Page 14 of Protected By the Lumberjack
"Evie's my wife now." He might be smart enough to stay out of my reach. "And she's under my guardianship until her memory is fully restored and the doctor deems her mentally competent again."
"Fuck you, Todd."
Honey pushes away from me and lands against the other man in a fury of nails and knees. When the sheriff reluctantly steps between them, Todd's on the ground clutching the family jewels with two bloody scratches lining the side of his face.
Honey swings a foot into his ribcage and spits at him for extra insult as Henderson drags her back. She easily settles in my arms again when she's released.
"I wouldn't marry you with a gun to my head and you know it. How do you plan on explaining our alleged marriage to our attorneys? You think my team is going to buy your story that we wereengagedwhile I was suing you blind?"
"Sounds like Miss Ortega has her memory back," Erik chuckles, listening to Honey give Todd hell.
"He's the one who arranged that flight for me. I was supposed to meet him in Seattle to sign papers. He'd finally agreed to settle."
"Hey, Olsen, we've got a small proble...."
The melee in the hotel room is interrupted by Todd's attorney rushing through the open door from the hallway--apparently oblivious to the yelling right up to the point where he realizes he's walked into a bit of a situation.
He straightens when he sees the officers, lowering the papers he's carrying as if he'd rather none of their visitors notice them.
We all notice.
Hawkins snatches them first.
He laughs as he scans through the documents, then hands them off to his boss.
"I think he noticed that the marriage license isn't going to be exactly legal," Erik explains as he hands the papers to one of the other deputies. "She signed it 'Honey.'"
Honey isn't laughing at all. She's furious.
"I didn't sign it at all! There is no way I would have married you. You would have had to-- oh my God! Is that why I can't remember anything after you dragged me into this hotel room? Did youdrugme?"
Todd blanches, eyes darting nervously between the cops. His attorney is sweating.
"It was just Ambien!" Todd says, more to the sheriff than to Honey. "You were hysterical, you needed to calm the fuck down."
"'Hysterical?' Ya think? You show up out of nowhere, knowing damn well I didn't remember you and wouldn't have been happy to see you if I did. You were claiming to be my fiancé while you literally dragged me away from the people who'd taken me in and given me a home-- you served Carver with a restraining order for fuck sake!"
I'm certain she's about to go feral on the man again so I squeeze her shoulders, hoping it keeps her grounded. Lord knows I'm okay with letting her kill the man. I'll even hold him down to make it easier for her to rip his throat out if she wants.
But we've got a lot of law men for witnesses and I got a feeling they might have a problem with it.
"You obviously had a plan when you showed up. Accusing Carver of taking advantage of my mental state just so you could kidnap me and do the same thing? Force me tomarryyou?"
The disgust she feels at that thought is evident in her voice.
"Drug me so you can get me to sign papers-- what were you thinking? In what twisted version of reality does that work in your favor?"
"Hmm," Sheriff Henderson muses solemnly. "Well Mr. Olsen-- Mr. Arnette--" he nods at Todd's attorney, who eyes the door being blocked by the other deputies with longing. "My associates and I accompanied Mr. Murdock today for a few reasons."
The two deputies step forward, cuffs out.
"We wanted to make sure Ms. Ortega was unharmed and was allowed to leave with Carver if she chose to. Seeing as how your restraining order isn't valid and all. But we also have here a couple warrants for arrest. Seems someone forged a judge's name on the guardianship documents, and a doctor's name on this mental incompetency assessment. Looks like we'll be adding kidnapping charges, and I'm sure the prosecution will find a whole slew of related charges to add to the list before this is over."
Chapter Eight
Honey
The two other officers who came with Erik and Hawkins, cuff Todd and his attorney. They start into theyou have the right tosas they move the men out of the room and down the hall toward the elevator.
