The Jilting: Summer (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 1)

by Catherine Lloyd

  “What are you doing?”

  Ryder was standing over her, a loopy grin on his face. Scout gritted her teeth. “Keeping out of sight,” she hissed. “Get down or they’ll see you.”

  He got down on all fours behind her. “You still haven’t told me who they are.”

  “Noel’s kidnappers and they are likely armed and dangerous.”

  “You’re enjoying this.”

  The green in Ryder’s eyes had intensified to the color of the trees and shone with excitement.

  “Look who’s talking,” she said. “I haven’t seen you this excited since you were ten.”

  But he was right. She was enjoying herself a little; the surge of adrenaline, she and Ryder, out on an adventure. It was fun, immature, and exciting.

  They moved in a zigzag pattern to the clearing at the end of the overgrown logging road. From the state of the cabin, it was obvious it hadn’t been in use for decades. Weeds poked up through the steps and rotting porch but the windows and door were in place and the roof looked sturdy. There was no sign of life inside or out.

  “And there’s no vehicle,” said Ryder, finishing Scout’s thought.

  Scout abruptly dashed across the grass, making for the window at the side of the cabin. She heard Ryder swear behind her and she knew why. If anyone inside glanced out of the window, Scout would be caught in the open, but she had to take the risk. If she did things Ryder’s way they’d still be sitting in the pickup waiting for something to happen.

  Scout inched to the edge of the window and peered inside. The pane of glass was fogged with grime but she spotted Noel. He was tied, back to back, with a voluptuous redhead. Scout looked away, blinked hard and looked back, squinting in the gloom. What the hell?

  Scout adjusted her position to get a better look. The pane of glass was suddenly blocked by a flash of bright orange. Scout froze. A man—huge—almost as wide as he was tall, wearing a bright orange hunting vest, had moved in front of the window. His voice was a snarling angry drone through the glass.

  “We’re not going to wait much longer!”

  Noel’s voice, thin and strained, reached her ear. “She was just dumped at the altar, for God’s sake. Give her time. She’ll be here. If you’d listened to me in the first place, you’d have your money by now.”

  Ryder joined her at the window and mouthed: “What’s going on?”

  Scout pressed her finger to her lips. A masculine voice, knife-edged and impatient, rose from a corner of the room. They couldn’t see its owner but his words were clear.

  “You must have a plate in your head if you think you can steal a million bucks of Scarlett O’Hara’s money and then expect us to listen to you. You’re lucky we didn’t kill you, you lying asshole. The boss doesn’t like being made a fool of and you made a fool out of him. Doing his books all these years, he trusted you like a son and this is the thanks he gets?”

  “I’ve never even met the man,” Noel whined. “How could he trust me like a son?”

  “You’re pathetic. You have no morals. You think it was easy for him to make that money?”

  Noel made a noise of contempt. “I imagine it was a strain for Mr. O’Hara to supervise all those prostitutes and collect his protection money. I did my job and damn well. The feds will never trace O’Hara’s illegal accounts back to him. I put my life on the line every day. Why shouldn’t I collect a percentage?”

  The large man in orange lunged for Noel, fists flying. A smaller man jumped between them, dragging the orange man back. Scout recognized his voice as the one who spoke earlier. He was dark and wiry; the staccato nervous cadence was still in his speech.

  “Roy, that’s enough, that’s enough. Remember what Scarlett said? He wants the accountant back along with the money. You mark him up and there’s no telling what the boss will do. He’s pretty pissed with us as it is. It was our screw-up that allowed this scum to get away in the first place.”

  The large beefy man passed a hand over his face clearing the sweat from his brow. “I don’t trust the guy, Terry. I don’t think the girl knows anything about the money. He’s leading us on a wild goose chase.”

  Terry hunched over Noel, his black eyes glittering in the falling dusk in the cabin. “Is my friend right, Mr. Noel Trace? Are you leading us on a wild goose chase?”

  Scout could see real fear in Noel’s eyes.

  “Of course not, I told you, you would’ve had your money by now if you’d just let me go ahead and get married. Scout has the key to this whole thing. Without her, we’ve got nothing.”

  Scout met the question in Ryder’s eyes and lifted her shoulders in answer. She had no idea what Noel was talking about. There was a whole lot she didn’t know about Noel. He was an accountant for a mob boss? A money launderer? There had to be a logical explanation.

  Ryder tugged at her sleeve, annoying her. Scout flipped his hand away. He wanted them to get out of there before they were discovered. She needed to find out who the redhead was.

  “Keen to get married, were you? Happy to be a husband?” said Terry. The dark-eyed man with the razor voice. “You wouldn’t be in this mess if you respected your bride more. We thought we were getting the happy couple when we found the two of you in bed together. Dumb luck, we figured. What kind of man sleeps with another woman the night before his wedding?”

  Ryder fell silent behind her. Scout was holding her breath without realizing it. She couldn’t have heard right. They must be lying, these men.

  “I’ve explained that. I’ve explained half a dozen times. Delores jumped out of the cake at my bachelor party. She’s an innocent bystander. You have to let her go.”

  Delores nodded her head vigorously, tossing red ringlets over her eyes, a gag muffling her speech.

  “I’ve been to a few bachelor parties, Mr. Trace, and not once did the groom feel obligated to sleep with the entertainment. You lack morals. I’m glad we grabbed you in bed with this one and saved your bride the grief of an unfaithful husband.”

  “Oh that’s beautiful! I’m getting a morals lecture from a couple of cold-blooded killers! You’re judging me for cheating on my bride? Scout was never going to find out and what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. But I’m warning you, when she gets here and finds me with Delores she’s going to be pissed. Scout will only cooperate if she thinks we have a future together. Delores here complicates things.”

  Ryder clapped a hand over Scout’s mouth and eyed her warningly. Scout glared at him through narrow slits.

  “Watch your mouth,” said Roy. “We ain’t cold-blooded. If we don’t get the money, it’s no skin off our nose but Scarlett will kill you. If you do what you’re told, you’ll live. You’ll apologize to your bride when she gets here, convince her you love her, and get us that money. If you don’t succeed, you’ll die and so will the ladies. That’s not cold-blooded, that’s just business.”

  Ryder had heard enough. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he whispered fiercely. If Scout argued or put up a fight, he swore he’d knock her out if he had to. This was the mob, for fuck’s sake. As long as they believed she had what they wanted, Scout was in danger. Noel’s infidelity wasn’t worth getting killed over.

  Ryder clamped one hand firmly over her mouth and grabbed her around the waist. Scout struggled, digging her heels into the soft earth and pulling him down with her weight. She twisted her neck and managed to wrench her mouth free of his hand. Ryder fought to hang on to her. Somehow, he managed to drag her to the edge of the wood without alerting anyone inside the cabin.

  “Let me go!” she exploded. “If the mob wants Noel dead, no problem, I’ll do the job myself.”

  “Shut up,” Ryder hissed. “They’ll hear you!”

  “Good. When I tell them that Noel is a lying bastard who stole their money and I have no idea where it is, they’ll—”

  “—kill you,” Ryder ground out.

  Scout gaped at him, stricken. In the silence Ryder noticed the quiet that had fallen over the wood. There were
no voices coming from the cabin. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He grabbed Scout’s hand. “Run!”

  Scout yelped in alarm. The door of the cabin banged open and Roy thundered out.

  “Terry! We got company. Get your gun.”

  Scout clung to Ryder as she ran, stumbling over roots and stones to the pickup. They flung themselves inside the cab and Ryder jammed the gear shift in reverse.

  “Oh God, oh God, they’re coming Ryder.”

  Roy was pounding down the trail with remarkable speed given his size. The smaller man, Terry, was close behind and waving a gun. Ryder slammed the truck into first and planted his foot on the accelerator, spitting gravel as the Ford shot forward. Roy lunged for the tailgate and missed, landing in an orange heap in the dirt. Scout watched from the back window.

  “Wow! He was fast. You’d think criminals would be out of shape from smoking and hard-living.”

  “You watch too many old movies.”

  The orange blob lumbered to his feet and charged after the truck with the power of an enraged rhino.

  “Oh no, oh Ryder. He’s coming. He’s chasing us on foot! Can’t this truck go any faster?”

  “The truck is doing the best it can. It didn’t know it was going to have to outrun a couple of hired killers over an old logging road.”

  Scout pounded the dash. “Go! Go! Go!”

  “Two minutes ago you were ready to knock their heads together—and stop pounding the dash! It won’t make the truck go any faster. I can’t outrun that guy. We’ll have to lose him.”

  “Good idea. Turn left here.”

  “There is no left. We’re on a logging road. I can’t drive this baby through heavy bush. It’ll kill the suspension.”

  Scout twisted to look out of the rear window. Roy was in grabbing distance of the tailgate. “Turn left now!”

  “I’ve got a better idea.” Ryder jerked the wheel to the right spinning Roy into the bush. “Now we’ll lose him.”

  * * *

  “I’M SURE she’ll be back any minute,” Lydia Rutherford fluttered.

  The wedding guests eyed her skeptically. The church, not being equipped with air conditioning, was suffocating. The men mopped their streaming faces while the ladies fanned wildly trying to preserve makeup and hairdos. Lydia turned to her husband for help. In her experience, men were useless at times like this. The appeal was more of a reflex than an expectation of aid. Walter pretended to be fascinated by the sleeve of his tux. Lydia expelled a stream of breath that lifted her soft blonde bangs slightly. She flung her hands up in exasperation. “All right, let’s go. Everyone on your feet.”

  The guests glanced at each other uncertainly but Lydia was marching down the aisle barking at them like a drill sergeant. “There’s no telling when she’ll be back, or if she’ll be back, and I’ve got a block of ice shaped like a dove that’s melting all over the shrimp as we speak. Those of you who want to wait here for Scout are welcome to it, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let five thousand dollars worth of champagne and food go to waste.”

  The rush to follow her out of the stifling church created a good deal of congestion at the door but eventually everyone managed to squeeze out into the street. If you’ve been to one wedding, you’ve been to them all, but citizens of Mandrake Falls knew a Rutherford bash was not to be missed. Scout’s wedding guests piled into cars, cheerfully gossiping about the AWOL bride and groom, and formed a convoy to the Rutherford home.

  * * *

  SCOUT TWISTED in her seat, searching for some identifiable marker, some indication of where they were in the dense forest. There was only deep, dark green, layer after layer of trees. “I know we wanted to lose them but I was hoping we’d know where we were when we did it. I think you should’ve turned left.”

  “For the last time, there was no left. My truck, oh my truck. What have I done to you?”

  “I didn’t want you or your truck along. Being here was your idea.”

  “What did Noel mean by you being the key to this?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to figure it out either. I just want to go home.”

  “He was your fiancé. You must have had some idea something was going on. A man doesn’t steal a million dollars from the mob without his girlfriend knowing about it.”

  Scout’s temper flared. “Noel told me he was an accountant. What was I supposed to do, look over his shoulder while he worked? Double check his references? This wasn’t a job interview. I was marrying the guy.”

  Ryder slowed the truck and stopped. Scout was huddled against the door. “We’ve got to go to the police, Scout. These guys are wanted by the FBI. We’re in over our heads.”

  “They’ll kill Noel. Or threaten my parents. They’ll put me in a witness protection program and I’ll have to leave Mandrake Falls and my store. I’ll never see my parents again or you. I didn’t do anything wrong. There has to be another way. No police, Ryder. Please.”

  He looked away and then winced as if in great pain and raked his fingers through his hair.

  “Okay, okay,” he exhaled through gritted teeth. He threw the truck into first and they resumed their slow progression through the wood.

  Scout slumped with relief against the door, aware that she was being selfish. She was putting him through too much for her sake. But she wasn’t strong enough to deal with the authorities right now. She felt gutted. At the moment, Ryder’s presence was the only force holding her together. Maybe later, after she’d had some rest. Maybe then she could go to the police.

  “We have to say calm and think if we’re going to figure out a way out of this,” Ryder was saying. “The money is what they’re after. Where would Noel have hidden the money?”

  “He didn’t talk about his work and I didn’t ask. He didn’t throw money around. In fact, for a guy with a million bucks, he was pretty cheap.”

  “You are the key to the money, that’s what he told them. What do you know that you don’t know you know?”

  Scout was overcome with fatigue, tired of his questions but mostly she was tired of not having the answers. Not knowing anything—how could she know so little about Noel and yet was ready to have children with him? She was hoping to get pregnant on their honeymoon! Completely irresponsible. Just like Ryder said she was.

  “I’m hungry. I can’t figure this out right this minute. I don’t know what was going on in Noel’s life.”

  “From the sound of it, you didn’t know Noel at all.” Ryder’s eyes were fixed on the forest road ahead. “Why did you want to marry him?”

  The question surprised Scout. Ryder, of all people, should know the answer to that. “I always dreamed of marrying an accountant. Why do you think?” An edge to her voice.

  “You weren’t in love with him.”

  “How do you know?” she asked irritably.

  “I know you, Scout. I’d know if you were in love with someone.”

  You mean someone else, she thought. Someone other than you. “I want to get out of this forest,” she said instead. “I’m hungry and I want to go home.”

  “We can’t go home. Not yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the minute they catch you, you’re as good as dead. This isn’t a game. This isn’t about your wedding or hurt feelings. This is life and death.” Ryder brought the truck to a stop. “We’re here.”

  Chapter Seven: Ryder and Scout

  SCOUT PEERED into dense forest. “Where?”

  “You’ll see. We can’t go back to town just yet. They’ll be looking for you there. We need time to figure out how you’re involved in this. If we can figure out what they want, we can give it to them and you’ll be safe.”

  “I don’t want to give them what they want. They are criminals! They’re bullies and thugs. I’m sick of being pushed around, told what I can and cannot do. I’m sick of people lying to me. No. There is nothing to figure out. We’re going home.”

  Ryder jumped out of the pickup, came around to the passenger
side door and wrenched it open. “We’re staying here. You don’t want to go to the police. You don’t want to try to figure this out on your own. You don’t want to give them what they want. What the hell do you want?”

  “I don’t want to cooperate with them! They took away everything I had. It’s not just the wedding—I can’t explain it. The whole dream has gone up in smoke! My relationship with Noel—our future life together—everything I had is ruined because of them.”

  The gray in his eyes flashed steel. “It seems to me Noel ruined your future all by himself.”

  Scout paled. She climbed out of the truck, pushing past him. “Why are you so determined to hurt me? I didn’t ask you to get involved. I didn’t ask you to the wedding. I’m not part of your life anymore. Why are you here—to pat yourself on the back for dodging this bullet? I make mistakes. I’m impulsive, I’m selfish. I’m too needy. I’m not for you. I get it. It’s easy to criticize my actions when you never take any. It’s easy to judge Noel because he wanted me and after you walked out, I needed someone to want me. I guess that’s funny now. Good for a laugh.”

  But she wasn’t laughing. Tears were streaming down her face. Scout wiped them with the hem of her T-shirt. From the moment she learned of Noel’s infidelity, she tried not to care about him or the wedding or the dreams she had. But her heart was breaking and Ryder was witnessing the wreckage, looking at her like he knew all along something like this was going to happen.

  He turned away. Scout was oddly touched by the move. Maybe he remembered how much she hated it when people watched her cry.

  “What makes you think you aren’t part of my life anymore?” he asked.

  “You, Ryder. You make me think it.”

  He whirled around. “I make you think it? It’s you who put up the wall between us. You didn’t tell me you were getting married. I had to find out about it from Hudson Grace.”

  “I couldn’t tell you.” Scout picked at a fingernail, embarrassed. “You disappeared right after Christmas and I didn’t hear from you again. I don’t blame you for avoiding me, but it made it awkward for me to make the first move. I thought, and I know this sounds silly, but I thought if I told you about Noel you would get the idea I was trying to force you into marrying me after all.”