Soldier Bodyguard. Lisa Childs
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about to leave for another mission and hadn’t had the time or the inclination. Nor would he have been able to handle the distraction. The last thing he’d wanted to do was have a discussion with the man sleeping with the woman Cole had loved. He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said to the guy to get rid of him, but it probably hadn’t been too nice.
He felt a pang of regret now as he approached the urn. It had been set up on a table in the library, flanked with flowers and photos of the dark-haired, dark-eyed man. Emery Little had been a good-looking guy—the kind of guy who was so good-looking he was almost pretty. Or maybe that was just more of Cole’s jealousy seeping out.
“Did you know my daddy?” a soft voice asked, and small fingers grasped his arm, tugging on it to draw his attention.
As Cole looked down at the little girl, he felt another pang. But he couldn’t identify it. Was it regret that she wasn’t his child? Jealousy that she was another man’s? Or was it just that she reminded him so damn much of her mother?
She looked so much like Shawna, just like a little doll, with her mother’s black, silky hair and porcelain skin. She didn’t have Shawna’s warm brown eyes, though. The child’s were a deep, bright blue.
“Did you know Daddy?” she asked again as she stared up at him.
He shook his head. “No. I knew your mother...” Or at least he’d thought he had. But he’d been wrong, painfully wrong.
Her eyes brightened with recognition, and she exclaimed, “I know who you are!”
Had Shawna showed her daughter his photo before? She would have had enough of them—from every prom and homecoming dance they’d attended—along with all the candid pictures she used to take of him. Or had she destroyed all of those when he’d ended their engagement?
The little girl answered his unspoken question when she exclaimed, “You’re Grampa X’s grandson!”
His grandfather had photos of him around the house. At graduation, in his uniform.
But then he tensed as he realized what she’d called his grandfather. “Grampa X?”
Why would she refer to him as that?
Could she be...
Cole’s heart slammed against his ribs as the thought occurred to him. Could she be his?
Shawna had been so busy avoiding Cole that she’d lost track of her daughter. There were so many people in Xavier’s home—so many mourners. Emery had been a wonderful man, sweet and caring. He hadn’t deserved to die like he had. But then nobody did.
He had only been gone a couple of days, and she already missed him—so much. And so did Maisy. But Shawna didn’t miss Emery like she’d missed Cole. While she’d loved Emery, she’d never been in love with him.
He hadn’t cared, though. He hadn’t been in love with her either. They had only been very good friends. And because neither had been able to spend their lives with the one they really loved, they had decided to build a life together—for Shawna’s baby.
Maisy...
Where had she gone?
Had all the sympathy and tears gotten to be too much for her? It had for Shawna.
She felt like a hypocrite. Everyone thought she and Emery had had the perfect marriage. But they hadn’t had a real marriage at all.
But maybe that was what had made it perfect. They hadn’t had to deal with the mess of real love—with the passion, with the insecurity and hurt.
After Cole, Shawna had vowed to never again risk that kind of pain. And she’d vowed to be Emery’s wife. She’d never expected him to leave her like this.
She had thought that maybe someday he would leave her to finally be with the person he really loved. She had wished him that happiness, and for the past few days, he’d seemed hopeful that it might finally be possible.
Was that person here among the other mourners? Shawna had no idea who it was. Emery had never told her the name of his beloved. Maisy might know, though. She was the epitome of little pitchers having big ears; the child never missed a bit of gossip.
Unfortunately...
Was she hiding somewhere now, eavesdropping on conversations? Or had she gone to the library to find solace in her books?
Shawna slipped through a group of mourners in the hall, passing them with nods but not letting them stop her. She had a sudden instinct that she needed to find Maisy. Now. She quickened her step and rushed through the open pocket doors into the library. And a gasp slipped through her lips when she found Maisy—talking to her father.
Cole stared down at the little girl, and Shawna could see the speculation on his face. He was wondering...
If he realized...
He would hate her even more than Shawna hated him.
“Hey, Maisy,” she called out to her daughter. “You know what I’ve told you about talking to strangers.”
Maisy laughed as if Shawna were joking. Had the little girl figured it out? Or had she overheard the speculation about her paternity that had been rampant ever since Shawna had started showing. Fortunately it had taken a while for her pregnancy to show. Or it wouldn’t have been just speculation.
“Cole isn’t a stranger, Mommy,” Maisy protested. “He’s Grampa X’s grandson.”
Cole turned toward Shawna and arched one of his dark blond brows. “Grampa?”
“He insists she call him that,” Shawna said, “since we’ve been staying with him.” Actually he’d insisted on it even before that. She suspected he knew the truth, although he’d never outright asked her.
“You live here?” Cole asked, his jaw dropping in shock.
“I work for your grandfather,” she said. She hadn’t intended to quit her job at the hospital, but Xavier hadn’t had to do much to talk her into it. She’d been devastated when he’d come into the ER while she was working. He’d been so close to death.
She had already lost so many people she cared about. She had vowed to do whatever she could to keep Xavier alive. But that had meant quitting her job at the ER. She’d even had to scale back on the hours she spent at the high school as assistant coach to the cheerleading squad. And that was a job she’d done since she’d been in high school herself. That was the job that had brought about her friendship with Emery.
Had nobody told Cole that she was working for his grandfather now? But then he rarely had anything to do with his family. She could understand his reasons regarding the rest of them.
But his grandfather...
And his mom?
She could not understand Cole cutting the two of them out of his life. She would do anything to have her family back again. But her parents had died, in a tragic accident on one of their weekly date nights, when she was so young that she sometimes struggled to remember them. Would Maisy remember Emery?
He had been so good to the little girl. He’d treated her like she was his. He could not have loved her any more had she been. Shawna hadn’t had that experience with her aunt and her cousins when she’d come to live with them. If it hadn’t been for Cole...
She would have felt so alone. But the first day of elementary school, Cole had beat up her cousin for her and had threatened he would hurt the kid worse if he ever picked on her again. Cole had been her hero back then.
Now he was her nightmare.
“I work for Grandfather now, too,” Cole said.
Her stomach twisted into knots at the reminder. “He shouldn’t have hired you,” she said. “I have no need for a bodyguard.”
“Yes, you do!” Maisy said. “I don’t want anything to happen to you!”