Colton's Cinderella Bride

by Lisa Childs

  Juliette shared his confusion. Marnie Holloway was a wealthy widow. She could have afforded a much more expensive venue. She could have—and probably should have—sprung for a destination wedding.

  “The groom had found someone online who’d agreed to perform the ceremony,” Carson said.

  As chief, Finn had put out a warning weeks ago that nobody should attempt to get married until the killer was caught. Between sobs Marnie had said that she’d warned her groom it wasn’t safe, but he’d been too eager to wait.

  Probably too eager for her money.

  “So this wedding was kept really hush-hush,” the chief mused.

  Juliette knew where he was headed with this—toward his cousin’s innocence, although he’d done his best to appear impartial since that first murder. Bo Gage’s.

  “Demi couldn’t have heard about their engagement,” Juliette said for him. “It had to be someone right here in town.” Someone watching and listening...

  She shivered as she considered that idea—two killers out there now...

  She was glad that Pandora was in the safe house with Elle protecting her. But the little girl wasn’t the only person Juliette was worried about.

  She glanced again at Blake. He had to stop following her around; it was too dangerous. His near miss at the plant nursery should have proved that to him. As she’d told him that night, he could have wound up in a body bag for real or, like Dean, in a hospital bed.

  “It wasn’t Demi,” Brayden said, to Carson more than anyone else.

  Carson looked like he was about argue, but then he just shrugged and turned away from Brayden. He called out to Dante Mancuso, who was guiding Flash around the parking lot, looking for evidence. “Any scent of...”

  “Demi?” Brayden finished for him.

  Dante didn’t deny having Flash check for it. He just shook his head.

  “That proves she hasn’t been here,” Brayden said. “Demi had nothing to do with this murder.”

  There had been evidence tying her to the other ones, though—evidence that not even her loyal brother had been able to explain. Of course, it could have been planted; he had raised that possibility.

  “Demi knows dogs,” Carson reminded him. “She knows how to get rid of or change her scent.”

  “That’s a reach and you know it,” Brayden said.

  “We need to focus on this murder, this victim,” Finn advised them. “Sounds like Godfried or whoever the hell he really is might have made some enemies of his own.”

  Carson nodded. “A person usually has a reason to use a bunch of different aliases. He or she either doesn’t want to be found or caught...” He was obviously wondering if Demi Colton had changed her name. Maybe that was how she’d eluded all the people looking for her.

  “We also need to have Katie check out all those identities of our victim,” Finn said, referring to their tech whiz, Katie Parsons, “and see if he was ever romantically linked with Hayley Patton.”

  Was the chief beginning to suspect Hayley? Juliette wasn’t a big fan of Bo Gage’s grieving fiancée. They’d gone to the same school and Hayley had always treated Juliette like she was trash—even though they hadn’t come from all that different backgrounds. Not like she and Blake had...

  Just like she’d told Pandora, her daddy was a prince—or at least Red Ridge’s equivalent of one. Her face heated with another rush of embarrassment that the little girl had shared that story with him. For that one night, when they’d created their daughter, Juliette had been his Cinderella. But unlike in the fairy tale, she and Blake were not going to wind up together.

  He must have still been furious with her. He hadn’t sought her out last night. He hadn’t joined her when his bodyguards had slipped her into the safe house to tuck in Pandora for the night, either.

  The little girl had asked about her daddy—had wondered where he was. From just that one meeting, she had gotten attached. Juliette never should have let them meet—not until she’d known how much a part of their daughter’s life he wanted to be. She had a feeling that he didn’t know that yet either, though.

  “You all need to be extra careful out there,” the chief cautioned the officers in the parking lot. He stepped closer and said to Juliette, “Especially you...”

  She understood. Since the Groom Killer had struck again, the department would need to focus on finding that killer and not the one who had threatened her and Pandora.

  “I’m glad now that Blake hired that security agency,” Finn added.

  She couldn’t deny that they’d helped her—by getting her to see her daughter. But those visits were bittersweet because they were so short. She needed to be with Pandora again—home with her again.

  She pointed to Blake. “You need to order him to back off.”

  “He’s bothering you?” Finn asked.

  Blake wasn’t even talking to her. But Juliette nodded. “I can’t worry about him while I’m watching out for the killer.”

  “Then maybe you need to go into that safe house with your daughter,” the chief said.

  How could he make such a suggestion when there had just been another murder? Or maybe that was why he had.

  But everyone else would be focused on finding the Groom Killer now, and the man who’d threatened Pandora could get away with murder. Maybe even theirs...if he managed to carry out that threat he’d made.

  Chapter 10

  Blake hadn’t slept for the past couple of nights, so he should have been exhausted. But every time he closed his eyes he saw that dead man, propped against the red Corvette with blood soaking his shirt and pooled all around him. And he also saw Dean Landon, the injured officer...

  Blood oozing from his belly wound which was where one of the killer’s bullets had struck him right beneath his vest. That injury had looked bad, too. Like it could have been fatal.

  But that bullet had been intended for Juliette. The killer was out to get her and their child...

  He shivered. But instead of pulling up his covers, he kicked them off. He couldn’t stay in bed. He should be parked outside Juliette’s house, making sure she was safe.

  For Pandora’s sake. The little girl could not lose her mother. Blake didn’t want to lose her, either. Not that he had her...

  He just didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. But with the job she had, it was almost inevitable. As a police officer, she put herself in danger every day. And now, with the killer on the loose, she was in danger every minute of every day and night.

  He jerked open a dresser drawer and reached for a pair of jeans. But before he could step into them, a knock rattled the door in the living area of the suite. He quickly pulled up the jeans and headed toward the door.

  It was late. Who could be visiting him now?

  Finn trying to once again talk him out of tailing Juliette? His cousin had tried that morning—at the crime scene. He’d said that Juliette was not appreciative of his constant presence. That Blake was more a distraction than a help...

  He couldn’t be any help in finding the killer. But he could be an extra set of eyes, so that she didn’t get hurt trying to find the murderer. And for some reason, he just needed to be near her—to assure himself that she was all right.

  He paused at the door, which rattled with another knock. He would be lucky if his visitor was Finn. It could be his dad or Patience at the door. He drew in a deep breath then pulled it open...and expelled that breath as if he’d been punched.

  He’d expected anyone else at the door but her—but Juliette.

  “Miss me?” he asked as he stepped back.

  She walked in and slammed the door behind herself, then winced as she must have realized how loudly it had closed. Her face flushed, but then, her skin had already looked red when he’d opened the door to her. Maybe she’d gotten sunburned in the parking lot earlier that day.

&n
bsp; But when he noticed she was glaring at him, he realized she was angry—really angry.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked.

  She pointed her finger at him. “You are. You’re what’s wrong.”

  He shook his head. “You’re wasting your time. Finn already talked to me today. And like I told him, I’m not backing off. I’m going to keep following you.”

  “To your death,” she said.

  “That’s my choice,” he said. “I’m a big boy. I know the risks.”

  “Death,” she said. “That’s what you’re risking. You saw it today. Do you want to wind up like that murder victim? With a bullet through your heart?”

  He wasn’t worried about a bullet. He was worried about her. Their daughter needed her. He was also beginning to worry that he did, too. She was so damn beautiful that his blood pumped hot and fast through his veins. He wanted to be with her—badly.

  Like they’d been together that night so long ago...

  His lips curved into a grin, and he teased her, “I didn’t know you cared so much about me.”

  Her eyes narrowed more in an angrier glare. “I don’t care and apparently neither do you!”

  His head was beginning to pound—from her yelling and from her confusing him. He was following her around—didn’t he care too much?

  “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “I’m talking about Pandora.”

  He sucked in a breath. “What about her? Is she okay?”

  Juliette shook her head, tangling her blond hair around her face. When she was working she wore it in a ponytail. Otherwise it was down and loose around her shoulders like now.

  Blake felt the silky strands of it when he grasped her shoulders. “What? What happened? Did he find the safe house?”

  Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea for her and him to visit the little girl. Maybe despite the bodyguards’ best efforts, they had been followed.

  “No,” she said. “That’s not the issue. Neither is the killer. You’re the issue. You haven’t found your way back to the house again.”

  He furrowed his brow as confusion rushed over him. “I don’t understand...”

  “And neither does Pandora,” she said. “She doesn’t understand why her daddy hasn’t come back to see her. She doesn’t understand why I’m the only one tucking her in at night.”

  Blake grimaced at the twinge in his heart. “I—I didn’t think...”

  She shrugged off his hands as if she couldn’t bear to have him touching her. “No, you didn’t think of Pandora—of how you could disappoint her.”

  “I thought of that,” he said. “That’s why I haven’t been back. I didn’t want to disappoint her.” Like his father had disappointed him so many times.

  Even now...

  Patience had claimed Fenwick wanted to see him, but he hadn’t come by the hotel. He hadn’t called. That was just Blake’s sister’s wishful thinking—that their father had enough heart to actually care about any of them.

  And if his father didn’t have enough heart, Blake wasn’t sure that he did either.

  “You disappointed her by not coming back,” Juliette said. “She keeps asking me where you are...” Her voice cracked with emotion.

  And Blake’s heart felt like it cracked with regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think she would care that much.”

  “For years she has asked me about her father,” Juliette said.

  “And you told her I was a prince,” he said.

  Her face flushed again, but this time it was definitely with embarrassment. Then she lifted her chin and replied, “Well, you are.”

  He snorted.

  “You’re the only male heir of Fenwick Colton,” she said. “Doesn’t that make you the prince of Red Ridge?”

  “Hell, no,” he said. “My father doesn’t care about having a son or a daughter. He doesn’t care about his kids at all or he wouldn’t be trying to marry off one of my sisters to some rich old man to save Colton Energy.”

  “Is that why you came back to Red Ridge?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know why I came back. I can’t bail him out.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” she asked.

  “Can’t,” he said. “Not without a lot of my employees losing their livelihoods.” And he wouldn’t do that to people who’d been loyal to him. “Fenwick will need to find another way to save his business—besides selling my sister Layla to the highest bidder.” Which sounded pretty much like what he’d done.

  “Fenwick Colton is Pandora’s grandfather,” she murmured, as if the fact had just occurred to her. She shuddered.

  He reached out again, settling his hands on her shoulders to offer a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to worry. I will never let him hurt her.”

  “I wish you could say the same about you,” she said.

  And that twinge struck his heart again. She’d made it clear that he had already hurt the little girl. He stepped back, dropping his hands from her shoulders. Then he ran one, which was shaking slightly, over his bed head tousled hair.

  “That was the last thing I wanted to do...” he murmured. “That’s why I stayed away the past couple of nights. I didn’t want to screw this up...”

  But he had. He turned and headed to the glass exterior wall that looked out over the glittering lights of the city below. There weren’t many—not in comparison to his places in London, Hong Kong or Singapore. He was like his mother, too, and she hadn’t known how to be a parent any more than his father had. “I don’t know how to do this...”

  “What?” she asked. And he saw her reflection in the glass as she walked up behind him. She was wearing another skirt. This one was a dark denim, and it was short—probably in deference to the heat. And probably also because of the heat, she wore a sleeveless blouse with it. She looked so damn beautiful—no matter what she wore.

  He wanted to see her again in nothing at all. But she was too angry with him. And he was...

  He reached for the resentment, trying to pull it up again. Trying to be angry with her for keeping him from his child. But the past couple of nights he’d kept himself from her.

  He was scared.

  “I don’t know how to be a father,” he said. “I don’t know anything about kids—about how to talk to them or relate to them...”

  “What!” she said again. But it sounded more like an exclamation than a question. And she grabbed his arms and spun him around to face her. “You were great with her that first time. That’s why she misses you—that’s why she wants to know everything about you. And she wants you to know everything about her...” She bit her lip now and tears pooled in her eyes.

  And his heart lurched in his chest again. It wasn’t just the child he’d hurt; he’d hurt the mother, too. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

  She shook her head. “I shouldn’t be jealous, but I am. It’s been just her and me all these years.”

  He felt that twinge again, and it must have shown in his face because she squeezed his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that was selfish.”

  Selfish. Or selfless? He wasn’t sure now. She’d already been struggling to pay off her mother’s medical bills—according to Finn—and to put herself through college. And then she’d taken on the expense of raising a child alone. How the hell had she managed?

  She was incredible.

  “I’m so sorry I kept her from you,” she continued. “I should have told you. I could have tracked you down through your family. I know that...” But her face flushed again with the embarrassment Blake knew that would have caused her.

  And he honestly wasn’t sure they would have believed her. He’d never talked about her, had never talked about that night. “I still need to tell them,” he said.

  She tensed. “You haven’t?”r />
  He shook his head. “I said before—I’m not close to my family...” And he was beginning to see maybe that was as much on him as on them. He’d even pulled back from his daughter just days after realizing he had one. He drew in a deep breath. “But I’ll do better. I’ll do better with Pandora.”

  She tilted her head and studied him, as if wondering if she should believe him.

  Apparently he wasn’t the only one struggling with trust.

  “I don’t want to hurt her,” he said. “That’s why I stayed away the past couple of nights.”

  “I was surprised,” Juliette said. “You’ve been following me everywhere—but there. It seems like you would rather put yourself in danger than see your daughter.”

  She had no idea how dangerous seeing that little girl was for Blake. He wasn’t just afraid of screwing up and hurting her. He was afraid of getting hurt. It was easier for him to risk his life than his heart.

  “It’s hard to see her,” he said, “and think about what I missed.”

  She flinched now, and the tears that had glistened in her eyes spilled over, sliding down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I can’t give those years back to you.”

  She couldn’t.

  He would just have to accept that and let go of his anger. “Just like how you were jealous tonight when she asked about me,” he said. “It’s hard to see the two of you together—that bond you share. It’s beautiful, but it’s something I will never have with her.”

  “That’s not true—”

  “I’m a stranger she wants to get to know. You’re the parent who was always there.” And his voice cracked with emotion.

  Juliette closed her eyes, but the tears kept sliding down her face. Her emotion moved him to put aside his resentment to comfort her. He pulled her into his arms and held her close.

  She tilted her face up to his. “I’m sorry. I really am sorry...”

  He slid his fingertips along the delicate line of her jaw. She was so beautiful, so fragile-looking, but that fragility was just an illusion. She was incredibly strong—to survive what she had with losing her mother at such a young age and to do the work that she did as a K9 officer.