Daddy in Cowboy Boots (Montana Daddies Book 9)

by Laylah Roberts

  “Thank God.”

  “It’s the FBI.”

  “What? What do you mean, the FBI? There’s FBI agents here?” he asked.

  “Yeah, well, kind of.”

  “What?” he asked again, trying to be patient.

  “One of them is FBI, another is DEA and I didn’t hear what the other one said.”

  “What do they want?”

  “They want to talk to you.”

  He sighed, striving for patience. “Then send them in.”

  She turned and strode off. Two men and one woman entered his office soon after. One of the men was big, dark-skinned and serious looking. The other man was smaller with a big smile. The woman between them was tiny. She was dressed in an ugly gray suit with stockings and flat, brown shoes. Her dark hair was pulled back in a braid. Her skin was smooth, her cheekbones high. She was gorgeous.

  He turned his gaze from her as the slim-built man held out his hand. “Hi, Sheriff, I’m Jackson Lyle. I’m from the Treasury Department. These are my colleagues, Bronson Clay from the DEA and Georgina James from the FBI.”

  “Please, call me Ed. Have a seat. What can I do for you all?”

  Bronson had closed the door behind them and chose to stand, leaning against the wall. Both Georgina and Jackson sat.

  “We’ve been tasked with investigating Rosalind Perez. I believe you know her?” Jackson asked.

  “Of course,” Ed replied. “She lives here. Owns a beauty spa. A task force to investigate one woman?”

  “I believe you also know about her ties to the Devil’s Sinners?” Jackson continued.

  “Let’s stop beating around the bush, huh? You’re obviously trying to get a feel for what I know. I know that Rosalind is dating the head of the Devil’s Sinners, Saber Mason. He spends a lot of time at her house. Other night, I went there for a noise complaint. He and a bunch of his gang members were there. They’ve created a bit of trouble around town. Had a few locked up for drunk and disorderly, that’s it.”

  “And do you know she owns a series of beauty spas across the country? In places where the Devil’s Sinners have gangs?” Georgina asked.

  She had a firm voice. But quiet. She didn’t smile. Didn’t show much reaction at all to anything.

  “I knew she owned a few across the country. Thought it seemed a bit suspicious.”

  “It’s more than a bit suspicious. We have evidence that she’s using those spas to launder money for the Devil’s Sinners.”

  “Not surprising. But if you’ve got evidence then why are you here and not arresting her?” He looked up at Bronson. “Because you’re hoping to use her to get to the Devil’s Sinners? What? You want her become an informant?”

  Somehow, he couldn’t see that happening.

  Georgina frowned slightly, her first show of emotion. “We don’t believe Rosalind will work, she’s in too deep. Her spas should be failing, but she’s got millions in the bank.”

  Damn. That was really stupid.

  “We don’t think we can use Rosalind,” Jackson said. “But there is someone else close to her and the Devil’s Sinners who we think we could convince to help us.”

  Shit. Fuck.

  “Marisol,” he said grimly.

  “Yes,” Jackson told him.

  “Marisol is innocent in this.” He wouldn’t have her taken down with her aunt.

  “We thought as much,” Georgina said. “But she’s ideally placed to help us. She has access to her aunt’s business and the Devil’s Sinners. One of our informers told us that Tiger is very interested in her. He’s had his guys out, searching for her.”

  “As well as her aunt,” Ed said. “She reported her missing. I think she’s hoping I’ll lead her to Marisol.”

  “So you do know where she is,” Georgina said with a flicker of something in her gaze. “We need to talk to her about helping us.”

  “Yeah, I know where she is. But her man isn’t going to agree to her helping you. I can tell you that much.”

  “We need to talk to her. Her man has no say,” Georgina stated.

  Ed snorted. “Not the way it works.”

  “The way what works?” Georgina asked, confused.

  “Maybe you could talk to her and her man for us?” Jackson asked.

  “That bastard Tiger, wants her. He attempted to sexually violate her,” Ed told them grimly.

  Georgina blanched. “He what?” She stared over at Jackson. So she didn’t know what Tiger had done to Marisol? That made him feel better.

  “We’ll protect her as best we can,” Jackson said. Bronson just frowned.

  “No. She’s not going back there.”

  “Can you still ask?” Jackson asked smoothly.

  “I suppose I could, but I’m telling you now. Linc’s not going to let her be put in danger.”

  “No fucking way!”

  Marisol was so shocked by Linc’s angry words that she jolted, spraying small googly eyes in the air.

  “Oh shivers,” she muttered, looking at the mess that landed off the sheet Linc had put down for her to craft on.

  His phone had rung a minute ago and he’d stepped out to take it, although he’d left the door open.

  “Not happening, Ed. Tell them no. She’s not meeting with them. No way. Fine. Fuck.”

  She jumped again. Something was seriously wrong if Linc was swearing. She slid completely out of Little headspace as she climbed to her feet. After her time-out, he’d had her lie down on her back on the princess bed, then holding her in the diaper position, he’d removed the butt plug and put some cream on her bottom before doing up her onesie.

  But her bottom still reminded her of her earlier spanking as she stood and moved to the door. Just as she reached the door, Linc stepped through. He raised his eyebrows at her.

  “What were you doing, teeny?”

  She worried at her lip. “I heard you swearing. What’s the matter? Is it Tiger?”

  He sighed and ran his hand down his face. “Come on, come sit down.”

  “Oh no. That means it’s bad.”

  He took her hand and led her to the bed. He sat and pulled her onto his lap, her ass hanging over the side of his thigh.

  “Ed just called.”

  “Okay.”

  “He had three people turn up in his office earlier. From the FBI, the DEA and the Treasury Department.”

  “Okay.” She wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “They’re here about your aunt. And the Devil’s Sinners. They have evidence that she’s been laundering money for them.”

  “Oh God.”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t like she hid it well. They have plenty of evidence to arrest her.”

  “Then why don’t they?” she asked.

  “They’re hoping to get evidence against the Devil’s Sinners, in particular Saber. And Tiger.”

  “And they want to use my aunt.”

  “Actually, they don’t think your aunt will help them. But they want you to.”

  “They want me to help? But I don’t know anything.”

  “They’re hoping you can find them information.”

  Her brain pieced it all together. “They want me to go back to her, right? Back to living with her? Being around Tiger? Do they know what he tried to do to me?”

  “Ed told them. They still wanted him to ask you.”

  She shook in his embrace. “I know I should, but I . . .”

  “You’re not doing it,” he said firmly.

  “I’m not?” Relief flooded her even as she told herself not to be a coward. “But I should, shouldn’t I?”

  “Definitely not.” He scowled at her. “Do you seriously think that I would allow you to go anywhere near him? Not just that, but if the Devil’s Sinners found out why you were there, what do you think they would do to you?”

  She blanched at the thought. “But is it my duty to help?”

  “This isn’t your problem, baby. This task force can do their job, I’ll do mine. Which is to take care of you. I’m in c
harge when it comes to safety and I’ve already said no. You can call me bossy and overbearing and domineering, I don’t care. As long as you’re safe and in my arms, that’s what’s important. You’re not doing this. And you’re not to feel guilty. This is all on my shoulders.”

  Having him take away any choice was actually a relief. That guilt for not helping disappeared.

  Because she had no choice. He was in charge of this. It was his decision.

  “Okay, Daddy,” she told him.

  He kissed her. “That’s my good girl. Now, you want to explain why there are googly eyes everywhere?”

  35

  Linc came awake with a start as his shoulder was shaken. There was someone looming over him. He let out a shout and shoved himself up out of bed, ready to defend Marisol.

  Tiger.

  Tiger had found her.

  The person moved back and turned on the light, right as Marisol cried out in fear. Linc dove forward, on the attack, just managing to bring himself to a stop as he saw who was there.

  “Fuck! Zander! What the hell! What are you doing in here? It’s the fucking middle of the night!”

  “I’m well aware,” Zander replied calmly. The big man had his arms crossed over his chest. He stared over at Marisol then back to him. “I believe Marisol is scared.”

  “Jesus, of course she’s fucking scared.” Linc stormed back to Marisol, who was clutching the sheet to her chest. She was only wearing a see-through nightgown. Her breath was coming in sharp pants and it was easy to see she was on the verge of a panic attack.

  He leaned in, kneeling on the bed to cup her face. “It’s okay, baby. Just breathe. Breathe in, hold, one, two, three then out, one, two, three. Good girl. And again. For God’s sake, Zander, have you ever heard or calling or knocking?”

  “It’s the middle of the night. I didn’t think you’d answer.”

  “Because we were asleep. Good girl. Just breathe.”

  “I thought it was T-tiger,” she managed to say.

  “If it was, Linc would likely be dead,” Zander told her.

  “Oh God,” she moaned.

  “Zander! Shit! Shut up. You’re scaring her.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare her,” Zander said awkwardly. “I was trying not to scare her.”

  “By breaking in?”

  “You have no security on your cabin.”

  “The door was locked.”

  Zander snorted. “It was nothing I couldn’t easily get through. You need an alarm. Sensors. Cameras.”

  “I’ll get on that tomorrow. It will keep out undesirables.” He glared at Zander over his shoulder.

  The other man nodded, but showed no sign that he understood that Linc was referring to him. “Better late than never.”

  “You okay, Mari-girl?” Linc asked her gently.

  “Yes, I think so.” Her color was coming back. “Why is Zander in our bedroom in the middle of the night?”

  “Because I have Tiger. And your aunt. I thought you might want to help me decide what to do with them.”

  The words danced around in her head. She tried to grasp them, make sense of them but they kept spinning away.

  I have Tiger.

  Your aunt.

  Decide what to do with them.

  Linc filled her vision. He gave her a concerned look. “Mari? Marisol, look at me. Good girl. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  She moved her gaze to Zander but Linc gently grasped hold of her chin. “Eyes on mine, teeny. Just listen to me for a moment. You don’t have to deal with this.”

  “D-deal with this?”

  Deal with what, exactly?

  “If it’s what you want, I’ll make the decisions that need to be made.”

  “We will,” Zander said with a grunt.

  Linc turned to look at him, his shoulders tense. But when he looked back at her, his face was gentle. “It’s okay, Mari-girl. Let me take over and deal with it all.”

  She could give it all to him. What a relief. But at the same time . . . maybe she needed some closure. Maybe she just needed to go see her aunt. To see Tiger.

  “What are you planning on doing with them? What do you mean, you have them?” She looked at Zander and this time Linc let her.

  “We captured them.” Zander gave her a satisfied look.

  “You kidnapped them?”

  “Nah. Actually, yeah, that’s exactly what we did.”

  “Jesus, Zander, what the hell were you thinking?” Linc asked.

  “I was thinking that Tiger and his men were involved in a scuffle with Markovich’s men and that gave me the cover I needed to grab an injured Tiger and bring him back to where we’ve been staying to have a bit of a chat. And some of my guys were watching her aunt’s place. Saw the bitch packing up a car to run, so they took her. Now we have both of them. All you have to do is decide whether you want to see them before we take care of them.”

  “Take care of them?” she whispered.

  Zander didn’t answer. She looked to Linc who was scowling at Zander. “You can’t murder them,” she told Zander.

  Zander raised his eyebrows. “I can’t let them go. Not only are they not good people, but they know my guys and I took them. They’ll come for us.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want them to go free. But I don’t want any blood on any of our hands.”

  “I got no problem getting rid of them, pipsqueak,” Zander told her, crossing his arms over his chest. But she didn’t care if he did. This was blood he’d spill for her and she couldn’t have that on her conscience.

  “I . . .” Her mind thought it all through. “That task force has evidence my aunt, right? They have enough to arrest her, they’re just waiting. But maybe we should deliver her to them. Where is Saber?”

  “Done a runner. Doubt he’ll come back for her. So yeah, might be an idea to land her in their laps.” Zander didn’t ask who the task force was, so she guessed he already knew about them.

  “Shit, Saber got away?” Linc asked.

  Zander nodded. “He’ll hide away somewhere, regroup. Don’t know if he’ll come back here, though. Markovich’s men ripped his men apart. It was fucking carnage.”

  “Where did this take place? Does Ed know?” Linc asked.

  “I don’t work for the sheriff. But guessing he’ll know by now. It was out of town, the place where the Devil’s Sinners have been staying. Markovich’s men snuck in on them. Markovich will be pissed I got to Tiger. Someone must have alerted Saber and Rosalind. Sent them running. He took off on his bike and we missed him, but she was busy trying to stuff shit into her car.”

  Typical Rosalind.

  “I want to see her,” she said firmly.

  Linc turned to her. “Sure, baby?”

  “Yes, not him. I never want to see him again.” She shuddered. “But I want to see her before we hand her over. I want to know if she ever cared about me.”

  “Why would you care about that?” Zander asked.

  “She’s the only family I have left,” Marisol said.

  “No, baby, she isn’t,” Linc told her. “We’re your family now. Me and everyone on this ranch.”

  She blinked back tears then nodded. “Then I just want to see her for closure. Please.”

  “We can make that happen,” Zander said.

  “It’s safe?” Linc asked.

  “Of course.” Zander looked affronted. “What about Tiger? Want me to get rid of him?”

  “Why don’t you hand him back to Markovich?” Linc asked. “Seems only fair.”

  Zander thought about it then nodded. “Yeah. I’ve got everything I want from him. Come on then. I don’t have all night. And you really need to put some clothes on.”

  She glanced down her mouth falling open as she noticed that Linc was completely naked.

  “Shit!” Linc swore, covering himself with his hands. “Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?”

  Zander shrugged. “I’m in your home. Figured it was rude to tell you to get dressed.
”

  “Jesus. Since when do you care about being rude?”

  Zander scowled. “Since a certain brat came to live with me. You can follow me in your truck. You got that car seat installed for the pipsqueak yet?”

  “So it was you who sent it?” Marisol asked.

  Zander gave a nod.

  “Thank you,” she told him.

  “You’re welcome, pipsqueak. Is it in your truck?” he asked Linc who was busy getting dressed.

  “Yes,” Linc snapped back. “Now can you please give us some privacy to get dressed.”

  Zander turned. “Sure, but don’t know why you’re so shy now. Not like I haven’t seen it all.”

  Linc just growled.

  36

  Marisol nervously looked out the window at what appeared to be an old, abandoned warehouse. “This is where they’ve been staying?”

  Linc peered out as Zander climbed from his truck in front of them. He held a large flashlight. “I guess so.” Linc got out of the truck and came around to get her, pulling her under his arm as they followed Zander into the warehouse. She didn’t even know what this could have been used for, it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

  As he got to the door, he drew it open. The inside was dark and derelict. She shivered.

  “You cold?” he asked.

  “She shouldn’t be with the amount of clothing you put on her,” Zander said dryly. He moved to the far end then crouched down and shoved aside a few crates, revealing a trapdoor in the floor. He gave three knocks followed by two then stepped back to wait.

  The trapdoor opened and to her shock, a woman poked her head out. She wore a headlamp, adding more light to the dark building. “About time, boss.”

  Zander shrugged. “They had to get dressed. Linc’s shy.”

  “Huh. Got a small one, does he?”

  Linc groaned.

  “Nah, average,” Zander replied.

  Average? She felt herself bristle then to her shock, she saw Zander grin at Linc. Glancing up, she saw Linc shake his head.

  “This is Honey. She works for me. We’ve come to see the woman.”

  “Webb gagged her after she tried to bite him. Which was actually pretty funny. What about Tiger?”