Three weeks later…
“Do you really think this is necessary?” Colette asked as Tavis zipped up her suitcase. “I have one week of classes left. Surely we could stay one more week.” She bit her lower lip, knowing this argument was moot. They were leaving today. Tavis insisted.
After the incident with Isaac, Tavis had managed to talk her dad off the ledge and buy her three more weeks, but he didn’t like the idea of traveling on their originally scheduled flight. If anyone was paying attention and thought they might be able to ambush her at the airport, they would be a week late.
Colette leaned against the wall next to the door. Not only had Tavis insisted they go back to the States a week early, but he’d done every damn thing to make it happen. He’d spoken to her professors. He’d packed her things. He’d changed their flights. He’d also still cooked for her and fed her and even washed her body in the shower.
The man loved to take care of her, and usually she let him because she enjoyed it and she was so damn tired all the time.
“I don’t see why this is necessary,” she repeated, grumbling. She didn’t really care about missing one week of classes. It was fine. But she had no interest in facing her parents. She would gladly put that off for another ten years. Maybe if they showed up with a ten-year-old child, her parents wouldn’t lose their shit.
“Colette…” Tavis warned in his stern voice as he entered the bathroom, probably to make sure they had everything for the tenth time. His bathroom hadn’t been used in months. Nor had his bedroom. Everything he owned was in here with her stuff.
“You said yourself the threat is over. Isaac was deported. He’s in custody back in the States. He wasn’t working with anyone. No one is going to bother me.”
Tavis finally came to her. He was smiling as he met her gaze, flattened his body to hers, gripped her shoulders, and kissed her. “We’re leaving, hon. I know you’re nervous about facing your parents, but that’s not going to change in a week. Time to rip the Band-Aid off. I’ll be by your side every second. In front of you if need be.”
She sighed.
He slid his hands down her arms and settled them on her belly, stroking the bump she wouldn’t be able to hide from her parents. She’d suddenly expanded in the last few weeks. She knew they were living on borrowed time already. It was a wonder news of her pregnancy hadn’t gotten out yet.
Tavis’s expression was serious. “I need to say something and I want you to listen.”
“Okay.” She was nervous now. Was he going to break up with her or something?
He held her gaze. “This baby is mine, got it?”
She frowned. What was he talking about?
“It was irresponsible and unprofessional of me, but I fell hard for you the moment you arrived in Uganda. We entered into a relationship immediately and I was careless and you got pregnant.”
Her eyes widened. Holy shit. He was so not breaking up with her. But… She couldn’t let him do this. She shook her head. “Tavis…”
He squatted in front of her, kissing her belly as she held his shoulders. “Mine. My child. Understood?”
A tear slid down her face. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl. I can tell my parents I acted recklessly and had sex with a stranger. There’s no need for you to take the heat.” Her heart was thumping though. Love filled her chest, tightening it. Tavis would do that for her?
He rose to his feet again, but his hands were still on her baby bump. He ignored her arguments. “When you give birth, my name goes on the birth certificate. Got it? Not one single person alive ever needs to know differently. When the kid is older, if you want to tell him or her, we can discuss it then, but not for many years. This is my baby. I will love it as much as I love its mother.” He cupped her face now and kissed her tear-streaked cheeks.
She sucked back a sob. “What about Joseph Rhineheart’s family?” she whispered. She’d thought about them from time to time. They deserved to know they had a grandchild, a niece, a nephew, cousin…
Tavis smiled. “I had Ryker look into that. Turns out Joseph came out of the foster care system. He has no known family. The parents who were listed on the funeral notice were not his. They were simply the last foster parents he’d lived with.”
Colette gasped. Holy shit. She swallowed hard, staring at Tavis. Could she agree to this proposition?
He lifted a brow. “There are no holes in our story, hon. None. Not a single one.”
He was right. With the exception of blood types and future DNA issues if the child got sick, but no holes they needed to be concerned with in the immediate future. Her lip was trembling. “Why would you do this?”
“Because I love you more than life, and I want to be the bad guy here. It will save face in your family. It will keep the gossip to a minimum. So what if you got pregnant before you got married to your fiancé? That won’t be newsworthy for very long. Sure, the guy is just a Navy SEAL, not a wealthy banker or political diplomat, and he doesn’t have a doctorate in epidemiology.” Tavis chuckled. “But you could do worse.”
She blinked at him. She hadn’t heard much after the word fiancé. “Tavis?”
“Oh, shit. I did that out of order.” He chuckled again as he reached for his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. His hand was actually trembling as he held it out.
She couldn’t breathe.
Tavis dropped to one knee and opened the box. “Colette Loughlin, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
More tears fell. Why was she always crying? Her hand was shaking more than his as she held it out. “Yes,” she managed before she started crying harder.
Tavis removed the enormous diamond from the box and slid it onto her finger. It fit perfectly. Why wasn’t she surprised?
He was back on his feet, holding her tight a second later. Hands cupping her face, he kissed her cheeks and then came to her lips. “I love you so much it hurts, Colette.”
“I love you too, Tavis.”
She melted as he kissed her, her legs almost giving out. But Tavis held her up. He always did.
“How is this going to work?” Colette asked six hours later when they were settled in their seats in first class, headed to Amsterdam. She held her hand in front of her for the millionth time. The diamond was huge. She had no idea what kind of money Tavis made, but surely not enough to afford this ring.
“How is what going to work, hon?” he asked as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
“Where are we going to live? What am I going to do since I can’t finish my PhD? I have about a million questions.” She wasn’t kidding. Her brain was running in every direction.
He shook his head, his eyes dancing with mirth. Confounding man. He probably had an answer. He had an answer for everything.
“Silly woman. You are totally finishing your PhD. We’ll head to Baltimore in a few weeks after the holidays. Move into a larger apartment or rent a house. You’ll get back to classes and labs and long evenings in the library. I’ll stay home as your kept man to hold down the fort. After the baby is born, I’ll turn into stay-at-home dad extraordinaire for a while so you can finish your dissertation. It’s not complicated.” He grinned.
She stared at him, blinking. Yes, he did have all the answers. Except one. “And how the hell are we going to pay the bills? I get a small stipend, but not enough for three people, one of them needing diapers and formula. It will never work. I need to quit school and go with you back to Indiana so you can work and I can get a job.” She bit her lower lip, trying not to cry.
He shook his head again. “Nope. Turns out you didn’t fall in love with a random bodyguard who lives paycheck to paycheck. I have money, hon.”
Her eyes widened further. “Oh.”
He lifted a hand and pushed her lower jaw to close her mouth, chuckling. “I spent seventeen years in the Navy. Most of that time I saved everything I made. Plus, I get my full retirement.”
“Oh,” she repeated, trying to wrap her head around this development. Part of her had never believed she could finish her PhD. She hadn’t fully let go of the dream. She’d continued to pretend it would happen, kept up with her research, worked hard, all of that, but this news was…life-altering.
He leaned over the armrest and kissed her. “It’s going to be fine. You like my spaghetti sauce, right?”
She chuckled. “You kind of lied about your cooking skills. You’re a god in the kitchen. I never would have eaten so well while I was in Uganda without you. I haven’t thanked you enough. Not to mention all the other things you do for me. I’m the luckiest woman alive.” She grabbed his hand and brought it to her cheek.
He eased her head onto his shoulder and kissed her temple. “I know the next few days are going to be hard on you, but I’ll do everything in my power to smooth the path.”
“You already have. I’m humbled by what you’ve done for me.” She lifted her face. “You’re serious? You want to stay home with the baby while I finish my PhD?”
“Of course.”
“I promise when I’m done we can go wherever you want. I can find work anywhere there’s a university, hospital, or even a lab.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we have a plan. It’s a solid plan.”
If she kissed him again, would it start to annoy the people across the aisle? Oh, fuck it. Who cared?
“She’s here,” Colette’s mother shouted over her shoulder the moment she opened the front door to let Colette and Tavis in. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t let us pick you up at the airport, and…” Her voice trailed off.
Colette wasn’t surprised. It took her mother a second to notice Tavis, but when she did, her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. Mostly because Tavis had a possessive arm around her and his fingers were threaded with hers over her baby bump.
She backed up a step. “Come in,” she murmured, her gaze on Colette’s stomach. There were so many things to absorb in that one frame. The combined hands, the giant diamond ring, the obvious baby bump.
Seconds ticked by. Important ones. Seconds that would determine how the next hours were going to go.
“So nice to meet you, Mrs. Loughlin. I’m Tavis Neade.” Tavis held out a hand.
“Carolyn Loughlin,” her mother murmured as she accepted the handshake, her gaze still on Colette’s belly. She blinked several times and then moved in closer and pulled Colette to her chest, hugging her tightly.
A huge weight lifted from Colette’s shoulders. It had been a long time since her mother hugged her like this. Carolyn Loughlin wasn’t usually very demonstrative.
As her mother released her, her father stepped into the foyer. His expression was serious, narrowed, his gaze taking in his pregnant daughter and then the man whose hand was now resting on Colette’s shoulder.
“Tavis Neade,” her fiancé stated as he leaned around her to extend a hand to her father. “So nice to finally meet you.”
Colette held her breath as she watched her father silently shake Tavis’s hand.
Tavis slid his other arm around her chest, hauling her in closer to him. Supporting and claiming her at the same time. “We obviously have a lot to explain.”
“Obviously,” her father finally stated. “Let’s move to the living room.”
Colette’s mother looked nervous and concerned as she walked next to her husband, leading Tavis and Colette to the living room.
Tavis never released Colette. He didn’t just hold her hand, he kept his arm around her waist. He guided her to a loveseat and settled her next to him, his hand going to her thigh. He staked his claim in every way, making it clear that he was damn serious about her.
She had thought she’d have been more nervous than this, but it was hard to stress too hard when Tavis had her.
“I’ve asked your daughter to marry me, and she said yes,” Tavis stated to open the conversation.
Her father lowered into an armchair. “Apparently that was appropriate,” he pointed out, glancing at her stomach.
“Yes,” Tavis agreed. “We wanted to wait and tell you in person. I also want to assure you that your daughter’s safety was always my top priority from the moment we met. In addition, the Holt Agency is transferring every dollar you paid for my services back to your account. My intentions where Colette is concerned are one hundred percent honorable. I don’t want there to be any doubt in anyone’s mind.”
Colette watched her father as he rubbed his chin. Her mother had taken a seat in the other armchair. She sat with a rigid spine, her legs crossed, hands casually over her knee. It was a memorized posture. Her wide-eyed expression hinted at her true feelings.
“That won’t be necessary,” William Loughlin stated. “You protected my daughter. That’s what I paid you to do. And we’re extremely grateful you were there when that asshole tried to kidnap her. If you hadn’t been, Lord knows what might have happened next. From what I’m hearing, Isaac Sorter isn’t talking. No one knows what his intentions were. Ransom? Selling her to the highest bidder? We don’t really know if he knew whose daughter she was.”
Tavis nodded. “I’m sure you’re shocked, and you’ll need time to absorb everything, but there isn’t much to say. We were careless. I take full responsibility. But the truth is I’m in love with your daughter, and I intend to spend my life ensuring she’s the happiest person on Earth.”
Carolyn Loughlin gasped, her hand coming to her mouth. Her eyes were teary. Her mother cleared her throat. “I can’t believe you’re getting married, and having a baby. I’m so happy for you.”
The tightness in Colette’s chest eased. “Thank you, Mom.” She rubbed her belly as Tavis’s hand came over hers.
Her mother suddenly stood. “Oh. Drinks. You must be thirsty. The cook prepared hors d’oeuvres too. Colette, would you help me get them from the kitchen?”
Colette glanced at Tavis. This had been bound to happen, but she didn’t like leaving him alone with her father.
He smiled, kissed her cheek, and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay. Go.”
She stood, nervously shaking. Her gaze shifted to her father. “Dad…”
He glared at her. “I’m not going to murder the man in my own living room, Colette.”
That did very little to appease her, but she reluctantly followed her mother.
Seconds ticked by before Secretary Loughlin cleared his throat, and what he said shocked Tavis. Tavis had considered a lot of possible scenarios, but not this one. “I’m a man with many resources at my fingertips, Mr. Neade. If you think for one minute I don’t know more than you do about the last six months, you’re mistaken.”
Tavis nodded, unsure where Loughlin was going with this but not willing to interrupt.
“First of all, I know everything about you. I know what happened a year and a half ago in Ethiopia. I know the exact dollar amount in your bank account.”
Tavis swallowed. He should have thought of that. Secretary Loughlin probably had all that information even before his daughter got on the plane to Uganda. He refused to let the man see him sweat, so he forced a trained casual expression.
“Second of all, you’re probably not aware of what happened with Richard Tillerman.”
Tavis stiffened, unable to school his expression any further. “I had my people follow him, but you’re right, sir, I don’t know why he stopped bothering Colette.”
Loughlin snickered uncharacteristically. “My wife didn’t like Richard. She thought something smelled bad, so she insisted I put some men on him, and I never ignore my wife’s intuition.” He lifted a brow.
Tavis nodded. He understood the silent lesson.
“Didn’t take long for my people to overhear Tillerman bragging that he had compromising pictures of my daughter from the night before she left the States.”
Tavis swallowed. Fuck me.
“The asshole was blackmailing her,” Loughlin stated, his hands slapping down on the arms of the chair. “So, I paid him a little visit. He even had some of the pictures printed out. Didn’t take me long to convince him it would be in his best interest to turn over every fucking photo to me, wipe his phone and computer of all evidence, and keep his fucking lips closed for the rest of eternity. It would be a devastating embarrassment to both himself and his father if the photos I have of him ever got out.”
Tavis stifled a gasp.
Loughlin smirked. “Man can’t keep his dick in his pants, and he’s not careful about it.”
Oh. Nice.
“You won’t have a problem with him ever again.”
“Thank you, sir. I don’t know what to say.” Tavis was truly shocked. Everything about this interaction was unexpected.
Loughlin glanced at the door, presumably to ensure the women weren’t imminently returning. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I saw the photos.”
Tavis held his breath.
“You may have developed a fondness for Colette over time. Not surprising. She’s a wonderful woman. But you weren’t sleeping with my daughter from the moment she arrived,” he pointed out.
Tavis didn’t move a muscle.
“You’re a good man, Tavis Neade. I feel lucky to have you as a son-in-law.” He stood and held out a hand. “Welcome to the family.”
Tavis stood also, his heart so full it might bust out of his chest. He shook Loughlin’s hand firmly. “I love your daughter, sir,” he pointed out to make sure the man didn’t think he was simply being altruistic.
“I know you do.” He nodded over his head toward the minibar. “I think we need a drink. You a scotch drinker, Neade?”
“On occasion, sir.”
“Please. Call me Bill.”
Tavis followed Bill toward the minibar. “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you hire me or any other bodyguard in the first place? Did you have a specific threat that concerned you?” This question had never been answered and had bothered Tavis from day one.
Bill glanced at Tavis as he poured the scotch. “I’ve had dozens of threats over the years. I don’t tell Colette the specifics to avoid sending her into an unnecessary panic.”
“I can understand that.” Tavis took the offered glass from Bill’s hand.
Bill smirked. “My daughter has always thought I was overprotective, but there has been more than one instance when a potential threat has been removed without her knowledge. People find out who she is and think they can make a buck extorting me.” Bill took a sip of his scotch. “I’m sure Isaac Sorter was one such man. If it hadn’t been for you, God knows what might have happened next.” He lifted a brow.
Tavis understood completely. “I’ll do everything in my power to ensure she is safe for the rest of her life. If I can’t be close to her, I will make sure someone else is.”
Bill drew in a deep breath. “I have no doubt you will, and my wife and I will sleep better knowing this.” He held out his glass and Tavis clinked his against Bill’s. This conversation had been beyond awkward and bizarre, but it had also gone far better than Tavis had expected.