Page 121 of Winter Vows

Concentrate, she told herself. Stay calm. She glanced at the picture of Bobby she had clutched in her hand. That precious smile. Those laughing eyes. Just remember what’s important, she instructed herself. She had to keep reminding herself that rescuing Bobby was paramount. There were others who could deal with Paul. Her time to lash out at him would come later, once her son was safe.

Straining her ears, she thought she detected the distant sound of an engine. Squinting into the sun, which had just crept above the horizon in a blaze of orange, she kept her gaze pinned on the highway, looking for the first flash of sun on chrome or a swirl of dust that would prove her ears hadn’t deceived her.

“Come on. Come on,” she murmured. “Kelsey?”

The sound of Justin’s voice crackling from the radio on the seat beside her made her pulse leap wildly. She grabbed it and whispered, “Yes,” as if whoever was coming might hear her if she spoke any louder.

“This is it. We’ve spotted him. You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said with a certainty she was far from feeling. Shewouldbe fine, too, as soon as she saw her son, as soon as she held him.

She glanced toward the duffel bag filled with pills to reassure herself that her bargaining chip was in place.

“Don’t do anything crazy,” Justin warned her. “Remember, we’re right here. Get Bobby. Give Paul the pills. Leave the heroics to us, okay?”

“Yes,” she said, disgusted with herself because her voice squeaked instead of remaining steady.

“You’ll do just fine,” he reassured her. “Kelsey, one last thing.”

Something more to remember? She wasn’t sure she could. “What?” she asked as she finally spotted the first glimpse of the car in the distance.

“Dylan’s fine. I’ve talked to him and he’s fine. Okay? I just thought you ought to know that before this goes down.”

A terrible knot of tension in her stomach dissolved at the news. She knew why he’d told her, too. He hadn’t wanted Paul to be able to use Dylan’s so-called death to rattle her. He could have, too. If Paul had taunted her with the fact that Dylan was dead, she very well might have lost it and done something stupid.

“Thank God,” she murmured.

“Okay, angel, let’s do this,” Justin said with the absolute calm of a professional. “You with me?”

Her nerves steadied, along with her resolve. “You bet,” she said firmly.

“Everybody else?” Justin asked.

Kelsey was dimly aware of other deputies responding, then Justin’s call for radio silence from here on out.

She sucked in a deep breath, then stepped from the car to wait for her ex-husband.

Dylan was chafing at the restrictions he was under. He’d listened to Justin’s radio contact with Kelsey, heard the thread of fear in her voice, then the determination. She had to be the bravest woman he’d ever known.

He’d been relieved when Justin had told her that Paul hadn’t left him for dead. He didn’t want her thinking about anything except Bobby. He knew all too well how many things could go wrong when a person was even the tiniest bit distracted. That was how he’d ended up at Paul’s mercy back at the motel.

The deputy glanced over at him. “She’ll be fine. She sounds like a woman who can handle herself in a crisis.”

“Give her a sick kid and she can, but this?” Dylan shrugged. “Can any parent ever be prepared to deal with something like this?”

Sitting here, waiting, was giving him way too much time to think—about Kelsey, about Bobby, about Kit, and about Shane. The first thing he intended to do when this ended was to see his son. To hell with the noble, decent decision he’d made. He wanted his boy to know he had a father who loved him. He didn’t intend to disrupt their lives. He just wanted a chance to spend a few hours with Shane from time to time. He and Kit could work it out. He’d matured since the divorce. In the last few days, he’d learned he wasn’t too old to learn to compromise when it really mattered.

An image of Bobby popped into his head. He couldn’t help thinking about the future, making the inevitable comparison between any relationship he might have with Kelsey’s son and the bond Kit’s husband had formed with Shane. How would he feel if Paul James fought to remain a part of Bobby’s life? Of course, he thought wryly, under the circumstances, it could be a very long time before Paul had any contact whatsoever with his son again.

Dammit, what was happening? The radio silence was setting his nerves on edge. Unconsciously, he leaned forward to listen, hoping for some clue about what was taking place just a few miles down the road.

“Do the right thing,” he muttered as if Paul might somehow hear him.

“Now there’s a prayer worth repeating,” the deputy observed.

Dylan glanced at him and saw that his expression was tense, his frustration just as evident. Dylan’s own resentment at being kept out of the heart of the action eased a little. He had a hunch with very little encouragement the deputy might be persuaded to creep a little closer.

He was even more certain that it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. So much as a whisper of activity might spook Paul. Dylan had seen for himself the shape the other man was in. It wouldn’t take much for him to spin out of control.

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