Romantic Suspense Box Set 1-4 November 2019: Colton's Secret InvestigationCavanaugh StakeoutColton 911: Caught in the CrossfireHer Dark Web Defender by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781489296191
Amazon: B07XGDHMNF
Goodreads: 48526237
Publisher: Mills & Boon Romantic Suspense
Published: 2019-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“They’re amazing people,” Stefan said, watching the Alvarezes drive off.

“They are. They live for those boys.”

“That’s like my folks were. I never really appreciated it until Sam was born, how their lives revolved around us kids.”

Daria was silent, and when he looked at her, she was gazing out over the golf course again, but not toward the elk. In fact, she looked as if she were a million miles away. “Good parents,” she murmured.

It hit him then. Her mother. He instinctively reached out, took her arm and turned her to face him. “You know she did what she thought would be best for you,” he said quietly. “She knew she couldn’t take care of you the way she wanted you to be taken care of.”

Surprise flickered in her eyes for an instant. But then she smiled, a soft, gentle curve of those lips that sent heat rocketing through him.

“You’re a perceptive man, Stefan Roberts.”

“I...thank you.” He didn’t know what else to say.

“No, thank you. If not for your help, I would have never known. I wouldn’t even have known what she looked like.”

He knew Daria meant the old driver’s license for Ava Bloom he’d gotten for her, which showed a young woman with lovely features, whose daughter was nearly a carbon copy of her—only Daria’s skin tone was lighter.

He heard her let out an audible breath before she said what he’d guessed had to have been the most crucial question to her. “I would have always wondered why she gave me up.”

“I’m sorry she had to,” he said. “I wish...”

She looked at him as he trailed off awkwardly. “You wish what?”

“That everybody could have had my parents.”

She smiled at him again, brighter this time. “I don’t even have to meet them to bet the world would be a better place if everybody could have.”

He had a sudden vision of that meeting happening, of introducing Daria to his parents. Speaking of bets, he’d make a sizable one that they’d like her. There was no snobbery about her, even though she had as much reason as some of the snootier sorts they’d encountered on this case.

Perhaps that’s why she never mentioned the connection she had to the Coltons; it wouldn’t surprise him at all that she purposely avoided it. Daria was a woman who had made it on her own. That’s why his parents would both like and appreciate her. He’d kind of skipped that step with Leah—they hadn’t met her until after their whirlwind courtship and elopement, and when they had, they’d been welcoming but reserved.

Because they knew what you’d gotten yourself into. That’s what you get for not letting them vet her first.

But Daria... Daria was what his mother called good to the bone. He was certain of it, in a way he’d never even thought about with Leah. And he knew his parents would see that. He truly could picture it—

He gave himself a sharp mental shake. What the hell was with him? Imagining taking her home to Mom and Dad? When they hadn’t done.

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