Page 48 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Ushering Evie into the seat, Callum let Hazel bend to buckle her in. She looked through the opposite window at an SUV. The driver still wasn’t even paying attention to them. Callum saw he wore a cap and sunglasses, so recognizing him was still impossible. Callum thought it might be the same man who’d come after them before.

He saw another man ogling her as she got in the front passenger seat. Callum got behind the wheel, looking over at the SUV. The driver glanced their way but didn’t seem to have any peculiar reaction.

“This costume is attracting too much attention,” she said.

“Good, nobody is going to guess it’s you.”

“Evie might have made that SUV driver suspicious,” she said.

“Evie won’t be with us after today.”

As they moved out of the inn’s parking area, Callum glanced once more at the SUV. The driver paid them no attention as they passed. Evie would be safe. Callum leaned back, savoring the victory. He didn’t understand why or how, but Hazel and Evie were so important to him. His job of protecting them was so important to him. He looked over at Hazel, gorgeous and content in their successful getaway. He’d seen her satisfied in another way, too, and struggled to ward off the temptation to see that again.

* * *

“Hazel?”

Hazel’s brother was a couple of inches over six feet and built like a linebacker. Off duty, he sported jeans and a Kansas City Chiefs T-shirt. Callum could see the resemblance to Hazel in his thick dark hair and hazel-green eyes.

“Is that you?” her brother asked.

Hazel smiled big. She had called ahead to make sure Owen could take in Evie but she must look so different than her usual self right now. “Yes.”

“And Evie?”

Evie giggled. “Yes.”

“What’s with the look?” Her brother opened the door wider to let them in.

“I’ll explain.” Hazel entered the house.

After a two hour drive they’d arrived in this neat and tidy suburb of modern homes, some stucco, some more traditional, all with big front windows. Hazel’s brother’s house was two stories with a covered porch and a three-car garage.

The grayish-brown wooden floor of the foyer opened to a formal living room, with the kitchen and dining areas to the left. Stairs led up to the second level beyond the dining room.

“Callum, this is Owen and Jessica, my brother and his wife.” Hazel introduced them.

Callum shook Owen’s hand as his wife walked up beside him, a stunning woman with long dark hair and brown eyes. They made a handsome couple.

“Hi,” Jessica said with a wide, toothy smile.

“Hey there, Evie.” Owen crouched to Evie’s level, who clung to her mother’s leg in a sudden show of shyness.

“You remember your uncle, Evie,” Hazel said. “Say hello.”

“Hi,” Evie said quietly.

Hazel laughed, her affection and adoration coming out in the sound.

Callum hadn’t thought Evie had a shy bone in her body but meeting new people apparently made her withdraw. She’d done the same to him when they had first met. Kids.

“You’ve grown since I last saw you,” Owen said.

A beagle came trotting up with a wagging tail.

“Do you remember Olive?” Jessica asked.

“Yes.” Evie crept out from behind Hazel’s leg and knelt down before the beagle.

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