Free Linda Castle by Heart of the Lawman

the blink of an eye.
    “Please, tell me. Where is she?” She swayed unsteadily on her feet as if her strength were ebbing away.
    “At Victoria’s house.”
    She reeled back as if she had been slapped. Hurt etched itself into her thin face. She sagged onto the bed, clinging to the foot rail. “Of course, she is with her grandmother. I haven’t forgotten.how could I forget?” A bitter, nearly hysterical laugh escaped her lips. “After all, Rachel is a Hollenbeck, as Victoria pointed out before I—went—away.”
    “She is with Victoria for the day only, Marydyth. She lives at home.” Flynn didn’t know why he bothered to explain. Maybe it was the lonely, haunted look in her face.
    “Home?” Marydyth looked up. She appeared to be bewildered, as if the word were foreign. “Rachel lives in her own home? My old home—the house J.C. built for me?”
    Flynn swallowed hard. Now was the moment, the right time to put all his cards on the table.
    “Yes. She lives with me. I am her legal guardian.” He took no pleasure in the words or the horror that flitted through Marydyth’s eyes.

Chapter Four
    M arydyth recoiled as if she had been slapped. Her bottom lip began to quiver. He had known she would react badly, especially after the way she went to pieces in the lobby, but this—this silent collapse of all her hopes—well, it nearly unmanned him.
    “Oh, you are a cruel bastard to tell me such a lie,” she hissed while she advanced on him.
    He sat in the chair, watching her glare down at him.
    I wish she would hit me again. He could deal with her rage, but the forlorn look in her eyes clawed at his soul. He maintained his position, backward in the chair, staring up at her until she stopped right in front of him.
    “Haven’t you caused me enough pain?” she whispered. “Won’t you be happy until I am completely broken?”
    “None of this was my doing, Marydyth.”
    She shuddered as if someone had tromped across her grave. “Why?” she asked in a small; tight voice.
    “Victoria is not in good health. Rachel has been in my care for some time now.”
    “Victoria Hollenbeck gave my child to you?” Herblue eyes widened in disbelief. “Just how long have you had Rachel?”
    “Almost since you went to Yuma,” he said quietly.
    “She gave my child away?” Disbelief rang in her voice.
    “Good Lord, Marydyth, she didn’t give her to me. You make Rachel sound like a stray kitten.” He snorted in frustration. “The child needed me.”
    She reached out and grasped the back section of the chair that was between his hands. Her knuckles turned white with the effort she was exerting to control herself. “Rachel needed me.”
    He could not deny that. She had needed her mother then, but the fact was, she needed her more right now.
    Marydyth leaned close and glared down on him. “Hating you kept me alive in Yuma. I was certain I could never hate you more than I did when you took me from Rachel—but I was wrong.” She lifted her brows and her face became a mask of deceptive calm. “I have never hated you as much as I do this moment.”
    “Unfortunately, that doesn’t change a thing.” He dragged his palm down his face. “We are stuck with each other.”
    She blinked rapidly and backed up two steps. “What do you mean we are stuck with each other?” A chill of fear was snaking its way up her spine.
    Flynn closed his eyes for a moment, then he shoved himself up from the chair he had been straddling. “This is not going the way I figured. You look all done in, Marydyth.”
    “Tell me what you meant,”-she insisted.
    He stared down at her. “I am Rachel’s guardian.”
    The unsteadiness of a moment ago was gone as she tilted her chin upward to meet his gaze. “You said that.”
    “I’m not sure you understand. The guardianship is legal and permanent.”
    She released the chair back and strode to the door. “Give me the key to this door. I want to get to Hollenbeck Corners and see Victoria. I want those