Husband for a Year. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ good, Mrs. Wainwright.”

      As soon as they reached the popular restaurant in downtown Newport, the chauffeur helped her out, then drove off. Left to her own devices, Stefanie walked to the end of the street and rounded the corner.

      Earlier in the day she’d paid cash for a used car, which sat parked at the curb. Her new cell phone was packed in one of the suitcases she’d stashed in the trunk. After retrieving it, plus a wig with short black curls styled like a Gypsy’s, she climbed in behind the wheel of the small blue compact.

      With her shoulder-length hair worn up, she could easily slip on the wig. Once it was in place she started the engine, anxious to put as many miles between her and Newport as possible.

      The senator might still be at the club with his wife and her parents, but she had no doubts he’d already excused himself long enough to order a surveillance team to set up a watch outside the fabulous Nantucket shingle house Gabe had given her for a wedding present.

      Before long there would be a tap on her home phone. Gabe’s father would have her every move scrutinized until she led him to his son.

      While she’d been married to Gabe, she’d learned a lot about the senator that hadn’t been apparent when she’d first gone to work for his reelection campaign two years earlier.

      Senator Wainwright was a dynasty builder. His sons were his possessions. His word, law. Though he adored his children, he would consider it unconscionable for one of them to defect from the family. Especially Gabe, whom he privately favored.

      What his youngest son had done today was tantamount to high treason. Unthinkable. Unforgivable. She’d seen it in his father’s eyes. He would stop at nothing to bring Gabe back to the fold, even if it meant spying on Stefanie in her own home.

      But she had the element of surprise on her side. By the time he realized she’d outsmarted him, she would be over state lines and impossible to trace.

      The call she’d been waiting for came at 9:00 p.m. exactly. Her heart hammered as she clicked on and said hello.

      “Ms. Dawson?”

      “Yes, Wes! What news do you have for me?”

      “Your ex-husband flew to Providence by shuttle, then left the airport in a half-ton pickup truck with Montana license plates.”

      Montana?

      She’d thought he might have been planning to fly overseas in a private jet. “W-was there someone with him?” Please don’t tell me it was a woman.

      “Not at first.”

      Oh, no.

      “But before he left the city, he stopped off at a very fancy military academy to pick up a boy and a woman.”

      She let out a gasp of surprise. “Did you get a good look at them?”

      “Yes. I’d say the boy is fourteen or fifteen years old, fairly tall for his age. On the lean side, dark-haired. The brunette woman looked anywhere from her mid-thirties to mid-forties. Attractive.”

      Dear God— Could the boy be Gabe’s son? Was that the great secret he’d been keeping from everyone? If so, was the woman his mother? Was Gabe taking them away? Did he love her?

      Stefanie was in so much pain, she could hardly breathe.

      “Ms. Dawson?”

      “Y-yes?”

      “Okay. I was just checking to make sure you were still on the line. Stan and I have tailed them to Erie, Pennsylvania, where they’ve pulled into a motel parking lot. I’m assuming they’ll stay here for the night.”

      Gabe was in Erie? That meant he’d been driving nonstop since he’d picked up his passengers. It was one thing to fear that he might have been seeing another women throughout their marriage. But the knowledge that he was actually with her at a motel right now almost destroyed Stefanie.

      “Stan is going to relieve me so I can get some sleep in the back of the van. You’ve got his cell phone number. Call him whenever you want an update.”

      “Thank you. I—I will,” she murmured, her voice shaking with fear that Gabe had been in love with the woman all these years. Someone his family wouldn’t have liked?

      If that was the case, then it was no wonder he’d never broken the terms of that wretched contract he’d made with Stefanie. He’d had no desire to make love to her when the mother of his son was out there waiting for him to be free.

      Stefanie stifled her moan, not knowing what to think. “Please—don’t lose sight of him,” she begged. “Right now I’m in my car following you.”

      “We’ve never lost a target yet.”

      “Whatever you do, don’t let him see you! You have to understand he doesn’t want to be found.”

      “I’m aware of that. At this point you’re going to have to trust us to get the job done. We always do.”

      She bit her lip. “I pray you’re right. I’ll make it worth your while.”

      “You already have. I promise he won’t get away from us.”

      “Then I guess I can’t ask for more than that.” Stefanie clicked off, terrified something could still go wrong and she’d never see Gabe again.

      Another hour and her eyelids started to droop. At the next sign for lodgings she pulled off the freeway and drove to a Cozy Inn for the night. Once settled, she climbed into bed and made another phone call. Gabe was still at the same motel. With her…

      After thanking Stan for the information, she buried her face in the pillow. It was wet by the time she fell into oblivion.

      “This is going to be so cool, Gabe.”

      “You think?”

      Gabe smiled as he eyed the fifteen-year-old seated in the cab of his truck. Every time he’d visited with Clay Talbot in the past, the troubled boy Gabe had influenced the court to send to the tightly enforced military academy rather than a state correctional facility, he had grown on him a little more.

      “Yeah. I can’t believe we’re almost there.”

      “You realize this is only an experiment.”

      “I know.”

      “You’ve been released to my custody. If you don’t obey the rules, my hands will be tied and the court will send you back to the academy.”

      “I hated that place. It might as well have been a prison.”

      “Take my word for it, the academy doesn’t come close to the real thing.”

      After a long silence, “I swear I’m not going to get into trouble again.”

      “I hope not, Clay. It would disappoint me and break your mom’s heart. But more importantly, you would be letting СКАЧАТЬ