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“Understood,” Josh said. “Alex and Zoe have rented rooms at a hotel in Ottawa and can extend their stay a few more days. They can set up the surveillance van in your neighborhood when you’re home, make sure the girls are safe and come with you to events. I suggest you don’t change anything, act like nothing’s wrong and go on with life as usual. Just think of them as extra eyes and ears, watching your back. Nobody ever needs to know you’ve hired private security.”
“Good by me,” Leo said. “I’ll need someone to take the girls to and from day camp on Thursday. They’ll be with me at the parade on Friday.”
“All good by me, too,” Alex said. Then he called, “Good by you, Zoe?”
Zoe spun back, her dark hair dancing around her shoulders as she flashed two thumbs-up. But as her gaze seemed to linger on Leo’s face, for the very first time since they’d met he thought he saw uncertainty in her eyes.
They talked logistics for a few more minutes. Alex would run the surveillance van and be Leo’s backup at events. Zoe would take point on security for the girls. Josh was running back to his honeymoon at their Cedar Lake cottage, but he and Samantha would stay in touch. Leo would have the backup he needed, without compromising security. Then Alex went to move the Ash Private Security van from a nearby lot to street parking, so that he could give Leo a tour of it.
Leo stood up, Josh did, too, and for a moment they watched Zoe and the girls. Then Josh slid his hand over his watch, and Leo realized he was covering his microphone.
“Zoe’s incredible,” Josh said quietly, as if answering a question Leo hadn’t asked. “She’s battled more criminals and saved more lives than I can begin to count. Alex and I have owed her our lives more than once. I’m guessing you’ve read the online gossip and know her story?”
“No, I don’t,” Leo said. He’d come close to it, though. Last night, sitting on his porch in the muggy night air and feeling the memory of her pressing up against the edges of his mind, he’d entered her name in his laptop search engine. But he barely glanced at the first sentence that popped on his screen before shutting it down. He didn’t believe in gossip. He didn’t want his past to be internet fodder. So why should he treat her the way he wouldn’t want to be treated? “I know that she and Alex are stepsiblings. I know that she competed nationally in gymnastics and martial arts. But that’s all I know. I prefer to get to know people in person, not through gossip.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that,” Josh said. “I’ll let her tell you her story if and when she’s ready. All that really matters to your mission is that she’s a bit camera shy and not a fan of media attention. So we’re not planning on using her as the inside person for any events right now, let alone by your side. There’s too large a risk she’d be identified and the fact the gossip media is determined to find out who the woman in your arms was when you leaped from the burning castle hasn’t exactly brought up the best memories for her.”
Maybe that was another reason for the distance she’d been keeping and the doubt he’d seen in her eyes. It was probably wise for both of them. She didn’t want her name flashed across the tabloids as some damsel in distress he’d plucked from the flames. He wasn’t sure he could handle the distraction of having the beautiful bodyguard on his arm, even if they both knew she was only there professionally.
“Hi, Daddy,” Eve yelled. “See me?”
“I do.” He frowned. His baby girl was now at least six feet off the ground and holding on to the branch with one hand while she waved enthusiastically with the other. While he could usually count on Ivy to be the overprotective older sister, his eldest was now lying contentedly on her stomach watching the small puppy from earlier as it trundled down the path on the other side of the canal.
A black van pulled up on the street. Alex waved out the window. Josh walked up the hill to greet him. Leo started across the grass toward his girls, feeling his brow furrow as he looked at Zoe. The bodyguard met his glance head-on and didn’t even flinch.
“Eve, honey.” Zoe looked up at the child. “I think your daddy would prefer that you come down and we go find a smaller tree.”
His footsteps froze. Zoe had read that in a glance? There’d been something in Zoe’s tone—caring, yet firm—that rattled something inside him. There was a spark in Zoe’s eyes as she looked up at his daughter, and trust in Eve’s eyes as she looked back down at her. Even Ivy was smiling. Whatever this odd pull he’d felt toward Zoe the moment he’d met her, it was almost like his daughters felt a version of it, too.
Help me, Lord, I can’t let my mind even begin to think this way. During a particularly rough patch in his marriage to Marisa five years ago, after her first brush with cancer, she’d asked him to promise that when she died he wouldn’t bring another woman into their daughters’ lives until they were adults. He didn’t know why it had mattered so much to her, but it had. That had been around the time her overprotective nature had really kicked into high gear. She’d needed to know he would protect the girls, even if it cost him his heart. He’d promised her that and that pledge to protect their daughters had given them the strength they needed to keep the family together.
He’d never once imagined wanting to break it. Until now.
“But, Zoe—” Eve’s lower lip pouted.
“No arguments.” Zoe reached her hands up toward the girl. “Come on. We’ll find something fun to do down on the ground. Now just turn around on your stomach, slide your legs down to the branch below you and I’ll help you down from there.”
“It’s okay. I’m a lot taller than you are. I’ll get her down.” He was at least a foot taller than Zoe. He could pluck her out of the tree like a kitten. “Eve! Just stay there and wait for me.”
Eve glanced from one adult to the other. Her forehead wrinkled in worry and frustration. “But, I’m almost there.”
“Just wait.” His voice rose.
Her little voice rose, too. “I want to do it myself!”
Then in one sickening moment everything happened at once. Eve’s foothold snapped. Her wail of complaint rose to a scream as she fell. Leo’s heart pounded. His little girl tumbled through the air. Lord, save my baby girl!
In one fluid moment, Zoe bent her knees, stretched out her arms, and caught the falling child in her arms. Eve hit Zoe in the chest like a tiny, blond cannonball. Zoe absorbed the blow, letting it knock her over as they fell backward into the grass. Zoe lay there in the grass for a moment, her head bent low over Eve’s, as she cradled the small girl to her chest.
“You okay, honey?” Zoe asked. Her cheek leaned against Eve’s head. Emotion choked in her throat. “That was a very impressive fall.”
“The tree broke!” Eve said. His little girl sounded more amazed, even thrilled, than scared or hurt.
The sound that slipped through Zoe’s lips was a laugh and a cry in one. Yes, as a parent, he knew that feeling well.
“Yeah, it did,” Zoe said softly. “And you were very, very brave. I’ve fallen lots and lots of times. You didn’t even land on your head like I have!”
The little girl started giggling. Zoe started laughing, too. Then Eve sat up and reached for Leo.
“Daddy, I broke the tree! Zoe caught me.” Eve was still giggling.
“I saw that.” He knelt down and reached for her.
Zoe half pushed and half lifted Eve up toward her father’s waiting arms. “I think your daddy needs a hug right now, too.” Zoe’s dark eyes searched his face. “My daddy always said it can be a bit scary for a daddy to see their children fall.”
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