Mystery Bride

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Tomorrow, as soon as they found a car rental agency, airport or bus station, Will would be returning to his well-planned, safe and simple life. And his quest for a bride. He doubted his path would ever cross Samantha’s again, and wondered why it had even once, let alone twice.

His gaze fell on her face, and he felt that same strong pull he had at the party. What was it about this woman that tugged at him like a hangman’s noose?

Before he could stop himself, he took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him. This time the kiss was all his idea. And a bad one at that. Her lips parted, and she leaned into him as if drawn by a force of her own. He drew her closer, tasting her, teasing her tongue with his, feasting on her luscious inviting mouth, taking but wanting more. So much more.

She pulled back first, her eyes dark with desire. And quiet despair. She didn’t have to say a word. They both knew how impossible this was.

He reminded himself that his birthday was only days away. Just the thought of his self-imposed deadline to find a prospective mate made him grit his teeth. He should be out looking. Not kissing this shamus/child-napper.

“We should get some sleep,” she said. “We leave early in the morning.”

“I’ll take the couch,” he said hoarsely. There was only one other bedroom aside from the one Zack was in.

She didn’t put up an argument. Probably decided to let him have a little control over his life. How thoughtful. She got him some bedding and then bid him good-night, disappearing into the second bedroom but leaving the door ajar.

He stood before the fire for a long time, staring into the flames, feeling anxious and wide-awake, the kiss still coursing through him like high-voltage electricity, giving him a buzz, making him jittery.

After a while, the fire burned down and his heart rate slowed. The fire inside him cooled. He returned to his usual sensible self again, and went to look in on Zack.

The little boy was out, a slight smile on his cherub face. The kid was cute. He had his arm around his backpack as if everything he cared about was inside. Will wondered if that was true. What had this boy’s life been like? And how had he become such an adept thief at such a young age?

Will smiled wryly, remembering his own childhood. He wondered if he didn’t have more in common with Zackarias Lucien O’Brien than anyone would have suspected.

He left the bedroom door partially open and glanced into the other bedroom. Samantha was curled in a fetal position, the covers kicked off. He stepped in and quietly pulled the quilt up over her slim frame. In slumber, she had Zack’s childlike angelic sweetness about her.

Unless you noticed the barrel of her pistol sticking out from under her pillow.

Chapter Four

Samantha woke just before daybreak, the dream so real she jumped out of bed, her heart pounding, and rushed in to check on Zack.

Curled in the middle of the double bed, he looked even smaller and more vulnerable than usual. She felt her breath catch at the sight of his tiny sleeping form. So young. So alone. So scared.

She knew how he felt. Since the night of the party, her life had been thrown into spin cycle. Lucas missing, suspected of a burglary at the computer company where he’d worked. The police looking for him. Zack kidnapped. And her house ransacked.

She thought about the kidnappers and what Will had said about them taking the boy to the rest home. It didn’t make any sense. Unless you knew Lucas.

So why hadn’t he called again? She’d been so sure he would. From the moment Cassie had contacted her, Samantha had believed Lucas was behind Zack’s so-called kidnapping, just as Cassie had. She’d been convinced of it when she’d learned from her cousin Charley, the cop, that Lucas had purchased two train tickets to Wolf Point. She hadn’t been surprised when she’d found the kidnappers had taken Zack to Wolf Point to his great-grandmother’s rest home.

That theory began to unravel when Lucas didn’t show up; when she found out that Lucas’s grandmother, Gladdie O’Brien, had Alzheimer’s and didn’t know anyone, including Lucas, and hadn’t for months. But Samantha hadn’t gotten worried until the kidnappers had chased her after she’d snatched Zack. They hadn’t looked like friends of Lucas’s. They’d looked like thugs, not computer geeks.

Maybe the train tickets had been a red herring, and Cassie was wrong about Lucas setting up the kidnapping. But why would anyone else kidnap Zack? What had the kidnappers hoped to accomplish? And, just as Will had noted, why take the boy to Wolf Point, Montana, to a rest home? Why no ransom demand?

When Lucas hadn’t shown up by the second time the kidnappers took Zack to the rest home, Sam had known she had to act—and quickly. She’d left a message with the head nurse for Lucas to call her on her cell phone, and she’d grabbed Zack from the kidnappers.

She’d counted on Lucas calling, convinced he was alive and had set this up to be with his son. But if that were true, then where was he? Why hadn’t he called? Maybe something had detained him or— She didn’t like to consider the alternative. That something had happened to him.

But if she was wrong about the kidnapping, then maybe she was wrong about why the kidnappers had taken Zack to the rest home. Were they looking for Lucas for another reason aside from giving him his son? Or were they looking for something else?

She closed her eyes, her head aching. There was only one thing she could be sure of: Lucas loved his son and wouldn’t have left him unless he had to. She knew Lucas.

She leaned down to brush a lock of hair back from the boy’s face, feeling a surge of affection so strong it almost dropped her to her knees. This child could have been hers. Should have been hers.

Those kinds of thoughts got her nowhere, she reminded herself. Instead she needed to concentrate on getting Zack safely to Seattle. Then what? Ideally, Lucas would turn up with a good explanation for his disappearance.

But she wasn’t counting on that. Cassie had hinted that Lucas might be in some sort of trouble. If she wanted answers, she’d have to get them from Cassie. Or Zack. She suspected the boy knew as much as anyone about what was going on. But for some reason, he was either afraid or unwilling to tell her.

When she’d questioned him last night, he’d definitely seemed frightened. But why wouldn’t he be? His father was missing and strangers had kidnapped him. That would be enough to scare any kid.

She shook her head. Normally, she operated on instinct. But now her instincts were telling her they couldn’t be trusted. She was too personally involved. Add to that Will Sheridan. No wonder she was having nightmares.