Love Takes All by J.M. Jeffries

Author:J.M. Jeffries
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Lydia pressed her mouth together tightly to keep her angry retort inside. She started to think of something that would placate them, but couldn’t form those words either. She was twenty-nine years old and refused to be treated like a child any longer. Standing up to her parents wasn’t easy, but if she wanted a life out from under their thumbs, she knew she needed to find the steel inside her Miss E. insisted she had.

Her father approached her with firm steps, his face set in lines of authority. “Lydia,” he said in a quiet tone, “if only you’d come to me for advice. I would have talked you out of this...this...poorly conceived adventure.”

Caroline looked at Lydia with sadness in her eyes. “Everyone in New Orleans is so concerned that you’ve abandoned your senses after Mitchell’s passing. Now that we’re here we’ll fix this, we’ll find a way to extricate you from this dreadful situation you’ve gotten yourself into.”

Lydia felt irritation rising. “Fix what? Do you know anything about painting a wall, or plumbing?”

“Don’t talk back to your mother,” Andrew Fairchild said in a commanding tone.

Patience, Lydia told herself. She pasted a smile on her face. “We need to get you a room and then we can discuss all your concerns in the morning.”

“You are not brushing us off,” her father said.

“Well, if you want to sit here and talk, that’s okay. I’ve had a long day and I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast at seven o’clock. We can talk then.”

“You know I never wake up before ten, Lydia,” her mother admonished her.

“Unfortunately, on this side of the country, things start early. I have a daughter and I have a job. You will have to accommodate me.”

Caroline looked shocked and her father frowned. “No self-respecting Fairmont woman has ever needed a job.”

“I didn’t need a job, I just wanted one.”

Her mother stared at her, eyes wide. Her father’s frown deepened. Lydia turned to the reception desk and requested a small suite on the third floor for her parents, thinking to keep them as far away from her as she could get them. The desk clerk smiled happily and assigned a suite. She could just imagine her parents looking at the western decor in their room and thinking how awful it was. Maybe they would leave then. Lydia didn’t want them here. She refused to be put back in the box her father demanded she live in.

Lydia handed them their keys and she headed toward the elevator.

“Aren’t you going to show us to our room?” Andrew asked.

“That’s what bellhops are for.” If Lydia were mean she wouldn’t have offered a bellhop, but she knew her parents probably already had one since they seldom traveled with less than a dozen suitcases.

Hunter stepped forward. He held his hand out to Andrew.

“Who are you?” Andrew asked.

“I’m the man who’s trying to put this place back together.”

Caroline’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re the hired help?”

Hunter paused. “Not exactly.

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