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A small frown formed between the woman’s eyes. “Darcy. She said you’d had to leave for a meeting. I’m sorry about that. My car had a flat. It won’t happen again. The agency did phone, didn’t they?”

“Yes, they phoned. And no problem. What time did you get here?”

“Nine o’clock.”

Half anhour after he’d left. Aside from his little sister, Lulu only had one aunt. Darcy Butler, a woman with a tendency to violence, who had recently spent time in prison for attacking his brother—Lulu’s father. He was quite aware she’d been trying to get in touch with him, and he’d told his lawyer that there was no way that would happen. He’d presumed, from what Steven had told him about her, that she was just going through the motions. That she wasn’t the type to want to have anything to do with children.

So what did she want?

Maybe money? Or perhaps she just wanted to make trouble. Steven had hated the woman, saying she’d tried to break up him and Emma.

She’d been at the club last night. How the hell had she even known he was going to be there? Because he no longer believed this had anything to do with coincidence. He’d have realized that this morning if he hadn’t been in such a rush. Then again, she hadn’t looked like the woman his brother had described. Last night, she’d been more conservatively dressed than most of the other women at the club. The same this morning—she’d looked more like a nanny than the vicious MMA fighter his brother had described.

“Captain Peterson?”

He realized he’d been silent for a long time. “How long did she stay?”

“For about an hour. She played with Lulu while I tidied the place up.” She frowned. “Is everything okay? I normally wouldn’t let anyone into the house without your express permission, but she was here when I arrived, so I presumed…”

He shook himself. “No, everything is fine. Look, there’s something I need to do. Can you stick around for a while? I’ll pay you overtime, of course.”

“No problem. I can stay a couple of hours if that’s enough.”

“Wonderful.” He crossed the room, bent down and kissed Lulu on the forehead. “I’ll be back in a little while, angel.”

She stared up at him then her face crumpled. He hurried away and was closing the door as the first wail erupted.

Once alone, he allowed his anger to rise.

How the hell dare she creep around here, pretend to be someone she wasn’t? That was why she’d been watching him last night. It had nothing to do with being attracted to him.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and found his lawyer’s number. When he was put through, he asked, “Can you give me an address for Darcy Butler?”

Goddamn fucking stalker.