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father?”
    “Hello,” Marin echoed.
    And judging from Marin’s near growling tone, she didn’t like her dad any better than Lucky did. Unlike Lois, Howard had a slick oily veneer that reminded Lucky of con artists and dishonest used car salesmen. Of course, his opinion probably had something to do with this whole backstabbing mission.
    “Mother, why are you and Dad here?”
    Lois shrugged as if the answer were obvious. “Because we love you. Because we’re concerned about you. You’re coming back to the ranch with us so you can have time to recuperate from your injuries. You know you’re not well enough or strong enough to be on your own. You never have been. Clearly, leaving home was a mistake.”
    Lucky pulled Marin tighter into the crook of his arm.
    “I’m not going with you,” she informed her mother.
    Lucky wanted to cheer her backbone, but he already knew the outcome of this little encounter.
    There’d be no cheering today.
    “Yes, you are,” Lois disagreed. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you a choice about that. You and Noah are too important to us. And because we love you both so much, we’ve filed papers.”
    Lucky felt Marin’s muscles stiffen even more. “What kind of papers?” Marin enunciated each syllable.
    Lucky didn’t wait for Lois Sheppard to provide the explanation. “Your folks are trying to use your hospital stay and your epilepsy to get custody of Noah.” He turned his attention to Lois and made sure he smirked. “Guess what—not gonna happen.”
    The woman’s maroon-red mouth tightened into a temporary bud. “I don’t think you’ll have much of a say in that, Randall.”
    “Lucky,” he corrected. Because by damn he might have to play the part of Marin’s slimeball ex, but Lucky refused to use the man’s name. It’d been a godsend that neither of Marin’s parents had ever met said slimeball. If they had, the charade of Lucky pretending to be him would have been over before it even started.
    “I don’t care what you call yourself,” Howard interceded. “You’re an unfit father. You weren’t even there for the birth of your own son. You left Marin alone to fend for herself.”
    Lucky shoved his thumb to his chest. “Well, I’m here now.”
    “Are you?” Howard challenged.
    “What the hell does that mean?” Lucky challenged right back.
    Howard didn’t answer right away, and the silence intensified with his glare. “It means I don’t think you love my daughter. I think this so-called relationship between you two is a sham to convince Lois and me that we don’t need to intervene in Marin’s life.”
    Since that was the truth, Lucky knew it was time for some damage control. Later, he’d figure out if Howard really knew something or if this was a bluff.
    Lucky pulled Marin closer to him. Body against body. Marin must have felt the same need for damage control because she came up on her toes and kissed him, a familiar peck of reassurance. Something a real couple would have shared.
    That brief lip-lock speared through him, causing Lucky to remind himself that this really was a sham.
    “What papers have they filed?” Marin asked him.
    Lucky didn’t take his gaze from Howard. “Your parents convinced a judge to review your competency as a parent. A crooked judge is my guess, because we have to go to your parents’ ranch for an interview with a psychologist.”
    Lucky expected Marin to lose it then and there. Maybe a tirade or some profanity. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. But her reaction was almost completely void of emotion.
    “Mother, Dad, you’re leaving now,” Marin said. And she stepped out of Lucky’s arms and sat back down on the bed. A moment passed before she looked at her mother again. “I’m tired. I need my rest. Nurse’s orders.”
    Lois took a step closer, and even though she wasn’t smiling, there was a certain victory shout in her stance. “If you don’t return to the ranch and do this interview with the