was again reluctant to share personal information with this woman. He had a sneaking suspicion she wasn’t going to approve of his tactics.
His reticence was clear. Baily watched as he struggled over whether or not to divulge the information. She decided that she would make it easier for him. “Hey, if I don’t have a good reason to head east immediately, I might take the opportunity to stop and see the Grand Canyon. And that’s south. I mean, really south.”
Gritting his teeth, he spilled the story. “She’s in love with a man who’s going to rob her blind and leave her shattered. That is what I’m referring to when I say that her life is at stake. Okay maybe not her life, but definitely her future. As her brother, it’s my job to protect her. So I’m on my way to Philadelphia where I will proceed to stop the wedding and save her future.” Both arms crossed over his chest, Daniel stared resolutely out the windshield at the road ahead. The discussion was over as far as he was concerned.
Baily, however, was not quite ready to let the matter drop. First things first. “How do you know this guy is going to steal all her money?”
Daniel struggled to put his thoughts into words.
“He’s…he’s…”
“Yes?”
“Slick,” Daniel finally said, as if that explained everything.
“And…”
“And?”
“Yes,” Baily reiterated. “And. And. As in, what else, or in addition to, or as well as. And.”
“What?” Daniel had lost her train of thought. Not to mention his.
Exasperated, Baily screamed, “Exactly! What? Surely you’ve got more to go on than the fact that he’s slick!”
“You don’t have to shout.” Typical woman, Daniel thought, always flying off the handle at the least little thing.
Question: a woman drives a car at sixty-five miles per hour on a highway and shoves a man who weighs one hundred and eighty pounds out of the speeding car. How many years does the woman serve in prison for justifiable manslaughter? Answer: zero. She was justified. It was a trick question.
In a calm and rational voice Baily asked, “What’s his name?”
“Pierce Larson. And doesn’t that just smack of a con man. I mean really, Pierce? Pierce Larson.” Daniel repeated in what Baily believed to be an English accent.
He sounded ridiculous. Giggling, Baily asked, “Is he English?”
“No,” Daniel replied, unsure of how to react to her laughter. As a rule, people didn’t laugh at Daniel Blake. Then again Daniel didn’t often say much that would be considered humorous.
“So he’s slick and you think his name is fake. And that is the reason, the only reason, you want to stop your sister’s wedding?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to the Grand Canyon.”
“Come on. Seriously, Pierce? It sounds as if it comes from one of those silly romantic books about the English earl who falls in love with a chambermaid. Really, the name couldn’t be any sillier unless it were…”
“Baily,” Baily supplied with a mischievous grin. Somehow she knew that her name was on the tip of his tongue.
Not in least perturbed, Daniel replied, “Exactly. Baily is a silly name. So much so, I think I’m going to have to refuse to call you by such an appellation.”
“It’s going to be a while before we get to Jackson Hole. What do you plan to call me for all that time? ‘Hey, you’ might not work if we find ourselves in a crowd at the next pit stop.”
“I’ll make sure I poke your shoulder when I say, ‘Hey, you.’”
“It’s funny because you look like a rational man, but it’s becoming clear to me that you rarely make sense.”
“I don’t make sense? Miss I’m-going-home-to-marry-aman-I-haven’t-seen-in-seven-years, and I’m bringing my cat who, by the way, thinks she’s the president of the United States, is telling me I don’t make sense.”
With an affirmative nod, Baily confirmed, “Yes, you don’t make any sense.”
Maybe she did have a slight point, but Daniel certainly wasn’t about to admit that to her. “It’s more than that. He knows exactly what to say, yet he says nothing. I’ve asked him several times what he does for a living. He tells a fine story and goes into great detail, but after a fifteen-minute dissertation I still don’t know what he does. He says nothing about his family or his background. As far as I can tell, he comes from nowhere. He’s nothing more than a leech. In addition to all that, he doesn’t look at her like…”
“Like what?” Baily asked genuinely curious.
“Never mind,” Daniel said, shaking off that thought. He was going to say that he doesn’t look at his sister like a man in love. But that would have been preposterous since Daniel himself didn’t believe in love. Neither did Red, he reminded himself.
“No, tell me.” Baily didn’t know why it was important for her to know, but she couldn’t seem to stem her curiosity about the drama in which she had embroiled herself.
“When Sarah looks at him, he’s all smiles and kisses. When she turns her head, it’s as if he takes off a mask and underneath is another person. I’m convinced he’s conning her.”
Baily believed him. Although she had no doubt that Daniel was too protective for his own good, he didn’t seem the type to interfere unless he thought it was necessary. “Perhaps you don’t want to let your little sister go,” Baily suggested. She had been on the receiving end of her brothers’ protectiveness and knew from firsthand experience that it stemmed from them not wanting to let her grow up.
It was Daniel’s turn to laugh, but he wasn’t amused. “Believe me, I would be more than willing to give Sarah away to the first decent man that would have her. She needs someone to watch over her and protect her, and I am simply not there enough. Pierce Larson, however, is not a decent man. I’m sure of it.”
Daniel wanted nothing more than to relinquish his role as Sarah’s guardian. Mostly because he knew he hadn’t done the job to his own satisfaction. If she were married to a good man, a strong man, Daniel could absolve himself of the guilt that plagued him.
“Why didn’t you try to run him off the last time you saw him?” Baily wondered. For the time being she decided to believe that Daniel was probably correct in his assumptions, which meant she might as well lend her hand to the cause of ousting Pierce from Sarah’s life.
“I tried,” Daniel explained, seeing that Red was with him in his efforts. Great, now he had a partner. A female partner. In the next few hours they were sure to come up with some idea of how to get rid of Pierce without sending Sarah straight into his arms. “I thought he had gotten the message. I was mistaken.”
“Let’s rule out the obvious. Number one, you can’t bribe him. That would be the worst mistake.”
Cautiously, Daniel asked, “Why do you say that?”
Baily sighed as she realized she was dealing with an amateur in these matters. “Don’t you ever watch TV? When the rich father—or brother, as the case may be—” Baily used her hand as a pointer to indicate Daniel without actually looking at him “—offers the sleazy boyfriend money to stay away from his daughter, or sister, as the case may be, the sleazy boyfriend always tells his girlfriend. The girlfriend becomes so enraged with her father, or her brother—”
“As the case may be,” Daniel supplied. “I get the picture.”
Baily continued. “…for insulting her boyfriend and trying to interfere with her happiness, which she is convinced rests with the sleazy boyfriend that she immediately elopes