“Molly! I must have missed your call. I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting you.”

The mild rebuke didn’t faze Molly; she was used to it, whether she’d made an appointment to see her father or not. “There wasn’t time to call.”

Kathi embraced her, kissed the air near her cheek and then held her back. “My, my, my.” She touched Molly’s hair. “It looks like you haven’t seen the inside of a salon in forever.”

“It has been a while.”

Kathi smiled and, as if she knew nothing of the kidnapping, said, “I know how you are. You start writing, and you forget everything else. Have you lost weight? That’s good, I suppose, but not if you’ve done it improperly.”

Acutely aware of Dare beside her, Molly wanted to groan. “A few pounds, yes.” Being starved often had that effect.

Did Kathi truly not know of her kidnapping? It wouldn’t be beyond her father not to share that news. But somehow, Molly thought she knew, and that made her inane chatter all the more annoying.

“You have the darkest shadows under your eyes, too.” Appearing concerned, Kathi studied her face. “Aren’t you getting enough sleep?”

“I sleep fine.” Now. Since crawling into Dare’s bed, she’d found it easy to relax and catch up on her sleep. “Those are bruises.”

Kathi looked more closely, and she tsked. “Oh, dear. What have you done to yourself? You always were accident-prone. I’ve told you that yoga would give you added grace if only you’d—”

Feeling the flush in her face, she cut off Kathi’s ridiculous banter and gestured toward Dare. “Kathi, this is Dare Macintosh. Dare, my stepmother, Kathi Berry-Alexander.”

Having paid no attention to Dare until he was formally acknowledged by Molly, Kathi looked up at him. Fingers splayed over her throat, she whispered, “Oh, my.”

Dare said nothing.

Kathi held out a delicate, well-manicured hand. “Mr. Macintosh, how very nice to meet you. You’re a friend of Molly’s?”

Dare didn’t miss a beat. He held Kathi’s hand for the briefest of greetings that barely passed for polite and said only, “Mrs. Alexander.”

“Berry-Alexander.” Nonplussed by his lack of a response to her direct and social question, Kathi fiddled with the end of her hair. “Yes, well… I’m sorry that we’re ill prepared for guests. I was just finishing breakfast and was on my way out the door. We’re breaking ground on a new youth community building today.”

And that explained the jeans, Molly thought. Not that anyone would mistake Kathi’s clothing as appropriate for dirt-digging.

“We won’t hold you up.” As if Molly weren’t with him, Dare said, “I’m here to see Bishop.”

Kathi’s strained smile wouldn’t have fooled anyone. “I’m so sorry.” She looked to Molly. “Of course he’d like to see you, you know that. It’s been forever since you visited.” She let out a breath and looked back to Dare. “But I’m afraid my husband is rushed, as well. He has an important business meeting this morning.”

Molly wanted to groan. She needed this—whatever it was—over with.

“Tell him I’m here.” Dare stared down at Kathi. “He’ll make time for me.”

“Oh.” Kathi pursed her mouth. “He’s acquainted with you?”

Dare waited, again not answering. His blatant disregard for her nosiness left Molly desperate to fill in the silence, but she fought off the urge.

Kathi put her hands together. She tried, but she didn’t have the same lethal qualities that Dare possessed. “Yes,” Kathi finally murmured. “Let me ask him what he’d like to do.”

She turned and, in regal fashion, exited the room.

Molly didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Dare put a hand between her shoulder blades. “Breathe, honey.”

She inhaled with a gasp. “Oh, my God, that was painfully awkward.”

Dare just shrugged. “If you thought so, then gird yourself, because I hear Bishop approaching, and given the weight of his stomping footsteps, it’s about to get worse.”

Now that Dare said it, she noticed the difference in her father’s usual metered approach, too. He came around the corner, but he wasn’t alone. He had one of the guards, and Kathi, with him.

For only a second his concerned gaze roamed over Molly, taking her in from head to toes. Something tightened in his face—concern for a daughter who had survived a kidnapping and severe treatment at the hands of goons? Molly just didn’t know. Often her father had been cold, but then, she’d never had her life threatened before.

Seeing that she was whole, Bishop quickly focused all his attention on Dare, a more deserving adversary.

Resentment brought the words to Molly’s mouth. “Hello, Father.”

All three of them glanced her way. Together, they made a potent triumvirate of animosity.

Dare laughed over their united front. “Should I consider this your idea of backup?”

The guard didn’t like that. His left eye twitched, and he made a point of showing his gun.

Softly, Dare taunted, “Try it.” Without breaking eye contact, he said, “I guarantee Bishop will get the first bullet.”

Kathi made sounds of alarm, her hand at her throat, her gaze going everywhere.

Bishop didn’t move.

Finally, the guard disengaged from his challenge. It was an amazing thing for Molly to see, but then, she’d known all along that Dare had that intimidating effect on people.