Colton's Cinderella Bride. Lisa Childs
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of Red Ridge in an area of greenhouses for one of the bigger plant nurseries. In July the greenhouses would be empty—too hot to use for the summer. So why were there lights behind her?
Who would be heading out this way? She didn’t think the road led to any housing developments.
A knot of apprehension tightened in her stomach as she faced the likelihood that the vehicle was out there only because it had followed her.
Who? Was it the shooter? Or one of those people Juliette had questioned today? Maybe one of them was ready to talk to her.
She hoped that was the case, but she had to be prepared that it was the former. The killer carrying out the threat he’d made on the playground.
Her pulse quickened. While she was afraid, she was also—oddly—hopeful. Maybe she wouldn’t have to search any longer to find him. Maybe he had found her.
The challenge was going to be taking him out before he could take out her. She couldn’t leave her daughter alone. But then, Pandora wouldn’t be alone. She had a father—a man she had never officially met, though.
“I have to go for now, honey,” Juliette told her daughter as she flipped off the headlights and made a sharp turn around one of the empty greenhouses. “But I will see you soon.”
As the vehicle following her also made the turn, she swallowed the fear that had rushed up on her. She hoped she would be able to keep that promise to her daughter. She hoped she would be able to see her again.
* * *
“Where the hell did she go?” Blake asked himself.
She’d suddenly shut off her lights. But despite that, with the moon shining brightly, he’d been able to see her vehicle turn into the plant nursery. He’d followed it between two greenhouses. But her car was gone.
At least, he couldn’t see it.
She couldn’t have gone far. His lights shone onto the fields behind the greenhouse. The trees in it were seedlings—not big enough to hide a vehicle, even one as small as her economy sedan.
He drove a little farther—to the end of the greenhouse. Then he rolled down his window to peer around the back of the long building. He felt a sudden presence. From the corner of his eye, he caught the glint of moonlight shining off the barrel of a gun—the one pointed right at his head.
Maybe his cousin Finn had been right. Maybe he should have left the security detail to the professionals. But he hadn’t even seen them following Juliette. He’d worried that she’d been left all alone.
“What the hell are you doing?” a female voice asked.
And now he kind of wished he’d left her alone. Juliette sounded furious with him. She pulled her gun back, sliding it into the holster on the belt of her uniform. She hadn’t changed even though her shift had ended a couple of hours ago. But with the threat against her and her daughter, she would always be on duty.
Until the killer was caught.
“I’m following you,” he said. He’d followed her all day as she’d gone from drug house to drug house. He knew she’d been looking for the killer or for information that would lead to him.
He was stunned that Red Ridge had areas like the ones where she’d gone. Had things changed that much in the past five years? Or had he been so sheltered and self-involved all those years ago that he hadn’t known those areas existed?
She uttered a sigh of pure exasperation. “I know you’re following me. But why?”
“To protect you.” His face heated now with embarrassment that he’d thought he could keep her safe. She was the one with a gun. His only weapon was his cell phone to call for help. For backup from the bodyguards and the police who were supposed to be following her. Where had they all gone?
She snorted. “How? By distracting me so I’ll miss seeing the killer if he finds me?”
How was Blake a distraction to her? Was it just his presence? Or was it because of their past? Because of what they’d shared that night and what they had, unbeknownst to him, created? A child...
“I didn’t mean to distract you,” he said.
“Well, you did...” Then she muttered something else, something that suspiciously sounded like, “You’ve been doing it for years...”
But he hadn’t been around for years. Had she thought of him as often as he’d thought of her? Probably not—because he’d thought about her all the time.
He pushed open the driver’s door to step out of his car. But she caught and held it.
“Get back inside,” she told. “Turn this car around and leave me alone.”
He sucked in a breath, not at her rejecting him—or at least not entirely because of that—but because of the thought of her being alone. Physically he was stronger than she was, so he managed to open the door. But he was careful that he didn’t hit her with it; he did propel her back a bit, though. Then he stepped out and shut the door—so there was nothing between them but a few feet of night air. He wanted to wrap his arms around her to protect her, but he was also furious with her.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked her. “Why are you out here alone?”
Where were the bodyguards and the patrol car? he wondered again. They were supposed to be following her, too, and because of that, they were all aware of the make, model and license plate number of his rental vehicle.
He glanced around and noticed a faint glow of lights on the other side of one of the green houses. The tightness in his chest eased a little. They were here. She had backup.
She hadn’t answered him. Had she noticed the glow of lights, too? Maybe those were from her car, though. He still couldn’t see where she’d parked it. But it must have been close because he heard the low growl of her dog.
She must have, too, because she cocked her head and listened. And in the moonlight her brow furrowed.
“You aren’t meeting someone out here, are you?” he persisted. “I thought your shift ended hours ago.”
“It did,” she said. “But I didn’t want to go home...”
To an empty house. He could hear the pain in her voice, the ache of missing her daughter.
He felt both a twinge of sympathy and one of resentment. She knew their daughter enough to miss her. He didn’t even know the child.
“And Elle called me for Pandora,” she continued. “She wants to see me.”
“Finn thinks it’s too dangerous,” Blake said, “that someone could follow you.”
She sighed. “I guess he’s right. You followed me.”
“But you noticed me,” he pointed out.
Her lips curved into a slight smile as the moonlight bathed her face with a golden glow. “You’re not a professional,” she said. “You shouldn’t be trying to protect me. You’re only going to get hurt.”
“Too late,” he murmured. He already was—hurt over all the years he’d missed with his daughter.
The smile slipped away, and she closed her eyes. “I’m sorry...”
She knew what he was talking about—what he would probably never get over—because no matter what, he couldn’t get back those years he’d lost. He just had to make sure he didn’t lose any more with her.
“Do you think Finn would let me see her?” Blake asked.
Juliette gasped. “The chief knows? You told him?”
That twinge of resentment spread to an ache. “I’m not keeping a secret that never should have been one in the first place.”
Juliette’s teeth sank into her