Kelly wanted to hug him, weeping. He’d protected her. Not just physically, but he’d made it totally clear he’d fuck Rebecca up if she kept on.

Rebecca saw that, too, and stepped back. “Don’t come running to me when he dumps you. Again.”

“I only run from you, Rebecca.”

Rebecca yelled one last volley of insults before heading outside.

On the way back up, Vaughan took her hand. “We have a lot to talk about. But it can wait until you’re ready.”

“How about never? It’s bad. She’s awful. She’s gone. The end.”

He didn’t say any more because the girls needed to be distracted when they got back. She’d shielded the girls from Rebecca for many years and planned to keep it that way.

* * *

VAUGHAN WAITED UNTIL after they’d gotten the girls down and then after an interview she did, before he circled back to the scene in the lobby earlier that day.

She came into their room, paused to drop a kiss on the top of his head and that’s when he moved fast, bringing her into his lap. “My evil plan worked.”

“Oh yeah? Is this where the pillaging comes into play?”

“Tell me about Rebecca.”

“Thank you, Vaughan.”

“For asking about your fucked-up mother?”

“For protecting me.” Her voice broke and she hated that weakness. “You got between us. You made her leave.” Not many people would have done that for her. It left her off balance.

“Legs.” Vaughan blew out a breath. “I should have a long time ago. She’s an awful person and the way she handled you tonight makes me want to punch things. I’m here now. I will protect you.” He kissed her quickly. “So, tell me about her.”

“What is there to tell? You know she was awful when I was young. I send her money and she usually behaves herself and keeps out of my life. She showed up at the store here a while back. She causes a scene and demands free things. I told her to knock it off. I send her clothes all the time. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. That’s why I keep a continent between us when I can. Because when I don’t, stuff like what happened earlier happens again.”

“She’s why you count your calories and freak out about food. I hate that. How old were you when she started that stuff?”

“Being a model is why I count my calories. But—” Kelly paused, heaved a sigh and kept going “—I can’t recall a time it wasn’t done. She had a little book she always kept tucked in her purse that listed calories for everything you could imagine.”

Kelly stopped and tried to change the subject with a wiggle of herself over his cock.

“Not going to work.”

She laughed because he was hard. “I beg to differ. Seems like it’s working pretty fine from where I’m sitting.”

“Ha. That part always works when you’re around. But I’m not changing the subject.”

“What do you want, Vaughan?” Her tone went a little thready, just a breath. “For me to tell you she was a horrible mother? That she’s cruel and self-centered? She was. She is.”

“I already knew she was a terrible mother. I got that from our first meeting.” His new mother-in-law had been derisive of entertainment money and show people. And when Kelly had announced she was going to take off some time when she had Maddie, that had been an ugly scene.

Vaughan would never forget hearing Rebecca tell her daughter that it was bad enough she was ruining her body with childbirth, but that the clock was ticking and Kelly only had so much time to wring value from her looks before she turned into an old hag.

“Can’t we please change the subject? I’m working to keep her away from the girls. She hasn’t seen Maddie since she was two. She has no relationship with them. I don’t send her pictures or have the girls make her pottery.”

“But you do for my mom.” Yeah, another thing he’d taken for granted was how much she did even in the face of hostility from his family.

“They love your mom. She loves them. It makes everyone happy. But my mother wouldn’t appreciate it. Eventually she’d do something to hurt them or scar them and for what? They miss nothing by not having her in their lives.” Kelly shrugged.

He slid his thumb over her bottom lip. “What about you? What do you miss?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I don’t miss a thing. The only reason I pay her is out of some sense of responsibility. If I keep her housed and taken care of in the Hamptons, she’s not trying to stay with me in Oregon. She has other things to do besides deciding now is the time to get interested in her granddaughters as a way to get something from me. It’s only money. I have it, thank goodness. And I’d rather spend it on keeping her away than bags or cars.”

Kelly’s gaze went far away for a bit, and then she spoke again. “I can’t risk her telling Maddie she’s fat. Or trying to bribe Kensey into performing with treats she’d then berate her for eating later. Rebecca would see those beautiful little girls and start taking them to auditions the moment my back was turned. There’s no letting her into my life. Not remaining sane and healthy after. She would take our children and strip them of their sense of beauty and joy and she’d twist it. She’d make them hate their bodies and their looks.”

In his zeal to get her to reveal this to him, he’d forgotten how tender she was. Stupid for him to forget, when he saw a dozen times every day just how strong she was.