by Janet Dailey
“Send him out when he gets a minute.”
“Sure will,” the cook said. “But he likes to work. For someone who’s going back to school in January, he gives it all he’s got. Saving up for something. He won’t tell me what.”
Paula and Zach knew. Brandon was planning a Christmas homecoming for his grandmother and wanted to pay for it himself. Zach had found him the job here, way outside of Denver. Brandon was bunking in a trailer out back of the diner.
Brandon came out, wearing a white kitchen cap over his dark curls. “Hey.”
“Look at you,” Paula said. She would have given him a hug if he hadn’t been on the job. “I understand you’re getting a promotion.”
“Who told you that?”
The cook wagged a finger at Paula. “Now I have to give him one.” He patted Brandon on the back. “You go over there and sit with your friends. I gotta clean the grill.”
“Thanks.” Brandon went around the counter and slid into the booth next to Zach. “I talked to Gram today. She said to say hi to both of you.”
“I’m going to go see her tomorrow,” Paula said.
“So tell me about your Christmas plans.”
Brandon grinned. “A big honking tree, all lit up. And more presents. I have one for you, Paula.”
“Here?”
Brandon nodded. “My grandma got hers early. You too.”
Paula leaned over the table and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You didn’t have to do that. But thanks.”
He took a tiny flat box out of his jeans pocket and slid it across to her. “It’s a little one.”
Paula slid a fingernail under the tape on the wrapping paper and got it open. She saw a flat silver arrow engraved in script. Paula read the words to herself.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Brandon.
“You used to tell me things like that,” he said. “I figured you could put it on the ring with your car keys.”
“What does it say?” Zach asked. She knew he’d seen it, but Brandon didn’t know she knew.
She showed Zach the engraved words without reading them aloud.
Go in the direction of your dreams.
He nodded with approval. “That’s really nice,” he said. “And very good advice.”
Brandon seemed pleased with himself.
“I haven’t bought yours yet,” she told him.
“That’s okay.” He seemed to have other things on his mind. “Okay, so Grace is coming over early on Christmas Eve. Then her mom will pick her up, so it will be just me and Gram. I ordered a whole smoked turkey, and I already bought lots of eggnog, so she doesn’t have to cook.”
“Sounds great,” Zach said. “You might want to round out that menu some, though. Maybe a salad, something like that.”
“I could do that,” Brandon said. “Good idea. So what are you two doing?”
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “We might go out of town.”
Tyrell Bennett entered through a side door. His lean, weathered face broke into a craggy smile at the sight of his son. “Now, don’t get up,” he said as he came over. He took off a vintage Stetson and hung it on the hook by the booth. “So this is Paula. Very nice to meet you. Zach won’t stop talking about you.”
Paula pushed back her hair and sat up straight to shake the old cowboy’s hand. His grip was firm. It reminded her of Zach. Hand on the reins. Gentle touch. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Bennett.”
“You can call me Tyrell. Everyone else does.”
“Hi, Dad.” Zach looked at him sideways.
“Is that you, son? I didn’t see you at first. And you must be Brandon.” Tyrell dragged over a chair and sat at the head of the booth. “Didja order, Zach? What’s everybody else having tonight?”
“A damn good time,” Zach said.
“Glad to hear it. I’ll have a fried pie on the side.”
Chapter 24
Paula shut the laptop and glanced out the window at the snow falling outside. “Okay. E-mail sent. I’m not following up on the Otis Parker case. Detective Robson will get the glory. And by the way, the cash was in the safe.”
“You won’t lose sleep over it. Like I said, you have it all. You’re a perfect lady, a brazen hussy, and one hell of a good cop.”
“Maybe not forever. What if I want to quit?”
“I’m not sure I want you to go that far,” he said thoughtfully. “You have to be the only woman who could ever keep me in line.”
“You might be too much man for me,” she teased. “What if you get restless?”
“Do I look restless to you?” Stretched out on her sofa with his cowboy boots propped on the far arm, Zach’s air of masculine assurance was a match for his lethargy.
“Not very.” He looked supremely comfortable in the cozy warmth of her apartment.
“Give me a kiss,” he begged. She went over to him. Zach reached a hand up into her long, flowing hair and tugged her down beside him. The tenderness turned sensual. She was a little surprised when he broke it off.
“Let’s get away before New Year’s,” he said.
“You’re on. But where?”
“I know a place. You. Me. A hundred thousand tons of snow that I don’t have to shovel or plow because we’re never getting out of bed.”
“We haven’t shared one yet,” she reminded him.
He winked at her. “We did just about everything but that.”
“Zach . . .”
“What?”
Paula relented. “Just tell me where we’re going.”
“A Rocky Mountain lodge. Exclusive and expensive. They pamper you so hard you don’t have to do anything. They send the staff out to ski for you.”
“Thank God.”
“You’ll love it, I promise. Fine dining. A ballroom. Different music every night.”
“I have to like the music,” Paula said.
“They have a swing ensemble, a country band, and some slow jam guys from Steamboat Springs on Mondays who never tune their guitars. We’ll be gone by then.”
“Let’s swing.”
“Great dance. I can teach you.”
“Which dress do you like best on me? The wine-red or the ice velvet?”
He smiled like the devil himself. “Neither.”
“Oh, you.”
“And,” he continued, “I have something else for you. Something you really like.”
“What’s that?”
He put a hand in his pocket and took out something small enough to fit in his palm. “Evidence.”
“I thought you wanted me to leave the job behind until next year.”
In one swift move, Zach produced a ring box and opened it to reveal an oval diamond set on a simple band. “Let this be entered into the record as evidence that I love you.”
He removed the ring from its white satin nest and slipped it onto her fourth finger, left hand.
Paula just looked at it, dazzled.
“I know, I know,” he said. “We only met four weeks ago. I’m asking for a year to prove that I mean what I say. I’m assuming you love me.”
She pummeled him unmercifully. “I do. I probably shouldn’t but I do. I do.”
Zach laughed. “I like the sound of that.”
He kissed her again. This time he didn’t stop.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2013 by Janet Dailey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4201
-2463-7
eISBN-13: 978-1-4201-3275-5
eISBN-10: 1-4201-3275-X
First Zebra Books Electronic Edition: October 2013