human being? I won’t leave either of you, but I’m scared as hell, Laney.”
“You’re not afraid,” she countered, her voice softening. “You’re refusing to accept what already is. You have all of these wonderful emotions inside you. I know you care for me, I know you care for this baby. If you’d let yourself relax, you’d see there’s so much more than fear. Fear is a lie. If my father showed you nothing else, he showed you that.”
“There can’t be animosity between your brothers and me, or them and you. There can’t be. This family needs to be unified, and I swore to your father we’d find those scrolls, we’d keep this family going. I promised, Laney.”
Still clutching the penny, she crossed her arms and nodded. “And we’ll continue to do just that. My brothers aren’t part of what you and I have going on. You need to understand that because if you don’t, then we have nothing.”
“If I were Braden, I would’ve killed someone like me.”
Laney’s hard stare held him in place. Damn, when she got that look, she was every bit Patrick O’Shea’s daughter. She meant business—and she was sexy as hell.
“Braden’s not going to harm you. Well, other than the black eye.”
“You’re aware of the man I am, what I’ve done to keep your family safe.”
Laney nodded. “I’m not naive.”
“You never ask me, you never look at me as if you disapprove.”
Laney shrugged. “I know my father had his reasons. I know Braden wants no more violence and that you had to take care of Shane because he tried to hurt me.” She swallowed, bit her lip and pushed on. “And I know when my ex disappeared—”
“I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t. I sent him away with a fat check and a promise that if he returned, he would be finished.”
“I thought you...”
Ryker nodded. “I know what you thought. I let you think that because I was trying to keep some wall between us, but it didn’t work.”
Laney blinked, glanced around the room as if trying to process what he’d just said. “I’m glad you didn’t hurt him, but why didn’t you? You hated him.”
Hate was such a mild term for the man who’d verbally abused Laney. The guy was lucky he was still drawing breath in his lungs.
“I didn’t want you to look at me like I was a monster.”
“I could never look at you that way.”
Ryker took a step forward. “I couldn’t take the chance.”
Laney uncrossed her arms, handed the penny back to him and pulled in a breath. Ryker shoved the memento back into his pocket.
“How much did Braden give you to send Shane away?”
“He didn’t give me the money.”
Her perfectly arched brows drew in as she tipped her head. “You used your money?”
“I’d have paid him every last dime I had to leave. I didn’t want to have his blood on my hands, and I wanted him out of your life.”
Laney pushed her hair over her shoulder and clutched the V of her robe. She’d looked so damn gorgeous earlier in that red ball gown. She’d nearly stopped his heart and was the envy of every woman there; she was also most likely most guys’ fantasy tonight.
But right now, she stood before him, void of all makeup, wearing nothing but her silk robe and smelling like everything he didn’t deserve.