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Troy hit the accelerator. The truck groaned and hummed as it pulled through its gears. “I have company already,” he said, jerking his head at his canine companion. “I have Dog.”
Dog woofed in response to his name.
“A dog?”
“That’s right. I don’t need anyone else.” At least Troy always knew where he stood with Dog. Dog was faithful and loyal. Unlike some women. “Now tell me where I can drop you off,” he went on firmly. “I need to get on the road. I’ve got a schedule.”
With that last light, they had left the congestion of the city and were nearing the cutoff to the highway. Something had to be settled. Soon.
Andie worried her bottom lip. What now? The man was practically ready to shove her out.
Where would she go? What would she do?
Her mind on her problem, she reached out one hand casually to pat the dog’s head and yanked it back when the animal reared around as if he might bite her. Her whole body trembled. All she needed was to top off her day by getting chewed up by a dog.
“Dog!” Troy thundered. The animal settled back, growling low in his throat. Troy looked at Andie and said flatly, “He doesn’t like women.”
And neither did he. Particularly not the jilting kind. He’d had plenty of experience with that sort of woman already. He didn’t need any more.
He kept thinking about Andie’s fiancé back at that church with a broken heart. Troy knew how that felt.
“Thanks for filling me in after he almost bit my head off,” Andie was grumbling from her now-huddled position in the corner of the truck cab.
Troy glanced sharply at her, then jerked the truck over toward the side of the road. He brought the huge vehicle to a stop on the shoulder and turned his full attention to his unwanted guest. He wasn’t about to be apologetic about anything.
“Look, you’re the one who left some poor slob at the altar—”
“Some poor slob?”
“—and jumped in here—”
“Some poor slob!”
“—without so much as a by-your-leave—”
“Some poor slob?”
“Yes, some poor slob. You just ran out on the guy, didn’t you? Left him standing in the church?”
“You don’t understand the situation. I can’t believe you feel sorry for him. I’m the one who—” She stopped abruptly.
“You’re the one who what?” Troy demanded. He refrained from throwing at her that he understood all too well what it was like to be jilted.
“Nothing. Never mind.” Andie crossed her arms and stared straight ahead, her lips set in a mutinous line.
“All right.” Troy blew out a frustrated breath and tried to sound calm as he proceeded. “Let’s try starting over. You can begin with just what the heck is going on here, and I’ll see what I can do to help.” By help, he really meant how best to get rid of her, but he bit that part back.
He hoped he wasn’t asking for trouble by exploring the situation further, but maybe if he knew what her problem was, he’d be able to figure out what to do with her.
His gaze fastened on her pink rosebud mouth, and that little, traitorous, instinctive part of him that kept rearing up thought of at least one thing he could do with her....
He crushed the thought. Correction, he reminded himself staunchly. That was one thing he absolutely was not going to do with her.
He was going to have to get better control of his thought patterns. Now would be a good time.
“I—I can’t explain,” Andie said, still staring out the window, avoiding his gaze.
“Well, if you want to come to California with me, you’d better start trying,” Troy said tightly.
He should be miles away. Instead, here he was, parked on the side of the road, trying to figure out what to do with a beautiful, errant bride. It was ludicrous, unbelievable...but it was real.
Andie finally returned her gaze to the man beside her.
“I was supposed to get married today,” she offered briefly.
“No kidding.” Troy arched an eyebrow and glanced pointedly at her attire. “What happened?”
Andie twisted her hair. “I changed my mind.”
“Really?” Troy couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Yes, really,” Andie said defensively.
“So you came to this momentous conclusion while you were standing at the altar, I take it?”
“No, of course not! It hadn’t gone that far!”
Troy gave a harsh laugh. “Oh, well, thank goodness, it hadn’t gone that far. I’m sure that must be a source of comfort to the groom.”
Andie had had it with the grilling. The whole reason she was running away was so she wouldn’t have to answer all these questions.
“It’s very complicated,” she said briefly, hoping he’d be satisfied. Again, she stared off determinedly in the direction of the highway, trying to convince him by her body language that the conversation was over.
Apparently, he didn’t understand body language.
“Okay, so it’s complicated. I’m listening,” he prodded.
Andie gave up and swiveled her gaze back to him. He had incredible eyes, she admitted to herself. Large, intense, with darts of green-gold heat in their brown depths. He’d said he’d try to help her. But did he mean it?
She was tempted to tell him everything. She chewed her lip, wavering.
In the end, she settled for only part of everything.
“I need some time to think.” She sighed. “I need to get away, that’s all.”
“There has to be somewhere else you could think besides my truck,” Troy said. “Let me take you somewhere—”
“No!” Andie knew good and well there wasn’t one single place she could go where her parents wouldn’t find her and turn on the pressure. “Look, I need to get away.” She had to convince him she meant business. “If you won’t take me with you—”
“What? What are you going to do if I don’t take you with me?” Troy waited.
Andie looked out toward the highway, her thoughts tumbling atop one another, desperately searching for an answer. Trucks and cars zoomed along in the distance.
“I’ll get someone else to help me,” she bluffed. She lifted her chin. “I’m sure somebody will pick me up.”
The idea of hitchhiking terrified her. She knew she’d never be able to do it.
The question was, would the man beside her—the man who looked as if he’d gladly throw her under the wheels—believe that she might do it?
Troy’s gut tightened. He imagined pretty Andie standing on the side of the road in her wedding dress with her thumb out.
And some stranger stopping and taking her in. She could end up attacked, or worse.
He pulled the truck back into gear and headed for the highway, cursing under his breath all the way. Dog growled, sensing his mood. Glancing at Andie, Troy saw she was scrunched up in the corner, as if uncertain of either man or beast in that moment.
Troy hit the highway at full speed, blending into the weekend traffic heading west. He pulled the truck’s huge visor down against the bright, late-afternoon sun. The highway lay like a ribbon of black heat in front of them, surrounded by green, grassy shoulders and low, rolling, wooded hills.
He was behind schedule already. He was irritated. His dog was irritated. And he was stuck with a sexpot in a bridal gown who wouldn’t even tell him her last name, for Pete’s sake.
It was going to be a long trip.
“Tell me this,” Troy demanded after a few minutes. “Have you done something wrong, committed some kind of crime?”
Every possibility lay open for why she would be fleeing a wedding. She could have been involved in some sort of scam for all he knew.
He didn’t need that kind of trouble.
“No!” Andie said immediately. “I haven’t broken the law, I promise.”
Troy’s mind chugged along to other options. “No one’s going to be looking for you? I’m not going to be arrested for kidnapping you or anything, right?”
What if her family panicked over her disappearance? All Troy needed was for a posse of private eyes to come hunt her down. What kind of mess had he stepped into the middle of?
“No—well, I don’t know what they might do.” How were her parents going to react to her absence? Andie wondered suddenly. It hadn’t occurred to her that anyone might think she’d been the victim of foul play.
She hadn’t thought about a lot of things. It struck her abruptly that she hadn’t even brought her purse with her from the dressing room. She wouldn’t have been able to pay that taxi if it had stopped. And she had no way of supporting herself on this cross-country trip.
She was totally dependent on the man beside her. The man who was looking at her as if he wanted to wring her neck.
On impulse, she pulled out the diamond studs in her ears and slapped them down on the dash. “Here. I’ll pay you back for my expenses. In the meantime, you can hold on to those for collateral.”
The expensive earrings were worth far more than he would spend on her during the next ten days, she was sure. But she didn’t want to be any more beholden to him than necessary.
The studs bobbed in rhythm to the truck’s purr. Troy guessed they were at least two carats each. “What do you mean, you don’t know what they might do?” He was still stuck on the little matter of whether or not some mad daddy was going to come gunning for him, thinking he’d made off with his daughter.
“I mean, I don’t know.” Andie twisted her hands in her lap. “I guess they might call the police,” she finally admitted.
“Great! Exactly who are they, anyway?” Troy’s knuckles tightened as he gripped the steering wheel.
“My family. My fiancé.” Andie scrunched farther into the corner. “Of course, they might not do anything at all,” she offered.
“They might not do anything at all,” Troy repeated tightly. “Now, how likely is that?”
Andie swallowed. “Um, not very, I guess,” she said finally. Despite all the problems she’d had with her parents, she didn’t really believe they would rest if they thought she’d been abducted. Thinking of them worrying about that scenario washed her with guilt. She’d just wanted to get away. She’d never meant to make anyone think something terrible might have happened to her.
Troy regarded her in irritation. “Wonderful! So, let’s just recap, okay? My truck was parked in full view of the world, smack-dab in front of the church right when you disappeared. And with all the people who came pouring out of the building, what are the chances none of them took note of this?”
Andie paled. He had a point. If her parents did think she’d been kidnapped, if they hired a private investigator or brought in the authorities, there was a slim possibility they might eventually track Troy down—
“Maybe I should, uh, make a phone call,” Andie suggested in a small voice. “I don’t want to make any trouble for you.” Troy’s eyebrows practically lifted right off his face, but Andie ignored his incredulous expression. “And I don’t want to cause my family a lot of unnecessary stress.”
“Sure. Fine. No problem,” Troy grumbled darkly. He nodded toward a billboard advertising a truck stop ahead. “It’ll just be my third stop and I haven’t even gone thirty miles, but don’t worry.”
Andie was afraid to say anything for fear he’d change his mind.
Troy went on. “You’re calling whoever you have to call, and you’re telling them you’ve gone off of your own free will.” He cut out each word precisely. “I don’t want anyone coming after you and getting in the way of my keeping my schedule.”
Andie nodded obediently, relief rolling over her. He was letting her go with him!
There was no sound for the next few miles but the steady hum of the truck. She took in her surroundings. She’d never been in an eighteen-wheeler before, and she was amazed at its comfort.
The roomy cab’s big seats were beige leather, contrasting with the tractor-trailer’s dark blue exterior. Overhead was a tape deck and radio, with a CB. Behind her, she noticed a curtained-off area and guessed it contained some sort of sleeping quarters.
Turning her attention to the truck’s driver, Andie watched Troy’s profile, noticing the way the sun glinted in the golden lights of his hair, the way his eyes crinkled against the glare on the road. She noted the tiny bump that kept his nose from being quite straight, the small scar right above his lip. He was a good-looking man. Not perfect. But more sexy than if he had been perfect.
An odd flutter awoke inside her. She remembered the way he’d pulled her away from that speeding car, the way his arms had closed around her waist, the way his embrace had somehow felt right and safe.
She knew he was frustrated with the way she’d upended his day, but he’d saved her life—and he was letting her go with him to California. He had a tender heart that he couldn’t quite hide, though she got the idea he wanted to for some reason.
Some reason that she’d probably never know, she reminded herself. And she didn’t have any business wondering about it.
She finally chanced a comment. “Thanks for letting me ride with you.” She cast him a smile of genuine appreciation.
Troy shrugged. Her smile made him feel soft inside, and he hated that. Why did she have this effect on him? Besides, he didn’t want her thanks. Both of them were liable to live to regret this little alliance.
In fact, he was regretting it already.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said with forced coolness. “A long haul’s no picnic.”
He pulled off the highway and into the parking lot of a busy, sprawling truck stop. The diamond earrings rolled off the dash and onto the floor as he made the turn.
Andie bent down and scooped them up. “Here,” she insisted, handing them to Troy after he’d parked. “I want you to take these.”
“I don’t want your jewelry.”
“And I don’t want charity. I want to pay my own way. I’ll repay you for my expenses later, and you can give me back the earrings. Deal?”
Troy rolled his eyes. He stuck out his hand and Andie dropped the earrings into his cupped palm. “Fine,” he said. He stuffed them into his pocket.
