The Kidnapped Bride

“What do you mean they’re expecting us?”

Jack shrugged. “I mentioned that I was getting married soon and that my bride and I would be spending our honeymoon in the mountains. I told them we’d try to stop by on our way up the mountain.”

Lorelei stopped in the middle of street. “And they believed you?”

“Sure,” he said, flashing her a smile. “What’s not to believe?”

“Besides the foolish notion that I’d agree to spend my honeymoon in these mountains, there’s the absurd idea that I’d even consider marrying you.”

“I don’t see anything absurd about it. You did agree to marry me—”

“Ten years ago,” she reminded him.

“So we’ve had a long engagement. Lots of couples do.”

“We are not engaged,” she insisted.

“As far as I’m concerned, we are. You never officially broke the engagement. And I’ve still got the wedding bands we picked out.” Putting down the suitcase, he shoved his hand inside his pants pocket. He pulled out a jeweler’s pouch and emptied its contents into the palm of his other hand. Two thin, shiny gold bands winked at her.

Lorelei swallowed past the thickness in her throat as she remembered the two of them selecting the rings from a small jewelry store in Fort Lauderdale. “You kept them?”

“Of course.”

“But why?” she finally managed to ask.

“Because I never stopped loving you. It was always my plan to find you again someday, for the two of us get married. I just hadn’t expected it to take so long.” He dumped the rings back into their pouch and tucked the little bag into his pocket.

And there had been a time ten years ago when she had hoped he would find her, soothe away her hurt and make everything right again. But all that had changed after... after...

“Remember the honeymoon we’d planned?”

Lorelei pulled her thoughts away from those dreadful weeks right after he had failed to show up for their wedding. She squeezed her eyes shut a moment against the remembered pain, the fear.

“We were going to go diving off the coast near the site of that sunken ship, remember? It would have been your first treasure dive. I’ll never forget how excited you were....”

She had been excited—at the thought of being married to Jack, at the prospect of doing something so daring as diving for lost treasure. The idea had appealed to an adventurous streak in her that she hadn’t even known existed. But then, Jack himself had appealed to that same reckless streak. Looking at him now, his eyes glowing with excitement, she found it was easy to remember those dreams and plans. It was easy to remember how deeply she had loved him.

“Don’t you see? Trying to locate the Dutchman’s Mine will be the same thing. Only instead of searching in the ocean for treasure, we’ll be searching in the mountains.”

Lorelei felt herself tempted. It would be all too easy and terribly foolish to allow herself to be sucked into those fantasies again. “I’m not interested in searching for any gold mine.”

“But you will be,” he told her as he urged her toward the restaurant. “There’s more of the old Lorelei in you than you’d like to admit.”

Jerking her arm free, she marched into the restaurant in front of him. Lorelei blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darker interior. She scanned the Old Western-style restaurant with its wooden tables and ladder-back chairs. When she felt Jack come to stand beside her, she asked, “What’s to stop me from telling these people the truth? That you kidnapped me and brought me here against my will.”

“Go ahead. Just don’t expect anyone to believe you. I already told the owners that you were quite a joker. Besides, the wife of the man who runs the place thinks I’m quite a catch.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Jack,” the dark-haired woman behind the counter called out. “And this must be your lovely bride.”

“Hello, Isabel. You’re looking as gorgeous as ever, I see.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Sure you don’t want to ditch Alberto and run away with me?”

The woman flushed and gave Jack a smack. “Behave yourself, Bandito, and introduce me to your wife.”

“Isabel, this is Lorelei. Lorelei, Isabel.”

“She’s as beautiful as you said she was. Welcome to Tortilla Flats, Lorelei.” She gave Lorelei a welcoming hug and nearly squeezed the stuffing out of her before she released her. “You’ve landed yourself quite an hombre here. But I suspect you know that already.”

“I—”

“Order’s ready,” someone called out from the kitchen. “Jack, mi amigo.” A dark-eyed man with graying hair waved in greeting. “So you convinced her to come with you to our mountains after all.”

“Bueno, Alberto. Yes, I convinced her to come,” Jack returned.

“I will fix something special for you and your bride, then. Isabel, show Jack and his lady to a table and then come help Maria.”

Isabel muttered something in Spanish and rolled her eyes heavenward. “Jack, you and your Lorelei sit over there away from that racket. I will come back in a minute to take your orders. Right now I’d better help Maria before those little devils tear the place apart.”

Lorelei looked across the room to where a couple with five youngsters had their hands full trying to keep their troops seated. Her gaze shifted to the trays Isabel and another woman were carrying to the table. Lorelei’s mouth watered at the smell of burgers and bowls of steaming chili.

“The ladies’ room is down the hall, first door on your left,” Jack informed her. He held out the suitcase with her clothes. When Lorelei reached for it, he held on to it a moment longer. “Just in case you’re thinking of trying to find a back door to sneak out of, I’ll save you the trouble of looking. There isn’t one. And if you’re not back here in exactly fifteen minutes, I’ll come looking for you.”

Lorelei yanked the suitcase from him and flounced off down the narrow hallway. She paused a moment before the door marked Ladies and glanced back in the direction from which she’d come. Jack stood there watching her. With his feet spread apart, the light from the dining room casting shadows across his unsmiling face, he looked every inch the dangerous pirate she’d accused him of being. Tipping up her chin, Lorelei pushed open the door and stepped inside the bathroom.

The place was small but clean. Two stalls took up most of the space. A single basin with a small square mirror positioned above it filled one corner of the room. A coun-tertop no more than a dozen inches wide ran across the back wall. An oval-shaped mirror sat in a stand to one side. Centered four feet above the counter was a narrow window that she judged to be only a fraction wider than her hips. What I wouldn’t do to have Clea’s slim hips right now, Lorelei thought. If she ditched the wedding dress, she might just be able to make it. But she’d have to hurry.

Moving quickly, Lorelei hoisted the suitcase onto the countertop and pulled out a pair of jean shorts, T-shirt and the hiking boots. She frowned as she thought of Desiree packing her things without her even knowing it. She’d deal with her little sister once she got back to Mesa, Lorelei promised herself. Kicking off her ivory pumps, she reached for the hooks and detached the train at the back of her dress. Bundling up the length of satin, she stuffed it in the top of the suitcase, then went to work on the tiny satin-covered buttons that ran down the back of her dress.

Several minutes later her arms ached from stretching behind her, and she had succeeded in opening no more than a half dozen of the buttons. Frustrated, Lorelei strained against the fabric, trying to pop the buttons free. It was no use. The things didn’t budge, let alone break loose. Oh, God. What possessed me to buy a dress with so many stupid buttons?

Because you hadn’t planned on unbuttoning them yourself , Lorelei reminded herself. At least that’s what Desiree had said when she’d encouraged her to buy the dress. Yet for the life of her, she had to admit that she hadn’t experienced any great anticipation at having Herbert undo them for her, either.

Lorelei glanced at her watch. Twelve minutes. She’d been gone twelve minutes already, she realized. Jack would come looking for her any moment now, and she hadn’t even managed to change clothes yet, let alone escape through the window. Arching her shoulders, she strained to break the buttons free.

She heard a tap at the door. “Lorelei?”

“Go away,” she told Jack.

“What’s taking you so long?”

“Nothing. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She took a deep breath and arched her back and shoulders again. Nothing. Zip. Nada. The dratted things were evidently sewn on with steel thread.

“Need some help?”

Lorelei jumped at the nearness of his voice. She glanced up in the mirror and saw Jack standing behind her, an odd expression on his face. “I can’t unbutton the stupid dress.”