Chapter 1
Frankie
F rancesca Legare was raised for one thing and one thing only.
Excellence.
Whether it was school, extracurricular activities, or how she presented herself to society, her family expected nothing less than perfection.
And her parents modeled the same excellence they demanded of her. Francis Legare had followed in his own father’s footsteps, taking the business world by storm from the moment he’d stepped off his Ivy League campus and into his first job at one of the many Legare holdings. Delphine Legare was not only the most stunning woman this side of the Mississippi and an heiress in her own right as the eldest daughter of the Ashford family, whose money was even older than the Legares’, but she was also smarter than most men gave her credit for. She often held her own in conversations regarding culture and world politics, conversations she could have in five different languages, without a single stutter.
Then there was Frankie herself. While her father would have loved to see her take over for him as the head of the Legare empire, he’d sacrificed that dream to support Frankie’s desire to be a doctor. But only, of course, if she excelled in her field. She would either be the best damn surgeon the world had ever seen, or she would be nothing.
As it turned out, she was nothing.
Laying in the hospital bed where she’d spent a rather restless night, she stared up at the cold, colorless ceiling. Once again, she’d let the stress of life overwhelm her until she crashed and burned.
Delphine would never let herself fail the way Frankie had so many times. Her gorgeous ice queen of a mother would simply hold her head high and get shit done, no matter if she was dying inside.
Then again, that hypothesis assumed that Delphine felt anything at all other than greed, and Frankie wasn’t entirely sure that was an accurate assessment.
Her snort of laughter drew the attention of the giant man currently squeezed into a very uncomfortable-looking visitor’s chair beside her bed. Stirring, he rose to his feet, and not for the first time she was left in awe of how fucking gorgeous he was. Silver hair—and definitely silver, not simply gray—swooped back from a face that looked carved from stone. That same silver hair covered his chin in a sexy, stubbly sort of beard that was somehow always exactly the right length.
Of course, from a man like Holden Prescott, she wouldn’t expect anything less. She’d decided long ago that he didn’t even shave, he just willed his beard to stop growing at the exact length he wanted it and his beard obeyed.
Stepping up to the side of the bed, he leaned over, running a surprisingly gentle hand over her hair. For as large as he was, he could be tender when the occasion called for it.
When he wasn’t busy turning her ass red or torturing her with more pleasure than she could bear, that was.
“You okay, little siren?” he asked, his normally stern voice dropping to a soft, soothing tone she barely recognized.
Everything inside her settled at that simple question. He was here, and he would take care of her. Guilt at having called him after everything she’d put him through warred with the relief of having him there as she forced herself to smile for him. “Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
A lopsided grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I was already awake. Do you need anything?”
“No. I’m fine. I was just… thinking.”
“About?”
“Stuff. Nothing I really want to get into right now.” It wasn’t a lie, though if she had her say, she wouldn’t get into it with him at all. Eventually she’d have to tell him something, but she’d be damned if she told him the whole sordid story.
It might actually kill her to see her parents’ inevitable disappointment reflected in her Daddy’s eyes.
Not that he was technically her Daddy anymore, since she’d broken things off in a childish snit several months ago and then spent the better part of a year leading him on a merry chase around the kink club they both frequented. But even though she knew he deserved better than the crumbs of submission she was capable of giving, his name was the first one that had come to mind when the nurse had asked for an emergency contact.
And he’d come. When he’d walked through the door of her hospital room, looking larger than life, his expression frantic with worry, all of the imaginary reasons she’d concocted for herself to keep him at bay had faded into the background.
Now, here he was, after several uncomfortable hours in a chair that was far too small for his wide frame, still taking care of her.
She didn’t deserve him. But fuck was she grateful to have him. Grateful to have someone to handle the details she couldn’t seem to get a grip on anymore. Grateful to not have to feel so fucking alone, even when she was surrounded by an entire college campus worth of people.
“I’m going to get you some water, see if I can find someone to talk to about breakfast. You need to eat.”
Breakfast. Panic gripped her, wrapping so tightly around her chest she couldn’t breathe. If they brought in food, he’d force her to eat. Or he’d try, at least, and then he’d realize how fucking broken she really was.
“Not hungry,” she mumbled, and though her stomach churned with guilt at the manipulative gesture, she let her bottom lip tremble, widened her eyes until they filled with tears. “Please don’t leave me, Daddy.”
God, she was a bitch. It was clear he was torn, unsure of the best way to care for her, but when she called him Daddy he caved with a sigh. “Alright, baby. I won’t go anywhere. Where’s that call button?”
Shit. She’d forgotten all about that. “I really don’t need anything. Honest. I’m fine, Holden.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t scold her for the switch up to his given name. “Francesca, you were brought into the hospital because you fainted. And from what the doctor said last night, you passed out from a number of factors, including dehydration and low iron. The IV is taking care of the dehydration, but you clearly haven’t been eating.”
The same panic that had robbed her of her ability to breathe easily now sent her heart racing. “I’m fine. I just overdid it at a party.”
Leaning over the bed, he locked his quietly furious gaze with hers. And when he spoke, there was an undercurrent to his tone that sent shivers down her spine. “What happens to little girls who lie to their Daddies, Francesca?”
“I’m not lying.” She should protest him calling himself her Daddy, but how could she when she was acting exactly like his babygirl? So she focused on the ‘lying’ accusation, though she couldn’t honestly protest that either since she wasn’t being entirely honest. In truth, she had gotten carried away at the party last night, but she would have been fine if she’d been eating.
And apparently he wasn’t buying her denial anyway, judging by the way that muscle in his jaw jumped, the one that told her she was in very big trouble. “You are, and once you’re feeling better, we’re going to have a very long talk about what’s going on with you. For now, you need food. You can either choose what you want to eat, or Daddy will choose for you. Either way, you will finish what they put in front of you. Am I making myself crystal clear, little girl?”
Fuck. Here she was, about to lose control of yet one more thing in her catastrophe of a life. The terror of having him force some high-carb, high-calorie option on her overrode everything else, and she nodded. “I’ll choose.”
“Good girl. I’ll call the nurse.”
Just as he said the words, a pretty older woman with graying hair pulled up in a high ponytail stepped into the room, a bright smile on her face. “No need for that, Mr. Prescott.” Turning away from Holden in a move that seemed deliberate, the woman zeroed in on Frankie. “Good morning, Francesca. I’m Sandra, I’ll be your nurse today. What can I help you with?”
“Nothing.” Frankie shot Holden a glare when he growled, literally growled at her, before rolling her eyes and forcing a smile for her nurse. “The big oaf here says I need to eat.”
“I’d say the big oaf has a point.” Sandra pulled a sheet of paper from behind her clipboard and handed it over. “This is your breakfast menu. You’re not currently under any restrictions, other than your doctor wanting to make sure you get foods with plenty of iron. For breakfast that would be eggs at the very least and there’s an oatmeal option which you can add plenty of dried fruits to. You take a look at that, and I’m just going to give your vitals a quick check.”
“You’ll have the eggs, and at least one other side,” Holden said in what Frankie considered his ‘Daddy voice’. It was that voice that said there would be no arguments and she would either obey or face the consequences.
Swallowing hard, Frankie accepted the menu with hands that only trembled slightly, a fact she considered a win.
Eggs, she could probably do, but oatmeal was a hard no. Way too many carbs. Yogurt, maybe? Except she didn’t know how much sugar was in their yogurt. Was it the fat-free kind?
She was so engrossed in trying to figure out what she could eat, and how much she could order without Holden fussing over her, she barely noticed the blood-pressure cuff tightening around her arm until Sandra spoke. “Are you feeling okay this morning, Frankie? Nervous? Upset?”
“What?” Tearing her gaze from the menu, she looked over at the machine beside her bed. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Blood pressure is a little high, that’s all. Is that normal for you?”
“No. I actually run a little below normal most of the time.”
Flashing her a reassuring smile, Sandra unwrapped the cuff from around Frankie’s arm. “No worries. This happens a lot when someone’s nervous or having big emotions about something.” Her gaze flicked to Holden, and though her smile stayed in place, it tightened around the edges a bit. “Mr. Prescott, would you mind giving us the room?”
“Only if Frankie wants me to leave.”
Seemingly unimpressed by Holden’s firm tone, Sandra just continued to smile. “I just need a few minutes to ask her some questions. You can wait right outside the door.”
Looking up at Holden, Frankie reached over to give his hand a squeeze. “I’m alright. Go grab some coffee or something, you look like hell.”
The look he gave her promised retribution later, and if she hadn’t been laid up in a hospital bed, coming apart at the seams because her life was falling down around her, that look would have had arousal flooding her panties.
“I’ll be right outside if you need me, little siren.” Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her cheek before striding out the door.
A lump formed in Frankie’s throat when he disappeared from view, but she blinked back the tears and forced another smile for the nurse. “What do you need to ask me?”
Sandra’s smile didn’t falter, but there was a subtle shift in her Frankie couldn’t quite pin down. She seemed… softer somehow, now that Holden was gone. “First of all, I just want to let you know that you’re safe here. Anything you tell me is confidential and even though you’ve consented to have your medical information released to Mr. Prescott, these questions and your answers will never be provided to anyone outside of your medical team. Okay?”
What the hell was she getting at? “Sure. Yeah, okay.”
“I assume Mr. Prescott is a romantic partner?”
“Um, sort of. It’s complicated.”
Pursing her lips in a way that made Frankie feel like she’d just given the wrong answer on a quiz, Sandra made a note on her clipboard before asking the next question. “Do you feel safe in the relationship you do have with him?”
For a moment, Frankie could only blink in surprise. “What the hell kind of question is that?”
Sandra’s expression was serious when she looked up. “When I see someone coming in with this level of malnutrition, coupled with the high blood pressure indicating you’re clearly feeling nervous and possibly scared right now, I have to ask.”
Malnutrition? Fuck. She was worse off than she’d realized. But that was fine. She’d dug herself out of this particular hole before and she could do it again. “I’ve never felt safer with anyone than I do with Holden. And we aren’t really in a relationship. But he’d never hurt me.”
Not unless I consented first.
Because she didn’t think Sandra would appreciate her humor, she kept that last bit to herself. There were a few more questions about her safety, if she ever felt afraid of Holden, during which Frankie tried to remind herself they were just doing their due diligence. And she’d rather be uncomfortable for a few minutes rather than risk someone who actually needed help flying under the radar, so she swallowed her annoyance and answered all Sandra’s questions.
“I think we’re about done here. An aide will be in shortly to take your breakfast order. And if you need me, I’m just a buzzer away.”
There was something about the way she said that last part that made Frankie think she didn’t actually trust Frankie’s answers to her questions. But she didn’t push the issue, and the moment she left the room, Holden stepped back in, his eyes dark with concern as he approached the bed.
“You okay?”
Just having him close settled her system, enough for her to give him a wry smile. “Ready to get the hell out of here. Think you can go bully some nurse into telling you when they’ll be ready to spring me? Maybe not Sandra though.”
Holden’s lips twitched with amusement. “Something tells me you couldn’t bully that woman into giving up her grandmother’s sponge cake recipe. I like her.”
“You haven’t asked about our secret meeting.”
“Should I?”
No pressure. No demands. Just a simple question, leaving it entirely up to her to decide if she wanted to tell him or not, even though she knew it had to be killing him to be left in the dark. “I guess they just have some standard questions about like, feeling safe at home and stuff.”
“Ah. That’s why she wanted me gone. Makes sense.” The amusement faded from his expression as he cupped her face. “And do you? Feel safe with me?”
“Always.”
“Good. Because you’re going to be staying with me for the foreseeable future. Understood?”
Relief loosened the band of anxiety that had been around her chest since she’d first woken up and realized she was in the hospital. If there was anybody in this world she trusted to take care of her, to help her get back on her feet, it was Holden Prescott. Dragging in her first easy breath in what felt like ages, she nodded.
“Yes, Daddy.”