Pressing her lips together and giving her head a melodramatic shake...as if she hadn’t over the past few days made it clear to everyone in self-pitying fashion how miserable her Christmas would be without her husband. Even if Reid didn’t know the truth, his mother’s endless attention-seeking complaints made it hard to be sympathetic to her sadness.
He almost told her the big surprise he was keeping from the family, but a movement at the door to the front foyer drew his attention. And the point became moot.
Placing his hands on Whitney’s shoulders, he said, “Mother, I think your wish came true. Merry Christmas.”
At her puzzled look, he jerked a nod toward the foyer.
“What’s this I hear about an engagement?” Eldridge said in a booming voice above the fray.
“Dridgey-pooh!” Whitney shrieked in glee.
Gasps, glad cries and several outbursts of “Father!” or “Eldridge!” filled the room. Reid cleared a path through the swarm of family so Whitney could fall into her husband’s embrace. “Oh, darling! You’re alive! You’re here, you’re—” Whitney paused, blinking at Eldridge.
And slapped him.
The assembled group murmured their shock.
“How dare you leave me alone with no word where you were and whether you were alive or dead!” she shrieked in ear-piercing tones. “I’ve been worried sick! Sick, I say!”
“I’m sorry, baby. I need time to get my head straight. To figure out what—”
“Oh, hush, old man! There’ll be time for explanations later.” She threw her arms around Eldridge and kissed him. “I’m just so glad you’re alive. The rest will sort itself out later.”
The rest of the family clustered around Eldridge and welcomed him home, tossing questions at him along with hugs and handshakes.
“I think we’ve been upstaged,” Pen whispered to him.
Reid snorted a laugh. “Typical Eldridge.”
Pen laid her head on his shoulder and laced her fingers with his. “Doesn’t matter. Besides, I think having Eldridge back is the best Christmas present your family could have asked for.”
He nodded his agreement and gave her a wry grin. “And six months ago, who’d have ever thought that?”
*
Don’t miss the previous titles in
THE COLTONS OF TEXAS miniseries:
RUNAWAY COLTON
COLTON FAMILY RESCUE
HIGH-STAKES COLTON
THE PREGNANT COLTON BRIDE
COLTON COWBOY HIDEOUT
A BABY FOR AGENT COLTON
HER COLTON P.I.
COLTON’S TEXAS STAKEOUT
COLTON BABY HOMECOMING
COLTON’S SURPRISE HEIR
COLTON COPYCAT KILLER
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Taming Deputy Harlow
by Jennifer Morey
Chapter 1
“How did you find me?” Jamie Knox asked the big man wearing the cowboy hat. He took great care to not be easy to find. The fact that this man did spoke to the depth of his resources.
Kadin Tandy walked across Jamie’s New York City studio apartment. “One of my detectives tracked you down. He said you were instrumental in closing a case he worked in Alaska.” He inspected the big-screen TV in the corner and then the queen-size bed in an alcove off the living room. “Something about creating a distraction with a helicopter and helping to save his client from the killer?”
“Brycen Cage and Drury Decoteau?” Jamie wasn’t fooled that this man didn’t know exactly what had happened that day. He sipped from his bottle of water as he sat on the sofa.
“They’d be the ones.” Kadin strolled back toward him and stopped beside the kitchen island, the only table Jamie had.
Jamie stretched his arm out along the back of the sofa. “You came here to discuss my involvement in their case?”
“No. I’m here to offer you redemption.”
That got his attention. “How do you know I need redemption?”
Kadin made a show of looking around Jamie’s studio apartment. “What made you decide to live here?”
“It’s close to Central Park, public transportation, and places to shop and eat. But the boutique elevator really hooked me.”
“Deep-city living appeals to you?” Kadin didn’t find his humor amusing, apparently.
“It’s noisy and overpopulated.” He was beginning to regret letting the man in. He’d let homeless people in before, so maybe that meant he’d let anyone in. The homeless people he fed. This man... What did he need? Something significant if he went to such lengths to arrange this meeting.
“Does that fill the void of rescuing people from insurgents in Third World countries?”
“You’ve done your homework.” Jamie put the bottle of water on the coffee table.
“I always do when I want to recruit someone.”
As Jamie leaned back, he tried not to show his surprise. He’d expected something significant, but not this. “Been doing that a lot lately?”
“I’m a start-up and I happen to be expanding to the international market.”
“International?”