Page 43 of The Work Wife

“You said this was a really bad plan,” she reminded him.

“If I had to pick something to be wrong about, I hope it’s that.” He rested his hands on her hips, then brushed a strand of hair out of her face. When she looked up at him, he could still see a hint of worry in her eyes, so he bent to pick her up and pretend to throw her into the icy water.

She screamed and kicked, but when he put her down she caught her breath and smiled up at him.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Anytime.”

* * * *

Jamie gave up on her plans to break into her father’s room and tried to relax and enjoy their visit.

When they got back from their walk, Wes offered to make dinner in exchange for getting out of clean-up duty. Jamie and her father jumped at the chance.

Jamie loved to cook and she had a few things she did well. Where she got into trouble was with recipes that had more than six ingredients. And pancakes, apparently. The concept of wet into dry still eluded her.

It wasn’t until she was elbow deep in suds that she realized what was really happening. Wes had been with her nearly every minute of their trip so far. But now he had donned his jacket and went out the door for a walk.

Either her new husband was sick of her already, or he was giving her time alone with her father.

“How are things with you?” she asked casually.

“Good,” he answered. “The same as they were yesterday when you asked, and earlier today.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t keep asking if I believed your answer.”

“Maybe you need to ask the right question.”

“You said the checkup went well.”

“It did.”

“I thought I saw a lot of medicine bottles in the cupboard. But now they’re not there.”

“They were old. I got rid of them.”

“You seem tired.”

“I’m older than the medicine bottles.”

“You’re really okay?” She watched his face when he answered, looking for the lie.

“I’m great. I’d be perfect if you stopped fussing.”

Damn. She couldn’t tell anything from his expression. He was skilled in the art of deception. Except, he’d overreached. “Perfect?” She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Maybe not perfect. My only child got married without even so much as a phone call. I didn’t have a chance to check him out.”

“I don’t want you to check him out, Daddy. I mean it.”

“Sorry, princess. It’s already in the works.”

She let out a sigh of annoyance and shrugged. “Fine.” She dried off her hands and tossed the towel at him. “But you won’t find anything on him. Weston is the most normal guy you’ll ever meet.”

“Everyone seems normal. Until you see their record.”

“Not everyone.”