Page 89 of Winter Vows

“About his clothes. If he was warm enough.”

“And what did he tell you?”

“That it was summer in Texas,” she repeated, then stopped as she realized what she’d said. “He said Texas.” She felt a grin starting to spread across her face. “They’re still in Texas.” It was such a small clue, but she felt like jumping up and down.

Dylan grinned back. “See? I told you there was more locked away in your memory than you realized. That’s a start. We don’t have the whole country to worry about right now, just the state. He’s sticking close, Kelsey. I can feel it. And if he’s nearby, we’ll find him.” His gaze settled on her. “Will you be all right? I want to get back to work.” She nodded. “I’ll be fine. Where are you going?

What will you do now?”

“I’ll stop by the sheriff’s office. I want to touch base with Justin, see if they’ve come up with anything. I’ve got some calls out for information. I need to check to see what’s turned up.” He glanced toward the house. “Lizzy waiting inside?”

Kelsey nodded. “Yes. I don’t know what I’d do without her, but she can’t stay forever. Somebody needs to be at the clinic. We have patients scheduled.” She thought of a whole slew of kids who were due in this week for their preschool checkups, all her responsibility. “I should—”

Dylan cut her off. “You should be right here. Everything else can wait. I’m sure if someone needs a doctor for an emergency, they’ll know to reach Lizzy here. She can have the clinic’s calls forwarded.”

“But there are shots,” she protested. “The kids need them for school.”

“And they’ll get them. We’ll have Bobby home soon and you’ll get right back to work. A few days won’t make that much difference.”

She supposed he was right, but it just seemed so irresponsible to be putting her own crisis ahead of duty. Her uptight mother would be appalled. A Donnelly always took care of obligations, no matter what. How many times had she heard that? How many disappointments had she endured as a child because duty called, keeping one or both of her parents away from some triumph that mattered to Kelsey, but no one else, at least not enough for them to be there? She halted that line of thinking, because it was counterproductive. It was in the past. Everyone had history they’d had to overcome. Her life was no different.

In the here and now, she could admit that a few delayed shots wouldn’t be the end of the world. The kids would no doubt relish the reprieve and the parents would understand. So would the school system, if it came to that. This was a town where people mattered more than schedules and rules. And if some poor bureaucrat didn’t believe that, Harlan Adams would be more than willing to explain it to him.

“I’ll bet we could search the whole town and not find a single kid who’s upset at not getting a shot,” Dylan teased gently, as if he’d read her mind.

“You’re probably right about that, though the word is that I am very slick with a needle. In and out before they even know what hit them. And I have some very good lollipops for the brave.”

He looked taken aback by her evident pride in that particular skill. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I decide to get a flu shot,” he said. “Probably won’t be any time this century, though, so don’t keep an appointment open for me.”

She laughed at the thought of this tough guy being scared of shots. “Why, Dylan Delacourt, don’t tell me you’re afraid of needles.”

“Afraid?” he retorted indignantly. “No way. Just of the people who go poking around with them and especially of those who so obviously enjoy it.” He gave her a disconcerting once-over. “Though I’ll bet if anyone could give me a shot and make me like it, it would be you, Doc.”

With that and a wink, he was gone before she could fully absorb the compliment. What was wrong with her? Her son was missing and she was getting all warm and mushy inside because a private investigator was acting mildly flirtatious. He probably hadn’t even meant anything by it. He’d just been trying to lighten the mood, to lift up her spirits.

And it had worked, too. She went back inside feeling a whole lot better than she had when she’d hung up after Paul’s last call.

“Is that pink in your cheeks from the sun or from a certain detective?” Lizzy demanded when Kelsey found her in the kitchen.

“It’s hot out,” Kelsey declared, but she kept her gaze averted because Lizzy had always been able to see right through her.

“Whatever it is,” Lizzy replied, “it’s good to see some color back in your face. You’ve been too pale. I’ve been worried. You were starting to look defeated. Now you look as if your fighting spirit is coming back.”

“Oh, yes,” Kelsey declared. “If I ever get close enough to Paul to get my hands around his neck, he’s a dead man.”

Lizzy beamed. “Now there’s a thought.” She held out a glass of iced tea. “Shall we toast to it?” Kelsey took the tea, rubbed the icy glass against her cheek, then took a long swallow, savoring it as it soothed her parched throat. She felt better than she had in more than twenty-four hours. Her emotions were no longer on such a wild roller-coaster. She knew now exactly what she was dealing with. Paul had Bobby somewhere in Texas. It was a big state, but not impossible to search, not with the people and resources committed to helping her.

There was comfort in that, she realized. Dylan had made the illusion of control possible by putting everything into clear focus, by giving her concrete things to do when Paul called, by ferreting out the one clue that had slipped past her. She would be listening even closer next time. Not so much as a whisper of background noise would escape her. If getting Bobby back depended on it, she would listen like a hawk.

And with Dylan’s help, she would sort through the most innocuous of clues until she had her precious son back home.

Five

Dylan had never been so thoroughly frustrated in his entire career. They couldn’t seem to catch a break. Paul James wasn’t making mistakes. He wasn’t leaving a trail. Even Kelsey’s discovery that he was apparently holding Bobby someplace in Texas wasn’t going anywhere.

And with every hour that passed, there was a very real likelihood that he would slip out of their grasp for good, if that was his intention. He was that clever.

“Damn,” Dylan muttered, looking over the list Becky had compiled of the motels within a hundredmile radius. “Not a sign of him. I was so sure he was close by.”

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