Page 68 of You Found Me
None of your business.
Let’s focus on your inability to follow simple instructions.
He didn’t want to have this conversation. Nothing he experienced in the Marines even came close to being as hard as the day he’d watched his mother die.
Nothing ever would.
But for this operation to succeed, she needed the information. And that’s all it was.
Information.
Better he gave her the story straight so she could avoid that landmine in the future, then move the hell on.
He turned to face her like a soldier. “She died when I was seventeen. A stalker ran her off that bridge we crossed on our way into town. She drowned.”
Della sucked in a breath and stared at him.
He waited for her to process. Offer the usual greeting card sentiments likeSorry for your lossandIs there anything I can do.
Or maybe her curiosity would drive her to demand more details about the stalker. It echoed her own situation, which had to be hitting a nerve.
It sure as hell did for him. It was why he ran a security company, and why he’d taken on an obvious pain-in-the-ass celebrity.
No woman deserved to be hunted.
Della watched him. Maybe she was imagining his mother’s wreck, or maybe she was picturing herself being chased.
He cleared his throat to bring her back to the present. “If someone mentions it again…well, now you know.”
Della cast a look toward the living room. “Did she paint the picture over the fireplace?”
“Yes.”
“SRW?”
“Sydney Rogers Ward.”
“Sydney.” She almost whispered the name, which gave it a reverence he hadn’t expected. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yes.”
The silence that stretched between them felt almost comfortable.
Della gave herself a little shake. “I…my dad died in a car crash. It’s not the same, I know. It was just a stupid drunk driver, not a stalker. But the how doesn’t really matter, does it. The hurt never quite goes away.”
She turned for the hallway, then paused. “I know I’m probably the last person on the planet you wanted to share that with. Thanks for telling me.”
She padded softly toward the stairs. He watched the empty space where she’d been standing for a long time.
Underneath the shallow showgirl was a woman who inspired insane amounts of loyalty from her family as well as her fans.
He was beginning to see why.
That unnerved him almost as much as the kiss.
Chapter Thirteen
Della’s first few days in small-town captivity were filled with silence punctuated by the whir of a drill or the pounding of a hammer as Ward installed security devices around the house.