Lisa Childs - Colton's Cinderella Bride

Blake shook his head. “The department is spread too thin right now. Surely you must realize that—with a serial killer on the loose and then this...murder involving drugs...”

What the hell had happened to Red Ridge since he’d been gone? When he was growing up here, it used to feel like nothing ever happened—except for that one night. But now too much was happening in Red Ridge.

Too damn much crime...

Juliette’s face flushed again, and finally she nodded in agreement. “Our resources are limited right now...”

And they were about to get more limited. That was another reason Patience had called him. If their father lost Colton Energy, Red Ridge would lose their funding for the K9 program, as well. His late first wife’s trust had originally funded the program, and he’d taken over when that had run out.

If the program ended, then Juliette would probably lose her job—her way of supporting their daughter, which she’d been doing alone.

Until now.

“You’ll have to run it past the chief, though,” she cautioned him.

That wasn’t all Blake intended to run past the chief. He intended to make sure Juliette had protection, as well. But he didn’t bring it up now because he didn’t want to argue with her while she was upset.

“He doesn’t even want me going to visit Pandora at the safe house,” she remarked, and there was a little catch in her voice, as if she was choking down a sob.

Blake reached for her again, pulling her against him. His body tensed as attraction overwhelmed him.

“I’ve never been separated from her before,” Juliette said. “She’s never spent a night away from me...”

And his attraction cooled as his anger returned. Now he stepped back, breaking the physical connection with her. And physical was all they would ever have—if that. She was a woman he would never be able to trust—not after how she’d misled him five years ago.

Obviously she had not been the rich businesswoman he’d thought she was. And then to keep his daughter from him...

“I can’t say the same,” he remarked resentfully. “All I’ve been is separated from her. You should have told me...”

“I told you why,” she said, and she gestured at the door and that threshold. “I didn’t think you’d want to be part of her life.”

He shook his head, rejecting her excuse. “I should have been given the chance to decide that for myself,” he said. “You should have told me.”

She shrugged. “You were already gone.”

“But all my family is still in Red Ridge,” he said. Except for his mother, who was always traveling. “You could have found me.”

She snorted. “Like you tried to find me?”

“I told you, I tried,” he said. “But after you snuck out in the middle night without even giving me your last name, I didn’t have much to go on.”

“You walked right past me,” she said.

He laughed. Like that would have been possible. There was no way he wouldn’t have noticed her, especially after that night. “When?”

“The very next day,” she said. “Just out in the hallway.” She gestured toward the door again. “But then, I didn’t expect you to notice me. I was just the hired help.”

He snorted now. “Yeah, right...in that dress, those heels...” The earrings. He still had those. She’d left them on the nightstand next to the bed.

“Those were a tip from a hotel guest,” she said. “I was a maid here, putting myself through college.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What was that night about?” Had she deliberately set out to seduce him? To get pregnant? But if that had been her plan, why hadn’t she told him when she’d gotten pregnant?

If she’d been after money, that would have been the time for her to ask. But she’d never asked. She had raised their daughter all these years with no financial support from him. Unless she’d gotten it from someone else...

He narrowed his eyes and studied her face. “What were you after?”

Maybe it wasn’t him at all. His father dated only younger women. Blake felt physically sick at the thought of her with Fenwick Colton.

“Nothing,” she said. “I didn’t want anything from you then and I don’t want anything from you now.”

“You already took something from me,” he said. “My daughter—and nearly five years of her life.”

Juliette flinched. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t think you’d care...”

That night he’d told her so much—about his family—about himself. He’d been vulnerable with her in a way that he’d never been vulnerable with anyone else. Maybe she’d thought he was like his father despite his vow that he didn’t want to be. Maybe she’d thought he was too selfish to care about his kids or anyone else.

“You should have let me decide,” he said.

Her face flushed again, and she slowly nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “I can’t give those years back to you, but I can show you pictures. Videos. Christmas and birthdays and Halloween parties.”

His chest ached at the thought of all those milestones he’d missed. But photos and videos wouldn’t tell him what he really wanted to know. “What is she like?”

Juliette’s lips curved into a smile, and her already beautiful face became even more so as love radiated from within her. “She’s amazing. So sweet. So generous. So funny...” She chuckled as if remembering something.

Something he’d missed. He’d missed a lot of somethings that nothing could bring back. No matter what she told him.

She shared stories with him. Story after story about something Pandora had done or said. And finally she must have noticed that while he listened, he said nothing. His heart ached too much over all the time he’d lost with his child.

She reached out now and ran her hand down his arm. “I’m sorry,” she said again, and tears glistened in her blue eyes until she blinked them back. “I’m so sorry...” It was obvious she felt guilty now.

But Blake couldn’t absolve her of that guilt. He couldn’t change what had happened or get back those years he’d lost. And because of that, he would never be able to forgive her.

She had kept so much from him—his daughter and the truth about who and what she was. So he would never be able to trust her, either.

* * *

Finn looked pointedly at his wrist as he opened his condo door for his late-night visitor. He wasn’t wearing a watch, though. He’d taken that off when he’d gone to bed a couple of hours ago. He was not happy that he’d had to leave his sexy, naked fiancée in that bed alone to answer the door.

Not that anyone knew he was engaged. Because of that damn Groom Killer, he and Darby were forced to keep their engagement secret. He suspected theirs wasn’t the only secret engagement in town.

“What do you want, Blake?” He’d heard his billionaire cousin was back in Red Ridge, but he hadn’t seen him yet. He could have waited until daylight for that. Maybe Blake was still on whatever time zone he lived in now.

“I need to talk to you about Juliette...”

“Walsh?” Finn finished for him. That was the only Juliette he knew.

Blake’s handsome face twisted into a slight grimace as he nodded. “Yes, Walsh.”

Finn wrinkled his brow. “How do you know that particular K9 cop?” Juliette’s partner specialized in drug sniffing. Had Sasha gotten a hit on Blake?

A lot of spoiled rich kids got involved in drugs. But Blake, despite being the only male heir to the rich branch of the Colton family, wasn’t spoiled. Finn knew he’d worked damn hard to establish his own business without his father’s help. Maybe that was because he’d been trying to spite his father, though.