Page 8 of Edinburgh Escape (Brotherhood Protectors International #5)

“I only need three,” she said and closed the door between them.

Callum ducked into his cabin, grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

He was back in the corridor a moment later, where he waited, spending the short time scrolling through the train schedule app and searching for an alternate route that would get them to Edinburgh quicker than going three hours back to London before heading north again for four more hours.

He found a train leaving in fifteen minutes, purchased two tickets and noted the location of the platform in less than two minutes.

True to her word, Maggie emerged from her cabin at exactly three minutes, having exchanged her pajama shorts for jeans and her slippers for boots. She pushed her roller bag ahead of her and followed Callum off the train and onto the platform.

His gaze went immediately to where he’d left the man who’d attacked her.

He was gone.

“What’s wrong?” Maggie stepped up beside him, her brow lowering.

“I guess he lived,” Callum’s lips tightened. “Stay close to me.”

Maggie hooked her hand through the crook of Callum’s elbow. “Do you think he’ll attack again?”

“I don’t know, and I sure as hell don’t want to find out.

” At three-thirty in the morning, he’d bet it hadn’t been a random attack.

He also wondered whether the tree on the track had been the result of a natural disaster or sabotage.

Either way, leaving the train might be the best option.

Maggie wouldn’t be following her scheduled travel itinerary.

“Come on.” He took her empty hand. “I found a route that will get us to Edinburgh. It leaves in ten minutes. We need to get to the correct platform before the doors close.”

Maggie matched his pace as they descended the steps from the current platform, hurried along the central corridor and then back up to the one they needed. Once they’d boarded the train and found empty seats with a table between them, Callum stowed her suitcase on the shelf above them.

Maggie sat across from Callum, her eyes narrow, her jaw set in a firm line. “Okay, now that we’re back on track, tell me how you got roped into playing babysitter to a stranger?”

“I prefer the term bodyguard.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever.”

Callum could tell by the stubborn set of her chin she would accept nothing but the truth. “Hank and Sadie were concerned about you traveling alone to Scotland and about the new relatives you know nothing about.”

Maggie held his gaze for a long moment before her expression softened. “They’re my surrogate family and so very good to me, but I told them I didn’t want a bodyguard.”

“Considering what just happened on the other platform, they might have been right to assign one without your knowledge.”

“I wanted to prove to them, and more importantly to myself, that I was capable of traveling alone.” She sighed. “I guess I was wrong.”

“Not necessarily,” Callum leaned his elbows on the table. “Under different circumstances, you might have been fine. If that wasn’t a random attack, someone either has it in for you, or doesn’t want you to make it to Edinburgh.”

“Or both,” she said softly. “I just want to meet Ewan. I want to see if there’s any resemblance between me and my half-brother.

I have my mother’s facial features and build, but…

” she flicked a strand of her hair, “she had blond hair, not red. Her eyes were blue. Mine are green. I want to know where I came from and who I resemble. If nothing else, I’d like to know what medical issues I might have based on heredity. ”

Her heartfelt words did little to convince Callum that she didn’t need him. “Have you considered that your unknown family might look at you as a threat?”

“Why? I’ve never threatened anyone. Ever.”

“But you’ve come all this way to meet your relatives shortly after the patriarch of the family passed. That would make me suspicious. Why surface now, if not to claim an inheritance?”

“I contacted Ewan Drummond as soon as I found the connection on the ancestry app. I emailed him, asking questions about his father. He told me he’d died.

He didn’t tell me when. When I told Ewan I was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to meet him, he laughed and said it was just as well.

He sounded like he hadn’t been very close to his father.

We emailed a few more times, and then he invited me to his home.

Since I’m free during the summer and have money in the bank that my mother left me, I accepted.

I was so excited to learn I had a sibling. ”

“Half,” Callum corrected.

“Half is better than none,” she said softly.

“Up until I made that connection on the app, I had no siblings, no parents, grandparents or cousins. You wouldn’t know how that feels because, as you said, you’ve got loads of family.

” She lifted her shoulders and let them fall.

“I’m not going to claim any inheritance.

I just want to meet my half-brother. What danger could there be in a casual meeting?

It’s not like they’re going to throw me into a dungeon or push me off a cliff. ”

“What about dropping you onto a train track?” Callum pointed out.

Her shoulders drooped. “You don’t think it was a random attack, do you?”

Callum shook his head. “My instinct says no.”

Her lips firmed. “I’m still going. I want to meet Ewan. He sounded so nice in his emails. Maybe once he knows I’m not after any inheritance, whoever feels threatened will calm down.”

Callum didn’t respond. He had the feeling the attack on the platform was a warning.

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m still going. I’ve come this far, it would be ridiculous not to.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “The question is, if you were sent to protect me, how do I explain why I showed up to the family home with a bodyguard in tow?”

“You don’t tell him I’m your bodyguard,” Callum said.

“If not a bodyguard, what do I tell them?”

“That I’m your travel companion,” he said. “Or you could say I’m your boyfriend or fiancé.”

Color flooded into her cheeks. “They’d expect us to show some signs that we’re an item.”

“I’m a good actor.” Callum grinned. “And I can give a very convincing kiss.”

The color in Maggie’s cheeks flamed a bright red. “Uh, hopefully...that won’t be...necessary.”

Callum shrugged. “We can play that by ear. You tell them what you want. But if you plan on staying at their home, I’ll need a plausible reason to join you there.

Otherwise, I’ll be wandering around the home, like a stalker.

They might call the local police and have me hauled off to jail.

Then you’re on your own, completely at their mercy. ”

For a long moment, Maggie sat in silence. Finally, she nodded. “Before I commit, I want to talk with Hank and Sadie.”

“We can do that,” he said and pulled out his cell phone and selected Hank’s number.