Page 8 of At His Wife's Behest

She turned to Amanda, tossing the phone onto the coffee table in front of her. “We need to come up with a scenario to get Kellan outside the US, as far from Texas as we can.”

Amanda’s smile widened. “Shenanigans. I love it.” She tapped the side of her chin. “New Zealand? He loved it there.”

“He won’t go on a vacation. Not without Abby. This needs purpose. Make him think hehasto go.”

“Hmmm…” Amanda was silent a moment as Emma wracked her brain. “What about the Lake Como villa?”

“What reason would I have to send him there?”

“You just said last night that you were considering selling it.”

“Another of Dad’s impulse buys. He bought it, went there once, and never went back. That big old place sitting empty is ridiculous.”

“Agreed.” Amanda smiled. “You’ll need to go discuss the sale with the agent, of course.”

“Yeah,”Emma said, frowning. “But what does that have to do with Kellan?”

The lightbulb went on in Emma’s head and a smile formed on her lips. Amanda returned the expression.

“Got it?”

Emma nodded. “Yeah. Good idea, babe.” She leaned forward and drew Amanda closer. “How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?”

Amanda scoffed. “I don’t know, but youarequite lucky.”

Emma kissed Amanda, knowing she wasn’t deserving. She’d spend the rest of her life making it up to the love of her life.

2

Feet pounding on the pavement, Kellan took the same route he did most mornings for his jog. He wound his way through Emma’s mother’s elaborate gardens, down the long, winding paved lane, and then back up to the house, sweat coating his body. The Shelbys had modeled their estate on an English manor. In the middle East Texas. The water bill for the garden alone would likely bankrupt Emma in a few years’ time. Add in the pool and Abigail’s love for the soaking tub, and that cut the time in half.

Once he hit the expansive front stairs, he switched off his exercise time on his Apple Watch and pulled the earplugs from his ears where Dua Lipa wasLevitating.Walking the run out, he panted in the late April heat. Another glance at his watch had him cursing. He was late. After a rushed shower, he tugged on a pair of shorts and a tee so he could wake Abigail for school.

“Time to get up, sleepyhead,” Kellan murmured while gently shaking her. He snickered at her growl. His daughter wasn’t a morning person. She always appeared to have done battle overnight, and from how she appeared most mornings, shewas rarely the victor. Abigail lay sideways in her bed, one arm sticking out of the neck hole of her pajamas with her shoulder-length hair standing in every direction. Her little nose wrinkled as he continued wake her.

“You’ve got school. Let’s get a move on.” He rose and whipped open the curtains.

“Daddy.”She turned her face away from the sunlight pouring into her room. “You’re mean.”

“Somean,” he replied. He sat her up and pulled her arm back into the armhole. “You’re coming out of your pajamas.”

“It was hot,” she mumbled, her eyes still closed. She leaned against him, clinging to sleep.

He rose, lifting her. She rested her cheek on his shoulder, limp in his arms. “Do you really want to miss your friends today?”

Abigail sighed in his ear.

“What about Amelia Bedelia?”

That got her attention. Amelia Bedelia, one of the goldfish in the class aquarium, had laid a ton of eggs a few days before. It was all Abigail and her friends seemed capable of talking about when he dropped her off in the mornings of late.

She lifted her head, eyelids still droopy. “Oh, yeah.”

“What if the guppies come when you’re not there?”

Abigail gasped.“Noooo.”

Kellan took the stairs, headed for the kitchen where their housekeeper was preparing breakfast. “I guess you’d best wakeup and get ready for school, hmm? You don’t want to be the last one to see them.”

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