Boone (Wild River Ranch #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

W hat had she been thinking? This was a complete disaster. Tildi blamed it on the fact she’d been at sea for three weeks on a freaking yacht with no land in sight. How was her brain supposed to work in these conditions?

“Come on, little girl. Unless you’re conceding defeat, it’s your turn.” Grif grinned from the helm of the Midnight’s Mistress . To enemies around the country, he might be Griffen Turner, super deadly commando dude, but to her, he was the super deadly steersman dude. He took the helm of the Midnight’s Mistress more than anyone else.

Grif cleared his throat.

“Stop rushing me!” Frowning, she tried to concentrate. It was doubly hard since her table sat right next to the galley where Dutch was frying bacon. This was so unfair!

She could never think of things at the spur of the moment. Why had she challenged Grif in the first place? She blamed the early morning wakeup call her Daddy had given her that morning… well, every morning. Not that she was complaining. Especially since her princess parts still quivered at the thought of everything Boone had done to her.

“Oh! I’ve got one. Are you ready?”

“Go ahead, hit me with your best shot.” Grif crossed his arms and waited.

“Okay. How did the hamburger bun introduce his girlfriend to his family?”

Grif shook his head. “I give up.” Grif stared down at his seat, appearing to brace.

“Meet Patty,” Boone called as he came up from the hatch.

“Daddy! You’re stealing my punchlines.” Tildi tried to sound angry, but she must have done it wrong because he laughed as he sat down beside her at the table.

Grif and Dutch groaned. “That’s awful, Tildi-Lou. Even for a dad joke,” Dutch said, but she saw his lips twitch.

“Doesn’t matter. I still got a point. That puts me ahead seven to two.” She grinned at them.

“Only because you study them while I’m working. That’s cheating if you ask me.” Grif never lost his grin.

Tildi couldn’t hold back an affronted gasp. She was not a cheater. “Is not! You take that back.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be navigating or something?” Boone scowled at Grif. “We should be close to the coast. How long until we hit the waterway in Portland?”

Grif glanced at the control panel. “I’d say about two hours.”

Two hours gave her barely enough time to get packed and ready to go. She was meeting the mysterious Sevin Midnight. If the yacht he’d let them use was anything to go by, she needed time to dress and get decked out in the appropriate clothes.

What did you wear when meeting a bajillionaire? She tried to remember the way women dressed at the parties she’d once served hors d’oeuvres at before Nico Midnight had kidnapped her from one of them.

Come to think of it, since it was Sevin’s father who had kidnapped her, she didn’t care if he was impressed or not. She did, however, care if Boone was impressed. She wanted him to be proud of her. He’d done so much for her. The least she could do was not embarrass him.

Hopping up, she headed for the master cabin. At least, she tried. Boone caught her by the wrist before she made it three steps.

“Where do you think you’re going, bluebell?”

“I need to pick out something to wear for when we meet Sevin. It has to be perfect, and that will take time since I’ve never met a decent mafia guy before.”

He had to be a decent mafia guy. Her Daddy wouldn’t have anything to do with Sevin if he was like his father, Nico. Please don’t let him be like his father .

With a tug on her wrist, Boone pulled her into his lap. “You’ve got plenty of time to do that. Right now, you need to eat your breakfast.”

She shook her head. Daddies didn’t know what it took for a girl to get ready for something as important as meeting a mafia guy. All they had to do was take a shower and remember not to show up naked. She’d witnessed more than one man at some of those parties who had forgotten that second part. She shuddered at the memory.

“But Daddy, I don’t have enough time. Not when it’s this important.”

He leveled her with one of those Daddy looks he was so good at. “What is important right now is you eating something for breakfast. Dutch pulled out all the stops this morning. Look at the spread. You need to eat to build back your strength. A year of eating the crap they fed you is bad for your health. Do we need to have a reminder talk about eating nutritious food at every meal?”

It hadn’t taken her long to realize that talk was one of those Daddy code words for something else. The last thing she needed today was to wind up over her Daddy’s knee getting her butt smacked.

“What if I’m not hungry?” As soon as the words left her mouth, her stomach growled so loud they probably heard it in Washington State.

Boone didn’t miss it, either. “Luckily, that doesn’t appear to be the problem. Now, how easy do you want it to be to sit down and eat some breakfast?”

Grr. “Fine. But after I finish, can I go get ready?”

“Yes, bluebell. Once you’ve eaten you can try on clothes to your heart’s content.” When she attempted to wiggle off his lap, he placed his hand on her thigh. “You stay where I put you, little girl. You can eat while you’re sitting on my lap. That way, I can make sure none of the food makes it into your napkin.”

Yeah, she’d gotten her bottom roasted for that. He didn’t need to worry, once was enough. With a sigh, she sat in his lap as he fed her breakfast.

It really was good. The fruit was perfect, and Dutch had a way of getting bacon the crispiest ever without burning it. Before she’d been kidnapped, she’d bought pre-cooked bacon she only had to warm up in the microwave after her landlord threatened to kick her out if she started one more fire in her kitchen.

Four rings of pineapple, three rashers of bacon, two scrambled eggs, and a partridge in a pear tree later, Boone finally decided she’d had enough.

“What do you say to Dutch?” Boone asked as she hopped off his lap.

“Thank you, Dutch,” she yelled as she raced out of the room.

“Matilda Jayne Lewis, what’s the rule about running?”

Geez, her Daddy had a thing about running. “Don’t,” she called back, slowing down to a race-walking pace. “Sorry, Daddy!”

He might have said something about being sorry soon, but she was already headed downstairs. Thank goodness.

After trying on every outfit in the closet Sevin kept stocked, Tildi had narrowed it down to three choices. She had no idea which one would be best. Without a girlfriend to ask, she had no choice but to ask the guys. She wanted to wear the one Boone liked best.

The first outfit was a strapless cranberry red dress with a white lace overlay of tiny flowers. She couldn’t reach the zipper, so she’d have to get her Daddy to do her up. She headed up top, looking everywhere before she found him scanning the horizon with binoculars. She jumped in front of him, blocking his view.

Boone didn’t move. “Now who could be blocking my line of sight?” Then, lowering the binoculars, he ran his gaze over her. “Now that is quite the outfit. Come here and let me help.”

Turning her back to him, she waited for him to do up the zipper before turning back to face him. The look on his face warmed her chest and made her lady bits pulse. “You like it?” She caught her bottom lip in her teeth and waited for his answer.

“What’s not to like, bluebell? Turn around so I can see all of it.”

Pretending she was a ballerina, she spun around. Only her ballerina was on steroids, so her skirt flared out. Boone grabbed her around the waist to steady her, but he gripped too tight at the bottom of her ribs.

““No!” Squealing, she automatically grabbed his hands. “Stop, Daddy. Stop! I’m really, really ticklish, Daddy. And I probably shouldn’t have told you that. But seriously, I’ll knock us both out of the boat. I’ll be good. I promise.”

His fingers relaxed. Thank God.

“I could have hurt you, Daddy. You have to be careful.”

“I didn’t realize how ticklish you are, babygirl. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he joking? He didn’t sound like it. She was the most ticklish person on the planet. When someone grabbed her, she had no control over how her body reacted.

She’d almost given a boy a concussion once when he jumped out and grabbed her ribs as she walked through a doorway with a solid wooden door. Before she could stop herself, she’d grabbed the door and slammed it into his head, sending him to the ground. It had served him right, but she wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt her new Daddy.

“Seriously, Daddy. I can be lethal. I could have knocked you overboard. Then I would have had to jump in and save you, which would be problematic since I still can’t swim.”

Boone kept a straight face, but she didn’t miss the twinkle in his eye. “I’ll be more careful next time. And as soon as we get to the ranch, I’ll teach you how to swim. I love your dress. Is that for the family Christmas?”

“No. Well, I guess I could wear it there, too. But mainly this dress is for dinner tonight at Sevin’s house.”

The twinkle disappeared from his eye. As a matter of fact, it changed all the way to a scowl. “Absolutely not.” His voice sounded like a gunshot.

Daddies could be very confusing. “But I thought you liked it.”

“I do. When you’re just with me. I was stretching it to say you could wear it around the family, but come to think of it, my brothers don’t need to see those gorgeous legs, either. And you’re damn sure not wearing it around Sev and his men. Find something else.”

Forget confusing. Daddies could be plain weird. “But, Daddy?—”

“Go. Change.” His scowl grew darker.

He was worried other people would see her. If he liked it, why did that matter? Was he ashamed of her? It had never occurred to her that, though these past few weeks had been idyllic, that might change when they left the ship. “I thought you liked it. If you like it, why do you want me to change?”

After a moment of silence, the kind that made her bottom clench, Boone seemed to come to a decision. Catching the promise of consequences in the set of his firm jaw, Tildi decided questions could come later. Much later.

She held up her hands in surrender. “Fine. This was only one of the three I’m trying to choose between. I’ll be right back.” She left Boone muttering to himself about going straight home and calling Sev later. Returning to the stateroom, she tried on the next outfit.

She didn’t even get to say anything when she showed him the off-the-shoulder little black dress. As soon as she got to the top of the stairs, he yelled out, “Next.”

Sheesh! The only outfit left was a white, eyelet, lace dress with capped sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. If he didn’t like that one, she would have to wear either her jeans with a cable knit sweater or her bathrobe.