Colton's Secret Service by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Single Mothers, Contemporary, General, Romance, Suspense, Ranch Life, Colton Family (Fictitious Characters), Fiction, Texas, Love Stories
ISBN: 9780373275984
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-09-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Nick turned away from the road. Georgie and her daughter were on the steps of the front porch, about to enter the house. He addressed the back of her head.

“Why didn’t you tell me your last name was Colton?”

His question stopped her for a moment, but then she continued walking. She didn’t bother to turn around. “You never asked.”

He followed her into the house. This wasn’t some abstract conversation they were having, this had direct bearing on the reason he was down here and he meant to get to the bottom of it.

Had everything she’d told him up to now been a lie, after all?

“Don’t give me that. Seems to me that only a guilty person would have kept that kind of information back.”

Georgie kept going until she came to the kitchen. Although she knew the state of affairs within her refrigerator—empty—she opened it anyway, just to confirm that her mystery squatter hadn’t left behind any food.

“How about a person who doesn’t share things that are nobody else’s business but their own?” She closed the refrigerator door a little harder than she needed to and squared her shoulders in an unconscious, defensive movement. Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t see you telling me about your parents, or lack thereof.”

She added the latter as she thought of her absentee father. The one she’d never met or even heard from—until just recently. For some reason, out of the blue, Graham Colton had materialized, saying he wanted to make amends for his past behavior. Had her mother been alive, she would have tried to find the good in the man, but her mother was gone. The time for mending fences was long gone. She was doing just fine without having the man in her life at this stage. And she intended to continue that way.

Nick set his jaw hard as he pointed out the obvious. “I’m not the one sending threatening e-mails to a United States Senator.”

Georgie whirled around on her heel, her hands fisted at her waist to keep from taking a swing at this infuriating man.

“Well, funny you should say that because neither am I and the sooner you get that through your thick head, the sooner both of us will be happy and you can be on your way.”

Gleaning what she needed to from her mother’s words, Emmie turned her big green eyes up to the man in the black suit. “You’re not gonna help my mama?”

Nick had never spent much time dealing with children. Consequently, he had no idea what to make of them and it had been so long since he’d even had a childhood. But he knew hurt when he saw it. He knew an accusatory tone when he heard it, and Emmie Grady—or Colton—was wielding both like a well-trained samurai swinging his sword.

Georgie draped her arm protectively over the little girl’s slim shoulders. “He’s gonna help mama by leaving, baby,” she told her daughter. Looking at Nick, she said, “There’s your hat, there’s your car, what’s your hurry?” uttering the ironic line to usher him along on his way.

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