Sweet Seduction Shield(18)

She scrunched up her little face and thought hard about that for a moment.

"They fix things," she said eventually. "They find things people took and bring them back."

Pierce nodded solemnly at my daughter.

"And do you know what else they do, Princess Daisy?" He didn't wait for her answer. "They help people who need it. They look out for them, keep them safe, take care of them when things get a little bumpy."

"Bumpy?" she said, eyes slowly coming back to mine.

"Yeah bumpy, baby," I said, reaching out and taking her hand into mine. "Yesterday was a bit bumpy, eh?"

She nodded vigorously, making another crack appear in my heart.

I was doing the right thing. I was getting help. I just prayed Ryan Pierce was going to be able to provide it.

"Guess what I am, Daisy?" he said, still giving my girl his undivided attention.

Her eyes widened in realisation, then she whispered in an awestruck voice, "You're a deetetiv?"

He smiled and chuckled softly. "Not just any detective," he replied. "I'm your very own personal detective."

She stared at him for a long moment and then said in her innocent child's voice, "Can I call you Kelly too?"





Chapter 6


Then I Lost The Ability To Think Completely

"No, Daisy," I said trying not to laugh. "Detective Pierce's name is Ryan."

She blinked, then said simply, "Wokay." Returning her attention to the last of her drawing, as though the subject was officially closed.

And I guess it was. My daughter approved of our 'very own personal detective'. I stared at him, as he smiled across the table at Daisy's head. He seemed totally besotted with her, in that isn't-she-just-so-cute kind of way adults can get around kids. As though he was thinking about his own children, or maybe if he didn't already have them, about those he could have in the future. Comparing them to my Daisy.

He could do worse. She was a great kid, the best child, a beautiful little soul. She was a little piece of me and a little piece of a man I once loved with all my heart. I may have a hell of a lot of pent up anger at where Rick eventually took us, which has crushed that young-person love I once had. But I am not so unforgiving that I don't remember what it was like before our world crashed down around our ears.

Rick did love me, he just loved the money and lifestyle McLaren offered more. And he paid dearly for that love in the end.

Pierce cleared his throat and my eyes came back up to his. I hadn't realised he'd stopped adoring my daughter and was studying me instead.

"Where did you just go?" he asked softly. An almost intimate question in itself.

"To a place I have no right to visit anymore." The reply was out before I could stop it. I almost cringed. I think I might have looked a little shocked, because Pierce stilled for a moment, and then slowly let the air out of his lungs.

"OK," he said, either dismissing that little second of overindulgence, or deciding it was best to move things along. "I have a place set up for you both to stay. A colleague who has an extremely safe house and..."

"We're not staying somewhere with you?" I blurted, and did cringe on that one.

He smiled back at me. "Oh, I'll be there, whenever I can. But I've also got a worker bee to catch and a case to prepare for court."

I almost said, "But it's you I trust." Managing to stop myself before I became a cliché.

Pierce, being the perceptive policeman that he is, picked up on my thoughts anyway.

"I trust this man and his woman completely. And you can too. They understand where you're coming from. More than you'll probably ever know."

I tilted my head slightly to the side and tried to interpret what he'd just said.

"I don't know," I said eventually. "It was hard enough coming here," I admitted.

"I know," he whispered, moving closer to me in his chair. "Trust me then."

I held his intense gaze, the browns in his eyes so deep and reassuring, mesmerising enough to make me feel like I was falling into their depths.

"This is what I do, Marie. Let me do it," he encouraged further.

I looked at Daisy. Then I took a quick glance around the larger than life, yet completely welcoming environment of Sweet Seduction. At Genevieve and Kelly behind the counter. At the smiling happy faces on all the customers. At a place Pierce had provided me as a refuge, and hadn't been wrong. We'd found a sanctuary here. A haven. A busy port in a safe harbour.

Could I trust him? I think I already did.

"OK," I said with a small nod of my head, and felt his hand slip into mine and squeeze. Just once. Just briefly. Then he was gone again, as though he knew he'd overstepped the mark. But strangely, I hadn't even jerked, nor felt any of that familiar panic at the unexpected contact.