Page 111 of Winter Vows

“Darlin’, hold on a second. There’s no reason to think he’s gotten on a plane. Justin’s been keeping a close eye on all the flight rosters. If Paul is near the airport now, it’s happened very recently.”

She stared at him, clearly surprised. “What makes you say that?”

“You’ve been listening for background noise whenever you talked to them, right? You didn’t hear any planes when you talked to Bobby the other day, did you? Or any other time?”

“No,” she said. Her expression slowly brightened as understanding dawned. “And if he’d been near the airport, I wouldn’t have been able to miss the noise, would I?”

“I don’t think so. Not as busy as DFW is.” He studied her face, saw the deepening shadows under her eyes, the unmistakable exhaustion. “Why don’t you try to catch a few hours of sleep?”

“We’ve all been telling her the same thing,” Lizzy said. “She won’t budge.”

Dylan gave her a speculative look. “Is that so? I think I have a solution.” He stood and scooped her up before she had a chance to react, then headed for the stairs. Their progress was greeted by amused looks from all the women.

“Dylan, put me down right this second,” she demanded in a hushed tone. “You have no right. I am perfectly capable of deciding when I need to go to sleep.”

“Then do it,” he said tersely, climbing the steps. He met her furious, indignant gaze. “Say it, Kelsey. You’re the doctor. Admit you’re beat and that you need some rest.”

“I will not.”

“Stubborn woman.”

“Arrogant man.”

He chuckled. “Now that we’ve established that, how about pointing out which room is yours?”

She frowned. “Why should I help you?”

He shrugged, shifted her more tightly against him, and poked his head in the room where he’d seen her the other night just to be sure it was Bobby’s. “Must be the one down the hall,” he concluded. He nudged open the door with his knee and stepped inside.

The room was the antithesis of what he’d expected. Kelsey was a coolly competent physician. Her home was neat as a pin, the furniture more practical than stylish. But the bedroom...oh, brother. There was no mistaking it was the room of a woman, a very sensuous woman. Dylan felt as out of place as he would have amid the lacy lingerie at Victoria’s Secret. He also started getting a whole lot of ideas that had nothing to do with sleep.

The bed was king-sized and inviting. It was covered with a thick, floral-printed comforter in shades of rose and green, and piled high with pillows, some in satin cases, others trimmed with lace and velvet. A vase of white and pink roses in full bloom sat beside the bed, filling the air with their sweet scent. A slinky nightgown, made of some incredibly silky fabric that promised to reveal all sorts of fascinating secrets about the wearer, had been tossed on the bed. On the dresser, there were at least a dozen fancy antique perfume bottles. Lipstick and other feminine secret weapons were scattered among them.

And on a table beside the bed, a radio had been left on and forgotten. It was tuned to a station that played ballads and love songs all day long.

Dylan was so taken with everything, so intrigued by what it revealed of the woman in his arms that he didn’t move for fully a minute. For just as long he completely forgot about Bobby, the people downstairs and everything else.

“Dylan?” Kelsey finally whispered, a catch in her voice.

“Uh-huh?” He snapped back to reality, then moved to the bed and lowered Kelsey onto it. His gaze locked with hers.

“You know I want to stay right here with you,” he said, his voice thick with longing. His body ached with arousal.

Eyes wide, she nodded. “I wish you could,” she admitted, then covered her face. “Oh, God, what kind of woman does that make me? How can I even think such a thing while my son is missing?”

“You’re just human, darlin’. So am I.” He touched her cheek. “Rain check?”

“Yes,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

He shook off the feeling of being caught up in something that didn’t make sense, something that was pulling at him and clouding his brain.

“Darlin’, you sure do know how to motivate a man.” He winked at her. “If there’s a God in heaven, I’ll have Bobby back here before morning.”

“As desperately as I want that,” she said. “It’s enough just to know that you’re trying. I know you’ll find him for me, Dylan, however long it takes.”

Ten

Once he hit Dallas, Dylan knew he was racing against the clock. Paul wouldn’t wait forever before making his demands. If this really was about pills and not about Bobby’s custody, then sooner or later his need for the narcotics was going to outweigh whatever satisfaction he was getting from torturingKelsey.

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