Cinderella's Sweet-Talking Marine

“Yeah, I know. This won’t take long.”

Ellie tugged Ben off the bed to a corner of the room and leaned close to whisper, “The point of a bedtime story is not to give my daughter nightmares. Kids her age take things literally.”

“Understood. It’s not my intention to scare her. Trust me, okay?”

He returned to Amy’s bedside with Ellie close by his side.

“So what about Sir Badlord?” Amy asked. “What did he do? Blow up the world? Joshua in the reading group at the library is always blowing up the world and making explosion noises. Does Sir Badlord do that?”

“Sometimes. But tonight, he and his gang of dark knights rode out into the night and captured Lady Blush, the daughter of…Guy of Nice. Now, Sir Guy was a nice guy.”

“Was he a good daddy?”

“Yes.”

“Did he love Lady Blush?”

“Absolutely.”

“Mommy says my daddy loves me, but I don’t think he’s a very good daddy.”

Ben wasn’t sure how to respond to the little girl’s confession. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Me, too.” She moved closer. “Tell me more.”

“Well, like I said, Sir Guy was good and people liked him. He did good stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Uh…good deeds. He officiated at jousts, spoke at…baptisms and generally speaking, he ate more chicken than he probably should have, but people liked Sir Guy. A lot better than they liked Sir Badlord. Which made Sir Badlord mad. So he came to Nice castle and took Lady Blush.”

“Was she a princess?”

“Close enough. Anyway, this Sir Guy was beside himself. He knew he had to call on the only one who could get her back—one of the few, the proud. Sir Goodknight.” Ben was really getting into it now. “Goodknight led his squad of knights, squires and pages—known as the Knights of the Black Stone—on many quests in the past. Like the Marines, he valued honor, courage and commitment. So Goodknight agreed to help Sir Guy to rescue Lady Blush. He and the rest of his team gathered to plan the mission and do some recon.”

Ben didn’t realize that he’d gone into a bit too much detail about reconnaissance and intelligence reports until he felt Ellie’s hand on his arm. “She’s fallen asleep.”

“Some storyteller I am.” Ben’s voice was rueful. “It put the kid to sleep.”

“It was quite creative for a Marine.”

“Marines can be creative when the situation warrants.”

“So Sir Guy ate more chicken than he should have, huh?”

Ben shrugged and stood aside while Ellie clicked off the light and checked the night-light before exiting the room, leaving Amy’s door slightly ajar.

“Where did you come up with names like that?” she asked him.

He smiled ruefully. “My brothers accuse me of being too much of a punster.”

“And do they accuse you of eating more chicken than you should?”

“Not if they’re smart.”

The transformation of his smile into a full-blown grin, complete with the hint of a dimple that would have done Dennis Quaid proud, drew her attention to his lips. She’d never momentarily lost her train of thought just by gazing at a guy’s mouth before. “I…uh…I wanted to thank you for this evening.” She had to look away to regain her equilibrium. “The dinner was delicious.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“And thanks for making up the story for Amy tonight. That was nice of you.”

“I like to think that I can be a nice guy when needed.”

“A regular knight in shining armor, huh? Like Sir Goodknight?”

One chestnut eyebrow lifted in a masculine challenge of her comment. “Anything wrong with that?”

“Nothing. As long as you realize that I’m no Lady Blush. I’m not a damsel in distress.”

“You’re saying you don’t need a knight in shining armor to rescue you?”

“I could use the armor. Not the knight.”

“You don’t see yourself remarrying?”

“No.”

“Why not? You’re young and beautiful. Why can’t you see a happy ending for yourself?”

“Marriage isn’t a happy ending for me. Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“Well, trust me, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.”

“Amy said that she didn’t think her dad was a good dad. Why is that?” Ben’s expression darkened. “Did he hit her?”

“No, nothing like that.”

The line of his jaw tightened. “Did he hit you?”

“No.” Perry had never resorted to physical abuse. He hadn’t had to when a sarcastic comment could do plenty of damage. To this day she wasn’t sure if his intention had been to hurt her on any of those occasions, or if he’d simply been so self-involved that he hadn’t cared how she felt. She suspected it was the latter.

“Then what happened?”

“Why do you care?” Ellie countered.

“Because I cared about John and you’re his sister.”