The Kidnapped Bride

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.”