Free His Remarkable Bride by Merry Farmer Page B

and Athos had the feeling his children were listening. They weren’t the only ones. The lobby end of the hall quickly filled with Bonnevilles, Elspeth, and Gunn.
    The woman in the grey suit stepped away from the door, her back straight, her nose tilted up in disgust, and advanced toward him. “I suppose you are the father .” She said the word as though saying he was the drunkard. She must have been the Mrs. Lyon Elspeth mentioned earlier.
    “Yes.” Athos moved to stand toe-to-toe with her, shoulders squared, jaw set. “Give me my children back.”
    Mrs. Lyon cleared her throat and picked an imaginary piece of lint from her sleeve. Without looking at him, she said, “I see you have the court order in your hand. You have been deemed an unfit parent, and I, as representative of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, have performed the necessary act of mercy in removing the mistreated children from your home.”
    “My children are not mistreated,” Athos boomed. “They are loved and cared for.”
    Behind the door, cries of, “We are!” “Papa loves us!” “He’s the best papa in the world!” rang out.
    A muffled voice within the room shouted at the children to be quiet. The supportive shouts instantly stopped. Athos saw red.
    “You will let my children out of that room at once,” he demanded. “You have no right to keep them prisoner.”
    “This is a hotel, not a prison,” Mrs. Lyon sniffed. “And they are only being secured in this room to prevent you from doing them further harm.”
    “ Further harm ?” Athos bellowed in outrage. He might have been a fool, but he wasn’t so big of a fool that he couldn’t see dealing with Mrs. Lyon was pointless. He whipped around, marching back down the hall toward Rex Bonneville. “You’re behind this.”
    Bonneville crossed his arms and stood straighter. “I don’t deny it. The way those children behave is a disgrace.”
    “It’s about time someone put a stop to it.” Vivian echoed her father’s pose, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up to look down her nose at Athos.
    “Yes, and that someone is us,” Bebe added, trying but failing to have the same authority as her father and oldest sister.
    “This is going too far.” Athos wasn’t about to be intimidated by Bonneville. “These are my children. They are my life. You can’t just take them away from me.”
    “A court in Cheyenne says I can.” Bonneville shrugged. “I presented ample evidence to the territory office for housing and citizenry.”
    “What does that have to do with anything?” Elspeth interjected. “I’ve never even heard of it.”
    The Bonneville sisters stared at Elspeth, raking her with glances from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet.
    “Who are you?” Melinda asked.
    “I’m Mrs. Athos Strong,” she told them, planting her hands on her hips.
    A sudden burst of pride and relief that Elspeth was on his side filled Athos. “I sent for her from Hurst Home and we were married yesterday.” He rounded on Bonneville. “Elspeth is here to help care for the children.”
    “Clearly she’s not up to the task,” Mrs. Lyon interrupted. “When I went to the house to rescue the children it was in a deplorable state. Laundry was scattered all over the backyard. The two oldest girls were engaged in slave labor hanging it on the line.”
    “What?” Elspeth barked in protest. “They had kindly offered to help.”
    “Two of the boys were stranded in a tree where one nearly fell to his death,” Mrs. Lyon went on. “The younger ones were screaming like banshees. The oldest implied that he hadn’t been fed for days.”
    “Hubert is a growing boy. He’s always hungry,” Athos protested.
    Mrs. Lyon ignored him. “And the youngest admitted that he had nearly died twice that day, once by consuming soap.”
    “They’re children,” Athos roared. “They’re lively, curious, industrious children .”
    “They are in harm’s way and they have been