Trading Secrets by Jayne Castle Page B

lifestyle with him. Ginny would probably never
     forgive Brad if he succeeded in driving off her new husband.
    "You want me to take him for a whole summer?"
    "Why not?" Ginny said grimly. "Let him see what his father is
     really like. Let him see what a failure you are now. It might be
     more effective than all the expensive therapy in the world. Come
     and get him, Matt. I really can't take any more." She hung up the
     phone without waiting for an answer.
    Slowly Matt replaced the receiver, absorbing the ramifications of
     the three A.M. call. It changed everything. He knew that tone in
     Ginny's voice. She was at the end of her tether and she was
     struggling to hold on to the financial and emotional security she
     had found with Paul Martin. She'd established her priorities and
     Brad was now second on the list.
    There had been several years during which the boy had ranked
     higher. Brad's birth had brought with it the vast approval of
     Matt's parents along with a considerable flow of cash from them.
     At the time of the divorce Colonel and Mrs. August had made it
     clear they sided with the mother of their grandson. And after
     Matt's career disaster their sympathies had grown even more
     entrenched. Matt had made little effort to change the status quo.
     He couldn't even remember the last time he'd called his folks.
    Ginny's marriage had apparently realigned everyone's priorities,
     including her own. Brad was apparently no longer an asset.
    Matt sat naked on the edge of the rumpled bed and studied the
     lights of the cruise ship down in the harbor. It was a different
     ship from the one that had been in port the night he had met
     Sabrina, but it made him think of her.
    A lot of things had made him think of her during the month since
     she had left.
    Getting to his feet, Matt walked over to the window. There was no
     option. He would have to go to Houston and collect Brad. He'd seen
     Ginny when she got close to the edge emotionally. She would
     convince herself that her first priority was to protect herself.
     And maybe she was right.
    Coyne wasn't going to be pleased, Matt thought. He'd said he'd
     wait a month for the answer to his offer of a job, and Matt knew
     he'd fully expected that answer to be in the affirmative. Until
     this morning he'd had every reason to assume that.
    Matt wasn't altogether certain why he had been on the brink of
     accepting Coyne's offer. It had something to do with priorities,
     with proving himself. Getting his life back in focus had become
     increasingly important since Sabrina Chase, tourist, had gone back
     to Dallas, Texas. The need to do so had been eating at him,
     prodding him, pushing at him. Coyne's offer had been dangling out
     there, a possible beginning point.
    Priorities.
    Until three this morning Matt had assumed he would have to work
     at figuring out if he even had any. Now he knew he did.
    Brad was waiting for him in Houston. Matt moved away from the
     window, frowning into the darkness. Brad was his reason for going
     to Texas. But there was someone else in Texas. Someone who ran a
     shop with a stuffed bull in the window. What would Sabrina say if
     he looked her up before he headed back to Mexico?
     
    ***
     
    "Tacky, Alex. Very tacky." Sabrina eyed her assistant with
     misgivings as he sauntered into work one minute after nine. Alex
     Kyle had strong feelings about having to be at work on time. He
     asserted his independence by consistently being one minute late.
     Sabrina accepted his small rebellion because he was incredibly
     good at selling brass cowboy-boot paperweights and silver belt
     buckles. And because she completely understood his need to assert
     himself against her power as his boss. She'd done it often enough
     with bosses in the past.
    "You don't like the outfit?" Alex contrived to look hurt. He
     glanced down at the skin-tight leather jeans, leather vest, and
     high-heeled cowboy boots he was wearing. A watermelon-colored
     Western-style yoked