Page 133 of Winter Vows

“Wouldn’t that be a whole lot easier if you had a steady paycheck?”

“My business does real well,” Dylan said.

“In Houston. How well will it do if you’re here?” To Dylan’s regret, Justin had a point. “I guess I hadn’t gotten quite that far along with my thinking,” he conceded. “Give me a little time. I’ll consider the offer.”

“Take as much time as you need.”

Dylan stood up and offered Justin his hand. “Thank you for letting me work with you on this case. I would much rather work with the authorities than butt heads with them.”

“Which is exactly why I think you’d fit in here.” Dylan thought about the proposal all the way over to Trish’s. While it had some merit, he still wasn’t sure he was suited to following a bunch of rules and regulations, even with a decent guy like Justin as his boss.

When he got to his sister’s, he found her in the kitchen and discovered that Jeb was packing to go back to Houston.

“Where’s my best girl?” Dylan demanded as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Upstairs with Jeb. Be careful. I think she’s defecting. You haven’t been around much the past couple of days and I suspect her heart’s fickle.”

“Not my sweet Laura,” he said loudly enough to be heard upstairs.

“Unca Dyl.” The delighted cry echoed through the house and was quickly followed by the thunder of tiny feet heading for the stairs.

“Whoa, there, sweetheart,” Jeb shouted, pounding after her.

A moment later, he came into the kitchen with Laura sitting on his shoulders. Their niece’s arms were already outstretched for Dylan.

Trish chuckled. “Told you she was fickle.”

Jeb handed Laura over, then surveyed Dylan. “You look like hell. No sleep?”

“I got plenty of sleep,” Dylan told him. “Unfortunately the sofa was too blasted short. I’ve got aches and pains everywhere.”

“And here I envisioned you over there—”

“Careful, pal.”

Jeb grinned. “Celebrating, big brother. That’s all I was going to say. Where did you think I was going?”

“Never can tell with you.”

“Can I hitch a ride back to Houston with you or should I call Dad and ask to have the corporate jet sent over?” Jeb asked, wisely changing the subject.

“I’ll take you,” Dylan said.

Trish stared at him in shock. “You’re going back to Houston today?”

He nodded.

“But I thought...”

“Well, you thought wrong. I have things to do.” Her gaze narrowed. “Such as?”

“I’ll let you know next time I see you.”

“When will that be?”

He frowned at her. “Why all the questions?”

“It’s just that I saw how you and Kelsey were together. I was sure something was going to happen.”

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