“Sienna?”
Sienna had to take a moment to identify the voice. She turned and found her cousin. “Tabitha? What on earth are you doing here?”
Tabitha’s hand shook as she tucked her blond hair behind her ear. “Your phone’s turned off. I came up to visit Uncle Vincent. I need to talk to you. Please. It’s important.”
“Is it about Dad? Wait. Hold on.” She searched for Calliope and waved her over. “I need to get to the hospital.”
“Of course.” Calliope frowned. “Who is that?” She looked beyond Sienna to where Tabitha was hurrying off.
“My cousin. She came to get me. Can you finish writing down the gifts? I’ll be back to clean up. I just need to make sure he’s all right.”
“Certainly.” Calliope accepted the clipboard and pen. “Sienna,” she called after Sienna had grabbed her purse. “Be...careful.” She glanced up at the sky, where storm clouds began to gather. “In fact, why don’t you call the hospital first. Just to make sure—”
“No time. I’ll be back, I promise.” Sienna ran to catch up with Tabitha. She slid into the passenger seat of the Mercedes and held on as her cousin sped away from the farm.
“What happened? Did he have another heart attack? Is he conscious?”
“It’s important we talk,” Tabitha assured her, then took a sharp left and headed into town.
“You’re going the wrong way. Tab, the hospital’s...” Her voice faded as an uneasy sensation slid over her. “Tabitha, where are we going?”
“I told you. To talk.” She floored the accelerator.
Minutes later they reached the marina. Before Sienna could confront her, Tabitha was out of the car and headed to where Nana’s Dream was docked.
“Tabitha!” Sienna shoved out of the car. What was happening here? And what was Tabitha doing in Butterfly Harbor, of all places?
“Sienna!” Mrs. Yamishimi called to her from farther along the dock.
“Mrs. Yamishimi.” Sienna detoured to greet her friend. “We missed you at the shower.”
“I had a call from my son at the last minute. My daughter-in-law’s been put on bed rest, so I’m heading up to Seattle tomorrow. I just wanted to say goodbye.” She glanced toward Nana’s Dream. “Who’s that on Monty’s boat?”
“My cousin, Tabitha. I guess she wants a tour.” Sienna’s laugh seemed strained even to her own ears.
“Oh?” Mrs. Yamishimi’s eyebrows shot up.
Fat raindrops plopped onto Sienna’s head. “I’d better give it to her before that storm comes in. I’ll stop by for tea as soon as you’re back,” she assured the older woman.
“All right.”
Sienna reached Dream, but couldn’t see Tabitha. Her cousin must have disappeared below deck. “Tabitha?” Sienna shouted.
Duchess squawked above her. The bird seemed flustered on her perch on the railing.
“Hey, there. I’ve missed you.” Sienna reached out, but Duchess reared back, stretched out her wings and let out a screech that had Sienna wondering if the bird was injured in some way. With a frantic flapping, she tried to prevent Sienna from ducking inside to join her cousin. “Duchess, stop it! Just stop!”
She’d never spoken so harshly to the parrot before and she felt bad, especially when Duchess flew off toward the cliffs of Butterfly Harbor. “Great. Now I’m going to have to earn a bird’s forgiveness. Tabitha? What’s this all about? I need to get back to the shower.”
“It’ll just be a few minutes, I promise.” Tabitha’s voice echoed from the bow of the boat.
“What are we even doing here?” Sienna demanded. “You hate boats.”
“I wanted someplace private to talk.” Tabitha’s voice echoed from Sienna’s old berth. “And I wanted to see what was so appealing you chose this wreck over marrying Richard.”
Sienna rolled her eyes. “Forgive me for not wanting to marry someone who was only interested in my money.” She stepped into her former room. “Tabitha?”
“We’re going to need more privacy,” Tabitha said, coming forward and shoving Sienna hard.
By the time Sienna caught her footing, Tabitha slid the berth door closed and locked it.
The next thing she knew, the engine rumbled to life and they were headed out to sea.
* * *
“FASTEST DOCKING IN the history of nautical arrivals,” Roman Salazar announced as the bachelor party disembarked. “For the record, it was a slam-dunk day, best man.” He slammed a hand on Monty’s shoulder. “Good friends, fishing, beer and fun. My mother could not have done better.”
“High praise, indeed,” Monty muttered as he finished tying off the boat. The men headed off to meet up with their significant others at the shower or to go home. Luke, Ozzy and Sebastian stayed back to help Monty clean up.
“Where did this come from?” Luke yelled when the rain began to fall. Not just in sprinkles, but in huge drops.
Monty glanced up at the angry gray sky. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He heard someone calling his name, faintly, carried on the wind. Finding Calliope Costas racing toward him had him jumping off the boat and rushing to meet her. Calliope rarely came down to the docks.
“Sienna’s in trouble,” she said.
“Where is she?” Monty demanded.
Calliope shook her head. “I don’t know. She drove off with a woman in a red sports car.”
A red sports car? Monty’s mind raced. Fletcher said Richard Somersby had driven off in a red Mercedes convertible.
Mrs. Yamishimi was pushing through the wind, her arms braced in front of her. Calliope reached out for her and drew her into the safety of her hold.
“Have you seen Sienna?” Calliope yelled over the storm.
“A little while ago. She was showing her cousin Tabitha your new boat, Monty.” She pointed to the now-empty slip.
“Tabitha?” Monty tried to remember Sienna mentioning the woman.
“What’s going on?” Luke demanded as he joined them.
“That woman who picked Richard up at the sheriff’s station. He said she was blonde, right?”
“Yeah. Petite. Blonde. Attitude.”
“That’s her,” Mrs. Yamishimi confirmed. “I did not like her.”
“Monty, Sienna’s out there. In this storm.” Calliope grabbed his arm. “You’ve got to find her.”
“Squawk! Pretty girl trouble.” Duchess struggled against the gusting wind and landed on the railing of Star Dancer. “Help pretty girl.”
“Duchess!” Monty could have kissed the parrot. “Do you know where she is? Can you find her?”
“You mean like Lassie?” Luke asked.
“Squawk. Follow Queen Duchess.”
“Unmoor us!” Monty yelled at Ozzy Lakeman. The former sheriff’s deputy turned firefighter was well versed in emergency situations.
“Get inside, both of you,” Monty ordered as Luke raced up to the wheelhouse and started the engine. No way was he going to lose his chance. Not when he finally knew what he wanted. Not when he knew he didn’t want to live this life without Sienna. “This storm’s turning nasty.”
“Monty?” Calliope yelled and he heard the fear in her voice.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring her home.” Seconds later he gunned the engine and followed Duchess as she led the way.
* * *
THERE WASN’T ANYTHING for Sienna to do except pace and wait for Tabitha to let her out. The pacing soon became impossible as the storm and rolling waves battered Dream. “Hang in there, girl,” Sienna whispered and rested her palm against the hull. “Whatever it is my cousin’s doing, she won’t hurt you.”
She tried to keep track of how long they had been moving, but a sense of time seemed to disappear when on the ocean. Tabitha...really? Sienna got up and pounded on the door, jiggling the handle hard enough to make the wood panel whine. “
Tabitha! Let me out of here! You don’t know how to control this boat!”
As the accusation left her mouth, the engine went silent. The door flew open and Sienna was shocked to find Richard standing on the other side.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
“Sienna, I need you to listen to me.”
“I don’t think I do.” She raced past him and up the steps to the deck. Wind and rain pelted the boat, tossing it up and down, back and forth. Her hands slipped as she grabbed onto the railing. Sure enough, Tabitha was behind the wheel, but looking back at her with accusing eyes.
“I need you to marry me!” Richard shouted over the howling noise from the top step of the entryway. “I need that money your father promised me!”
“Oh, come on, Richard. You can’t be serious!” Sienna had had enough. She hauled herself up to the wheelhouse. Her pretty, flower-patterned summer dress, specially chosen for today, was soaked and plastered against her body. “Tabitha! What’s happened to you? You’ve teamed up with this...with this...” She swung around as Richard followed up behind her. “This doofus?” The Cocoon Club’s description suddenly seemed apt. “What’s wrong with you, Tabitha?” she yelled.
“I love him,” Tabitha yelled back with just enough of a whine that, for an instant, Sienna felt sorry for her. “I believe in him. All he needs is the three mil your father promised.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Sienna said. “My dad knows everything, Richard. Everything.” She stared daggers at her ex-fiancé and wondered if he’d told Tabitha the truth about everything he’d done. “Unless you’re holding me for ransom. Is that the plan?” She looked at Tabitha. “You’re willing to commit a felony for him?”
“I—” Tabitha’s eyes went wide, as if she didn’t understand what was going on. “We just wanted to talk to you. You don’t have to marry him for long. A few months would do.”
Enough for the check to clear. Sienna gaped, gripped the back of the passenger seat and shook her head as the waves continued to churn. “You thought by bringing me out here you’d somehow convince me to marry a man who only sees me as a bank account? What reality show are you living in Tab?”
“Give me enough money to disappear,” Richard said.
She looked at him, unable to feel anything for him but pity. “No.”
“You don’t understand,” Tabitha wailed. “He’s got people after him. He’s in terrible trouble. If you don’t help us—”
“Us?” Sienna winced. “Tab, tell me you aren’t dumb enough to think anything Richard is doing is for anyone but himself. This is all about him and his greed.”
“That’s not true. He was worried about you. Even before the wedding he—”
It wasn’t that Tabitha stopped; it was the expression on her face. As if she’d revealed something she wasn’t supposed to. The last piece of the confusing puzzle Sienna couldn’t quite put together suddenly fell into place.
“You were in on this from the start.” Sienna stared, heartbroken at her cousin’s betrayal. “You knew why he was marrying me and you still pushed me into it. Why?”
“Because someone had to love me best,” Tabitha spluttered. “Gran adored you. Doted on you. She left you that house. She gave up everything for you and forgot I even existed and when she died, I got nothing.”
“Because she thought you had all you needed. You had the love of two parents—at least, she thought you did. You can have the house, it’s not important!”
Tabitha opened her mouth as if to say something, but then shut it and clutched at the wheel as another swell hit the side of the boat. It occurred to Sienna that her cousin’s pain was there, the same pain Sienna had spent a lifetime pushing down. The rejection, the hurt. All this time... All this time her cousin had let her resentment fester, preventing them from being anything more than distant relations.
“So you’re going to throw everything away over him?” Sienna shouted. “What makes you think he won’t chuck you overboard the second he doesn’t need you anymore? Because he doesn’t need you, Tab. Not now. Not now that you’re the one people saw luring me onto this boat. You came to get me from the shower. He can vanish and you’ll be left to deal with the consequences of what could constitute a crime.”
“I—” Tabitha shook her head, but the doubt was there as she looked between Sienna and Richard. “That’s not true, is it? After everything I’ve done, you wouldn’t do that to me, would you, Richard?”
When Richard hesitated, Sienna faced him. “Well? Would you, Richard?”
He still didn’t answer. Tabitha let out a shriek that had Sienna shrinking back as her cousin flew out of the pilot’s chair. She knocked her fists into Richard’s chest and sent him stumbling. “You lied to me! You were setting me up this whole time!” She hit him again and he came up hard against the side of the hull.
“No, Tabitha! Don’t!” Sienna dived for her cousin, but she was too late. Tabitha struck out one more time and sent Richard flying overboard into the ocean.
Sienna cursed and raced down the ladder to grab the life preserver. She searched the dark swells for where he’d gone in. When he broke free of the surface, gasping for air, she launched the preserver and hauled him back to the boat.
“I can’t believe I’m dragging your soggy butt back onboard,” she grunted. He choked and gagged and seemed to spew up half the sea. “You keep Tabitha out of this, you hear me? Not a word about her being involved or I’ll find a way to throw you back in.”
Wheezing, flailing and lying beneath the pelting rain on the deck of Nana’s Dream, Richard nodded.
She climbed into the wheelhouse, waved a shivering Tabitha out of the captain’s seat and turned the engine back on. Seconds later, she was heading home.
Home.
Her heart swelled to where she could barely breathe. Butterfly Harbor...no, Monty, was home. In a short time, she’d found friends, a new family, people to belong to. She had the promise of a future, a job, something that would make people happy. Something she was good at. She’d found the father she’d spent a lifetime longing to connect with.
And she’d found a man she loved. Loved to the absolute core of her being.
The wind slammed into Dream like a vicious whip and for an instant, the boat seemed to hover between staying upright and going over. When it slammed back down into the water, she hit the throttle. “I’m not going out this way.” She gritted her teeth. Dream strained against the pressure of the storm, but continued to move. She crested wave after wave. Behind her, she heard Tabitha wretch. Sienna searched the gray sky for a hint of color—a hint of light that would show a break in the weather.
“Get me home, Nana,” she whispered like a prayer. “Please get me back to him. Get me back to Monty.”
Her hands cramped. Her fingers went numb as they clenched the steering wheel. She heard her name. A whisper on the wind. Faint. And in the air, she smelled roses and jasmine.
“Nana.” Sienna closed her eyes, released the fear tightening her muscles, that was making her body ache. Her grip eased and for a moment, she gave herself over to the storm.
“Squawk! Guaca-mooleeee!”
Sienna’s eyes shot open. She gasped as Duchess landed and blinked those beautiful black eyes at her. Sienna laughed and settled into her chair. As she eased her hold on the wheel, she felt something slide off her finger.
She looked down as the engagement ring clattered onto the deck.
The sky began to clear, the clouds blowing through as if a wind pushed from behind. The waves continued to surge, but they were lighter now. Easier to navigate.
Tabitha gasped, leaned over the railing and threw up. Richard clawed his way across the cabin, his eyes widening with greed as he reached for the engagement ring that continued to slide out of his grasp as the boat rocked one way and then the other.
Sienna turned the boat into the wave
s and caught sight of another craft heading right for them. She knew, even before Star Dancer was fully visible, it was Monty. The seconds to reach him seemed innumerable.
She switched off the engine and popped out the key, sliding down the ladder to be there the instant he jumped boats. When she was in his arms, she didn’t cry. She laughed. And held on as if she’d never let him go.
“You okay?” Monty tilted her head back and looked into her eyes. Then he kissed her. Hard. Quick. And again. “Did they hurt you?”
“I’m fine. Dream saved us. Well. I helped.” She smiled at him as the sun streaked through the parting clouds and erased the last of the darkness. “I don’t know where that storm came from, but it arrived just in time. I knew exactly what to do.”
“That doesn’t tell me what happened, but I don’t care right now.” He drew her close again, wrapped himself around her so completely, she knew she’d found exactly where she belonged. “Luke and Ozzy are with me.”
“Did they bring handcuffs?” Sienna asked. “For Richard,” she said, looking seriously into his eyes. “Just Richard.”
His hands dived into her hair. “You sure?”
She nodded. She didn’t want Tabitha suffering any more than she already was. A broken heart was bad enough, as was having to come to terms with the fact that for so long she’d hated Sienna when they’d had so much in common. She touched Monty’s face, traced the features she’d spent the past few days memorizing.
“What’s this?” He caught her hand, curled her fingers. “Where’s the ring?”
“It fell off.” She chuckled. “That means I’m officially unengaged.”
“Not for long, you aren’t.” He brought his mouth down on hers.
“You cannot be serious.” Luke’s voice meant they quit their kiss, although reluctantly. He stepped forward, shaking his head. “This has got to be the craziest darn thing I’ve seen in a long time. You said the bad guys are around here?”
Bride on the Run--A Clean Romance Page 22