Page 99 of Winter Vows

“Well, maybe Daddy will get that for you tonight. Let me talk to him again, okay?”

Dylan heard the exchange between Bobby and his father, then Paul snapped, “Yes?”

“Bring him back, Paul.”

“Just like that? I don’t think so.”

“When?”

“You’ll be hearing from me,” he said and hung up.

Dylan slowly replaced the receiver, still struck by the tension and anger in Paul’s voice. If he’d ever doubted that this was about something besides a dad wanting to be with his son, he had his proof now. Paul wasn’t making the most of this chance to be with Bobby. They weren’t bonding, making up for lost time. Paul was all but holding his son captive for reasons that weren’t yet clear to Dylan.

No, this was definitely about something between Paul and Kelsey. It was a power play, Dylan concluded.

He walked slowly back into the kitchen and found Kelsey sitting right where he’d left her, holding the phone and staring at it dejectedly.

She glanced up. “You heard?”

“Most of it.” He hunkered down beside her, took the phone and set it back on the chair. “You okay?”

She gazed at him, fire flaring in her eyes, just as he’d hoped it would.

“Of course I’m not okay. My ex-husband has my son and is using him to play some kind of sick game with me. How could I possibly be okay?” she demanded in a voice that shook with fury.

Dylan reached for her just as the sobs started. Like a child seeking the comfort of a parent’s embrace, she came willingly into his arms. Dylan held her and rocked her, feeling the tight knot of blame and resentment that had been inside him from the beginning of this case slowly ease. This was Kelsey, not Kit, and despite the odds against it, she was growing dear to him. So was a little boy he’d never even met. Hearing Bobby’s voice had made him more real than ever.

Dylan knew he was still missing critical pieces of the puzzle, but it didn’t seem to matter so much anymore. Beyond the tension and anger, he hadn’t liked what he’d heard in Paul’s voice. The man was a bully.

Plus, seeing that haunted look in Kelsey’s eyes, hearing her little boy beg to come home were enough to convince him that Bobby belonged here, and the sooner he was back, the better. If there were legal issues to be resolved, they could be sorted out later.

He tipped Kelsey’s chin up, until their gazes clashed. “We will get Bobby back,” he told her firmly. “Soon.”

“I’m so afraid,” she whispered, tears still spilling down her cheeks.

“Don’t be,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She trembled. Lost in the shimmering, expressive depths of her eyes, Dylan shuddered as well. Wanting only to give comfort, he touched his lips to her cheek in another kiss, tasted salty tears, then without thinking he moved on to her mouth.

Her lips parted beneath his, welcomed him, but with a desperation born of circumstances, not passion for him. He doubted she was even aware of who held her, conscious only of the need to be held, the yearning to feel alive instead of dead inside. He knew because in the first weeks after Shane was gone for good, he had tried losing himself in a succession of meaningless encounters. It hadn’t worked for him. It surely wouldn’t for Kelsey.

Finally he pulled back, rested his forehead against hers, and let his breathing slow to normal. And then he carefully withdrew, the act both physical and emotional. He retreated, praying he could hang on to his professional objectivity just a little longer, just until Bobby was safely home again.

Kelsey obviously didn’t understand what was going on. She stared at him in confusion. “Why?”

“Not now, Kelsey. It’s not the time.”

A shudder washed over her, as if she had suddenly become aware of what she’d been about to do. “Oh, God, what was I thinking?”

“You weren’t,” he said dryly. “Neither was I. We were feeling.” He forced her gaze to his. “And that’s okay, Kelsey. In fact, it’s more than okay. I promise you, we’ll get back to it, when the time is right.”

A blush stained her cheeks and she gave him a smile that wobbled. “You think?”

“Oh, yes, darlin’. I can all but guarantee it,” he said fervently. “Now let me get Lizzy or somebody else over here to stay with you, so I can get back on the job.”

“I’ll be fine by myself. I don’t need somebody hovering.”

“I think you do,” he said, just as firmly.

But in the end, he couldn’t track Lizzy down, so he called Trish. “Can you come over and spend some time with Kelsey?”

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