Million-Dollar Bride

by Karen Toller Whittenburg

  She sighed. His fiancee. Avoiding the use of her name wasn’t going to do any good. Leanne wasn’t going to disappear from Mack’s life just because Eliza had been silly enough to go and fall in love with him. And to think she’d stood in that jail and married him! Of all the dim-witted, foolhardy, impulsive things she’d done in her lifetime, that had to take the cake—or doughnut.

  Stop it, she thought. Don’t think about the doughnuts, the sunflowers or the “I do’s.” The ceremony wasn’t any more real than any of the weddings she’d ever imagined for herself. And Mack was completely justified in being upset with her this morning. She had impulsively involved him in her problems, and all he had done was try gallantly to rescue her. The least she could do was to be on her best behavior for whatever brief amount of time they still had together.

  “No answer.” He dropped the phone receiver in frustration. “Apparently no one’s in the office.”

  “The motel office?”

  “Where else would you call for room service?”

  Best behavior. She silently repeated her resolve as she met his exasperated gaze. “I could have told you he wasn’t there.”

  “Who?”

  “Ken Cooper,” she said politely. “Sheriff and Deputy Cooper’s cousin. He owns this motel.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Well, because he was just here, and we got to talking and he told me.”

  “He was just here? You mean while I was in the shower?”

  She nodded, under control, but annoyed by the edge of sarcasm in his voice. “He brought some towels, because he wasn’t sure we had enough, since we checked in so late. And besides, he wanted to let us know that we get a complimentary breakfast at the Sunflower Café across the street.” She smiled, hoping the thought of free food would go a long way toward soothing his inexplicable tension.

  Instead, he cinched the knot of his towel with an agitated tug. “You interrupted my shower and nearly scalded me just to inform me that we get a damned complimentary breakfast?”

  Control vanished. Aggravation won the day. “No, Mack, I interrupted your shower because he said he needed to talk to you as soon as possible and I impulsively thought you might want to know as soon as possible.”

  “What does he want to talk to me about?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  His lips tightened. “Oh, come on. You expect me to believe you didn’t try to find out what he wanted so you could have the pleasure of explaining it to me?”

  She flung the catalog to the floor and bounced off the jiggly bed. “I don’t know what is wrong with you this morning, but I didn’t get much sleep and I’m in no mood to—”

  “Bull.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I said bull. You slept like a baby.”

  “How would you know? You slept like a log!”

  “On the contrary, I dozed fitfully and spent the rest of the time watching you snooze.”

  “I don’t think so, because I dozed fitfully and watched you snooze.”

  The knowledge that they had watched each other sleep, that in the early morning darkness they had taken turns at being awake and aware, seeped into the air like an enticing aroma. Mack’s eyes met hers in a brief but telling exchange before he looked away.

  “You slept at least three hours.”

  His accusation lacked fervor, as did her reply. “Well, you slept at least four, so there.”

  “Fine, have it your way. I got more sleep than you did. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  She pushed her hair back behind her ear. “I don’t know what I wanted to hear or even why I said that, and I certainly don’t understand why we’re having this argument.”

  Mack lifted his gaze to hers again. The look in her eyes made her breathless for the space of a dozen heartbeats before he turned abruptly and paced to the window. “Don’t you? Don’t you even have a clue?”

  Eliza didn’t have much experience with men in the morning, but she sensed that this argument had less to do with lack of sleep than with a strained awareness, an elusive tension she was hesitant to analyze. “Well,” she said, without any idea of what she ought to say. “If I have to guess, I’d say it’s because I have something to wear and you don’t.”

  He lifted the curtain and looked out the window. “No, Eliza. We’re arguing because if we don’t, I’m going to kiss you.”

  She couldn’t breathe again, couldn’t even think straight. “That would be a change,” she said raspily. “Usually you kiss me because I am talking. Except for last night. Last night, I wasn’t talking and you—”

  “Eliza, this would be an excellent time for you to take a walk. I’d go myself, but I’m a little under-dressed for a stroll.”

  “You want me to leave?”

  He let go of the curtain, which swung shut over the window as he turned to look at her. “No, I don’t want you to leave. I want to make love to you, but since that is completely out of the question, I would appreciate a little time alone to get my errant emotions under control. Is that explanation clear enough for you?”

  The thrill of discovery sent a tingle skating down her spine. “You’re attracted to me?” she whispered. “Really?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, while the corners of his mouth formed a melancholy curve. “Eliza, if I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d be tempted to believe I’m half in love with you. Those are the kind of mind games I’m facing this morning so, yes, I am desperately attracted to you, and you should get the hell out of this cabin before I do something we’ll both regret.”

  Her heart stopped dead in its tracks and enfolded his words for safe keeping before resuming its runaway pace. “Only half…” she said in a thin, reedy voice, playing the possibility over and over in her mind. “Which isn’t anything like completely. But still, it’s nice of you to tell me. Even though it’s impossible that you…that we…well, of course, you couldn’t just forget about Leanne. I can’t just forget about her, either. Even if we are married. Even if I wouldn’t regret…” Her words trailed into a tense silence, and she knew if she looked at him, saw the faintest hint of desire in his eyes…

  “You’re right, Mack, I should just go on over to the café.” She edged toward the door, fighting the im pulse to stay with every step. “I’ll just get out of here. Get out of your way for a while. Maybe I’ll go get some coffee or breakfast or something….”

  He stayed where he was, watching her movements, stalking her with a hungry stare, tempting her to forget every principle in favor of a worthless piece of paper. She felt the doorknob at her back and reached behind her to clasp its cool reality. Swallowing hard, she turned the knob. “I read somewhere that a cold shower…?”

  “I already tried that.”

  She pulled the knob and stepped back into the opening. “I meant…actually, I was thinking more in terms of…well, I wondered if maybe I should try a cold shower myself.”

  He closed his eyes. “Go, Eliza.”

  She went.

  “MACK?” Eliza pushed open the cabin door. “I brought you some breakfast.”

  Silence greeted her announcement and, frowning, she carefully backed into the room, trying to keep the screen door from smashing into the plastic box and cups in her hands. Once safely inside, she placed the food on the table and walked over to the bathroom. It wasn’t big enough for a hiding place, and she couldn’t imagine that he’d try to hide from her, anyway. Unless he thought she might have spent the last hour plotting ways to take advantage of him. The thought swirled pleasurably inside her. And if he’d been here—which he clearly wasn’t—maybe she would have. But he wasn’t here. Maybe he’d decided to remove himself from the temptation of being in the same room, seeing her and wanting her and—

  She put the brakes on her rambunctious imagination, opened one of the cups and sipped the coffee. She had spent nearly an hour in the Sunflower Café, getting acquainted with Arnetta, the waitress, and her nephew, Tom, who had stopped by on hi
s way to Topeka. She’d chatted briefly with Ken Cooper, who’d come into the café to get “caffeine on the hoof,” which turned out to be a diet cola. She’d asked him about borrowing some clothes for Mack and listened while he related a long, involved story about the first time he’d gone backpacking in Colorado. She’d eaten a hearty breakfast and ordered one to go. And the whole time, all she could think about was Mack’s words, I’m half in love with you. I’m half in love with you. I’m half in love with you.

  She wandered over to the bed and smoothed the rumpled covers. He’d watched her sleep. The thought was sweetly provocative, and on impulse, she reached down and rumpled the covers again. She liked it better that way. Picking the catalog up off the floor, she dropped it on the bedside table and then opened the curtains. Sunlight spilled in, making the cabin bright, cozy and rustically charming. What a great place to spend a honeymoon, she thought. If, of course, it was possible to meet the man of your dreams, marry him and go on a honeymoon all in the span of one night. She drank the coffee as the sunshine warmed her from the inside out. Mack might spend the rest of his life denying it could happen, but she’d spend the rest of hers knowing it could.

  He found her attractive. He had wanted to make love to her. He was half in love with her. And she was impulsively, foolishly and totally in love with him. The emotion sang in her heart like a songbird, wrapping her in delicious possibilities.

  On a whim, she unlatched the window and raised it, letting the clean morning air circulate into the room. What a great place, she thought. Just the fact that the windows weren’t nailed shut seemed like an omen of a bright future ahead. Why, she wouldn’t be surprised if—

  Crunching gravel and voices caught her attention. She poked her head out the window, trying to see who was approaching the cabin. Although the angle of the window prevented her from seeing, as the footsteps got closer, she easily identified Mack’s voice.

  “—Rather you let me handle Eliza, Sheriff Cooper. She spooks easily, and if I can have just a few minutes alone with her, I think I can explain what’s happened without panicking her.”

  “I understand completely.” The sheriff’s voice faded as if he’d changed directions, and Eliza leaned farther out the window, trying to catch what he was saying. “—Just unfortunate, and there’s no reason to upset her any more than necessary. I don’t know why Jim got it into his head to call the KCPD—that’s short for Kansas City Police Department, in case you didn’t know—in the first place. But he’s like that sometimes, ‘specially when he gets to thinking somethin’ isn’t just the way it oughta be, and then he’s bound and determined to get to the bottom of it and I can’t talk no sense into him nohow, no way.”

  “I’m sure this can all be cleared up with a couple of phone calls,” Mack said. “To be honest, I’m surprised Leanne even reported this as a suspected kidnapping.”

  “Yeah, well, you know what they say about hell and a woman scorned.”

  “I do know. That’s why I’m surprised.”

  Eliza heard the squeak as the screen door opened, and she hastily pulled back inside, turning quickly to brace herself and lean casually on the sill. She sheathed her racing thoughts with an expression of easy good humor and hoped her panic was adequately concealed. “Hi,” she said the moment the door swung open. “I brought you some breakfast.”

  Mack paused with his hand on the knob. He was wearing a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a denim shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His boots were the same ones from last night, but he was freshly shaved and terribly attractive. Her heart ached just at the sight of him, and she knew she’d been a fool not to stay, not to take advantage when she’d had the chance. His gaze traveled from her to the open window at her back to her nonchalant pose to the plastic containers on the table before he stepped inside and firmly closed the door.

  “Hi,” he said. “Thanks, I can use something to eat.”

  “No problem. I see you got some dry clothes. Did Ken bring them? I saw him at the café and mentioned that you’d tried to call the office to borrow some. You might want to eat that.” She indicated the food with a nod. “I figured you were hungry enough to eat just about anything, and that’s what I told Arnetta. She’s the waitress at the Sunflower, in case you were wondering, and I also met this guy who offered to give me a ride as far as Topeka, but I—”

  “Eliza.” Mack silenced her with a look. “How much did you overhear?”

  She feigned surprise. “Overhear? When?”

  “Just now, that’s when.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Give it up, Eliza.” He walked to the edge of the bed and looked at her across the rumpled covers. “The window’s open, and knowing you as well as I do, I’m certain that a moment ago you were hanging over that sill, eavesdropping on my conversation with the sheriff.”

  She lifted her chin. “You hardly know me at all.”

  “Don’t bet on that.”

  He kept further protests at bay with an arrogant arch of his brow, and if she hadn’t been preoccupied with what she’d overheard, she’d have called his bluff.

  “Now,” he continued. “Let me explain what has happened and what we’re going to do about it.” He moved to the table and uncapped the lid on the coffee cup. “Leanne seems to have come to the belated realization that I was forced to leave the wedding.” He paused and looked at the cup in his hand. “Imagine my surprise. She actually believed me last night when I said I was kidnapped. After she’d hung up, of course, but still…” He shrugged, drank some of the coffee, then set the cup on the table. “So, upon realizing that one, I might be in actual danger, and that two, having her bridegroom kidnapped was preferable to being jilted, she contacted the KCPD—that’s short for the Kansas City Police Department, I’m told—and reported the crime. The police put your name together with the theft report on the million-dollar wedding gown, and when Deputy Jim began making inquiries, he discovered you were wanted for questioning.”

  “On the theft?”

  He nodded.

  “And the kidnapping?”

  “No.”

  But he denied it too quickly, and she realized the truth. “The police think I stole the gown and kidnapped you in the process, don’t they?”

  “They only want to talk to you. Leanne probably gave them your name as the woman who was with me at the church, and the misunderstanding arose from that.”

  Eliza scraped the toe of her saddle shoe across the floor, debating and discarding one option after another, trying to figure out how she could possibly explain her way out of this. “I’m kind of surprised that Leanne remembered my name,” she said, catching the thought as it slipped by.

  “Believe me, Leanne will never forget you—or forgive you.” Mack ran his hand through his neatly combed hair, revealing in a gesture how worried he really was…and she loved him for caring. “But there’s no way you can be blamed for the kidnapping, and I won’t allow anyone to harass you about it. The stolen gown is going to be a little more difficult, but we’ll figure out something. I’ll offer a reward. A big one. More money than Chuck earns in an entire year.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I can’t?”

  “No. You forfeited your inheritance when you married me, remember?”

  A trace of a smile flitted across his mouth and disappeared. “Right. Well, luckily, I can still get my hands on enough money to make a tempting reward.”

  “I won’t let you do that, Mack. Trying on the dress was my mistake and it is not your problem. I’ll figure out something, some way to get it back.” It was the only way she could prove she hadn’t stolen it in the first place. “I have to get it back.”

  “Oh, no.” Mack advanced on her like a Sherman tank and grasped her arms. “What you and I need to do next is go quietly and calmly with Sheriff Cooper. You need to be very cooperative and answer any questions he or Jim or anyone else asks you. We’ll tell the truth this time—the real truth
—and then the authorities can locate Chuck and get the dress back.”

  She looked at him, making plans fast and furiously, and doing her best to hide them from his perceptive gaze. “You honestly think they’ll just ask a few questions and let me go? That’s kind of optimistic, don’t you think? I mean, if we try to tell the truth now, won’t it just make everything worse? They might not believe either of us. And if they don’t, I could be charged with grand theft and kidnapping and impersonating your wife and…and I just don’t think cooperating is such a good idea.”

  “Eliza, for the moment, and for better or worse, I’m your husband. And no one is going to so much as look at you cross-eyed while I’m around to stop them. Understand? You and I are in this together, and no amount of explaining is going to change that.”

  A warmth as big as Texas swept over her. “You’re one in a million, MacKenzie Cortland, and I’m honored to be your wife…even temporarily.” She reached up and kissed him, fully and frankly on the mouth. Like a match to tinder, their attraction caught fire. Mack groaned softly and pulled her to him with uncompromising force. His lips on hers demanded and persuaded, sipped and plundered, denied and promised pleasures yet to be. Her impulsiveness slipped to resolve and then into sweet determination. She would have him, no matter the cost, no matter who was hurt or who had regrets. However transient their mar-riage, it was real and immediate now. And now was the only time that mattered.

  His arms tightened around her as his warm tongue delved deeply into her mouth. A murmur of startled pleasure tickled her throat and escaped in a sigh. His hands dropped to her waist and slid lightly over the contours of her hips, skimmed across the backs of her thighs and then moved upward again in a continuous caress. The pink dress bunched in his fingers and slithered across her skin, a thin, sensual barrier between her and the naked delight of his touch. Breathless and aching, she grasped his hips, claiming his passion, inviting him to claim hers. They fell back onto the bed, onto the puffy, lumpy mattress, and rolled with the jittery bed frame.