Hazel didn’t know why he had lied. She could only guess he had done so because he was afraid she was using him for his money. The last she had heard, he was living in Florida off his trust fund. Hazel had tried to get child support but he always evaded the attempts. Eventually she gave up and chalked him up as a deadbeat dad, albeit a wealthy one. She didn’t have to be told he had abandoned her and Evie because he was incapable of accepting any real responsibility. She wanted to thank him for leaving instead of putting her through a life of struggle with a man like him. She also held a lot of animosity toward him, a man who could have easily afforded to help her out but had not. What kind of person did that? And how had she never seen that about him?
“You weren’t naive,” Callum said. “I bet he liked you, maybe even loved you, but he must have known you had higher expectations than he could deliver on when it comes to making a family. He misled you because he was probably tired of being identified as a senator’s son.”
Of course, she thought the same, except her expectations were pretty simple. She didn’t require anyone rich or anyone with specific personality traits. She only wanted someone decent. She had told Ed she wanted a good and honest man like her father had been, like so many other men she had grown up around.
“Why bother lying, though, about who he was and about his ex-wife?” Hazel still wanted to know, to this day. “He must have known the truth would come out eventually.” Hazel would have left him after learning about his deception.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Hazel. Any man would be a fool not to want you.”
Ed had lied in order to have her, even if for just a little while. He had never talked about marriage with her, a fact she’d only thought of after he was gone. Then she realized what Callum had just said. Did he want her?
“What about you?” she asked, flirting back.
“I’ve never been married,” he said, “and I’m not lying about that.” He grinned.
She laughed lightly and briefly, believing him. It was easy to talk with him. Feeling much more comfortable with him, she stopped herself from enjoying this too much. Hadn’t she just finished telling him about the biggest mistake she ever made with a man? She would never regret Evie, obviously, but Evie’s father was nothing to brag about. She’d rather not wind up having to say the same thing about Callum—or any man. And despite knowing she was biased, she didn’t trust anyone wealthy.
“You better get packing,” Callum said.
Yes. They’d better pack—rather than play on their attraction to one other.
Callum leaned against the door frame of Evie’s bedroom, watching Hazel pack a bag. She glanced up and saw him.
“Bored?” Her eyes glowed a green hint of her name. Long and dark, finger-tempting wavy hair fell over slender shoulders and framed a remarkably pretty face. Tendrils of that silky splendor curled around melon-shaped breasts. He felt his defenses rise. She had a daughter. A really cute one.
“No.” He would just rather stare at her. This sudden chemistry threw him off balance.
With a soft smile, she resumed packing.
In just the brief time he had been around Evie—rescuing her, watching her fascination with Kerry and then her bravery in going with the detective—the child had already touched his heart. Now he knew more than ever why he tried so hard to avoid protecting kids. The mothers were another issue completely.
Evie had punched her way through his usual, iron-walled barrier. She was about the same age his daughter would have been, had she and her mother survived. Callum shook off the thoughts. He was better shutting that off, contrary to what Charles said. Despite his cardinal rule never to protect mothers with kids, to leave that up to other bodyguards who didn’t share a history similar to his, he could not leave them at the mercy of a man who knew Evie had witnessed him dump a body in a trunk. Now here he was, in Hazel and Evie’s apartment, about to take them to the Dales Inn and live with them for however long it took to catch the bad guy.
Hazel finished packing for Evie and went into her bedroom to do the same for herself. Callum followed, she wasn’t sure whether out of boredom or because he just enjoyed watching her. The way he did made her acutely aware of him as a man.
“I bet my room is much smaller than the one you sleep in,” she said, still self-conscious of his wealth and her bad experience with a man with money.
Callum eyed her peculiarly. “It’s a nice apartment. And even though I’m a Colton, I don’t dwell on the wealth of my family.”
She believed that, but he also must have a sizable bank account, maybe a trust fund or something like that. Just like Ed. That put a sour taste in her mouth.
Taking the bags to the dining area next to the back entry, she saw Callum go to the mantel above the gas fireplace. She had an electronic photo album there. He gestured with his hand to it.
“These are great.”
There were lots of pictures of Evie doing all things Evie. Evie with a toothy smile and mouth smeared with ice cream. Evie holding a bunny rabbit. Evie riding a pony with Hazel. Evie and a friend dressed identically and striking a pose. Hazel and Evie cheek to cheek in a selfie. And so many more. Vacations Hazel had saved for, trips to Disney World and Yellowstone. Them at community events.
As he watched the pictures change, his expression changed. What about these photos put such a look of sadness on his face? She wanted to ask but didn’t.
“She’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said instead. “Ed taking off the way he did doesn’t even matter anymore. I mean, it did when I was pregnant. What kind of man can abandon their unborn baby?”
Callum didn’t say anything, just continued to look at the pictures.
“As soon as Evie was born, everything changed. I didn’t care about Ed anymore. She became my world. And she’s such a good kid. Even when she was a baby. She didn’t cry much, only when she needed something. She slept all night and still does. She rarely has tantrums and when she does, they’re over pretty quickly. I’m a lucky mom.”
Callum turned to look at her, some of the sadness leaving his eyes. “She’s an adorable girl.”
“Do you want kids some day?”
“I travel a lot. Usually I’m out of the country on assignments.”
He must be some bodyguard. “Do you protect a lot of affluent people?”
“Yes, and high targets for kidnapping in countries where that sort of thing happens.”
Dignitaries, politicians and executives for big companies, she supposed.
“I’m only here now to be near my father.”
His father had been shot. That must be so difficult, not knowing whether his dad would wake up or not. Callum must be close to his father if he’d changed his work schedule to be by the man’s side. She wondered if he regretted helping her, since she obviously was taking time away from his hospital visits.
“If you need to be with him...”
“I’ll visit him. I don’t have to be with him all the time. I do still have to work, after all. Just not out of state.”
Hazel smiled because this was the chattiest he had been since