Page 35 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“How many have you had since your last serious relationship?” She grinned before opening the oven to check on the pizza.

Wily woman. Lucky for her, this was something he could talk about.

“Not many. Seven.”

She planted her hands on the counter beside him. “Seven?”

That was a lot to her? “Yes. Minimal dates.”

She mouthed minimal dates and scrunched up her brow in question. “You cannot tell me that some of those women didn’t mean something more than a date.”

As she chopped lettuce for what he presumed would be a healthy salad to go with their not-so-healthy pizza, he realized she had concluded he had had not more than a casual fling in the past five years. How could she? She knew nothing about him, really.

“What happened to you?”

Her earnest question put him at odds with how to respond. “Nothing.”

She chopped a carrot, the knife hitting the cutting board hard. “Did any of them matter?”

“They all mattered.”

She continued chopping and, without looking at him, said, “No. Really matter.”

He had to be honest. “They all mattered, Hazel. They just deserved better than what I could give.”

“How many were you serious with?”

Why did she ask? Why was that important to her? Was she trying to find out what she was up against?

“Five or six. Some lasted a few months, others a week or two. One pretty recent.” When it got too serious, then he walked.

She stopped chopping the poor carrot, her head bowing slightly and her shoulders slumping equally indiscriminately. Still keeping the knife on the cutting board, flush with a carrot, she turned her head to see him. “What happened, Callum?”

He silently cursed. No one had ever pushed him like this. He glanced over at Evie, who was still engrossed in her movie and not paying them any attention.

He had never told anyone about Annabel. Few knew she had been his girlfriend. Back then, he had been mainly in Texas, but he worked a lot. He had drifted away from his family, only seeing them on Christmas and Thanksgiving. He had brought Annabel to both holidays that last year. When asked later if he was still seeing her, he had only said no. Now he was about to tell Hazel. Why her?

He met her eyes and could feel his soul pouring out through his. She blinked solemnly, putting down the knife and facing him. She put her hand on his cheek. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

The selflessness of her saying that tore through all of his resistance. She meant it. She respected his sensitivities. The connection between them strengthened, his to her, anyway. She was someone he could trust. Maybe it was timing more than anything else. Maybe, finally, he was ready to put in words what he had so far kept to himself.

“She died nearly five years ago.” Saying that felt like a regurgitation, it came up from inside him like sour milk. He felt sick. He put both hands on the kitchen island counter and lowered his head. “I’ve never told anyone this.”

Hazel’s hand touched his back, high and on the left. She caressed him in comfort. She didn’t press him, just waited. He could go on or he could stop right there. She wouldn’t force anything out of him.

“She was pregnant.” Callum choked back a powerful wave of anguish.

“Oh,” she breathed in heartfelt empathy. Not pity, no sympathy, just a profound understanding. She was a mother. She must know how terrible it would be to lose her child.

“We knew it was going to be a girl,” he said, barely getting the words out before his anguish became too unbearable.

Unable to continue, he pushed off the counter and walked toward his room.

Chapter 6

Hazel ordered room service the next morning. She had picked at her dinner the night before while Evie devoured hers. Callum had not come out of his room the rest of the night. Hazel had lost her appetite after hearing his gut-wrenching confession. She could not imagine the awfulness of losing a person you loved and a child all in one fell swoop. She had to assume he had really cared for the woman. Such crushing emotion would not have overcome him had he not.

She prepared Evie’s breakfast of cereal and fruit. Evie had complained about the fruit but Hazel said that after junking it up last night, she had to eat healthy today.

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