Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries) by Susan Stoker

Author:Susan Stoker [Stoker, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Meat ground his teeth together and did his best not to say something he’d regret. These were Zara’s grandparents, and he had no right to kick them out before Zara had even met them. But so far, they weren’t exactly making the best impression.

Mr. Harper had immediately wanted to know how much money Meat expected for finding Zara. After he’d explained he didn’t want the man’s money, Mrs. Harper had curled her lip and made an insinuation under her breath that maybe he’d already taken his reward from their granddaughter another way.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, they made it more than clear they weren’t impressed with his house or anything about the decor. After sitting, Zara’s grandmother offered a disparaging comment about his “rustic furniture” and how quaint it was. Her grandfather promptly looked bored and asked if Meat had anything to drink. It was only eleven in the morning, but somehow Meat wasn’t surprised the man wanted alcohol already.

He was still attempting small talk, having reassured them that Zara would be down as soon as she was ready, when Mrs. Harper said, “She knew when we would be here, right? It’s rude to keep us waiting.”

Meat just about lost his cool and was seconds from telling her off when Zara entered the room. Her chin was up, and she didn’t look the least bit intimidated to meet her grandparents, thank God.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t available to speak to you as soon as you got here,” she said, a hint of a Peruvian accent in her tone. Meat hadn’t really noticed it before, but apparently when she got agitated, it was more pronounced. “I was otherwise occupied.”

She walked up to her maternal grandparents and stood in front of them. Instead of standing to give her a hug, to say how thankful they were that she was alive and home after all these years, Mrs. Harper simply held out her hand.

Zara stared at it, but eventually reached out her own to shake it. Her grandfather did the same.

She turned to Meat and frowned as if to say, “What the hell?” and he did his best to keep his facial expression neutral. He was appalled by their behavior and already couldn’t wait for this meeting to be over.

Zara sat on a chair next to Meat, across from the sectional where her grandparents were sitting.

“So, Zara, when do you think you’ll be ready to move back up to Denver?” her grandfather asked.

Zara blinked in surprise. “What?”

“When will you be moving home? Of course, we had to sell Chad and Emily’s house, but there’s a guesthouse on our property you could live in,” he said.

“It’ll take a while to get you fixed up enough to be seen in public,” Mrs. Harper mused. “Your hair is atrocious, so we’ll have to get you some extensions. You’ll obviously need more appropriate clothing as well.”

Meat was incensed by Mrs. Harper’s words. Zara was beautiful just the way she was. Yeah, her hair was a bit uneven, but it was a symbol of her strength, and exactly how much she’d endured and overcome.

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