HAD BEEN a mistake. Sharon had realized that even before Parker Payne had kissed her. She should not have come here. But she had been warned to trust no one else. So she hadn’t told the police anything—not that she’d had much to tell them. She really had no idea who was trying to kill her or why. But she hadn’t told the officers about the other attempts on her life.
And she had tried to pass this one off as her car being mistaken for someone else’s—maybe even Parker Payne’s. He was the one who someone was trying to kill—or so the news reports had claimed.
The gray-haired police officer opened the door of the vacant doctor’s office he had used to question her and held it for her. She had her hands full with the diaper bag and the sleeping baby. Ethan had exhausted himself from crying, but even in slumber, he clung to her, strands of her hair clutched in his chubby little fists.
How could she love this child so much? He had never been part of her plan. She had never wanted to marry or have children; she had intended to focus only on her career.
“You’re very lucky, miss,” the officer told her.
How? Along with her car, Sharon had lost her purse and her suitcases. She sighed. “I know it was just a vehicle...”
She could replace the money and other lost items; she would not have been able to replace Ethan. But even though he hadn’t been hurt in the explosion, she was still going to lose him.
To his father...
“The car wasn’t the only thing lost,” the officer informed her. “The bomb didn’t go off until someone started the engine.”
“But I had the keys,” she murmured. But when she patted the pocket on the front of the diaper bag, she realized they weren’t there. She must have left them dangling from the ignition.
“Security cameras picked up someone checking out cars in the lot, obviously looking for one to steal,” the officer said.
“Someone was trying to steal my car?” Because she had left the keys and the purse and the suitcases...
How had she been so careless? She’d had her hands full with Ethan. But she’d also been scared to bring Parker Payne a baby he hadn’t even known he had.
Shaking his head as if in pity of the dead carjacker, the officer said, “He picked the wrong car to steal.”
And he’d died because of it—because of her. She gasped as guilt and regret overwhelmed her. But then a strong hand gripped her shoulder, squeezing gently as if offering reassurance.
She glanced up at Parker Payne. He was dressed in a shirt nearly as blue as his brilliant eyes; it was tucked into a pair of faded jeans. She kind of missed the hospital gown.
“Did the security cameras pick up who planted the bomb?” Parker asked the officer.
The older man shook his head again with regret. “The bomber knew where the cameras were and avoided them. We’re going to have the techs go over the footage again to see if they can find anything usable.”
Parker nodded in approval.
She was surprised the officer had been so free with information about a police investigation. But then the older man clasped Parker’s shoulder.
“Glad you’re alive, Payne,” he said. “Losing your father was hard enough.”
A muscle twitched along Parker’s clenched jaw, and he nodded again.
“You tired of working for your brother yet?” he asked. “We’d love to have you back on the force.”
Parker arched a brow as if in skepticism of the older man’s claim.
“Well, maybe not now,” the officer amended, “but once you find out who’s trying to kill you...”
“That’ll be soon,” Parker promised.
“We’ll help,” the officer said. He turned to Sharon. “But until that person is caught, you might want to stay away from Mr. Payne, miss. For your own safety...”
She had already discovered she wasn’t safe anywhere, either.
“We’ll protect her, too,” Parker said. “It’s what Payne Protection does.”
His family ran a security firm; he acted as a bodyguard. But what happened when he was the one needing protection? Who protected him?
He stepped back to allow the officer to pass him, and she saw the others standing just down the hall. The brothers who looked so much like him and the other two men who looked like each other with their blond hair and light-colored eyes. All of the men watched him and her carefully, as if they didn’t even trust her not to try to kill him.
But then, they were smart to trust no one—especially not her. She needed to tell him the truth. But when she turned back to him and found him staring in wonder at the sleeping baby she held, she realized that he already knew.
“He is your son,” she said.
“I know.” But he shook his head as if he was still in denial of being a dad. Or maybe that wasn’t what he was denying....
He was denying her.
Pain clutched her heart, and even though it killed her to admit it, she added, “I am not his mother.”
“I know.”
Of course he knew. Despite the concussion, he would have remembered her had they ever been involved. But they would have never been involved. Even when they’d previously met, they hadn’t been formally introduced; they had only glanced at each other in passing. Apparently he hadn’t noticed her, but she had noticed him. It was impossible to not notice a man as devastatingly handsome and charming as Parker Payne.
But he wasn’t her type any more than she was his. She would never have gone for a man with his reputation or with his good looks. The only men she had ever dated, and there had been only a few, had been as serious about their education and their careers as she had been.
Before her little man had come along. Before Ethan...
So what was she supposed to do now? Hand Parker Payne his son and walk away? That was what she had been instructed to do, but her car was gone now. Her purse and money, too. She had no means with which to walk away...even if she could bring herself to turn her little man over to strangers.
“You’re coming with me,” he told her, as if he had read her mind or, more likely, seen her indecision. “And you’re going to tell me what the hell is going on....”
If only she knew...
But just as she hadn’t immediately admitted that she wasn’t Ethan’s mother, she stalled on admitting her ignorance, too. She needed more time with the little boy—enough time to make sure he would be safe...without her.
Parker’s hand moved to her elbow now, as he guided her toward his family and friends. “We need a diversion,” he told them, “a way to get out of here and make sure that no one follows us.”
One
