Page 19 of Finding Little Fiera

His gaze sharpened, not unkind but assessing. She had a feeling Mason Grant Cody didn’t miss much, as if he were used to staring right into what others didn’t see at all. He would keep her on her toes. Now, why didn’t that feel like a bad thing?

“There’s thinking, and then there’s fretting. You, young lady, are fretting,” he said.

She huffed a little laugh. “I do that.”

“That’s good to know. Are you fretting about me?” he asked calmly.

She glanced up at him, surprised. He wasn’t smiling now, but he wasn’t stern either. Just… patiently waiting for her to share what was going on in her head.

“No,” she said immediately, then frowned. “I mean, um… yes, but not in a bad way. I want you to be my Daddy. I really do. I’m completely comfortable with the arrangement we have here at Rawhide.”

He studied her face for a beat longer than felt reasonable. He couldn’t have picked up on her worries about what would come after Rawhide, could he? She was about to backpedal on her words when he grinned and nodded. “Good enough.”

Relief flooded her so fast that her knees nearly wobbled.

“But,” he added, lowering his voice just slightly without losing his smile, “that’s what you’renotfretting over. We’re going to talk about what youarefretting over once we get back to our room later.”

Her breath hitched. This Daddy was tricky. And smart.

“And about rules, expectations, and,” he continued, glancing down at her with a hint of something dark and amused in his eyes, “about why you didn’t ask a single question in Master Derek’s office.”

Maybe it was the tone of his deep voice. Or maybe it was the two slashes that passed for dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. Whatever the reason, her tummy did a strange, traitorous little swoop.

“That conversation,” he went on, squeezing her hand, “can wait until later. But itwillhappen.”

Great. Her heart stuttered. Not because she was worried. Was it because she was excited? Yep. That was it. She was very worried about how excited she was.

It was time to change the subject. “Can we walk faster? I don’t want to miss any more of the game.”

She sped up, but it didn’t help much because he kept the same pace. Tugging on his hand, she said, “Come on, Daddy. If we don’t hurry, I’m gonna miss it.”

Man, he was hard to pull. Then again, her head only reached his shoulder. And he must carry the horses into the barn at night, judging by the breadth of his shoulders and his muscular arms.

She almost fell backward when he planted his feet. “We’ll get there in plenty of time, little girl, but not if I have to take you to see Nurse MacIntosh for a skinned knee or worse. While we’re stopped, I want you to put on your sunglasses. You’ll give yourself a headache if you keep squinting like that.”

“I won’t fall down. I never fall down. And I don’t know where my sunglasses are.”

Her new temporary Daddy’s brows shot up, carving lines into his forehead. “Everyone falls down sometimes. I’m here to make sure it doesn’t happen to you on the way back to the summer camp area. If you can’t do as I ask now, I’ll be happy for us to sit down right here in the grass until you feel you can. Is that what you want to do?”

Argh!

She’d spent ages with Erwin the Vermin, wishing he would make rules and enforce them. Now that she had a Daddy who would, why was her first impulse to push back? That made no sense.

Master Mace was really looking out for her. She couldn’t balk at the very first thing he told her to do. Glancing down,she frowned at the gravel driveway she hadn’t realized was that close. Falling on it would have been awful.

Her eyes stung, and this time it had nothing to do with the brightness of the sun. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I want to walk to the campsite, but I was telling you the truth about not knowing where my sunglasses are. I lose them all the time.” This time was especially bad because the sunglasses she’d lost were the ones he’d given her earlier. “I’ll get you a new pair of shades before I leave.”

His frown relaxed. “Thank you, babygirl. I appreciate your apology. I want you to have fun, but safely. And it just so happens I can help you with the missing sunglasses.”

He could? Had he picked them up because she left them in Master Derek’s office? But then her new Daddy reached toward her and slid the sunglasses from her head, perching them on her nose.

She couldn’t help but grin. “I really need to start checking there first.”

Master Mace smiled again, and it almost stole her breath. His dark eyes sparkled, and the most adorable lines formed at the corners of his eyes. “That might be a good idea. Now, let’s get you to the freeze tag game.”

Together, they walked hand in hand all the way to the small field. Sure enough, all the Littles were still running and darting around, dodging and tagging each other.

Sadie spotted her and called out, “Fiera! You can be on my team. We have to tag Wren and Daisy.”