Page 45 of Bridles and Bribery

“Nope. It’s what I do for a living,” he corrected. “Who I am is His.” He pointed upward. “And yours.” He leaned closer to tilt his forehead against hers. “I’m your husband. The man who promised to love, cherish, and protect you for the rest of our lives. To be present. To do life together.” He gently nipped at her lips. “And I think I’ve found the perfect way to do that, while still serving the state of Texas as a criminal lawyer. A job that’ll be backed by an entire army of security personnel.”

She snuggled closer, loving the sound of that. “If such a job exists, Dave…” She’d never heard of anything like it.

“It’s about to.” He lifted his head to gaze deeply into her eyes. “I’m already in negotiations with Lonestar Security to come on board full time as their legal counsel. It would be a salaried position. Not quite as much as I’m accustomed to making, but decent. Really decent, with opportunities for raises, bonuses, and other incentives as we grow the investigative leg of the business.”

“Other incentives?” She couldn’t resist teasing him. “Lemme guess. They have another Rezvani Tank with your name on it?”

“Bingo!” He lightly tapped her nose for emphasis.

“I was kidding.” She leaned in for another kiss.

“They’re not.” He kissed her back tenderly. “And neither am I.”

“It sounds like the perfect solution.” It took her breath away that he was working so hard to make decisions that would put their family first. “So long as you’re sure you don’t mind giving up your private practice.” There was his office building to consider. Would they need to sell it?

“You’re more important to me than any job.” There was no hesitation in his response. “Please assure me you didn’t miss the part about it coming with a pay cut, though.”

She shook her head in amazement at him. “I thought I made it very clear I didn’t marry you for your money.”

“I know, but?—”

“No buts,” she cut in firmly. “I just want to be with you, Dave. That’s it.” She briefly closed her eyes. “No, that’s not true. I also want you to be safe. And present. The last few days have been sheer torture.” She met his gaze squarely, knowing he preferred honesty over faint platitudes. “I was honestly starting to doubt whether I was cut out for this. Whether I have what it takes to be the kind of wife you need me to be.” She wasn’t sure if she was making any sense.

He looked stricken. “Please don’t give up on me, babe. Or us.”

“I won’t. It took a lot of tears and a lot of begging God over the past few days to reach this point.” Her voice shook. “I just need you to understand something before you take off again.” She ran the pads of her fingers gently over the bandage on his upper arm. “When you hurt, I hurt. I can’t change that. Like it or not, we’re in this together.”

“I like it just fine,” he assured huskily. “It’s what I want. You’re what I want.”

She slid her arms around his neck. “I just fell in love with you all over again.”

He cuddled her closer. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

“One more thing.” She smiled against his lips. “I think your mom has the hots for the guy next door.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” he groaned.

“We don’t have time for kidding around, esquire. We’ve gotta make every second count.” She drew his head down for another kiss that went on and on. She poured her heart into it, not knowing the next time they would be together.

Jillian feltlike a whole new person by the time she joined Eloise and Edward at the dinner table.

Her mother-in-law took one look at her sparkling, red-rimmed eyes and started fanning her hands at her own face. “Glad to see you’re feeling better, hon. You’re in luck. You made it just in time for dessert.”

Jillian could hear the nonchalance her mother-in-law was trying so hard to infuse into her voice. She almost succeeded. “No way was I going to laze around in bed and miss the chance to try out Edward’s greenhouse strawberries.” It sounded like Eloise’s cover story for her late arrival to dinner was the most obvious one — pregnancy symptoms. She could run with that.

Their ruggedly handsome neighbor leaped to his feet to pull out a chair for her. “You sit. I’ll serve.”

“Serve away.” Jillian gave a grateful sigh as she took her seat. “Your shabby hostess apologizes for being a shabby hostess this evening.”

“Not at all,” Edward assured quickly. “According to Eloise, I’m the one who owed y’all dinner, not the other way around. The least I can do is the serving.” He moved into the adjoining kitchen and started rattling around plates and forks on the countertop.

Eloise reached for Jillian’s hands and hissed, “How was he?”

Jillian’s eyes welled again. “He looked good,” she whispered back, “and he’s doing everything he can to make sure this never happens to us again. I’ll, um…tell you more later.” She nodded suggestively toward Edward. “After Willie Nelson leaves.”

“Seriously?” Eloise studied Edward with an assessing eye. “I guess I can see where you’re coming from, except for Ed is taller, buffer, and doesn’t wear his hair in braids.”

The object of their gossip glanced across the bar at her, caught her staring at him, and gave her a slow, deliberate wink.

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