Chapter One

Lewis Inlet Annual School Bazaar.

The screaming of a baby erupted from the center of the crowd as Jordan Stamford stepped inside the school gates. Instinctively his hands moved to cover his ears and block the noise, but he was able to stop them at the last second. People surged around him, cutting off retreat, and his stomach muscles clenched, his pulse rate escalated—he was trapped.

The wailing grew worse, reverberating inside his head until his brain felt ready to explode. Teeth gritted, he pushed his way through the crowd. He could get away. It wasn’t like when he was sixteen and trapped on a train with some crying baby. By the time the train pulled into the station and he could get off, he had been on the verge of hyperventilating.

Taking several shuddering breaths, he fought to get himself under control. This wailing baby had resurrected the phobia he’d thought buried years ago. What kind of sniveling coward would go to pieces at the sound of a crying child? Why should it still bother him so much after all this time? For years, he had religiously avoided going anywhere near children. For God’s sake, what had made him drop his guard and come to a school bazaar, of all places?

He didn’t mind making regular donations to charities that looked after neglected children, as long as he didn’t have to present the checks in person. He feared having kids. With his family history, he was genetically predisposed to reject his offspring. Then there was poor little Evie. No way would he risk bringing a child into the world to suffer the same fate.