Colton Family Bodyguard, page 11
Hazel’s responsiveness to him had only increased his pleasure and, if he were brutally honest, the bond he felt with her. It was too overwhelming. Too potent.
He had told her what he had told no one, not a living soul other than Annabel’s family. He recalled the day of her funeral, when her father had asked why no one from his family had attended. He had said they couldn’t make it. Annabel’s father had looked at him strangely. He didn’t know it at the time, but all Callum had wanted was to leave and be as far away from any reminders of Annabel as he could.
Annabel’s murder had occurred in another city, not Mustang Valley. Another police force and even the feds had investigated but with no real zest. It had been assumed her killer had fled to Mexico. It hadn’t made big news. No one in his family or circle of friends had heard about it, by some miracle. He had needed to be left alone.
No one would have understood. No one who hadn’t gone through what he had would be able to understand. The terribleness of her murder. The helplessness of not being able to find her killer. The knowledge that her murder and the killing of their unborn child would never be solved.
There wasn’t a day that passed when he didn’t think about that. Who was her killer and where was he today? Did anyone know what he had done and could it lead police to him? Was there a way to extradite him to the States if he was abroad?
Maybe that was what he needed. Annabel’s cold case solved. Maybe then he could move on. Maybe then he wouldn’t think about what was taken from him so violently whenever he spent time around women with children. Pregnant women got to him the most. He had missed out on that.
One could argue he could find another woman and start a family, but for him it wasn’t that simple. Not only had Annabel and their unborn baby been taken from him, so had all of the first-time experiences and the happiness. The wonder of the creation of life, the stages of pregnancy, the anticipation of the birth. Looking up names. Imagining being a family—a close family.
Everything good about being with a woman who was pregnant with his child had been destroyed. All that came to his mind now in connection with pregnant women was Annabel’s lifeless and abused form on the coroner’s table, the baby bump still there, but full of death now.
He had put up with enough when it came to family, so why did he have to go through that? His was not an idyllic family. His former stepmother, Selina, loved drama and enjoyed driving wedges between his siblings. Callum never understood why his father allowed her to keep her job at Colton Oil. Everyone thought she must have something on Payne. She also kept jovially reminding everyone of the Colton Oil bylaws that said the CEO had to be a Colton by blood. With the discovery that Ace was switched at birth, that presented a significant problem. Her heartless pokes reminded Callum of his estrangement from his father and how terrible it would be if Payne never woke up from his coma.
He snapped back to the present and poured Evie some cereal. “Evie, come get breakfast.”
Saying that made him feel like a father figure. Taking care of Evie came so naturally. How had that happened? Would he ever be the same after this?
Just then Hazel appeared in jeans that hugged her slender hips and a silky white top. She eyed him peculiarly and he knew she wondered why he’d gotten out of bed before she woke. Was she gauging him? Maybe she hoped he was an early riser. More likely she thought he had run away.
He put the room service on the table. “Coffee?”
“Sure.”
He felt her continue to evaluate him as he finished getting their breakfast spread out on the table.
“I’d like to talk with Kerry about what we can do to help with the investigation.” He watched her ascertain why he was so anxious to help. Or maybe she wondered why he’d so abruptly made that announcement. He needed something to do and he needed to get away from her as fast as possible.
“Okay,” she said slowly. She sat and sipped the coffee he’d poured.
He sat across from her. Evie bounded to the table and took her seat, oblivious to the tension between her mother and Callum. She scooped up her cereal and looked toward the television.
“What did you have in mind on the investigation?” Hazel asked.
“Nate Blurge was the murder victim Evie saw being kidnapped. Maybe we can find out more about him.”
She nodded a couple of times. “Okay.”
“Did you know him or of him at all?”
“No. I never went to bars like Joe’s.”
Of course, she wouldn’t. Not only did she have a young child, she wasn’t the kind of woman who would frequent places like that. Maybe he had asked just for something to say that wasn’t related to last night.
“You were up early,” Hazel said.
“Yeah. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“Something troubling you?” She took another sip, doing a poor job of appearing nonchalant.
“No.” He ate his breakfast, hoping she’d just let it drop.
Turned out, she did, but she was way too quiet as they left the inn to go to the police station.
Outside, he gave the valet his ticket.
Evie clung to Hazel, trying to swing off her mother’s arm.
His rental arrived and he opened the back door for Hazel to get Evie in her car seat. Then he opened the front passenger side and went around to get behind the wheel. She was still quiet as they headed out, but only for five minutes.
“Did you love her?” Hazel asked.
He had often thought of that. He hadn’t known Annabel long before she had become pregnant, but as time passed and the birth of their child drew nearer, he’d thought he could love her. They never had the passion he and Hazel shared last night. That confused him.
“I have to believe I did, yes.”
“Do you still?”
That stopped him for a few seconds. He hadn’t really contemplated that since she died. Now as he reflected on it, he realized he did not.
“No,” he finally said.
“Then...why?”
She was reading too much into him getting up before her. He got it that she was suspicious, but why grill him like this?
“I just woke up before you, Hazel. Did you want me to wake you?”
She didn’t answer right away and he let her take her time in contemplating what he’d said.
“I wouldn’t have been with you had I thought you’d turn me away the next day,” she said at last.
Where had that notion come from? “I didn’t turn you away.” Was she the cuddling type? He used to be.
Evie’s father must have really done a number on her. Was Callum another mistake to her?
“You seem different this morning,” she said.
“I don’t mean to be.” He wished she wouldn’t push the issue.
“Are you okay with us?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Evie fast asleep in her car seat. No wonder Hazel was talking so freely. Now he had to answer, and he hesitated because he had to be honest.
“I take it by your silence that you aren’t. I’m sorry for making such a big issue about it, but I need to be sure about how to handle this going forward.”
He heard sincerity in her voice. She didn’t like asking all these questions. She just felt she had to. “Everything is going so fast between us. I haven’t had time to process it. Have you?”
She breathed a laugh of relief. “No. We can slow it down. Is that what you want? I have Evie to think about. She’s already so fond of you. I worry about her when it comes time to part ways—if that happens.”
“I don’t ever want to hurt Evie, so I’ll do whatever you think is best when it comes to her.”
“What about me? Will you do what you think is best when it comes to me?” She said it lightly, but he sensed she actually needed to know.
“It isn’t my intention to hurt you. I’m trying to be honest with you.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m a little disappointed in myself for not thinking this through better. We rushed into this and now I wish I hadn’t.”
They had rushed into sleeping together. Could they have done anything to prevent their attraction? He couldn’t blame her for being regretful or concerned. They barely knew each other. About the only things they did know were a little background information and that they had a hot physical chemistry that was apparently uncontrollable.
“I don’t regret last night at all,” he said. “In fact, that’s what has me in such a conundrum today. I have never had such an amazing time, except maybe my first time.”
She averted her head, propping her elbow on the door frame and curling her fingers against her chin. “That has me in a conundrum, too.”
Her quiet, soft tone revealed her vulnerability. He reached over and covered her hand with his. “We’ll cool this off for a while. Get to know each other more.”
She looked at him as though having serious doubts as to whether either one of them could cool this off.
Suddenly, the glass of Callum’s window shattered as a bullet flew past him and went through the passenger window. An instant later, he realized someone had shot at them, narrowly missing him and Hazel. “Get down!” he shouted, looking in the back at Evie, who had slouched enough in her sleep to be below the door frame but now began to wake.
As he took out his pistol, his heart pounded as he urgently searched for the shooter. An SUV had fallen back in the other lane but sped up as Callum had done the moment the bullet had penetrated.
He weaved in and out of traffic, putting more distance between them and the shooter.
“Call 911,” Callum said to Hazel, who had already taken out her phone.
He slowed enough to make the next turn, trying not to frighten Evie more than she already was. She had begun to cry. Cars ahead blocked his way. This wasn’t a movie—he couldn’t drive up onto the sidewalk.
Hazel finished talking to the dispatcher.
The gunman began to gain on them. Callum’s fear that Evie would be harmed intensified.
“Callum.” Hazel sounded terrified. “Evie.”
“I know.”
He tried to veer out into the oncoming traffic to get around a car. He had to steer back into the lane. The car passed and Callum would have tried again but the gunman was beside them in a big black SUV. The shooter aimed. Callum pressed on the brakes. The other man did too and then rammed into them.
“Evie, stay down!” Hazel hollered, dropping the phone.
“Mommy?”
“Just stay down.”
Callum didn’t want to shoot unless he had to, not with a child in the truck. The traffic began to clear. He drove into the oncoming lane and gunned the truck, passing two cars before getting back over as another vehicle approached, horn honking. With some clear road, Callum raced toward the police station, unable to believe they were being chased again, that he had allowed it to happen.
If he hadn’t been distracted by Hazel and their night together, he could have stayed focused and prevented this—at the very least putting Evie in less danger.
He made the last turn to reach the station. In the rearview mirror he saw the SUV pass without turning. The gunman knew they were headed for the police. He also must know the police would come after him if he tried to wait for them again.
“He’s gone,” Callum said.
Hazel breathed heavily and put her head back.
He drove into the police station parking lot and parked.
Hazel jumped out and hastily removed Evie from the car seat. When she had her daughter in her arms she asked, “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Mommy. Did we almost have an accident?”
“Yes, sweetie. Mommy just had a big scare.”
Callum put his hand on her back as she scanned the area. “Let’s get inside.”
They walked inside. Kerry would be expecting them. Callum had phoned ahead. A few minutes later, she appeared, sporting her badge on her belt.
“How are you doing?” Kerry asked.
“We were chased again and shot at,” Hazel said, putting Evie down.
“Where is he? I’ll get some cars out there.”
“It’s too late. He didn’t follow us all the way to the station,” Callum said.
“I’ll have them be on the lookout for the vehicle.”
Hazel gave her the plate number, surprising Callum with her stealthy observation and thinking. She went on to describe the SUV, including the damage to the passenger side when the shooter had rammed into them.
“What brought you here today? Not drawing the shooter out and trying to run you down?”
“We’d like to help with the investigation. Speed it up if we can.”
Kerry looked from Hazel to Callum and then Evie. “We’ve questioned some of the workers at Joe’s Bar. Nothing very concrete has come up. We did learn that Nate Blurge’s wife works there and he had a reputation for flirting with a lot of women, many of them the waitresses there. Apparently he made a lot of husbands angry. If the killer was one of them, he might show up. If you could watch the place, see if you can find out anything about who might want him dead. If you help out with that, I can pay more attention to his family.”
Callum nodded. “We can do that, but not with Evie.”
Hazel shook her head. “No, not with Evie.”
“Is there anywhere you can take her?” Callum asked. “Didn’t you say you had a brother who was a cop in Phoenix?”
“I did. His wife is a cop, too.”
“That sounds about as perfect as it gets,” Kerry said. “I agree. Evie is in too much danger if you keep her here. Every time you leave the inn you’re at risk. Whoever is after you is watching that place very close.”
“I hate the idea of parting company with my daughter but I can’t argue she’s in danger. She’d be safe with my brother and his wife.”
Callum liked that idea. Not only would it keep him from bonding even more with the girl, he wouldn’t have to worry about protecting her and her mother.
“Why don’t you go back to the inn?” Kerry said. “I can have an officer escort you.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Callum said.
“Are you sure? It’s too dangerous for you to come and go from the inn and I’m concerned next time you won’t get away without being harmed.”
Or killed. Although she didn’t say so, Callum knew she worried they could very well be murdered.
“I’m sure.” He would not let his guard down again.
“We need to come up with a way to get you out of the inn and Evie somewhere safe.” She tapped her lower lip with her forefinger and then lowered her hand. “How about if I have someone drop off some disguises so you can get Evie out safely? Then I can arrange for undercover officers to watch you and make sure you get on your way.”
Callum grinned. “I like that idea. In fact, I know the perfect disguises.” He leaned close to Kerry’s ear and told her in a low voice what to get for them.
Kerry smiled and glanced at Hazel.
“What are you up to?” Hazel asked Callum.
“You’ll see.” Then to Kerry, he said, “Just ask Patsy to pick them up. She’ll have fun with that.”
He gave Kerry Patsy’s contact information, looking forward to the trip to Hazel’s brother. All that time they would spend together as a family... And then he would be alone with Hazel after they dropped Evie off. That came with so many conflicting emotions. Leaving Evie would be sad, but being alone with Hazel gave him all kinds of unwelcome thoughts...and welcome ones, too.
Chapter 8
Later the next morning, Hazel couldn’t believe what she had allowed Callum to talk her into wearing. She looked at herself in the mirror. The studded leather sleeveless top zipped up to just above her breasts and the low-hipped leather pants hugged her shape. The jewel encrusted shoes with four-inch heels would bring her much closer to Callum’s height. A blond wig completed the ensemble.
Beside her Evie giggled. She had a wig, too, also blond, and wore an adorable biker girl T-shirt with leather pants—not skintight like her mother’s. Patsy had also gotten her a fun metal rivet and leather wrap bracelet and a pair of black boots.
Evie posed in front of the bathroom mirror, only her head above the sink counter.
Hazel chuckled. “Come on, Evie.”
They left the bathroom. Callum waited for them in the kitchen, leaning against the island counter, holding his phone. His eyes lifted as they approached, frozen in that pose as his gaze roamed down Hazel and then back up.
“I’m a biker girl!” Evie jumped and stopped in front of him.
“You sure are. Looking good, too.”
“Hopefully you haven’t ruined her future,” Hazel said with humor, enjoying this and feeling like they were a family getting ready to go on an outing. She wouldn’t even analyze that right now.
She did have a moment where she had to stare at him, though. Dark blue jeans that cupped his crotch and a leather jacket over a gray T-shirt that had a black print on the front. He also had on glasses to ramp him up from lowly biker to biker with money. She liked his wig, black with a tasteful ponytail.
“Are we ready?” he asked.
“Yeah!” Evie called out cheerily.
“Let me check outside first. I have my rental car waiting in front of the inn,” he said.
He had prepared well for this. And even though her disguise was a bit sexy, all of them were convincing. They looked completely different than they had this morning.
* * *
In the lobby, Hazel took Evie’s hand, and Callum noticed a man walking with another woman staring at her.
She looked away, stopping before following Callum through the doors. He covertly checked the front of the inn and beyond and then turned, still holding the door open, not saying he’d spotted a dark SUV across the street. The driver turned their way, stared a few seconds then turned away. A man and a woman with a child wasn’t unusual. They might stand out as a biker family but they looked nothing like they usually did. Callum was pleased the man apparently hadn’t caught on to their disguises.
He had told her what he had told no one, not a living soul other than Annabel’s family. He recalled the day of her funeral, when her father had asked why no one from his family had attended. He had said they couldn’t make it. Annabel’s father had looked at him strangely. He didn’t know it at the time, but all Callum had wanted was to leave and be as far away from any reminders of Annabel as he could.
Annabel’s murder had occurred in another city, not Mustang Valley. Another police force and even the feds had investigated but with no real zest. It had been assumed her killer had fled to Mexico. It hadn’t made big news. No one in his family or circle of friends had heard about it, by some miracle. He had needed to be left alone.
No one would have understood. No one who hadn’t gone through what he had would be able to understand. The terribleness of her murder. The helplessness of not being able to find her killer. The knowledge that her murder and the killing of their unborn child would never be solved.
There wasn’t a day that passed when he didn’t think about that. Who was her killer and where was he today? Did anyone know what he had done and could it lead police to him? Was there a way to extradite him to the States if he was abroad?
Maybe that was what he needed. Annabel’s cold case solved. Maybe then he could move on. Maybe then he wouldn’t think about what was taken from him so violently whenever he spent time around women with children. Pregnant women got to him the most. He had missed out on that.
One could argue he could find another woman and start a family, but for him it wasn’t that simple. Not only had Annabel and their unborn baby been taken from him, so had all of the first-time experiences and the happiness. The wonder of the creation of life, the stages of pregnancy, the anticipation of the birth. Looking up names. Imagining being a family—a close family.
Everything good about being with a woman who was pregnant with his child had been destroyed. All that came to his mind now in connection with pregnant women was Annabel’s lifeless and abused form on the coroner’s table, the baby bump still there, but full of death now.
He had put up with enough when it came to family, so why did he have to go through that? His was not an idyllic family. His former stepmother, Selina, loved drama and enjoyed driving wedges between his siblings. Callum never understood why his father allowed her to keep her job at Colton Oil. Everyone thought she must have something on Payne. She also kept jovially reminding everyone of the Colton Oil bylaws that said the CEO had to be a Colton by blood. With the discovery that Ace was switched at birth, that presented a significant problem. Her heartless pokes reminded Callum of his estrangement from his father and how terrible it would be if Payne never woke up from his coma.
He snapped back to the present and poured Evie some cereal. “Evie, come get breakfast.”
Saying that made him feel like a father figure. Taking care of Evie came so naturally. How had that happened? Would he ever be the same after this?
Just then Hazel appeared in jeans that hugged her slender hips and a silky white top. She eyed him peculiarly and he knew she wondered why he’d gotten out of bed before she woke. Was she gauging him? Maybe she hoped he was an early riser. More likely she thought he had run away.
He put the room service on the table. “Coffee?”
“Sure.”
He felt her continue to evaluate him as he finished getting their breakfast spread out on the table.
“I’d like to talk with Kerry about what we can do to help with the investigation.” He watched her ascertain why he was so anxious to help. Or maybe she wondered why he’d so abruptly made that announcement. He needed something to do and he needed to get away from her as fast as possible.
“Okay,” she said slowly. She sat and sipped the coffee he’d poured.
He sat across from her. Evie bounded to the table and took her seat, oblivious to the tension between her mother and Callum. She scooped up her cereal and looked toward the television.
“What did you have in mind on the investigation?” Hazel asked.
“Nate Blurge was the murder victim Evie saw being kidnapped. Maybe we can find out more about him.”
She nodded a couple of times. “Okay.”
“Did you know him or of him at all?”
“No. I never went to bars like Joe’s.”
Of course, she wouldn’t. Not only did she have a young child, she wasn’t the kind of woman who would frequent places like that. Maybe he had asked just for something to say that wasn’t related to last night.
“You were up early,” Hazel said.
“Yeah. I couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“Something troubling you?” She took another sip, doing a poor job of appearing nonchalant.
“No.” He ate his breakfast, hoping she’d just let it drop.
Turned out, she did, but she was way too quiet as they left the inn to go to the police station.
Outside, he gave the valet his ticket.
Evie clung to Hazel, trying to swing off her mother’s arm.
His rental arrived and he opened the back door for Hazel to get Evie in her car seat. Then he opened the front passenger side and went around to get behind the wheel. She was still quiet as they headed out, but only for five minutes.
“Did you love her?” Hazel asked.
He had often thought of that. He hadn’t known Annabel long before she had become pregnant, but as time passed and the birth of their child drew nearer, he’d thought he could love her. They never had the passion he and Hazel shared last night. That confused him.
“I have to believe I did, yes.”
“Do you still?”
That stopped him for a few seconds. He hadn’t really contemplated that since she died. Now as he reflected on it, he realized he did not.
“No,” he finally said.
“Then...why?”
She was reading too much into him getting up before her. He got it that she was suspicious, but why grill him like this?
“I just woke up before you, Hazel. Did you want me to wake you?”
She didn’t answer right away and he let her take her time in contemplating what he’d said.
“I wouldn’t have been with you had I thought you’d turn me away the next day,” she said at last.
Where had that notion come from? “I didn’t turn you away.” Was she the cuddling type? He used to be.
Evie’s father must have really done a number on her. Was Callum another mistake to her?
“You seem different this morning,” she said.
“I don’t mean to be.” He wished she wouldn’t push the issue.
“Are you okay with us?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Evie fast asleep in her car seat. No wonder Hazel was talking so freely. Now he had to answer, and he hesitated because he had to be honest.
“I take it by your silence that you aren’t. I’m sorry for making such a big issue about it, but I need to be sure about how to handle this going forward.”
He heard sincerity in her voice. She didn’t like asking all these questions. She just felt she had to. “Everything is going so fast between us. I haven’t had time to process it. Have you?”
She breathed a laugh of relief. “No. We can slow it down. Is that what you want? I have Evie to think about. She’s already so fond of you. I worry about her when it comes time to part ways—if that happens.”
“I don’t ever want to hurt Evie, so I’ll do whatever you think is best when it comes to her.”
“What about me? Will you do what you think is best when it comes to me?” She said it lightly, but he sensed she actually needed to know.
“It isn’t my intention to hurt you. I’m trying to be honest with you.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m a little disappointed in myself for not thinking this through better. We rushed into this and now I wish I hadn’t.”
They had rushed into sleeping together. Could they have done anything to prevent their attraction? He couldn’t blame her for being regretful or concerned. They barely knew each other. About the only things they did know were a little background information and that they had a hot physical chemistry that was apparently uncontrollable.
“I don’t regret last night at all,” he said. “In fact, that’s what has me in such a conundrum today. I have never had such an amazing time, except maybe my first time.”
She averted her head, propping her elbow on the door frame and curling her fingers against her chin. “That has me in a conundrum, too.”
Her quiet, soft tone revealed her vulnerability. He reached over and covered her hand with his. “We’ll cool this off for a while. Get to know each other more.”
She looked at him as though having serious doubts as to whether either one of them could cool this off.
Suddenly, the glass of Callum’s window shattered as a bullet flew past him and went through the passenger window. An instant later, he realized someone had shot at them, narrowly missing him and Hazel. “Get down!” he shouted, looking in the back at Evie, who had slouched enough in her sleep to be below the door frame but now began to wake.
As he took out his pistol, his heart pounded as he urgently searched for the shooter. An SUV had fallen back in the other lane but sped up as Callum had done the moment the bullet had penetrated.
He weaved in and out of traffic, putting more distance between them and the shooter.
“Call 911,” Callum said to Hazel, who had already taken out her phone.
He slowed enough to make the next turn, trying not to frighten Evie more than she already was. She had begun to cry. Cars ahead blocked his way. This wasn’t a movie—he couldn’t drive up onto the sidewalk.
Hazel finished talking to the dispatcher.
The gunman began to gain on them. Callum’s fear that Evie would be harmed intensified.
“Callum.” Hazel sounded terrified. “Evie.”
“I know.”
He tried to veer out into the oncoming traffic to get around a car. He had to steer back into the lane. The car passed and Callum would have tried again but the gunman was beside them in a big black SUV. The shooter aimed. Callum pressed on the brakes. The other man did too and then rammed into them.
“Evie, stay down!” Hazel hollered, dropping the phone.
“Mommy?”
“Just stay down.”
Callum didn’t want to shoot unless he had to, not with a child in the truck. The traffic began to clear. He drove into the oncoming lane and gunned the truck, passing two cars before getting back over as another vehicle approached, horn honking. With some clear road, Callum raced toward the police station, unable to believe they were being chased again, that he had allowed it to happen.
If he hadn’t been distracted by Hazel and their night together, he could have stayed focused and prevented this—at the very least putting Evie in less danger.
He made the last turn to reach the station. In the rearview mirror he saw the SUV pass without turning. The gunman knew they were headed for the police. He also must know the police would come after him if he tried to wait for them again.
“He’s gone,” Callum said.
Hazel breathed heavily and put her head back.
He drove into the police station parking lot and parked.
Hazel jumped out and hastily removed Evie from the car seat. When she had her daughter in her arms she asked, “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Mommy. Did we almost have an accident?”
“Yes, sweetie. Mommy just had a big scare.”
Callum put his hand on her back as she scanned the area. “Let’s get inside.”
They walked inside. Kerry would be expecting them. Callum had phoned ahead. A few minutes later, she appeared, sporting her badge on her belt.
“How are you doing?” Kerry asked.
“We were chased again and shot at,” Hazel said, putting Evie down.
“Where is he? I’ll get some cars out there.”
“It’s too late. He didn’t follow us all the way to the station,” Callum said.
“I’ll have them be on the lookout for the vehicle.”
Hazel gave her the plate number, surprising Callum with her stealthy observation and thinking. She went on to describe the SUV, including the damage to the passenger side when the shooter had rammed into them.
“What brought you here today? Not drawing the shooter out and trying to run you down?”
“We’d like to help with the investigation. Speed it up if we can.”
Kerry looked from Hazel to Callum and then Evie. “We’ve questioned some of the workers at Joe’s Bar. Nothing very concrete has come up. We did learn that Nate Blurge’s wife works there and he had a reputation for flirting with a lot of women, many of them the waitresses there. Apparently he made a lot of husbands angry. If the killer was one of them, he might show up. If you could watch the place, see if you can find out anything about who might want him dead. If you help out with that, I can pay more attention to his family.”
Callum nodded. “We can do that, but not with Evie.”
Hazel shook her head. “No, not with Evie.”
“Is there anywhere you can take her?” Callum asked. “Didn’t you say you had a brother who was a cop in Phoenix?”
“I did. His wife is a cop, too.”
“That sounds about as perfect as it gets,” Kerry said. “I agree. Evie is in too much danger if you keep her here. Every time you leave the inn you’re at risk. Whoever is after you is watching that place very close.”
“I hate the idea of parting company with my daughter but I can’t argue she’s in danger. She’d be safe with my brother and his wife.”
Callum liked that idea. Not only would it keep him from bonding even more with the girl, he wouldn’t have to worry about protecting her and her mother.
“Why don’t you go back to the inn?” Kerry said. “I can have an officer escort you.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Callum said.
“Are you sure? It’s too dangerous for you to come and go from the inn and I’m concerned next time you won’t get away without being harmed.”
Or killed. Although she didn’t say so, Callum knew she worried they could very well be murdered.
“I’m sure.” He would not let his guard down again.
“We need to come up with a way to get you out of the inn and Evie somewhere safe.” She tapped her lower lip with her forefinger and then lowered her hand. “How about if I have someone drop off some disguises so you can get Evie out safely? Then I can arrange for undercover officers to watch you and make sure you get on your way.”
Callum grinned. “I like that idea. In fact, I know the perfect disguises.” He leaned close to Kerry’s ear and told her in a low voice what to get for them.
Kerry smiled and glanced at Hazel.
“What are you up to?” Hazel asked Callum.
“You’ll see.” Then to Kerry, he said, “Just ask Patsy to pick them up. She’ll have fun with that.”
He gave Kerry Patsy’s contact information, looking forward to the trip to Hazel’s brother. All that time they would spend together as a family... And then he would be alone with Hazel after they dropped Evie off. That came with so many conflicting emotions. Leaving Evie would be sad, but being alone with Hazel gave him all kinds of unwelcome thoughts...and welcome ones, too.
Chapter 8
Later the next morning, Hazel couldn’t believe what she had allowed Callum to talk her into wearing. She looked at herself in the mirror. The studded leather sleeveless top zipped up to just above her breasts and the low-hipped leather pants hugged her shape. The jewel encrusted shoes with four-inch heels would bring her much closer to Callum’s height. A blond wig completed the ensemble.
Beside her Evie giggled. She had a wig, too, also blond, and wore an adorable biker girl T-shirt with leather pants—not skintight like her mother’s. Patsy had also gotten her a fun metal rivet and leather wrap bracelet and a pair of black boots.
Evie posed in front of the bathroom mirror, only her head above the sink counter.
Hazel chuckled. “Come on, Evie.”
They left the bathroom. Callum waited for them in the kitchen, leaning against the island counter, holding his phone. His eyes lifted as they approached, frozen in that pose as his gaze roamed down Hazel and then back up.
“I’m a biker girl!” Evie jumped and stopped in front of him.
“You sure are. Looking good, too.”
“Hopefully you haven’t ruined her future,” Hazel said with humor, enjoying this and feeling like they were a family getting ready to go on an outing. She wouldn’t even analyze that right now.
She did have a moment where she had to stare at him, though. Dark blue jeans that cupped his crotch and a leather jacket over a gray T-shirt that had a black print on the front. He also had on glasses to ramp him up from lowly biker to biker with money. She liked his wig, black with a tasteful ponytail.
“Are we ready?” he asked.
“Yeah!” Evie called out cheerily.
“Let me check outside first. I have my rental car waiting in front of the inn,” he said.
He had prepared well for this. And even though her disguise was a bit sexy, all of them were convincing. They looked completely different than they had this morning.
* * *
In the lobby, Hazel took Evie’s hand, and Callum noticed a man walking with another woman staring at her.
She looked away, stopping before following Callum through the doors. He covertly checked the front of the inn and beyond and then turned, still holding the door open, not saying he’d spotted a dark SUV across the street. The driver turned their way, stared a few seconds then turned away. A man and a woman with a child wasn’t unusual. They might stand out as a biker family but they looked nothing like they usually did. Callum was pleased the man apparently hadn’t caught on to their disguises.
