The Kidnapped Bride. Metsy Hingle
as this. Not if she knew the truth about what happened...the way you jilted me.”
“I did not jilt you. I came, Lorelei,” he repeated, his voice growing harder, his eyes heating. “I was late and by the time I got there, you were already gone. It was a mistake in judgment on my part—one that, believe me, I’ve lived to regret more than you can ever imagine. I would have explained everything to you if you hadn’t been so stubborn and refused to take my phone calls.”
“I wasn’t interested in your explanations. If I had mattered to you, you would have been there.”
“I tried—”
“The least you could have done was tell me to my face why you didn’t show up.” A part of her had prayed for weeks that he would come and do just that, make everything all right. But he hadn’t.
“Don’t you think I would have come to you if I could? I couldn’t—at least not right away. The boat was leaving again that night. I planned to tell you and have you meet me later. By the time I got back and went to see you, to try to explain what had happened, it was too late. You were gone. Your family had packed up and moved somewhere on the West Coast.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I almost went crazy when I found you gone. I was going to explain everything to you, to try—”
Lorelei looked away. She hardened her heart, refusing to let herself be moved by his words. “No explanation was needed, Jack. Your absence said it all. There’s certainly no need for excuses now.”
“Damn it, Lorelei. If you’d just let me explain—”
She whipped around in her seat. “Save it, Jack! Whatever your reasons were, they’re irrelevant now. You may have fooled Desiree with your lost-lovers story. But she’s easily fooled. I’m not And neither is Herbert. He won’t believe a word of that story when he hears it.”
“No?”
“No,” Lorelei replied, tipping up her chin.
“Don’t be so sure of that, sweetheart. A man is apt to do strange things when his pride’s on the line. I should know. If I were Herbert and you disappeared on our wedding day and then I learned that the man you’d disappeared with was a man you’d once been engaged to, had even planned to elope with, then I’d have to ask myself why you’d insisted on a two-year engagement for us. And I’d also start asking myself why was it that you had once been so eager to marry someone else, yet the only reason there was a wedding scheduled today was because I’d been the one who’d insisted on it. Not you. Doesn’t sound to me like you were all that anxious to marry the guy anyway.”
Steaming over how much Desiree had revealed to Jack, Lorelei bit back an urge to scream. “That’s the difference between you and Herbert. You have a suspicious, narrow mind. Herbert doesn’t. He knows I love him and he trusts me.”
“Does he?”
“Yes,” Lorelei informed him.
“Then he’s an even bigger fool than I thought he was.”
“Herbert is not a fool. And he isn’t going to believe a word of that story you have Desiree feeding everyone.”
“You’ve obviously forgotten what a good actress your baby sister is. Take my word for it, she’s very good.”
It was true and she knew it. Desiree was born to be onstage. She’d been the only one of the three who had inherited any of their parents’ theatrical talents.
“I caught her in a little dinner-theater number down in New Orleans not long ago. I went backstage to see her afterward. Did she happen to mention it to you?”
Desiree had told her about Jack’s visit and his inquiries about her, but she had refused to listen. Just hearing Jack’s name again had sent her into a tizzy of emotional confusion.
“She was very good in that play, and I imagine she’ll be even more convincing when she talks to Herbert—especially since she can say with all honesty that you haven’t been yourself at all lately. Certainly not the happy and eager bride-to-be.”
“I am happy. Or at least I was until you pulled this stunt. And I’ll have you know that I’ve been very much looking forward to marrying Herbert. I’m still looking forward to marrying him and I’m going to—just as soon as you take me back to Mesa.”
“Trust me, Lorelei. When I take you back to Mesa, it won’t be so you can marry Herbert.”
Lorelei’s pulse jumped at the possessive way he was looking at her. Chiding herself for her response, she looked out at the road ahead and forced herself to focus on her situation. Her thoughts immediately came back to her parents. “Regardless of what Desiree tells them, my parents are going to be worried.”
“From what your mother told me, she’s been worried over your lack of enthusiasm about marrying Herbert.”
“How would you know what my mother’s feeling?”
“Didn’t I mention that I had breakfast with her and your dad a few days ago?”
“No, you didn’t mention it.” And neither had her parents.
He shrugged. “I ran into them in the hotel dining room. Seeing how we’re old acquaintances, I thought asking them to join me was the polite thing to do. They really are a neat couple, you know. And of course, they insisted I come to the wedding.”
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