Million-Dollar Bride

by Karen Toller Whittenburg

  She thanked him with a tiny smile. “Where are we?”

  “Somewhere in western Kansas, I would think. I lost track of the road signs quite awhile ago.”

  “What do you think he’s going to do with us?”

  Mack wasn’t about to be truthful with her on that one, even if this was all her fault. “Make us hitchhike back to the city,” he said, shrugging. “Which, considering that my hitching thumb is out of service, may be difficult.”

  “We’ll use my thumb,” she offered. “It’s free.”

  He didn’t believe there was anything free about her. “Then what is there to worry about?”

  “Going tone-deaf from Chuck’s singing?”

  Tone-deaf would be preferable to stone dead, but he didn’t say so. Instead, he forced a wry smile. “At least he isn’t doing Elvis impersonations.”

  “Thank you. Thank you very much.” Chuck did a creditable Elvis imitation as he tossed a big grin over his shoulder. “Never count your blessings out loud, kiddies. ‘Cause sure as you do, some little leprechaun will hear you and snatch your pot of gold right out from under your nose.”

  “Leprechauns seldom live happily ever after,” Eliza interjected.

  “Neither do brides and grooms,” Chuck countered. “So go figure, huh?”

  Eliza sank against Mack’s shoulder as if all her strength had ebbed out of her. “He really thinks he’s going to get away with this.”

  Mack had come to the same conclusion a hundred miles back and saw no purpose in denying it now.

  “You’ll never get this dress off me without damaging it,” she challenged Chuck. “And it won’t be worth two cents to you if it’s torn.”

  Chuck’s smile in the mirror remained good-natured. “Don’t worry, little Liza, I’ll get it off. I have everything figured out. Right down to the last knot.” He adjusted the rearview mirror again, gave her a wink and picked up Michael Bolton in midballad.

  Her sigh was deep and quivery.

  Mack shifted position and reluctantly put his left arm around her shoulders. It wasn’t comfortable and it probably wasn’t much comfort, but under the circumstances, it was the only thing he knew to do.

  “MAY I TAKE YOUR ORDER, please?”

  Mack awakened with a start as the scratchy, unfamiliar voice penetrated his fitful sleep.

  “Six burgers, three vanilla shakes. And make it snappy.” The window whirred shut, punctuating Chuck’s order with a renewal of silence.

  They were stopped in the drive-through lane of a fast-food restaurant. Mack squinted through the windshield into the darkness, looking for a sign to indicate where in Kansas they were. But all he saw was the flashing neon letters signaling the entrance to Buddy’s Burgers. In a glance, he assessed his opportunities and immediately discarded the idea of escape. Eliza was curled against his side like a child around a security blanket. Her right hand was tucked in the crook of his elbow, and her head rested heavily on his upper arm. Her breathing came in the long, low pattern of ponderous sleep, and he knew that making a move without her cooperation would get him exactly nowhere. As preposterous as it seemed, he was trapped in the back seat of a rented limousine by nothing more than a slip of a girl in a million-dollar dress.

  Not that he believed the dress was worth that much money. Which brought him full circle to the unpalatable conclusion he’d arrived at fifteen minutes into the kidnapping; the dress was not the intended victim, he was. And if that were true, then it logically followed that Eliza and Chuck were in this escapade together. They had planned it and were going to hold him for ransom. It seemed the most reasonable explanation, even though the idea that wide-eyed Eliza could be a cold-blooded criminal went against his faith in the human race. Still, what else could he believe? Either she was guilty or the dress was worth a cool million.

  He certainly hoped they didn’t think he would bring that much in ransom. After today’s scene on the church steps, he figured his family would demand payment themselves before they’d consider taking him back.

  Chuck lowered his window.

  “That’ll be seven dollars and eighty-six cents.”

  Mack couldn’t see the Buddy’s Burger employee, but he seized the opportunity to yell, “Help, I’m being kid-”

  Jerking upright, Eliza drowned out his cry with a series of startled and ear-splitting shrieks. “Aaaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaah!”

  “Eliza!”

  She looked over her shoulder at Mack and shrieked again. “Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!”

  He clapped his left hand over her mouth and roughly pulled her back against him. She bit him.

  “Ow!” He released her and waved his hand back and forth as if he could shake out the pain. “What did you do that for?”

  In the front seat, Chuck smoothly covered the outcry with a wry laugh and a jerk of his head toward the back seat. “Newlyweds,” he said, and handed over the money in exchange for the sack of food. “Keep the change, kiddo.”

  Before Mack had time to recover, the window was closing and the limousine was pulling out of the Buddy’s Burgers’ drive-through lane. “Way to go, Eliza.” He rubbed his fingers over the smarting flesh of his palm and found some small comfort in the knowledge that she hadn’t broken the skin and he wouldn’t have to get a tetanus shot.

  “Did I hurt you?” Her voice was quiet and penitent, but he wasn’t fooled.

  “Yes, and don’t pretend that isn’t exactly what you meant to do, either.”

  “I didn’t. It’s just that…well, you woke me up.”

  “Ah, please forgive me. I should have waited to yell for help after you’d had your nap. It was very inconsiderate of me to yell when there was a slim chance that someone might actually hear.”

  She looked down at her lap. “There’s no need to be curt. I didn’t do it intentionally. It’s difficult for me to get oriented when I first wake up. You frightened me, that’s all.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “Mmm-hmm?” Her gaze slid to his face. “What does that mean?”

  “You two want a burger?”

  “No.” Eliza snapped at Chuck, but didn’t take her eyes off Mack. “You can’t honestly believe I didn’t want you to yell for help.”

  He shrugged. “What I believe, Eliza, is that you’re in this whole kidnapping farce up to your ears.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “But that’s ridiculous!”

  “Is it?”

  “Milk shake?”

  “Shut up, Chuck.” Eliza’s cheeks bloomed with agitation. “All right, Mack, I’ll take full responsibility for this…this—“

  “Farce.”

  “Situation,” she corrected. “I’ll accept responsibility for this situation up to the point where we got snagged in my bodice, but I am definitely not in cahoots with Chuck and I am especially not involved in this kidnapping, up to my ears or otherwise!”

  “I’d applaud your performance, but my right hand is all tied up and my left one is recovering from a bite wound.”

  “You shouldn’t have put your hand over my mouth like that.”

  “Believe me, I won’t do it again.”

  “Burgers aren’t half-bad,” Chuck said over his shoulder. “Sure you guys don’t want one?”

  “No, thank you.” Eliza flounced in the seat. “We don’t want anything from you.”

  “I’ll take one.” Mack pushed her up with him as he scooted forward and took the paper-wrapped burger.

  “Here, have a milk shake, too.” Chuck handed back the paper cup.

  Mack barely managed to grasp the cup and hold on to the burger with one hand. “You could help me out with this, you know,” he said to Eliza.

  “Sorry, my hands are busy.” She looked at him and the burger with distaste. “How can you eat that?”

  “I’m hungry.” Anchoring the milk shake between his thighs, he peeled away the paper and sank his teeth into the hamburger. “Want a bite?”

  “As a last meal, that has absolutely no appeal.” She turned her head and looked ou
t the window.

  He’d give her credit for knowing how to spoil a man’s appetite. But he ate the tasteless burger anyway, every last crumb of it.

  “One Buddy’s Burger left, Eliza,” Chuck said, rattling the paper sack. “Sure you don’t want it?”

  “Positive. But ask Mack. He can probably find room for one more.”

  Intentionally slurping, Mack finished off the milk shake. “Always room for another Buddy’s Burger.” He noticed Eliza’s disgusted look, but he’d be damned if he was going to let her make him feel guilty. She was kidnapping him, for Pete’s sake. And even if she wasn’t, there was no reason for her to look so pious just because she chose to go hungry. “Got another milk shake?” he asked.

  “Sorry, drank it myself.” Chuck belched and tossed Mack the last hamburger. “Wish you’d eat that, Eliza. Restaurants are gonna be scarce for a while.”

  “What about a ladies’ room?”

  “You mean a toilet?”

  She twisted uncomfortably in the seat. “That would do.”

  Mack stopped eating, his appetite arrested, his interest caught. If Chuck could be persuaded to stop at a service station, there might still be an opportunity to escape.

  “Well, now, let’s see.” Chuck peered into the darkness as if he were searching for civilization. “Not much out here,” he said. “But wait. What’s that? Yep, Eliza, you’re in luck.” He guided the limousine onto the shoulder of the deserted road, got out and came around to the back door, flinging it open with a magnanimous gesture.

  As he and Eliza struggled to step outside, Mack caught the glint of steel in the chauffeur’s hand and cancelled his plan to make a run for it. No point in taking unnecessary chances. If by some fluke it was the dress that Chuck meant to hold for ransom, it stood to reason that the person he’d shoot at was the one who wasn’t wearing it.

  “But there’s nothing here,” Eliza said, her voice fading with desperation. “No service station. No facilities. Nothing.”

  “Au contraire.” Chuck gestured behind him, keeping the gun unobtrusively pointed at Mack. “There are three trees right over there. Pick one.”

  IF HUMILIATION could be measured in bank deposits, Eliza figured that in this one day she would have acquired enough to retire a wealthy woman. It took forty-five minutes and as many miles before her blush subsided to a warm memory. But it heated up again every time Mack looked at her, which he tactfully avoided doing as much as possible.

  She kept her head bent over the knot, although she only gave it her token attention. “Fix it or fry it,” Auntie Gem liked to say, and Eliza seriously considered ripping out the seams of the dress just to be free of this incredible, ridiculous tangle. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to harm the wedding gown. Some bride somewhere was destined to wear this one-of-a-kind dress and be happy doing so. Eliza should just never have put it on.

  Beside her, she felt the flexing of Mack’s arms and shoulders as he tried to find a comfortable position. She straightened, too, as she’d already discovered that it was easier to move if they worked together. He cupped her elbow and tucked his left arm around her shoulder, turning her slightly away from him. Then, bracing his back against the door, he pulled her against him. “Why don’t you stretch out on the seat?” he said. “Try to relax a little.”

  His smile was about the nicest thing that had happened to her all day, she thought, which wasn’t saying much considering the kind of day she’d had. On the other hand, his day hadn’t been anything to write home about, either. “You’re a nice person to have along on a kidnapping, Mack. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “If we ever get out of this limousine, I’ll be happy to explain this whole mess to your fiancée.”

  “Leanne?”

  Eliza frowned. “Isn’t Leanne the one you were supposed to marry today?”

  He removed his hand from her shoulder and stretched his arm across the back of the seat. “Yes,” he said. “Leanne.”

  “Well, now that we have the name straight…” She flounced a little on the seat, ostensibly stretching her legs, but basically just mad at herself for mentioning his fiancée in the first place. “She must be pretty worried about you by now.”

  “I imagine she’s basking in her mother’s, my mother’s and four-hundred-odd guests’ sympathies. It isn’t every day that a Bankston gets left at the altar.”

  “She can’t possibly believe you jilted her?”

  “I did jilt her.”

  “Well, sure, but not on purpose. She can’t think you wanted to run off with me.”

  “I appeared on the church steps with my arm around another woman. Another bride, to add insult to injury. I left with my arm still around the other woman and I didn’t even say I was sorry. Now, what would you believe?”

  Eliza lifted her chin. “That you were being kidnapped.”

  He gave her a curious smile, and his hand absently settled the wayward veil. “You’re funny, Eliza.”

  “Because I wouldn’t automatically assume the worst about the man I had chosen to spend the rest of my life with?” She shook her head in mild reproach. “Give Leanne some credit. I’ll bet she’s frantic right now.”

  “Furious, yes, but she doesn’t do frantic.”

  “Well, you’ve never been kidnapped before, have you?”

  “No, but I’ll bet you the rest of that leftover Buddy’s hamburger that if Leanne has mentioned my name—and I’m certain she has—in the past few hours, it has been accompanied by a few pithy words not fit for polite conversation.”

  “Keep your burger, Mack. I’m sticking with frantic.”

  “You probably believe in Santa Claus, too.”

  “And happily ever after, as well, which is more than I can say for you.” She raised her hand and pushed back the droopy headpiece. “I’m beginning to think you needed rescuing today worse than…Mack, look!”

  He looked down, wondering why he’d noticed again her sweet smell… like fresh vanilla and summer roses and—

  “It came undone.”

  The knot was undone. Their respective sleeves were free. Frowning, he flexed his wrist. “When did that happen?” he asked under his breath.

  “I don’t know. I just moved my hand like this and-”

  Instantly, he realized she was waving her hands—both hands. He grabbed the left one with what he considered great presence of mind and pressed it down to her lap, taking care to keep his right hand tucked close to her waist. “Ssh.” He cut his eyes to Chuck.

  “Oh,” she whispered. “Right.”

  But her smile was indiscreet. It was bound to give her away even if the sparkle of excitement in her eyes didn’t. So he kissed her.

  Her surprise was tangible, a soft O beneath the pressure of his mouth, a pleasing taste of hesitancy and curiosity. Her left hand crept up his chest, and he almost forgot to catch it and push it back to her lap. Her right hand immediately took the left one’s place, sliding across his stomach and moving up, casting a tantalizing anticipation over his entire body, creating a paradox of suspense and certainty over what she might do next. She kissed a path to his ear and whispered, “Do you think Chuck knows?”

  At the moment, he didn’t know who Chuck was. He turned his head to recapture her lips and found himself with a mouthful of veil. “I doubt it,” he mumbled after extracting the veil from his teeth.

  Nodding, she snuggled closer. “Now we’ll be able to escape.”

  He tried to remove his arm from her shoulder, but it kept sliding back. This had to be the strangest day of his life. First he was supposed to get married, then he got shanghaied, then he was caught in a knot and then he wasn’t. “How did you get it undone?” he whispered. “I thought it was impossible.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes enchantingly full of possibilities. “That’s the amazing thing,” she whispered back. “I didn’t do anything. I lifted my hand and the dress just let go.”

  He’d seen the knot, and there was no way short o
f a miracle it could have “just let go.” And yet she looked as surprised as he was and ingenuously incapable of deceit. So if she wasn’t in on the kidnapping, maybe there was some other explanation. There would have to be.

  “Sure am glad to see you two gettin’ along so well.” Chuck turned down the volume on Mariah Carey and laid his hand along the seat back. “’Cuz it’d be miserable to be tied up together with somebody you didn’t much care for, now wouldn’t it?”

  Mack’s full attention shot back to his immediate problem. Now that his hand was free, he could overpower the other man and bring him to justice. But slam-dunking the driver of a moving vehicle was probably not the best way to go about it. On the other hand…What other hand? He had to do something, didn’t he?

  “When are we going to stop, Chuck?” Eliza asked. “I’m so tired of being in this car.”

  Chuck glanced back and grinned. “Well, all you had to do was say so.”

  Eliza turned a puzzled frown to Mack. He shrugged and felt some small relief that he could wait until the car stopped before committing an act of heroism. “Where are we?” he asked, as if he was just passing the time and not plotting like a fiend. “Nebraska? Colorado?”

  “Good guess,” Chuck announced as he turned the limo off the deserted road.

  For several minutes, the limousine bounced over a rough road… or maybe it wasn’t a road at all. All Mack could see through the windows was a thick coating of dust. Kansas, he thought. They were still in Kansas.

  “Here we are, kiddies. Home, sweet home.” With a flourish, Chuck spun the wheel, and the limo circled and came to a stop. “Sit still. I’ll get the door for you.”

  Eliza whirled to face Mack the moment Chuck got out of the car. “How are we going to do this?” she asked. “How about if you punch him while I grab the car keys?”