Naked Attraction. Jule McBride

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СКАЧАТЬ ever since he’d first seen her, but he’d also known how much Daddy Eddie and Patricia had doted on their only girl. Especially Daddy Eddie, who tried to cover up his unstoppable devotion by being hard on her. How, Robby had wondered, could he ever become a worthwhile suitor?

      Ellie had deserved so much more. A good-looking college man from a loving home. By contrast, Robby was the son of a man who couldn’t put clothes on his kid’s back, or food on the table, a rowdy town drunk with a gambling problem.

      That was why he’d done all he could to steer clear of Ellie. For years, he’d worked his tail off, still did. He’d taken gifts from Daddy Eddie to get through school, but since then, he’d insisted on paying the money back. Daddy Eddie hadn’t wanted to take the money, but he’d done so in the end, after Robby threatened to leave Lee Polls if he didn’t.

      Now his throat felt raw and tight. He wasn’t proud of it, but emotion was getting the best of him. Maybe things were better this way, he decided. Maybe Ellie would find a man in New York who’d had all the advantages and grown up without knowing want. A guy like Johnny Sweeney. The thought came from nowhere, and now Robby pushed it away, ashamed of himself for making such comparisons, especially since the other man’s father was even worse than Charlie, in Robby’s humble opinion.

      “Why so deep in thought?” Daddy Eddie prompted.

      “You should have promoted Ellie, not me,” Robby abruptly said.

      Daddy Eddie’s jaw dropped. “Lord, you really do need a vacation. And don’t you ever second-guess me, son,” he said. “The company’s been in my family since the eighteen hundreds, so I figure I know what’s best for it.”

      But couldn’t Daddy Eddie see? Without Ellie in his bed, Robby had fallen apart. Sales and contracts were tanking. It wasn’t dire, they weren’t going to lose the business, but…Blowing out a frustrated sigh, he tried not to think about how Ellie’s desertion had thrown him off his game. Worse, she wasn’t the least bit affected.

      He just couldn’t think straight. It was as if some necessary hormone inside him had been depleted. Yeah, he thought now, testosterone. “I really do need to take a couple days off,” he said again.

      When he glanced up, Daddy Eddie was studying him. “I know what this is all about. Are you going to pick up your dad?”

      “From prison?” Robby was stunned at the idea. He’d been thinking about Ellie and hadn’t bothered to give Charlie a second thought, but his father was being released in a few days. “Hell, no,” he exploded. “The man got himself arrested and put in prison, he can leave by himself, too.”

      Daddy Eddie considered a long moment, then tilted his head, looking undecided about what he should say. “He may have changed. Eight years is a long time.”

      Robby clenched his jaw. Men like his father never changed. He’d learned that a long time ago. So many nights, he’d lain in bed, wondering if he’d awaken to sirens and find Sheriff Kemp on the porch with bad news. No matter what Robby had done—acted out, yelled at Charlie, tried to reason—nothing had worked.

      “You don’t know him like I do.”

      “Maybe not, but I’ve seen people change,” offered Daddy Eddie.

      “Who?”

      There was a long pause.

      “That’s what I thought,” Robby commented.

      Daddy Eddie sighed. “I know you hate it when I tell you this, but your daddy was a good man. He doted on your mama. And when she died, when you were little, he was just brokenhearted. He couldn’t go on.”

      Despite having a son? Robby wanted to challenge. Dammit, Charlie had had responsibilities, a boy at home. “Even if he’s changed, somehow, it’s water under the bridge to me.” Robby had grown up a long time ago.

      “You can’t give him a chance?”

      “What?” Robby scoffed. “Pick him up at the jail? Set him up in an apartment or something?” He shook his head adamantly. “Let the system take care of that. I pay taxes. That’s all I’m doing. I figure he’s got a parole officer to help him. Whatever.”

      Even saying the words, he felt a rush of guilt, then hated himself for it, not to mention Max Sweeney, and then Daddy Eddie, for bringing up the topic. Oh, Charlie wasn’t a bad man, particularly. Robby knew what Daddy Eddie was trying to say. He was, however, a weak man, and the weak could be dangerous. Yes…what was that saying? Never underestimate the power of the blind and stupid, Robby thought. Well, that summed up his father to a T.

      Recollections suddenly flooded Robby’s mind, of the night his father had killed a beautiful young teenager named Shirley Fey. For some reason that no one had ever discerned, she was out walking late one night, near the cabin Charlie and Robby had shared. She’d been found dead on the road, victim of a hit and run. Charlie hadn’t even bothered to come forward. Later, he claimed he’d been so drunk he barely remembered what he’d done.

      Shirley Fey hadn’t deserved it. She’d been from a family that was almost as poor, a thin girl, almost waifish, with waist-long honey hair. It had nearly killed him, but Robby attended all the legal proceedings, not to stand by his father, but to judge him, right along with the Feys.

      Now, for the umpteenth time, Robby vowed never to so much as look at his father again. Charlie could rot in hell, along with devils like Max Sweeney. Ellie, too, he suddenly thought. More than anybody, she damn well knew not to compare him to his old man. What had gotten into her that morning?

      “You okay, Robby?”

      “He didn’t even stop his car that night,” Robby murmured. “Maybe she was still alive after he hit her. Maybe she could have been saved.”

      Daddy Eddie shook his head. “That whole series of events never sat right with me. I know you don’t like me saying so, but the trial just moved too fast, and Charlie must have changed his story ten times.”

      “Quit trying to make me feel better about having a scumbag for a dad,” Robby warned. Daddy Eddie and Patricia had always insisted on smoothing the edges off Robby’s rough beginnings. By the time they were done discussing Charlie, a stranger would have assumed he was a saint. It was the Lees’ way of trying to help.

      “I changed my mind,” Robby said now. “I’m going to stick around and work. No vacay.”

      “Why?”

      Because he’d just be left with spare time on his hands, and if the past months were any indication, he’d only use it to torture himself with how he’d lost Ellie. “Too much work to do.” And he’d prefer not to dwell on his father.

      “All right…” Daddy Eddie picked up the newspaper and tapped the picture of his daughter. “Since you’ve decided to stick around, maybe it’s time we came up with a plan for showing Ellie who’s boss. We’ve got to get our clients back, at least. And it’d be nice to find a way to buy Ellie’s company…maybe make her think it’s another buyer. In fact, since you were talking about taking a trip, maybe you should pay her a visit.”

      As if. Robby wasn’t about to get directly involved in Daddy Eddie’s corporate vendetta with his daughter. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. If he succeeded at work, he helped himself and Eddie, but hurt Ellie, and he was starting СКАЧАТЬ