Real Men Will by Dahl Victoria

Author:Dahl, Victoria [Dahl, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2011-10-25T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WHEN THE REGRET CAME, it hit her like a collapsing brick wall. Actually, there was no metaphor needed. It hit her with all the force of opening her front door and finding her father standing there instead of Eric Donovan.

“Daddy!” she squeaked, immediately regressing to her guilt-filled adolescence. “What are you doing here?”

He winked and slipped off the old-fashioned hat he always wore when he put on a suit. He was a big fan of elegance. And modesty. Beth tried not to think of how much cleavage she was currently showing in this dress.

“I was in town for a doctor’s appointment.”

“Are you okay?” she gasped.

“Healthy as a horse. It was only a checkup. And then I went out for dinner with an old friend, and when I realized how late it was, I thought I’d take you out for dessert before I headed home.”

“You should have…” She dropped the thought when she remembered he didn’t own a cell phone. “Don’t you think you should start back now while it’s still light? Mom will be worried.”

“Oh, she worries anyway. I’ll call and tell her I’ll be late. Unless you have other plans.” He finally seemed to notice her dress and craned his neck to look behind her.

“I… No, I just…”

“You won’t believe who called me up for dinner tonight, querida. I don’t think I’ve seen him since…”

Her father heard the footsteps on the stairs at the same moment Beth did. He looked down, and Beth stepped forward.

Eric bounded up two more stairs before his head rose and he stopped with comical suddenness. In fact, he nearly pitched face-forward with the momentum, but he grabbed the railing and saved himself.

Her dad smiled. “I see I’m interrupting.”

“No!” Beth said. Eric seemed frozen.

“Come up, come up!” her dad said, waving Eric forward.

He looked warily at Beth, but took one more step, and then another. Beth had no choice but to back into her apartment and let them both in. The landing wasn’t big enough for the three of them to stand around, with all that awkwardness taking up so much space.

“Hello! I’m Beth’s father,” her dad said with an enthusiasm that deepened his faint accent.

“Um, Eric, this is my dad, Thomas. He just happened to be in town tonight! Dad, this is Eric.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Eric said as they shook hands. His gaze slid to Beth’s and she cringed and shook her head.

“The pleasure is mine,” her father said. “But I can see you two were on your way out. I’ll leave you to your evening.”

“Dad. No. I’ll just—”

Eric interrupted. “I was just stopping by. You should spend time with your daughter.”

“Thank you!” Beth said. “You and I can go out, Dad. I’ll see Eric another time.”

Eric started backing away.

Her father eyed him, and then his weathered face broke into a wide smile. “I have the perfect solution. We’ll all have dessert and drinks together. I’d love to get to know some of Beth’s friends.”

Beth almost choked on her tongue. Eric wasn’t even a friend.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.