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

by Catherine Lloyd

  There was only one thing she wanted now.

  Roy said they were willing to negotiate. The only bargaining chip she had was the computer and the password. She wouldn’t hand it over to O’Hara until she was assured they’d leave Ryder out of this. Noel was her mistake. Ryder shouldn’t have to pay for it. But first she would have to convince them that Ryder wasn’t a threat. She already had a plan.

  Scout dared a look at his face. His eyes were troubled as they watched the road.

  “Ryder, stop the truck. Let me out here.”

  He glanced at her startled. “Here? But we’re on the outskirts of town.”

  “I know. I want to see Mom and Dad and let them know I’m okay.”

  “I’ll drive you there.”

  “No, if we’ve been followed, they’ll be looking for the truck not a girl on foot. It’ll create a diversion and buy me some time with my parents if we split up. I’ll meet you at the store.”

  He pulled over and Scout jumped out, slamming the door behind her. She vaulted the split rail fence and sprinted across a wide field of cut hay in the direction of Mandrake Falls. Scout was fast, she’d probably get to town before he would.

  Ryder watched her go and then suddenly swore under his breath. The hit men wouldn’t be looking for the truck. The Rutherford house was the first place Terry and Roy would go. Noel Trace would give them the address. He’d do anything to save his skin. Scout, Lydia and Walter were probably safe for the moment. It would take time for Terry and Roy to get back to the cabin and drive out of the woods. But once they were on the main road into Mandrake Falls, Ryder knew where they’d go. The same place he would go if he needed to find Scout in a hurry. He should let the police handle this, thought Ryder and wondered why he wasn’t going there first. There were half a dozen reasons why he should go to the feds, and only one reason he couldn’t—the mob would have Scout killed before she could testify. Scout had the password that could put these guys in prison.

  Ryder cocked his head to one side. A password?

  He realized something he couldn’t see before. He’d been too distracted last night to think clearly. Sex with Scout ... dozing off and half-waking to find her naked beside him, he’d harden and enter her again and again, her eyes on his face, the summer night and the moon....

  Ryder shook himself. Focus. It wasn’t the password they were after. Any tech-savvy criminal could crack a password-protected file, especially one set up by a small business owner. Scout wasn’t an IT genius. And if Trace was in fear of his life, why didn’t he tell them the money was in a computer file in Scout’s office? Terry and Roy would have stolen it and be long gone by now. Why risk luring Scout to the cabin on her wedding day?

  The note she was handed in church. Ryder tried to remember its contents. Come alone. My life is in danger. She was in her wedding gown. Something old, something new.

  Ryder jerked the pickup over to the side of the road and braked so suddenly the tires squealed. Breathing hard, he gripped the steering wheel, slick with his sweat.

  The key.

  What were Noel’s exact words? Ryder closed his eyes and tried to recall the scene in the cabin. “Scout held the key to the money.”

  A cold realization was dawning. She always wore it. She was wearing it at Christmas. Noel expected it to be around her neck on her wedding day. That’s why she had to come in person. Ryder could see Scout in his mind’s eye, standing in the middle of her bedroom wearing nothing but a corset. The key on its long silver chain was not around her neck.

  Ryder threw the truck into gear and gunned the motor in the direction of Mandrake Falls. It was still early. The shops were dark and the sidewalks were empty. Ryder slowed the pickup to the town speed limit. Scout was on foot headed for home. He would have no trouble spotting her.

  Chapter Eleven: About Last Night

  THREE BLOCKS away, Scout heard the sound of tires squealing. Her sneakers were soaked with dew. The day was overcast with bloated gray clouds blocking out the sun. Rain’s coming, she thought. No moon tonight. Good. She didn’t think she could handle another moonlit night. She wasn’t ready to be reminded of the lookout, the cot and Ryder naked. Being with him that way was beyond anything she could have imagined possible. If she wasn’t careful she could trick herself into believing Ryder was in love with her. And he absolutely wasn’t. They didn’t play those kinds of games with each other. They didn’t know how. If making love to her all night was more than just pent-up lust, Ryder would have told her so. Besides, Scout wasn’t sure what they did last night qualified as lovemaking. It was more like animal kingdom. Ryder cared for her, that wasn’t in doubt. She could feel it every time they were together. But he wasn’t in love with her.

  And for once, Scout was relieved that he wasn’t in love with her. Not loving her would save his life. When this was all over, Ryder could walk away, a little bruised emotionally, but not broken. She would see to it. A plan was forming in her mind as she ran. Last night she promised him everything would be all right. Scout was going to deliver on that promise.

  The field was bisected by a fence. She vaulted it and kept running across the verge and into Main Street. As soon as her feet hit tarmac, Scout pushed her legs to go faster. She rounded the corner at Hawthorne panting for breath. Antique Scout with its pretty hand-painted wooden sign was straight ahead. Damn it! She didn’t have the key. It was at her parents on the same ring as her house keys and car keys and every other key she owned.

  Scout eyed the squat building grimly. She’d bought the two storey brick building last year for a song. Her passion for antiquing had overrun her parents’ garage. The building was in an excellent location, attached on one side to a row of stores on a busy shopping street. But its chief attraction was the historic cobblestone alley that ran alongside the building, leading to a mews at the back. The first thing Scout did after buying the store was to fill large planters with bright flowers and line the alley with them. Then she strung strands of white mini lights overhead, transforming the alley and mews into a twinkling fairyland. Everyone in Mandrake Falls agreed the alley was the most beautiful spot in town.

  Beautiful and convenient, Scout thought, as she surveyed the planters and the sturdy hooks she’d embedded in the bricks for the lights. The second-storey window was open. It’d be no problem climbing up to it Scout balanced on a planter and gripped a hook, grateful for once that she’d forgot to close the window. Sometimes it paid to be absent-minded.

  “LYDIA—MRS. RUTHERFORD! I need to speak to Scout!”

  Lydia opened the door, shifting the ice pack to the left side of her head. “Oh, hello Ryder. Whom do you wish to speak to?”

  “Scout! I’ve been driving around looking for her. She said she was coming here.”

  Lydia winced. “Volume, darling, use your inside voice. She isn’t here. Isn’t she with you?”

  Ryder stepped into the foyer, forcing himself to calm down. He didn’t want to alarm Lydia if there was no immediate danger. “She jumped out of the truck just outside of town. She said she was coming straight here.”

  “Unless she climbed in through her bedroom window, I haven’t seen her. Why in the world would she jump out of the truck? Did you two have an argument?”

  Ryder waved the question away. “Scout just felt like walking. She’s still working out issues with Noel.”

  Lydia’s eyes were suddenly sharp. “What issues? Did she see him last night? Ryder, I have a lot of questions. Why did Noel stand her up at the altar? Is the wedding off?”

  “You could say that.” Ryder rubbed his hand through his hair, his eyes darting to the stairs. “I’ll explain everything after I find Scout.” He was already moving past her and into the hall. Ryder shot a quick glance at the living room and stalled, momentarily thrown off course by the state of the room.”Looks like it was one hell of a party.” Some of the guests were passed out on the carpet while others sprawled over the sofas, loveseat and armchairs.

  Lydia squinted in the gloom of the cu
rtained living room. “Yes ... well ... after we finished off the champagne, it didn’t seem wise to let anyone drive home.”

  Empty bottles were neatly stacked on the window seat. “It smells like a frat house in here.”

  “Thank you, Ryder,” Lydia said dryly. “I was about to make coffee. Do you want some?”

  But he was already taking the stairs two at a time.

  “Where are you going?” Lydia cried in a high whisper. “The children are sleeping in the bedrooms and if you wake the little darlings before I’ve had my first cup of coffee, I’ll—”

  Her threat was lost to Ryder as he dashed down the hall to Scout’s bedroom.

  SCOUT SLUNG a leg over the sill and tumbled into the storage room. She pulled the window closed behind her. The air in the room was fresh but as the day wore on it would get hot. It was always hotter up here than in the shop. Scout plucked at her T-shirt where it stuck to her skin. White sheeting covered the more vulnerable acquisitions protecting them from dust and the sun. Scout knew every piece in the room without having to look; she was meticulous about inventory.

  She squeezed past the furniture to get to the door. It might take her some time to figure out in what files Noel hid the money and Scout wasn’t sure how much time she’d have. Terry and Roy were probably on their way to Mandrake Falls.

  The stairwell curved into the shop’s main floor where antiques were carefully labeled and on display. Scout froze on the rise, listening. The shop was supposed to be empty but she heard voices. She crept down the short dark hall that led to her office.

  The door was ajar. A man’s voice, low and muffled, was cursing. A sharp crack followed and then a woman spoke, her voice breathy and complaining. Scout recognized it—the buxom redhead tied to Noel at the cabin—Delores. How did they escape Terry and Roy?

  Scout ducked into the cloak cupboard opposite the office. She wasn’t afraid of confronting Noel but her heart was pounding.

  “Noel,” the redhead whined, “I’m cold and I’m hungry. Are you sure there isn’t a faster way to get the money than this?”

  If she twisted slightly, Scout could glimpse through the crack to the office. Noel was crouched at the side of Scout’s desk. Delores was standing over him, hugging her arms to her chest and shivering dramatically.

  “Damn it, Delores, I told you, Scout has the key.” He sat back on his heels. “And after seeing you with me at the cabin, she’s not going to be in a hurry to hand it over.”

  The key? Not the password?

  The key. He was talking about the key she usually wore around her neck.

  Noel had asked her about it months ago. She told him the story of finding it in the roll top desk, and the mystery of not finding the lock it belonged to. She left out the part about Ryder giving her the desk and the key and what it symbolized. Noel didn’t notice. It was the key that held his attention. He asked her to let him try to see where it fit, and she did, out of guilt.

  He was alone in her office for the entire day that day. Catching up on work, he’d said.

  “You talk like this was my fault,” Delores complained.

  Scout held her breath. If the key was what they were after, she’d lost her bargaining position with the computer. The money wasn’t in a computer file; it was hidden in something that could only be opened with a key—a drawer, a compartment, a small chest—possibly not obvious to the naked eye. The trouble was the key was at home in the silk bag she carried on her wedding day. Terry and Roy would be here soon and she had nothing, nothing at all to negotiate with for Ryder’s life.

  A gleam of metal winked at her. Scout lifted the ring of spare keys from the hook on the back of the closet door. One of these would do for now. She just needed to slow them down. The metal jangled. Scout held her breath.

  Noel’s voice sounded dangerously close. “I’m sorry, baby,” he was saying. “I’m just a little anxious. It won’t take Terry and Roy long to figure out where we are and I want to get the money and get out of here before they find us.”

  “Try kicking it, sweetie,” Delores sniffed, mollified.

  “Why don’t you go back to the motel room and throw some things in a bag? Meet me here in fifteen minutes. I’ll have it open by then.”

  “Oh, okay baby, if you say so.”

  “There’s a good girl,” said Noel. He sounded irritated.

  Scout peered as Delores’ well-rounded derriere swayed to the back door. She waited until the redhead closed the door before slipping out of the closet. Noel was frowning at the desk, muttering to himself. Finally, as if he could think of nothing else, he raised his leg to kick the side panel.

  “No!” she cried, before she could stop herself. Scout flung into the office. “That’s an antique you animal! Kick that desk and I swear to God, I’ll kick you all the way down Main Street.”

  THE FIVE-YEAR-OLD gripped the white satin purse with an expression of sheer hostility on her cherubic face. She was wearing Scout’s veil and white pumps. The purse was the final touch in her bridal ensemble.

  Ryder had walked in hoping to find Scout or at the very least, the key, and found the kid instead. As soon as he saw the satin bag, he remembered where the key was. Scout told him she put it in her bag. Now, he had already wasted five minutes trying to explain to the little girl that he didn’t need the bag, just what was inside it. She wouldn’t budge.

  Ryder made a grab for it. Her face reddened and she opened her mouth to yell but he was too fast for her. Ryder whipped the key free of the bag and shoved it back in her hands before she could utter a sound. The little bride closed her mouth and gifted him with a gap-toothed smile.

  “Thank you,” he said soberly, and then bolted for the stairs. He had to get out the house without alerting Lydia. Ryder caught the door knob and swung open the front door.

  “That was quite a moon last night. I always find it hard to sleep when the moon is full. Don’t you? I hope Louise didn’t keep you up all night.”

  Lydia Rutherford was standing in the hall, cradling a cup of coffee with a look in her eye that sent a chill right through him.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Sitting up all night talking about her botched wedding, that’s how I mean. I’m sure she did a lot of crying. Last night was supposed to be her wedding night. There was a full moon, very romantic and no husband to spend the night with. Thank goodness you were there to comfort her.”

  Ryder coughed. “She cried a little. I gave her some scotch, made her dinner and you know, just helped her get it out of her system. I’ll tell her to call you when I catch up with her.” He paused on his way out the door. “Don’t worry, Lydia. She’ll be all right. I’ll take care of her.”

  “Oh, heavens, I never worry when she’s with you.” Lydia followed him out to the front porch. “Scout is impulsive about almost everything, changing her mind from hour to hour sometimes. You were the exception. That girl has loved you from the beginning and she will love you to the end.”

  Ryder looked into Lydia Rutherford’s blue eyes. “Then why was she going to marry Trace?” He caught the pleading tone in his voice and hoped Lydia didn’t notice.

  The older woman smiled kindly. “Because you said no.”

  Did he doubt it? Did he ever really doubt it?

  Ryder saw in his mind’s eye, the farmhouse shuttered and alone in the early morning light. His breath stopped in his chest and he recognized an old fear. His mind dragged him from the kitchen to the living room and back again, pacing its empty length. What was he afraid of? Of being abandoned? Of turning into Grady? He was already halfway there. Alone in the house. Alone in the forest. Alone in his truck.

  He stared straight ahead seeing his life for the first time. He’d fought so hard to protect himself for so many years, hiding in science, in the forest and in a friendship with Scout that he knew could be more. Last night, more with her was a heartbeat away. All he had to do was say the word. He was one word away from turning into stone.

  Lydia’s voice br
oke into his thoughts. “Tell her I love her.”

  Startled, Ryder nodded. “Will do.”

  He couldn’t spend the rest of his life waiting in the shadows; waiting for the loneliness he never felt in Scout’s company to go away. That’s what he was trying to tell her when he gave her the key. He knew what he had to do—he’d known it all along. Scout had given up hope they could get out of this mess. She needed a reason to try. Ryder’s faith had been shaken but it was back on solid ground now. He wasn’t going to leave the decision of how to handle this up to her. What happened to her happened to him—they were joined as one last night.

  Their wedding night.

  He jumped in the truck and dropped the key into his shirt pocket. The motor roared to life. Ryder whipped the pickup through a tight U-turn and roared down Hawthorne. One stop first and then he’d head over to Antique Scout.

  Tell her I love her.

  TERRY SWUNG the van down Mandrake Fall’s main street, deserted on this early Sunday morning. Roy sighed in his sleep, his head lolling against the seat. Terry eyed him enviously. He had no sleep at all last night and the itchy bumps on his face were exploding into burning welts. Roy didn’t look much better. Mosquitoes or gnats. Some sort of biting insect that didn’t live in New York. At least that idiot, Trace, didn’t find the van when he escaped from the cabin. It was Roy’s idea to hide the vehicle; the only good idea Roy had this trip. There was a measure of satisfaction knowing Trace had to escape on foot with that redhead in tow. His instincts told him the money, and Trace, were still in the area. If he and Roy could just catch a break, they could wrap this job up and get back to civilization.