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Of course, her parents would invite him. It was their nature to do so. They were open and giving and always willing to share. “I’m sure the invitation would have been rescinded if they’d known what you’d planned.”
Color climbed up his neck and cheeks. “I’m hoping that given the circumstances, they’ll understand I couldn’t very well tell them what my plans were. On the other hand, I don’t think they’ll be all that surprised.”
“You don’t think they’ll be surprised that you kidnapped me on my wedding day?”
“Your mother won’t. According to her, you moped around for weeks after your family moved to the West Coast. She assumed I was the reason. She said you never said anything, but she suspected you and I had been in love and that you were missing me.” He slanted her a glance. “Did you miss me, Lorelei?”
“As I said before, I was little more than a child. You were my first case of puppy love.”
He flashed her a look that had Lorelei pressing her back against the seat. It was there again, that reckless danger she’d sensed in him earlier. “Don’t kid yourself, Lorelei. Neither one of us were children, and what we felt for one another was very real. You loved me with a woman’s heart and a woman’s body. And I loved you the same way.” He paused. His expression grew even more somber. “I still love you. I always have.”
Lorelei’s breath lodged in her throat. An invisible fist seemed to tighten around her heart and refused to let go. She felt herself weakening. “Jack—”
The blare of a horn from an oncoming car sounded. Jack swore and jerked his attention back to the road. He yanked on the wheel of the truck and brought it back into the proper lane.
Her heart still pounding, Lorelei crushed a handful of satin in her fist. She refused to let him do this to her, to make her feel anything for him again. He was a charmer, she reminded herself as Jack slowed the vehicle and began easing over onto the side of the road. Hadn’t she even told him once that if he’d lived in another lifetime, he’d have been a pirate? Only he’d have been a pirate who would have charmed the ships’ passengers out of their gold instead of stealing it from them.
She wasn’t the same naive girl who’d believed his lies of love ten years ago. She was older, smarter and she wouldn’t allow him to charm his way back into her life.
The tires crunched on the gravel as he brought the truck to a halt on the road’s shoulder. He turned to face her. “Lorelei, I want another chance.”
She heard the plea in his voice, saw it in his eyes. She closed her heart to both. She’d taken a chance by loving him once, and it had nearly destroyed her. She wouldn’t, couldn’t make that mistake again. “A chance to do what, Jack? To hurt me again?”
She caught his slight wince, but forced herself to remain strong. She’d vowed ten years ago not to leave herself open to that kind of pain ever again. She’d opted for safe. Allowing Jack Storm back into her life was anything but safe.
“A chance to prove to you that I’m the right man for you—not Herbert.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so. And judging from that kiss we shared two weeks ago, I think you know it, too. Ten years may have passed, but nothing’s changed between us. All that fire, that passion we felt before...it’s still there between us. Only you’re too stubborn to admit it.”
Her heart picked up speed at the mention of the kiss, at the seductive warmth in his eyes. No, she would not subject herself to that craziness again. Forcing her voice to remain even, Lorelei said, “You’re the one who’s being stubborn, Jack. I told you, I’m in love with Herbert—not you.”
She saw fire flash in his blue eyes and before she could think of moving, he’d snapped the release on his seat belt and was reaching for her. “Jack, no.”
“Yes,” he said as he cupped her head with both hands and eased his fingers into the tumbled mass of curls. “I have to. I have to.”
And then he was lowering his head, covering her mouth with his. Slowly, oh so slowly, his lips brushed against hers. Teasing. Tempting. His tongue traced the seam of her mouth, and a shiver of longing shimmied through her. He repeated the movement, and Lorelei could feel her control slipping as her world started to tilt.
He lifted his head a moment, looked into her eyes. “Lorelei. My sweet, lovely Lorelei,” he whispered, “I love you.”
When his lips touched hers again, her eyes drifted closed. A mistake, she realized too late as the sensations grew more intense. His tongue caressed her mouth, over and over again. And when he sought entry once more, she opened to him like a flowers to sunshine.
Jack groaned. She felt a shudder race through him as she touched her tongue to his. And then he was crushing her to him and deepening the kiss.
The kiss went on forever as he continued to taste her, to worship her with his mouth and his tongue. His hands skimmed over her neck, her shoulders, the curve of her breasts. Lorelei gasped when he cupped the fullness in his palms and she strained against the confines of the seat-belt harness, wanting to be closer, wanting him to touch her, wanting to touch him.
Jack lifted his head and caught her face in his hands. “God, how I’ve missed you. When I think how close I came to losing you forever.” His voice trembled, and he pulled her to him.
Lorelei buried her face against his chest, breathing in the scent of mountain air, of sweat, of Jack. It felt so right being in his arms again, to feel the steady thudding of his heart beneath her palm.
“We were meant to be together, Lorelei. I’m sure of it. Fate caused that map to land in my hands so I would come here and find you again.”
Lorelei blinked, struggling to clear her kiss-drugged brain and make sense out of what he was saying. Map? “What map?”
“To the gold mine.”
“The gold mine?” she repeated.
“Yes. If I hadn’t won the map in that card game, I might never have come to Arizona. And by the time I got around to finding you again, it would have been too late. You would have already been married to Herbert.”
Lorelei stiffened. He was here because of a gold mine? Oh, dear God, what a fool she was. What had she been thinking to kiss him like that? To even listen to him. She could not do this to herself, she decided, and pulled free of his arms.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, lines of concern etching his face.
“I’m an idiot. That’s what’s wrong. For even listening to you. I must be out of my mind to even be here like this with you. I don’t know what I was thinking. Whatever there was between us...whatever we had is over. It’s in the past. We can’t go back, Jack. I don’t want to go back.” She didn’t want the mad whirlwind of emotions that went with loving Jack Storm. There were too many highs and lows, too much uncertainty. She swallowed and forced her voice to be firm as she said, “I’m not the same lovesick girl you once knew. That Lorelei Mason no longer exists. I have a new life—a life I’m happy with. And it doesn’t include you. ”
Anger. She saw it catch like blue flames in his eyes. A day’s growth of stubble darkened his chin. A muscle ticked furiously in his lean jaw as she watched him strap on his seat belt. “You’re wrong. The Lorelei Mason I knew and loved is still there inside you. You may have buried her, buried her really deep, but she’s still there. You wiped away any doubts that I might have had on that score just now when you kissed me back.” He wrapped his hands around the steering wheel and turned to look at her. Once again Lorelei was struck by the element of danger that seemed to be so much a part of him now. “We belong together, Lorelei, and I intend to prove it to you.”
“How?” Lorelei asked as he shifted the gears and pulled the Explorer back onto the road.
“By doing what I should have done ten years ago, what I would have done if we’d gotten married like we planned. I’m taking you with me.”
Lorelei’s pulse stuttered as she recalled the foolish plans they had made. She had been so in love with him, she’d become caught up in the tales of adventure he’d spun of the two of them traveling the world together and searching for lost treasures. It had been a fool’s dream, a girl’s dream that she’d buried when he’d broken her heart and left her standing at the altar.
But as the truck sped down the road, Lorelei noticed for the first time the changing landscape. The stretch of highway from the city of Mesa had given way to open desert and rocky, low hills. She’d known they’d been going east but only now did she realize where they were headed. Steep river canyons sprawled out before them, and the rugged face of the Superstition Mountains filled the horizon like a temple of some ancient god. “Jack, you can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am, sweetheart,” he said as he veered on the road toward the sign that read Apache Junction. “I once told you that beneath that prim and proper girl I fell in love with there was an adventuress waiting to be set free. She’s still there, buried a little deeper maybe, but she’s there. And I intend to find her again.”
“Jack, really—”
“I promised you once that if you married me, someday we’d strike it rich and I’d lay gold at your feet. I’m going to keep my promise, Lorelei.”
She recalled the crazy promise he’d made when he’d proposed to her. It had been the rash promise of a reckless adventurer who thought the world was his for the taking. “And just how do you plan to do that? Rob a bank?”
“I’ll do better than that. I’m going to find the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine.”
“You’re crazy.”
“And you’re going to help me.”
“You really are out of your mind if that’s what you think.”
Obviously ignoring her, he continued, “And once we find that mine, my sweet siren, I’m going to hold you to your promise to marry me.”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“I never joke when it comes to hunting treasure. You know that.” In fact, it was the one thing, maybe the only thing in his life, that he’d taken seriously. He had realized from the time he was ten and his father had taken him diving near the site of a sunken Spanish galleon, that searching for treasure was what he wanted to do with his life. Jack had known in his gut that there was treasure still hidden inside that old ship. But his father had shaken his head and motioned for him to follow him and the others back to the surface.
But he hadn’t listened to his father. He’d followed his gut instead and dove deeper into the stern of the ship. And he had been right. When his head broke the surface of the water, he’d held a fistful of gold doubloons in his bag. He could still remember the expression on his father’s face—a mixture of pride and concern.
“That’s a brave lad you’ve got there, Jamie.” The old salt named Murphy slapped his father on the back. “Puts the rest of us to shame.”
“Aye, don’t I know it. The boy has no fear. Worries me some that he might get the fever.”
Murphy laughed. “What do you expect? The boy’s got yer blood flowing in his veins, don’t he?”
“True. True. But I promised his mother that I’d see to it the boy would have more out of life than this. A man wants more than a life spent hunting for treasure for his only son.”
And his father had tried, Jack admitted. He’d forced him to go to school and even insisted he attend college. But when Jamie Storm had lost his life in a diving accident, Jack’s world had fallen apart. He’d dropped out of college, tried unsuccessfully to get on with some of the treasure-hunting outfits and somehow ended up in the navy. Six months after his stint was over, he’d still been floundering—until he’d met Lorelei. When he’d seen her on the beach that first time, there had been that same rush of excitement he’d experienced the day he’d discovered the gold doubloons. And just as his gut had told him there was treasure still buried in that sunken ship, his gut told him Lorelei herself was a treasure—a treasure meant for him.
Meeting her had been the turning point for him. He’d been alive again for the first time since his father’s death. His luck and life had changed after that. He’d gotten on with a treasure-hunting crew and made his first big find.
And lost Lorelei in the process. Nothing had been quite the same since. Until he’d won the treasure map and fate had brought her back into his life. Now that he’d found her again, he had no intention of letting her go. But first he had to convince her that it was with him that she belonged.
“Jack, are you listening to me?”
Jack dragged his thoughts back to the present at the angry note in Lorelei’s voice. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked you why are you doing this? What could you possibly hope to prove by dragging me off to the mountains with you to search for some gold mine that probably doesn’t even exist?”
“Oh, it exists, all right. And I’ve got the map to her.”
“Then go find the blasted mine. You don’t need me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I do need you.”
“You don’t even know me anymore.”
“I know enough. Enough to realize that you don’t belong buried away in some little desert town married to a banker.”
“Herbert and I happen to love each other.”
“Right. That’s why when he kissed you goodbye that day at the bookstore, the two of you generated about as much heat as a soggy newspaper and a wet match.”
Lorelei flushed. Her brown eyes sparked with temper. “We were in a public place.”
“It didn’t stop the sparks from flying between you and me. The air sizzled between us, just like it always does. Just like it did a few minutes ago.”
“There’s more to a relationship and a marriage than sex. Herbert and I respect one another. We share similar interests and goals,” she defended.
“Sounds more like a business agreement than a marriage if you ask me.”
“No one asked you,” she said with heat in her voice. “This conversation is ridiculous. This whole situation is ridiculous. It’s insane. You’re insane!”
Jack shrugged. “Maybe I am. But I know what I feel in my gut. I feel the same thing now that I felt when I saw you for the first time ten years ago, the same thing that I felt when I saw you standing in that bookstore two weeks ago.
“Which is what? Wait.” She held up her hand. “Let me guess. You feel it’s fate, right? That you and I belong together.”
“Yes.”
“That’s the same tired line you used on me when I met you on the beach for the first time. Well, it may have worked ten years ago on a naive eighteen-year-old girl, but it doesn’t hold water with a twenty-eight-year-old woman. I’m not buying it this time, Jack. And I’m not buying this crazy treasure-hunting scheme of yours, either.”
“Go ahead, make fun if you want to, but it doesn’t change anything. I know we are going to find the Lost Dutchman’s Mine. Just like I know in my gut that it’s not Herbert you should be marrying, but me.” He shifted the truck into third gear as they climbed deeper into the heart of the mountains. “And I promise you, by the time we leave these mountains, you’re going to know it, too.”
Turning the truck to the left, he followed the sign pointing to the Goldfield Ghost Town and silently prayed that he was right.
Lorelei sharpened her gaze as Jack turned off the main road and drove down the street of what appeared to be another Western town. “Oh, great,” she quipped, breaking the stony silence she’d adapted for the past twenty miles. “What is this place, another ghost town?” She’d been fascinated at the sight of the old Goldfield Ghost Town, which they had passed through earlier, but not for the life of her would she let Jack know it, nor would she ask him a single question about the odd little place.
“We’re in the town of Tortilla Flats. Population six. It used to be a road camp for work crews on the Salt River Project around the turn of the century. Now it’s more or less a watering hole and tourist stop for travelers along the Apache Trail.”
Lorelei stared at the strange collection of buildings that appeared to lean against one another for support. Although she’d lived in Arizona for the past four years, she had never visited a single one of these little towns. Yet Jack seemed to know all about them. Spotting a sign that boasted Jacob Waltz Enjoyed Tortilla Flat’s Home Cookin, she said, “Well, I guess that explains how you know so much about this place. Evidently you stumbled across it while searching for the Dutchman’s fictitious gold mine.”
“The gold mine exists, Lorelei. As far as that sign, I’m afraid it’s false advertising. This place didn’t even exist when old Jacob was searching the mountains for gold. As far as the food, it’s pretty good. The restaurant up ahead serves great burgers and chili.”
Just the mention of food, and Lorelei’s stomach grumbled. Suddenly she realized she hadn’t eaten a thing since the buttered toast with coffee she’d had before lunch that day. Given her wedding had been scheduled as a late-afternoon affair and it was already after six in the evening, it had been a good eight hours since she’d eaten.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. I thought we’d stop and get something to eat here.”
“I’d rather be eating the food I selected for my wedding reception.”
“Sorry, but that’s not an option.” Jack pulled the Explorer to a stop in front of an Old West saloon and turned to her. “This is probably going to be the last home-cooked meal either of us has for a while. I’d hate to see you refuse it just to spite me.”
“I have no intention of refusing it. The way I see it, I’m going to need all my strength if I’m going to find my way down this blasted mountain and back to Mesa.”
Slowly, lazily, Jack wrapped and unwrapped his powerful hands around the steering wheel. “You’re not going to have to find your way back to Mesa. I’m going to take you there myself—after we find the mine.”
When she started to object, Jack lifted his hand and touched her face, his voice dropping to a whisper as he said, “Don’t fight me on this, Lorelei.”
Lorelei turned away from him. She’d always been too susceptible to that combination of recklessness and tenderness in him.
Jack sighed and dropped his hand. “In addition to eating, I thought you might want to change into something a little more comfortable for traveling. The road’s going to get a lot bumpier about five miles past here.”
“That’s very considerate of you,” she said with mock sweetness. “But since I was expecting to be at my wedding reception now and not stuck up here in the mountains with you, I’m afraid I didn’t happen to bring along a change of clothes.”
“That’s okay. I had Desiree pack some things for you,” he said, chuckling at her sarcasm. “You’ll find jeans, shirts and hiking boots in the bag behind your seat.”
One more thing to take her sister to task for, Lorelei decided as Jack got out of the truck and came around to open the door for her. Lorelei glared at him as he helped her down from the truck’s high seat. The hem of her wedding gown and train spilled out of the vehicle behind her and onto the street, stirring up a small cloud of red-colored dust that promptly attached itself to the satin. Lorelei jerked the train of the gown up and draped it over one arm.
After retrieving the bag from behind her seat, Jack took her arm. He motioned to the restaurant. “You can change clothes while I order us something to eat.”
He acted as though it was the most natural thing in the world for the two of them to waltz into town with her dressed in a wedding gown and he in his jeans. Feeling conspicuous as glances were cast their way, Lorelei said, “I hate to point out the obvious, but don’t you think anyone’s going to notice the fact that I’m wearing a wedding dress?”
“I think it’d be hard for them not to notice. You make a beautiful bride.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, and fought the urge to stamp her foot.
“I know what you meant. But as I said, there’s only six people who actually live in this little town. The rest are just tourists or workers. I’ve gotten to be friends with the locals during the past couple of weeks—including the people who own the restaurant. And I doubt they’ll be surprised at all since they’re expecting us.”
