Page 17 of Edinburgh Escape
“But you’ve come all this way to meet your relatives shortly after the patriarch of the family passed. That would make me suspicious. Why surface now, if not to claim an inheritance?”
“I contacted Ewan Drummond as soon as I found the connection on the ancestry app. I emailed him, asking questions about his father. He told me he’d died. He didn’t tell me when. When I told Ewan I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to meet him, he laughed and said it was just as well. He sounded like he hadn’t been very close to his father. We emailed a few more times, and then he invited me to his home. Since I’m free during the summer and have money in the bank that my mother left me, I accepted. I was so excited to learn I had a sibling.”
“Half,” Callum corrected.
“Half is better than none,” she said softly. “Up until I made that connection on the app, I had no siblings, no parents, grandparents or cousins. You wouldn’t know how that feels because, as you said, you’ve got loads of family.” She lifted her shoulders and let them fall. “I’m not going to claim any inheritance. I just want to meet my half-brother. What danger could there be in a casual meeting? It’s not like they’re going to throw me into a dungeon or push me off a cliff.”
“What about dropping you onto a train track?” Callum pointed out.
Her shoulders drooped. “You don’t think it was a random attack, do you?”
Callum shook his head. “My instinct says no.”
Her lips firmed. “I’m still going. I want to meet Ewan. He sounded so nice in his emails. Maybe once he knows I’m not after any inheritance, whoever feels threatened will calm down.”
Callum didn’t respond. He had the feeling the attack on the platform was a warning.
Maggie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m still going. I’ve come this far, it would be ridiculous not to.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “The question is, if you were sent to protect me, how do I explain why I showed up to the family home with a bodyguard in tow?”
“You don’t tell him I’m your bodyguard,” Callum said.
“If not a bodyguard, what do I tell them?”
“That I’m your travel companion,” he said. “Or you could say I’m your boyfriend or fiancé.”
Color flooded into her cheeks. “They’d expect us to show some signs that we’re an item.”
“I’m a good actor.” Callum grinned. “And I can give a very convincing kiss.”
The color in Maggie’s cheeks flamed a bright red. “Uh, hopefully...that won’t be...necessary.”
Callum shrugged. “We can play that by ear. You tell them what you want. But if you plan on staying at their home, I’ll need a plausible reason to join you there. Otherwise, I’ll be wandering around the home, like a stalker. They might call the local police and have me hauled off to jail. Then you’re on your own, completely at their mercy.”
For a long moment, Maggie sat in silence. Finally, she nodded. “Before I commit, I want to talk with Hank and Sadie.”
“We can do that,” he said and pulled out his cell phone and selected Hank’s number.
Chapter 4
Callum put his phone on speaker and turned the volume up.
Maggie leaned forward, her fists clenched in her lap, her breath arrested in her throat.
The ringer only ran once before a familiar voice answered, “Callum, Hank here, did you find Maggie?”
“Yes, sir,” Callum replied.
Maggie released the breath she’d held like a balloon deflating. Hank Patterson’s words confirmed what Callum had told her. Hank and Sadie had sent this man to protect her. She wasn’t sure what made her angrier, the fact that they’d gone against her wishes or the fact Callum had befriended her, not because he felt drawn to her, but because it would make it easier for him to do his job.
She was the job.
“Is that Callum?” Sadie’s voice sounded in the background on Hank’s line.
“It is,” Hank said, his voice a little faded as if he’d turned away from his phone. “Say hello.”
“Hi, Callum,” Sadie’s voice sounded sweet and clear.
Maggie couldn’t be mad at the petite blond movie star who’d been her friend since childhood.
