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The Stolen Bride
The Stolen Bride
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The Stolen Bride

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“Name it.” Too late, it occurred to Erin that she might get stuck here without dinner. Well, she’d survive. Maybe.

“What a great attitude! I hope I’m not going to lose you.” Bea shook her head apologetically. “Don’t mind me. Chet’s a real catch. When are you giving him your answer?”

“He’s driving down tomorrow.” Erin felt an inexplicable urge to touch her heart pendant again. She didn’t want to talk about Chet. “How were the receipts?”

“Even better than last year,” Bea said. “I don’t have the final numbers, but I’m guessing the profit will be around fifteen thousand. That’s not counting our mysterious benefactor. I can’t believe it! Someone managed to sneak a cashier’s check into the donation box again this year.”

“Let’s not complain about it,” Erin teased. “How much was it this time?”

“Twenty thousand,” Bea said. “It’s from Friend of a Friend Foundation again. I’m surprised you never heard of them. I mean, you are from Sundown Valley, and that’s where they’re located. But I guess you don’t pay much attention to what goes on there anymore.”

Erin shrugged and said nothing. In fact, she subscribed to the Sundown Sentinel and kept close tabs on her hometown.

“I don’t know why they’re so mysterious.” Bea had telephoned the previous year and learned only that the foundation made donations to worthy causes on behalf of an anonymous sponsor. “Well, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“What was the favor?” Erin asked.

“Oh! Thanks for reminding me,” said her boss. “I know you made two runs to the bank already, and I was going to make the last trip myself. But my babysitter just called and said Kiki’s fussing.” That was her two-year-old daughter. “I hope she’s not coming down with something. Would you mind making the drop?”

“No problem.” Erin ignored a twinge of apprehension when she remembered the van. Tustin was a safe city and it was daylight, although fading fast.

Bea handed over the cash box. The heavy metal container was ridiculously obvious, Erin thought. Well, if someone stole it, she’d send another anonymous check to make good on the loss.

It hadn’t been easy keeping her secret while working for Conrad Promotions the past three years, she reflected as Bea turned to accept compliments from an exhibitor. It helped that hardly anyone in Orange County knew her family.

In Sundown Valley, everybody knew about the Marshall Company. The development and management firm owned everything from the local mall to the medical center. Two years ago, Erin had inherited a half interest in it.

She didn’t dismiss the advantages of wealth, but it had drawbacks, too. If her mother, Alice, weren’t wealthy, would her stepfather, Lance Bolding, have materialized out of nowhere during a cruise last year and charmed the grieving widow into marrying him? And if he hadn’t done that, he couldn’t have managed to come between Alice and her daughter.

Erin’s concerns deepened dramatically four months ago when her mother nearly drowned in the lake near the new home Lance had persuaded her to buy. Although the police had ruled it an accident, she feared for her mother’s safety.

But Alice had refused to let her intervene. In fact, they’d quarreled on the phone right after the accident. Since then, her mother had refused to let Erin come to visit. Lance had managed to isolate her almost completely.

Except from Chet Dever. As CEO of the Marshall Company, he’d been her father’s right-hand man and, since Alice served as the company’s chairman of the board, he often consulted her on business matters. He’d kept an eye on her for Erin these past few months.

After dating her casually in the past, he’d also begun to court her in earnest. Last weekend, he’d asked Erin to marry him. After taking a week to think about it, she’d decided to say yes tomorrow.

Chet was handsome, smart and eloquent. She admired his focus and his ambitious agenda as a leading congressional candidate in next spring’s primary. And he was one of the few men she’d met for whom her money was neither an obstacle nor her chief attraction.

Erin’s free hand closed over the pendant. The boy who’d given it to her in high school had been her first love, but it made no sense to compare Chet to someone she hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. And probably never would again. During their painful breakup, Joseph had made it clear he wanted nothing further to do with Erin.

Yet touching the heart gave her a sense of connection. Why was she thinking about him now? Why did I wear this today?

Suddenly she knew the answer, although she hadn’t wanted to face it. Because it reminded her of someone with whom she’d felt things she could never feel with Chet: a visceral excitement, an eagerness to touch him, the joy of spontaneity.

Until another man affected her that strongly, she had no business getting married.

“Is it something I said?” Bea asked. “You’re off in your own little world.”

“I’m sorry.” Erin realized she’d been standing there like a zombie.

“I know it isn’t the effect of holding so much money, because you handled more than that earlier,” her boss pointed out.

“It’s Chet,” Erin blurted. “It’s a mistake.”

“What’s a mistake?”

“I was going to say yes. I can’t marry him.” She let out a long breath and was surprised by the intensity of her relief.

“Marriage is a big step, but I thought you really liked him,” Bea said. “He made a great impression on my husband and me.” Chet had taken them all out for a French dinner.

“I do like him,” Erin said. “I just don’t love him.” And if I don’t love him by now, I never will.

She realized she’d been hoping all along that she was falling in love. Life would be so simple if she could marry Chet.

Her mother would approve, and they might grow close again. And Erin liked Chet’s goal of stimulating the economy by shrinking government and encouraging private investment. She’d always wanted to make a difference in the world and with him, she could.

Why had she believed that was enough reason to get married? By now, she ought to know her own mind and have her own purpose in life. Although she’d made a start by working for Conrad Promotions, it wasn’t enough.

“You’re the only one who can make that decision,” Bea told her. “I’m sure you’ve given it a lot of thought.”

“Not nearly enough, or I’d have realized this sooner,” Erin answered. “Maybe I should call and save him the drive.” Sundown Valley was fifty miles away.

“This is the kind of news he deserves to hear in person,” cautioned her boss.

Erin sighed. “You’re right. Well, you’d better go make sure Kiki’s okay.”

Bea gathered her possessions. “See you Monday. And thanks again!”

“Sure thing.”

Erin headed for her car. She hoped tomorrow’s confrontation wasn’t going to be awkward. She knew Chet better than to believe he would accept her refusal without trying to change her mind.

As she ducked beneath the ropes that separated the fair from the parking area, she noticed how quickly twilight was settling in. And how empty the parking lot loomed, isolated in the midst of a huge office park.

To one side, Erin heard a motor spring to life. In her preoccupation with Chet, she’d forgotten the van.

She was disturbed to see it pull away from the building and move slowly toward her. There was nothing between them save a few planters filled with ficus trees and aromatic, flowering bushes.

Erin clutched the cash box tighter. She wondered if she should make a run for it or if she was just being paranoid.

She was quite a ways from her car, which sat forlornly near the rim of the lot. Her legs, weary from a day of standing, protested when she lengthened her stride and the heavy cash box weighed her down.

Surely she was imagining the threat. Yet although there were people not far away—the workmen taking down the rides, a few vendors disassembling their booths—no one paid attention to Erin.

The van speeded up.

Erin reversed course back toward the fair. The van swung toward her.

She hadn’t imagined the threat.

“Hey!” she shouted toward the workmen, trying to make herself heard over the racket of their equipment. No one looked up.

A few thousand dollars wasn’t worth getting killed for. At least, she hoped the driver was a thief and not some crazed stalker. Although it infuriated her, Erin set the cash box on the pavement and forced her stiff legs into a trot.

The van veered to follow her.

The driver either hadn’t noticed that the receipts were sitting on the blacktop or he didn’t want them. Disbelief mingled with panic. This couldn’t be happening. It was too bizarre. And terrifying.

Erin ducked past the ropes into the carnival area and broke into a run. But with the booths gone, the blacktop here was also nearly bare.

The van tore through the ropes.

Erin put on a burst of speed despite aching lungs. This felt like a nightmare, the kind where she was doomed to fall off a cliff no matter how hard she tried to flee.

She wasn’t going to give in easily. If the driver grabbed her, she’d fight and scream for all she was worth. But she prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

The ficus sprouting from a nearby planter was too slim to offer protection. There was no time to make a cell phone call, no time to do anything but try to cross a span of pavement that seemed to stretch into infinity.

Even now, none of the workmen had noticed her. The whole incident, which loomed so large in her mind, had to have transpired in a minute or two.

Winded, she turned to face the van. Maybe this was some kind of sick game. Maybe the driver just wanted to scare her.

Glare on the windshield obscured his face. Erin stumbled backward and, at a different angle, the glass cleared.

She saw who it was. And couldn’t believe it.

This was no random assault. It was no robbery, either.

The van shot forward. In a burst of desperation, Erin leaped aside, too late. The bumper caught her hip with an agonizing whack.

She flew into the air and through a planter, helpless to stop her flight. Time slowed as branches tore at her arms. The perfume of crushed jasmine blossoms filled her senses.

As if from very far away, she heard one of the workmen shout. Finally, they’d spotted her.

She had to survive. She had to tell someone what she’d seen. The danger was enormous, not only for her but also for her mother.

Erin’s shoulder hit the ground and a thousand stars exploded. Then there was only darkness.

Chapter Two

“You’re the most beautiful bride I ever saw!” Tina Norris, Erin’s maid of honor, gushed as they studied themselves in the full-length mirror.

“Thanks. And you look gorgeous in that shade of green,” Erin responded.

“I guess we’re just a pair of femmes fatales.” Her friend grinned.

Erin had to admit that her mother’s ivory heirloom wedding gown fit her five-foot-five-inch figure to perfection. Above the scooped neck glittered a diamond choker, and a matching tiara sparkled in her chestnut hair, which was folded into a French twist. Except for the pallor of her skin, the image was smashingly bridelike and yet it seemed to her that it belonged to a stranger.

A buzzing filled her head and the bridal dressing room at the Sundown Valley Country Club began to spin. With the ceremony less than an hour away, Erin didn’t want to get sick.

In the six weeks since the accident, her memory had been a complete blank about that day. She’d also been plagued by confusion, anxieties and nightmares, which the doctor attributed to post-traumatic stress.

Erin pressed her temple. The dizziness ebbed.

“Do you want to sit down?” Tina asked. “You don’t look well.”

“It’s not bad,” she said. “Just nerves.”

She wished the wedding could have waited until she was stronger, but by next month Chet would be caught up in the full swing of his congressional campaign. Even now, he only had time for a short honeymoon in Lake Tahoe. Erin knew she ought to be excited at the prospect of being alone with her groom, since she’d saved her virginity for her wedding night, but in the past few weeks it had become difficult to summon any emotions at all.

According to Chet, she’d been bubbling with enthusiasm when she called him to accept his proposal. Since her head injury later that day, however, she’d experienced what the doctor called emotional flattening. With her inner compass out of whack, she’d relied on family and friends to guide her.

Thank goodness Chet had proved a rock-steady source of support. No wonder she’d been so eager to marry him, Erin thought. She didn’t doubt that the happy emotions would come flooding back in time and, meanwhile, it would be a relief to move forward with their lives.

She was grateful, too, for Tina, her best friend from high school. Tina, now a junior high school life-skills teacher, had come to see Erin after she was transferred to the local hospital. She’d continued to visit during the past month while Erin recuperated at her mother’s home.

No one from Tustin had visited or accepted the wedding invitation. Erin had been particularly disappointed when Alice reported that Bea had declined.

Tina broke into her reverie. “How’s your leg? Think you can make it down the aisle without limping?”

Between her badly bruised hip and the head injury, Erin had been mostly housebound until now. “Probably. If Chet doesn’t step on my feet.”

“I’m sure he’ll be careful. If he isn’t, I’ll pound him into dust.”

“Spoken like a true friend!”

A loud knock startled both women. “Not the photographer again!” Erin didn’t think she could summon one more artificial smile.

“It’s probably Chet.” He planned to walk Erin down the aisle, since her mother was recovering from yet another bout of bronchitis.

She’d declined to let her stepfather fulfill that function. Although Lance had been pleasant this past month, Erin couldn’t bring herself to like him. She hadn’t entirely lost touch with her emotions after all, she supposed.

Tina peeked outside. Before Erin could see who was there, her friend stepped into the hall and shut the door behind her.

It had to be Tina’s boyfriend, Rick, a detective sergeant who braved her father’s disapproval to date her. One might expect more sympathy from a chief of police who’d risen through the ranks, but Edgar Norris had always been a bit of a snob. Now that he’d joined the country club, he preferred that his children move in elite social circles.

Fortunately, Tina didn’t share her father’s preoccupation with social status. Erin hoped he would come around eventually, because she liked Rick.

Her friend hurried back. “There’s a detective here to see you. Can you talk to him?”

“You mean Rick?” she asked.

“No. Someone with a few questions about your accident.”

“Now?” Erin could hardly believe the timing, less than an hour before the ceremony. Besides, she’d told the Tustin Police Department everything she remembered—which was a big fat zero. “They drove all this way on a Saturday to talk to me?”

“It’s someone local.” Tina cleared her throat. “Erin, it’s Joseph.”