The Kidnapped Christmas Bride (Taming of the Sheenans Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

even when—” Trey broke off, took a deep breath, finishing, “—they’re married.”
    “I don’t know why they have to be married if you’re here.”
    Trey clasped TJ’s face in his hands and pressed a swift kiss to his forehead. “When you’re grown up, you’ll understand.” He stood, and looked at McKenna. “I’m going to want to see him, Mac,” he said roughly, using his nickname for her. “I need you to promise me that you won’t keep us apart.”
    “I’d never do that.”
    “Or let Lawrence keep TJ away,” he added.
    “He wouldn’t do that, either.”
    Trey’s laugh was low and mocking. “I don’t believe that for a second, and neither should you. I want a promise. A cross your heart promise.”
    A cross your heart promise. That was the promise they used to make to each other…
    Cross my heart, I promise to always love you…
    Cross my heart, I promise to one day marry you…
    Cross my heart, we’ll raise our baby together…
    She swallowed hard. “I promise. Cross my heart.”
    He nodded, apparently satisfied. “Now go inside before the two of you freeze to death.” And then he was off, walking to his truck at the curb, his black dress shirt billowing from an icy blast of wind.
    *
    Trey was halfway down the front steps when TJ let out a shriek and came running after him, his shoes ringing on the pavement. “Daddy, wait! Wait!”
    “Stop, TJ!” McKenna’s voice rose, short, sharp, firm.
    “Daddy, don’t go!”
    Trey kept walking. He couldn’t stop. Couldn’t turn around. Couldn’t look at his son or see his face, or those bright blue eyes. Couldn’t let himself remember how good it felt to hold TJ in his arms, his son safe warm and good and still so very innocent.
    TJ’s innocence mattered. He was just a little boy. He deserved good things, and good people. He deserved to be protected. Which was why Trey had worried all these years, worried that while he was in prison McKenna and TJ were vulnerable. He’d worried about their safety, and their financial security. He’d worried that without him there to protect them, something horrible might happen, just as it had happened on the Douglas ranch when McKenna was just a thirrteen year old girl.
    Trey shuddered at the curb’s edge, his heart and mind in conflict.
    McKenna needed Trey to walk away now. But did TJ?
    Would leaving now be the right thing for his son?
    He hesitated on the curb, hearing TJ’s fast light steps behind him. The boy was running, his breathing ragged.
    It tore at him, wounding him.
    His boy running after him, wanting him, and he just leaving…
    “TJ!” McKenna shouted again, louder, more frantic.
    Teeth grinding tight, Trey stepped off the curb and into the street. He had to honor McKenna’s wishes. He had to respect her. He had to be a man of integrity—
    “ Dad !”
    TJ’s panicked scream filled the air as Trey opened the truck door and climbed inside the cab even as he wondered how did a man live like this? Survive a life like this? He felt cursed. Broken. He loved McKenna and TJ but it didn’t matter. He’d screwed up. Messed up. And he was always going to pay…
    “Daddy!” TJ’s voice rose higher. “ Wait! Wait for me !”
    Trey had just put the keys in the ignition but now he froze, shoulders hunching.
    Wait .
    Wait for me.
    But that was all Trey had done, the past four years. Wait, and wait, and wait.
    The pain roared through him, hot, blistering. This was hell….pure hell…
    And then suddenly TJ was there, climbing into the truck, his arms wrapping around Trey’s neck.
    “Don’t go,” TJ begged, voice trembling, “not without me.”
    Prison was bad, Trey thought, heart on fire, but this was so much worse.
    This…there were no words for this…
    Trey held TJ tight, breathing in his son’s warmth and sweetness, aware that TJ belonged with his mom. By law, TJ belonged to his mom. There was nothing he could do at this point. Nothing he could do but reassure TJ that he loved him,