To Love, Honor and Defend

“So, Ally…” Libby studied the tiny girl and floundered for something to say.

How could she face down the most hardened criminals in the courtroom every day, pry confessions out of the most tight-lipped conspirators, yet be left tongue-tied by this wide-eyed child? “Do you think Mr. Bear is going to eat much pizza? I hear that after sleeping all winter, bears can get really hungry.”

Ally hugged her bear tighter, as if she thought Libby would try to steal her stuffed friend.

Libby glanced at Cal and immediately wished she hadn’t. The eager hopefulness in his expression, the desperation and pure love for his daughter, wrenched something deep inside her. Cal stroked Ally’s tumble of raven curls, pushing strands behind her ear with a gentle finger.

His daughter whimpered and turned her face. He backed off, pulling his hand away, palm up, in surrender. The pain that skated across his face sliced through Libby with a jagged edge.

“She barely remembers me,” he whispered darkly. Frustration corded the muscles in his shoulders and arms, and on the table, he balled his hands in tight fists. When he met Libby’s eyes, raw emotion swirled in the piercing blue depths of his gaze. “Since my visitations started, things have gone well enough. I’m trying to explain to her what’s happening, who I am, how much I love her, but she still acts like I’m a stranger to her sometimes.”

“Kids her age are often shy around adults. Give her time.”

“I don’t have time!” he grumbled under his breath. “The hearing on my custody suit comes up in a few weeks.”

“She’ll come around, Cal. Just don’t push her.”

A waitress arrived with their pizza, and Cal quickly replaced his scowl with a tight grin. “Thanks.”

The waitress looked ready to swoon at Cal’s feet. But Libby doubted the waitress saw what she did. The sparkle of his smile didn’t reach his eyes. The tension in his cheeks gave the smile a false edge. Cal at full power, his megawatt grin and laserlike eyes, had enough force to stun, to leave permanent damage.

Turning her attention to the steaming pepperoni-and-cheese concoction, Libby used the spatula to serve a gooey slice onto a plate for Ally. She inhaled the spicy scent of oregano and tomato, and her stomach growled. “Wow, Ally, this looks great. I hope you brought your appetite.”

Bright blue eyes, lit with eagerness, peered out from behind Mr. Bear and grew to the size of pepperoni slices when they landed on the pizza.

“Careful, kitten, it’s hot,” Cal warned as he slid the plate in front of Ally. The little girl cast her father a leery glance then looked longingly at the pizza.

Libby understood the girl’s wariness more than she cared to. Sympathizing with Cal’s daughter, she searched for a way to engage Cal’s attention so that Ally would have the space she needed to eat without feeling in the spotlight.

“So…tell me more about the job you have now with the road crew.”

Cal sent her a puzzled look. “Not much to tell. I help with whatever road construction or repair needs to be done.”

When he turned his attention to Ally again, Libby caught his hand and gave her head a subtle shake. “Give her space,” she mouthed. “Talk to me.”

With a nod, he leaned forward, his gaze now riveted on her. Libby shifted in her seat, bearing the brunt of his piercing gaze for Ally’s sake.

“All right, there is something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What can you tell me about David Ralston? What happened to him after I went to jail?”

It took a moment for the name to register. “Ralston? You mean the guy you—”

“Yeah, the same.” The intensity of his gaze stirred a quiver in her veins. She recalled too well the same intensity burning in his eyes when he’d made love to her.

Libby, you and I both know I don’t do anything half-cocked.

“Actually…I prosecuted his case.”

His eyes widened. “You did?”

She nodded and cleared her throat before she went on. “As soon as he recovered from the injuries you inflicted, Ralston faced charges of his own. We got him for assaulting the woman whose honor you were defending.”

Cal quirked a dark eyebrow. “I’ll be damned.”

Libby sneaked a peek toward Ally, mostly to escape the scrutiny of Cal’s unsettling stare. Free from her father’s surveillance, Ally plucked the pepperoni from her slice of pizza and jammed the pieces in her mouth as fast as she could. A fevered excitement glowed in her eyes, and tomato sauce circled her mouth. Warmth stirred in Libby’s chest.

“Was he convicted? Did he do time?”

Libby snapped her gaze back to Cal. “Yes and no.”

“Meaning?”

Libby picked up her own slice of pizza but found she no longer had an appetite. She set the food back down and met Cal’s querying gaze. Bracing herself for his reaction, she said, “Yes, he was convicted. No, he didn’t serve time. He got a hefty fine, parole and one thousand hours public service.”

Cal rocked back in the booth as if from a physical blow. He gaped at Libby, a parade of emotions—shock, disbelief, horror, and finally fury—crossing his face. Through clenched teeth, he bit out a curse. Obviously realizing his mistake, he winced and shot a glance at Ally.

“I argued for a stiffer penalty, but Ralston’s lawyer played up the guy’s own abuse as a child. Ralston swore on the stand to seek counseling. Obviously, the jury felt he deserved a second chance.” She sighed her own frustration with the verdict and turned to watch the family at the next table.

The father had his arm around his wife’s shoulders, his fingers strumming the woman’s arm in a loving caress. Libby jerked her gaze away when memories of Cal’s hands roaming her skin flashed in her mind’s eye. A tingle raced through her, and her mouth became dry. The hands she’d just envisioned stroking her body reached across the table and caught her wrists.

“Hey, what is it? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Pulling free from the tantalizing warmth of Cal’s grasp, she tugged up a corner of her mouth in a failed grin. “I did.” She sighed. “But I’m okay now.”

Cal poked at his dinner, his somber mood reflected in the grim set of his mouth, the deep furrows in his brow. “Some justice system we have, huh?”

“It works most of the time.”

He lifted a dubious glare. “Not that I can see.”

When he sent his daughter a sideways glance, his eyebrows shot up, and the first real smile to grace his lips all night lit his face.

Libby took in Ally’s empty plate and sauce-smeared face and had to grin herself.

“Hey, kitten. Looks like you’re a member of the Clean Plate Club!” He leaned a little closer to dab a napkin at the mess on Ally’s mouth and chin. “You know that means you get a lollipop for dessert, don’t you?”

Ally arched an eyebrow in a manner so like her father, Libby’s pulse stumbled. The little girl sat an inch or two closer to the table and eyed the remaining slices on the tray. “Is there more?”

“Sure, you can have more, sweetie.” He reloaded her plate and backed off as Ally dived in, once again stripping off the pepperoni for consumption first.

Cal’s relief was palpable. His shoulders relaxed, and the tension flowed out of his jaw, allowing the radiance of his smile to shine through. He turned his dazzling grin toward Libby, and a strange warmth expanded in her chest, stealing her breath.

She’d promised to play family with Cal for as long as it took for him to secure his rights to Ally. How would she ever survive months of marriage if just one night with him and his precious daughter had her emotions twisted in knots?

The only way she saw herself getting through the next several months with her heart intact was to set limits, lay out some ground rules, enforce some safeguards. She watched Cal tuck a wisp of hair behind Ally’s ear and her own skin burned, longing for that tender touch. Libby chafed her arms and looked away.

Rule number one had to be no physical contact. Her relationship with Cal had to stay strictly hands-off.

Or she was a goner.