Soldier Bodyguard. Lisa Childs
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so much that Maisy immediately quieted.
While he held her on one of his mammoth arms, he tipped up her chin with his other hand. “I won’t let anything happen to your mother.”
Maisy blinked her thick black lashes and stared up at him with eyes that mirrored his. And panic clutched Shawna. How could he not know? How could he not stare into those eyes and immediately recognize that the little girl was his?
Maisy tilted her head as she studied his face. Did she see it, too? Or was she trying to determine whether or not to believe him? “Really?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, really,” he assured her. “I’m a bodyguard. That’s what I do—I protect people.”
A shaky little sigh slipped through Maisy’s rosebud lips. “I wished you would’ve protected Daddy.”
“I didn’t know he was in danger,” Cole told her. “Or I would’ve.”
And now he’d lied to their child twice—first when he’d promised to protect Shawna and now when he’d claimed he would have protected Emery. She was aware that her friend had tried to reach out to him. A hopeless romantic, Emery had wanted to help Shawna find her happy ending, even though at that time he’d given up on ever having his own. After that conversation with Cole, he’d given up on hers, as well.
“Emery wasn’t in danger,” Shawna said defensively. “What happened was just a horrible accident.”
“It was a bomb,” Maisy said, her little voice quavering.
Shawna flinched. Her little spy needed to stop eavesdropping on adult conversations. Unfortunately, she’d had a front row seat to the explosion.
Cole turned toward her and arched a dark blond brow again. He was surprised, too, that the child knew so much. But before Shawna could explain, Maisy added, “I heard it ’splode. It broke my window.”
The blast had broken several windows in the cute little bungalow while rattling the rest of them.
“It happened here?” Cole asked.
Shawna shook her head. “Our home.”
She had been there, packing up more of their stuff to move to the Bentler estate. Maisy had spent the night there—with Emery, who’d still been living in their house. He’d just been leaving for work.
“Grampa X says this is our home now,” Maisy said. “That he needs us to live here, to take care of ’im.”
Shawna suppressed a derisive snort. Sure, Xavier had had a heart attack. He had health issues. But he was the one taking care of them—especially now.
“Why don’t you go check on Grampa?” Shawna suggested. “Make sure he’s okay.”
The little girl nodded and wriggled down from Cole’s arms. He released her quickly, almost as if he was surprised to find himself holding her. Apparently his instinct to comfort and protect hadn’t completely deserted him. Maybe he’d lost it only that day he’d broken their engagement and Shawna’s heart. He hadn’t comforted and protected her then. He’d just walked away.
Maisy hadn’t walked away yet. Despite wriggling out of his arms, she caught his hand and tugged on it until he hunched over so they were face to face. Then she lifted her other hand to his cheek and stared into his eyes.
She was such an observant little girl, which unnerved Shawna for so many reasons. How would she feel if she learned the truth? Would she hate Shawna for lying to her?
“You promise you will protect my mommy?” the little girl asked the bodyguard.
Cole stared at her for several long seconds before solemnly nodding and replying, “I promise.”
His word was good enough for the little girl who dropped her hand from his face and scampered out of the library.
Still crouched down, Cole released an unsteady breath. And panic stole Shawna’s breath away entirely. He’d noticed. He suspected...
“She’s quite precocious,” he remarked. Then he straightened up and looked down at Shawna, his blue eyes intense. “How old is she?”
She knew what he was asking. What he wanted to know...
Unlike him, she couldn’t outright lie like he had to their daughter. “Five,” she said, then forced herself to add the word that would mislead him. “Just five.”
Implying that she’d just had a birthday, which would have made her too young to be his daughter. But Maisy hadn’t just had a birthday. That special day was actually coming up soon. In just a couple of weeks, she would be six. He couldn’t be here for her birthday, or he would know what the rest of his family only suspected.
She’d tried to convince them that Maisy had been premature. Since she was so tiny, they had believed her even though she’d actually been two weeks late. But then they’d probably wanted to believe her. They wouldn’t want Maisy to be another possible heir they would have to battle. They constantly bickered with each other—over their allowances from their grandfather and over the money they would eventually inherit from him.
That was another reason why Shawna had agreed to become Xavier’s private nurse. She wanted him to live forever, both because she loved the old man and to spite his spiteful family. They’d never treated Cole well either, especially after he’d been made the sole heir of his father’s estate.
Not that she cared about Cole anymore.
She loved Xavier, though. He had always been so good to her. All those times Cole had left her for boot camp and for those long deployments, they had bonded together over their concern for him. Even after Cole had broken up with her, she’d still been there for Xavier, offering him comfort and hope, while he worried about his favorite grandchild.
Shawna couldn’t entirely meet Cole’s blue-eyed gaze, but she could feel him staring at her. Goose bumps of awareness and fear rose on her skin. She shivered a little.
“She’s sweet,” he said. “Looks just like you did.”
“My mini-me,” she said. “That’s what Emery always called her.” Her voice cracked as she thought of her dear friend. More tears threatened despite the fact that she should have already been completely dried out. She blinked them back.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.
It was a loss. But it wasn’t her first one. Not by far.
First she’d lost her parents. And then she had lost the love of her life: Cole. She would not feel sorry for herself, though, not when she had so many other blessings.
Like Maisy...
Emery was the one who had lost everything—his life.
“I don’t understand it,” she mused. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to harm Emery.”
“I read the police report,” Cole said. “The bomb wasn’t in his car. It was in yours. The bomb was meant for you.”
Shawna gasped, feeling as though she’d been punched. Of course it had been her car. She hadn’t been using it since she’d started working for Xavier. He always insisted that she use his car and driver. So when Emery’s vehicle hadn’t started that morning, she’d suggested he use hers. She’d urged him to take it and keep it.
The little SUV had just been sitting in the garage for weeks. She’d teased him about letting the newer vehicle sit while he continued to drive his clunker. But because theirs had never been a real marriage, Emery had always been hesitant about using anything of hers. He had been hesitant that morning, too.
If only she hadn’t pushed him. She should have had him use Xavier’s car and driver instead. But then she and Maisy might have gotten into hers.
She didn’t care about her own life. But Maisy was just a child. She had her entire life ahead of her.
The