Page 120 of Winter Vows

Dylan gave a sigh of resignation. “Might as well.”

The man gestured toward his cruiser. “I’ve got a whole Thermos full right back there. Join me and we’ll wait for news.”

“You go ahead,” Dylan suggested. “I’ll be right there.”

The man raised his sunglasses and peered intently into Dylan’s eyes. “Son, what kind of fool do you take me for? The second I walk away, you’ll take off like a bat out of hell.” He gestured. “Out of the car. And hand over your keys while you’re at it.”

As badly as he wanted to do otherwise, Dylan got out of the car and gave the deputy his keys. He’d never catch Paul before he reached the meeting spot, anyway. It looked as if he was going to have to trust Justin to keep Kelsey and Bobby safe. Given how he’d sidelined Dylan, Justin was clever enough to handle the job.

And if he failed, Dylan would wring his neck. Though the prospect of doing bodily harm to the sheriff cheered him considerably, he found himself praying that there would be no reason for it. He’d rather find Kelsey and Bobby all in one piece when this was over.

The deputy regarded him sympathetically as he handed him a cup of coffee strong enough to wake the dead.

“Waiting’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

Dylan nodded. “You got that right.”

Paul had spotted the car racing up behind him on the highway and knew in his gut it had to be the man he’d left tied up back at the motel. Dylan. That was his name. A friend of Kelsey’s.

How had he gotten loose so quickly? Obviously Paul wasn’t exactly equipped for a life of crime. Despite what they all thought, he didn’t have a killer’s instincts. Thankfully, today would be the end of it. Kelsey would give him the pills he needed and he would go back to Miami, where he belonged. He’d be back at work next week and this whole thing would be a distant memory.

“Daddy?”

He glanced down at Bobby and saw the fear in the boy’s eyes. Guilt crept through him. He hadn’t meant to scare his son. There’d been a time when Bobby had been his pride and joy, ranking right up there with Kelsey as two of the best things to ever happen to him.

He blamed the doctors for destroying all that. They were the ones who’d put him on such powerful narcotics after his skiing accident. Why couldn’t Kelsey see it wasn’t his fault he’d gotten hooked? Why had she blamed him when he hadn’t been able to give them up? What kind of wife walked away from her husband when he was in trouble?

Once again the familiar anger swelled in his chest, crowding out the guilt. Still, he kept his tone even when he answered Bobby.

“Isn’t this a blast, little buddy?”

Bobby’s chin rose with a touch of defiance. He looked so much like Kelsey then, it was scary. “No, Daddy. You’re driving too fast. I don’t like it. Driving fast is wrong.”

“Not out here in the country,” Paul told him. “Out here it’s okay to drive like the wind.”

“No, it’s not. Mommy said.”

“Well, your mom’s wrong about this one. Now, be quiet so Daddy can concentrate.”

He glanced once again into his rearview mirror and saw that the car was gaining on him. It was no longer a distant dot on the horizon. He could see the front end well enough to tell the color and make. It was definitely the same one he’d seen in the motel parking lot, close to the office.

Suddenly a sheriff’s cruiser slid onto the highway in hot pursuit. Paul felt a momentary flash of panic, then amusement as he realized the deputy was after the other man. He laughed when he saw the two cars pulling onto the shoulder of the highway, then fading into the distance as his own speed steadily accelerated.

Damn, he was good. It was about time he caught a break. Another hour, two at the outside, and he would be on his way home. This miserable Texas wasteland would be nothing but a distant memory.

Twelve

The air was hot and dry even though the sun was barely up. Kelsey sat in the car with the windows open just the same, listening desperately for the sound of an approaching vehicle. This road wasn’t well traveled, which was precisely why Paul had chosen it. If she’d heard anything, more than likelyit would be her ex-husband.

Would he have Bobby with him as he’d promised? Or had everything changed back at the motel? Had he actually shot Dylan and left him to die? She couldn’t imagine Paul being that desperate and out of control, but there had been no mistaking the sound of that gunshot, the sudden silence as the phone had gone dead in her hand. Her stomach rolled over just thinking about it.

For the thousandth time, she prayed that Dylan was still alive, that they would have a chance to explore the feelings that had begun to grow between them in the midst of this ordeal.

Later, she told herself firmly. She would think of that later. Right now, all that mattered was getting Bobby back. She tried to recall everything Justin had told her to do. She nearly panicked when the details wouldn’t come, then simply prayed that any second now she would see her son again, that the nightmare would end.

She glanced surreptitiously toward the distant grove of trees where one of Justin’s men waited, a sharpshooter designated to take Paul out, but only if something went awry. She’d had to beg for that much. She hadn’t wanted Bobby to live with the horror of seeing his father shot, not if there was any other way to bring Paul into custody. If she’d had her choice, Paul wouldn’t even be arrested where Bobby could witness it. Justin, however, had only been willing to bend his rules so far.

There were more men posted along the highway in both directions, wherever the slightest cover allowed them to remain hidden from view. They would not prevent Paul from coming in, but they were there to set up instantaneous roadblocks that would keep him from getting away.

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