Colton's Cinderella Bride. Lisa Childs

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.

      “I met Juliette before I left Red Ridge,” Blake said—almost reluctantly.

      “That was nearly five years ago,” Finn remembered. “How would your paths have crossed? Juliette was working two jobs back then to pay off her mother’s medical bills and put herself through college.” He had a lot of respect for the young woman’s work ethic. That was why he was damn happy to have her as part of his police force.

      A ragged breath escaped Blake’s lips. “I—I didn’t know that...”

      “So you didn’t know her well, then,” Finn said. Sounded like he hadn’t even known her last name. “What’s with your sudden interest in her now?”

      “I—I know she and her daughter are in danger,” Blake said. “And I want to help.”

      Finn furrowed his brow again. “That’s not necessary.” A civilian like Blake would only get in Finn’s way. “I’ve got it handled. The little girl is in a safe house with around-the-clock protection—”

      “Juliette should be in the safe house, too,” Blake said. “With the child.”

      Finn nodded. “I tried that. She refused to go into hiding.” He suspected she wanted to personally catch the killer who’d traumatized her daughter. “I’ll have other officers watching her at all times.”

      Blake shook his head. “That’s not enough. With all these murders, the Red Ridge PD is spread too thin.”

      Finn couldn’t argue with that. He was damn tired of not being able to find Demi. He would have rather she was the cousin who had paid him this late-night visit, so he could figure out whether or not she was the Groom Killer. He suspected not, and there was a psycho on the loose in Red Ridge.

      Then he also had the Larson twins and all the criminal activities he suspected they were behind to deal with, as well. He needed more than suspicions to nail them, though. He needed proof. But the officers he’d put on surveillance of the twins’ real estate company hadn’t come up with anything yet.

      “We’re spread a little thin,” he reluctantly admitted. “But we protect our own. Nothing will happen to Juliette or her daughter.” He would make damn sure of that.

      Blake shook his head again, and there was a slightly wild look in his green eyes. Fear. He was really afraid for Juliette and Pandora. But why did a woman he’d barely known years ago matter so much to him?

      “I’m hiring a private security company out of Michigan,” he said. “I want to have