Her Christmas Guardian. Shirlee McCoy

needs to find the restroom,” Scout murmured, afraid to walk out into the parking lot. He’d follow her there. She was sure of it. After that...

       What would he do?

      Confront her?

      Worse?

      The store was filled with holiday shoppers, dozens of people crowding into Walmart’s long lines, all of them desperate for Christmas bargains.

      Would anyone notice if Scout was attacked?

      Would anyone intervene?

      Maybe, but she didn’t plan to stick around long enough to find out.

      She glanced at the man, hoping he didn’t notice her sideways look. He was still, hovering at the head of an aisle, pretending to look at cans of asparagus.

      She pivoted away, hurrying toward a restroom sign and the corridor beyond it. There had to be an emergency exit. She nearly ran to the end of the hall, stopping at double doors marked Employees Only.

      What would happen if she walked in?

      Would someone call the police? Set off an alarm?

      Would she be arrested? If she was, what would happen to Lucy?

      She looked at her little girl, smiling into dark brown eyes that were so much like Amber’s it hurt to look in them.

      “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered, and she hoped she was right. She’d made a lot of mistakes in her life. She’d done a lot of things she’d regretted, but she’d never regretted her friendship with Amber. She’d never regretted the promise she’d made to her.

      Even if she did sometimes wonder if she’d been right to make it.

      She glanced over her shoulder. No sign of the guy in the sport jacket. But her skin crawled, and her hair stood on end.

      Something wasn’t right, and that scared her more than anything else that had happened in the past couple of years.

      She pushed the door open, took a step into what must have been an employee break room. No one there. Thank goodness. Just vending machines, a microwave, a refrigerator. Straight across from where she stood, an external door with a small window offered the hope of escape she’d been looking for.

      “Everything okay, ma’am?” The voice was so unexpected, she jumped, whirling to face the speaker, her heart in her throat, her arms tightening around Lucy.

      Tall.

      That was the first impression she got.

      Very tall, because she was eye to chest, staring straight at a black wool coat that hung open to reveal a dark purple dress shirt.

      She looked up into ocean-blue eyes and a hard, handsome face, took in the black knit cap that almost covered deep red hair, the auburn stubble, the deep circles beneath the man’s eyes. He smiled, and his face changed. Not hard any longer. Approachable. The kind of guy a woman might put her trust in.

      If she ever put her trust in anyone.

      “I’m fine,” she managed to say.

      “You’re in the employee break room,” he pointed out, flashing an easy smile. There was nothing easy about the look in his eyes. She was being studied, assessed, filed away for future reference.

      “Yes. Well.” She glanced around, trying to think of a good excuse for being in a place she shouldn’t be. “I was looking for the restroom.”

      “You passed it.”

      “I guess I did.” Her cheeks heated, but she refused to look away. He hadn’t hauled out handcuffs or threatened to arrest her yet, so he probably wasn’t a security guard or police officer. She doubted he was working with the man who’d been following her. She’d have noticed him way before she’d noticed the other guy. That dark red hair and lanky height weren’t easy to miss. “I’ll just go find it.”

      She sidled past him, moving back into the hall, Lucy’s arms still tight around her neck. She’d do anything for her daughter. Anything. Even run away from everything she knew. Give up a job she loved. Say goodbye to friends and never contact them again.

      “Are you in some kind of trouble?” the guy asked, following her down the hall.

      Was she?

      She didn’t know, wasn’t made for intrigue and danger. She liked quiet predictability. No drama. No muss. Nothing that was even close to trouble. The one time she’d tried to break free, do something wild and reckless and completely different, she’d caused herself enough heartache to last a lifetime.

      No more.

      Never again.

      Except that she had done it again. Gone out on a limb, done something completely out of character. For different reasons, but the results had been the same. Trouble. It was breathing down her neck. She felt it as surely as she felt Lucy’s soft breath on her cheek.

      “Ma’am?” The man touched her arm, and she jerked back, surprised and a little alarmed. She’d kept mostly to herself since moving to River Valley, Maryland, spent all her time with Lucy or at work. She didn’t let people into their world, into the place she’d carved for them. The safe little house in the safe little neighborhood.

      “Are you in trouble?” he asked again, shoving his hands in the pockets of his black slacks and taking a step back.

      “No,” she mumbled even though she wasn’t sure. The guy in the sport jacket seemed to have disappeared, and she was beginning to think she’d let her imagination get the better of her. But if she hadn’t...?

       Then what?

      Could she run again?

      Did she need to?

      “Sure looks like you are to me.”

      “I’m fine,” she insisted, and he nodded solemnly, his blue eyes never leaving her face.

      “I’m glad to hear it, ma’am, but just in case you decide you’re not—” he pulled a wallet out of his pocket, took a business card from it “—take this. I can help. If you decide you need it.”

      She took the card. Plain white with black letters and a small blue heart in one corner. “‘Daniel Boone Anderson. Hostage Rescue and Extraction Team,’” she read out loud.

      He nodded. “That’s right.”

      “I’m not a hostage.” She tried to give the card back, but he shoved his hands in his pockets, still eyeing her solemnly.

      “That doesn’t mean you don’t need rescuing,” he responded.

      “I—”

      “Take care of yourself and that baby.” He nodded, one quick tilt of his head, and walked off, long legs eating up the ground so quickly he was out of the corridor and around the corner before she could blink.

      She shoved the card in her coat pocket.

      She wouldn’t use it. Couldn’t.

      She’d promised Amber that she wouldn’t tell anyone the truth about Lucy. She’d promised that no matter what happened, she’d keep it to herself. At the time, she’d expected Amber to be around, to help her navigate the world of subterfuge she’d agreed to. The fact that she wasn’t didn’t change the promise. Scout had an obligation to her friend. Even if she didn’t, she had an obligation to herself and to Lucy. She couldn’t cower in a store corridor, praying for rescue. She had to take action, do what needed to be done. Face her fear or call for help. One way or another, she needed to get moving.

      “Mama! Go!” Lucy cried, impatient, it seemed, with staying in one spot.

      “Okay, sweetie. I hear you.” She put her shoulders back and her chin up, marched back to the break room as if she owned the place. Walked through the room as if she had every