Page 37 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Her heart went out to him. He had suffered for so long in silence. “Callum, why?”

Pulling his hand away, he looked down at the bowl of cereal. “I...couldn’t.”

Until now, with her. He had told her.

“Were you engaged?” Hazel asked.

“Not yet. I was going to propose the next weekend.”

Seeing him drift off into that dark place, Hazel refrained from asking how the woman and the baby had died. This time she put her hand on his. “Thank you for telling me, Callum. I know how difficult that was for you.” He looked at her, the darkness fading. “I want you to know if you ever need someone to just listen, I can be that person for you.”

He took her hand in his. “I know you can, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to talk about her again.”

After long seconds of staring into his candid eyes, Hazel nodded. “Okay.”

“Are you going to be my daddy?” Evie blurted out.

“Evie,” Hazel admonished. “That is rude.” Clearly she hadn’t understood anything Hazel and Callum had just said. Adult talk.

Callum chuckled. “What makes you ask that, Evie?” Callum asked.

“You keep touching my mommy.”

“Your mother is a very good friend of mine.”

“I would like you to be my daddy,” Evie said.

“Evie, that is enough.”

Callum chuckled again and Hazel realized he had done so because she repeated “that’s enough” to Evie a lot. She smiled at him and then Evie.

The suite phone rang and Hazel went to answer it.

“Ms. Hart?”

“Yes?”

“We have a package that was delivered by courier for you at the front desk.”

That was odd. She hadn’t forwarded her mail, but was having it held at the post office. She’d pick it up there on occasion.

“All right. Could you have someone bring it up?” She hung up and faced Callum, who looked at her in question.

“There’s a package for me at the front desk.”

He immediately looked concerned.

Moments later a hotel worker knocked on the door. Callum answered, taking a cardboard overnight delivery envelope.

Well, it couldn’t be a bomb. It was too thin, and looked like it contained a letter.

He inspected it and then ripped open the top, taking out a typed letter. After he read it, he handed it to her.

In capital letters it said:

I WOULDN’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE IF I WERE YOU. JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE WITH A COLTON NOW DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE INVULNERABLE.

She looked up at him. “The shooter knows we’re here.” This was a small town and the Dales Inn the only hotel, but being stalked like this scared her.

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