Free The Kidnapped Christmas Bride (Taming of the Sheenans Book 3) by Jane Porter

bathroom and out again. He opened the women’s door, stuck his head inside and then he was walking back to the table. “He’s not there,” Trey said bluntly.
    She was on her feet. “ What ?”
    He peeled money from his wallet and dropped the bills on the table. “We’ve got to go find him.”
    *
    Cars and trucks whizzed by on the highway, headlights blindingly bright. The sky was clear and the moon shone white, no clouds to diminish the brightness. McKenna was grateful for the moonlight as she and Trey traveled the perimeter of the parking lot, searching for TJ, calling his name.
    She was shivering from the cold, her tulle and silk skirts tangling between her legs, but there was no way she’d go inside until TJ was found.
    Cupping her hands to her mouth, she shouted his name, telling herself not to panic, telling herself he was here somewhere. He hadn’t been gone long. There was no way he could have gone far.
    Trey reached for her hand, taking it in the dark. “We’ll find him, Mac.”
    His fingers curled around hers, his hand warm and hard, the skin callused on his palm.
    She felt Trey’s heat as his fingers laced with hers. His touch was meant to be comforting and yet she felt only electricity, as if he’d plugged her into something live and potent.
    Just like it used to be.
    But no, it wasn’t like it used to be. It’d never be that way again.
    “I think I see him,” Trey said, releasing her hand and taking off at a run, darting across the highway to the other side of the road.
    She watched him duck behind a cluster of garbage cans and come up with a little boy.
    TJ .
    Her heart lurched with relief. Thank God. Trey had found him.

Chapter Eight
    ‡
    I nside the diner, Trey put TJ down and McKenna didn’t know if she should hug her son or shake him.
    “What were you thinking?” she cried, crouching in front of TJ, holding him by the upper arms. “You could have been hurt out there, or killed! Why on earth would you do something like that?”
    “I’m running away,” he said hotly, totally unrepentant.
    “Why?”
    “’Cause you’re making Dad go, and so I’m going, too—”
    “I’m not making your dad go—”
    “Yes, you are. I heard you. You said that he had to go so Lawrence can come get us and take us home, but I don’t want to go with Lawrence. I don’t like him. I’m not going to live with him.”
    “Oh, TJ—”
    “I’m going with my dad,” he interrupted fiercely. “You can go live with Lawrence.”
    “What about me? Won’t you miss me?”
    “No!”
    “No? Why not?”
    “Because you’re sending him to jail!”
    “I’m not.”
    “I heard you.” His pressed his mouth shut in a mutinous line for a moment. “And if you send him to jail, I’m going with him, too.”
    Her heart fell and she sank back on her heels, full white skirts puffing around her like an airy cloud of meringue. “Oh, honey.”
    “I will,” he insisted, arms crossing defiantly over his chest. “Where he goes, I go.”
    “They don’t send little kids to jail.” She folded her hands in her lap, studying his unhappy face. “Not even if they’re bad. And you’re not bad.” She glanced past TJ to Trey who stood with his arms folded, too. Like father, like son. “Neither of you are bad,” she said, holding Trey’s gaze. “Sheenans aren’t bad. A little hot-headed, yes, but bad….no.”
    TJ was still struggling to process everything. “So he didn’t kidnap us?”
    She leaned forward to kiss TJ’s chilled cheek. “No, babe.”
    “And he’s not in trouble.”
    “No.”
    “So he doesn’t have to leave. He can stay with us and we can have Christmas together. Right?”
    She struggled to smile. “How about we start with dinner first? And then we can talk about Christmas after.”
    *
    While Trey and TJ finished their dinner, McKenna used the diner phone to call Lawrence.
    He didn’t pick up on his cell. She hung up without leaving a message and tried Paige, who didn’t answer, either.