Front Page Affair

by Jennifer Morey

  “How do you know my brother?” He had smooth skin, and yet not. Strong. Slightly calloused.

  “We went to college together.” He let go of her hand.

  As before, her skin tingled as though he’d caressed her intimately.

  “What brings you here?” Lincoln sent her a curious look, obviously having noticed her reaction to his friend.

  “I wish I could say it’s just to pay a visit. Unfortunately, it’s urgent.”

  “What is it?” Lincoln was perplexed now. His college friend had come for a reason and it wasn’t to catch up.

  “My sister is missing. She went to the British Virgin Islands on vacation and said she was going to call my parents but never did. The police are saying she was seen getting into a taxi in front of Frenchman’s Point Hotel.”

  Arizona felt a one-two punch as Braden dropped his news. Missing. In the Virgin Islands. Plummeted back in time, she struggled with sobering memories and the ever-hovering sense of helplessness she could never quite shed.

  “Are the police looking for her?” Lincoln asked.

  “Yes. They’ve done some investigating, but nothing has turned up so far.”

  We’re very sorry, but there’s nothing more we can do...

  The St. Thomas police hadn’t known where Trevor’s abductors had taken him. They’d demanded money, and her father had paid, but they’d killed Trevor anyway. To this day, they hadn’t been caught. The injustice of that had stayed with her.

  Arizona was vaguely aware of Braden glancing over her before saying to Lincoln, “I’m going down there to look for her myself.”

  “And you came to me for help?” Lincoln asked, still perplexed.

  “You’re a bounty hunter. You know how to find people.”

  Lincoln fell into an undecided silence.

  He hadn’t been a bounty hunter when Trevor had been kidnapped. A few years had passed since that traumatic event. It may as well have happened a few months ago. Arizona’s heart went out to Braden, and especially to his mother. She well understood what they were going through.

  Except, all she sensed from him was determination to find his sister. He hadn’t experienced the awfulness of losing someone close, knowing how horribly that person must have suffered before dying. She hoped he never would have to. “What if she decided to go somewhere else?” she asked. “Maybe she’s having fun and not thinking about calling her mother.” It’s what Arizona would do. Calling home would be the last thing on her mind. “How old is she?”

  “Twenty-nine. She would have called. And she would have returned my mother’s calls. I hope she’s only having fun. But I can’t wait to find out. If I wait, it might be too late for her.”

  Arizona lowered her head as that struck a raw chord in her. She had waited until it was too late. Her fiancé had been kidnapped right under her nose. And no one had been able to do a thing to save him. That was the worst part. The helplessness. How many times had she wished there had been something she could have done?

  She caught Braden watching her fully now, soft curiosity over what had changed her mood. Her brother’s scrutiny was far less empathetic. Braden’s plight was beginning to circle her heart, close in and compel her to act.

  “Did she go there alone?” she asked Braden.

  He nodded. “She’d been dealing with so much after being asked to resign from American Freight Forwarding Services. She went to get away. That’s why Mom was so worried. With all that happened...”

  Dawning sprinkled down on Arizona. “Your sister is Tatum McCrae?” The female executive had allegedly allowed several unlicensed arms shipments to a prohibited country and had been asked to resign amidst a scandalous government investigation. She’d claimed she was being blamed for something she hadn’t done. Luckily, the government had agreed and hadn’t charged her. Export violations rarely made big news, but Arizona had been fascinated by the story, by the woman. Her reputation was solid. She was charitable and respected, a role model for young women.

  If something had happened to her, it would make a great story. News of a woman like that vanishing in a place like Tortola would stir up a decent amount of public interest. This could be just the story she needed to boost her career. It would probably wind up in the news eventually, anyway. And Arizona never turned down a chance to fight for victims.

  Noticing her brother’s now very acute discord, she cocked her head in challenge. He was going to try to stop her again.

  Lincoln turned to Braden. “I’ll go with you to Tortola.”

  Surprise drew Braden’s head back. “You will?”

  Clever. So that’s how he thought he’d stop her.

  “Lincoln...”

  “I also know some people I can call—” Lincoln talked over her. “We’ll look into her latest credit card use and other indicators of her whereabouts.”

  “That would be great.”

  Her brother was going to make this difficult for her. She wasn’t going to let him ignore her. “Michael Benson said if I brought him a writing sample, and it was as good as Dad said it would be, he’d hire me.”

  Michael Benson was editor in chief for a prominent news magazine.

  Lincoln sighed as Braden followed what must surely seem a strange turn of conversation. “That isn’t the real reason you want to go.”

  “You want to do a story on my sister?” Braden searched her for answers, disconcerting her. He didn’t sound pleased with the idea.

  “Benson isn’t going to hire you,” her brother interrupted. “He’s just saying that because he owes Dad a favor.”

  And the favor was reading her writing sample. Nothing more. “If I give him quality work, he’ll hire me.”

  “You write about fashion and gossip. Nobody would ever take you seriously.”

  That hurt. Braden’s brow had lowered enough to put a crease above his nose. He didn’t like where this was headed.

  “It’s not what you think,” she told him. “This is an opportunity to do something worthy.”

  “Why are you pushing this, Arizona? It’s not what you really want.”

  She turned to her brother. “How do you know what I want?”

  “This isn’t about being taken seriously. This is about losing Trevor. Anytime you hear someone is being victimized, you take leaps without thinking. It’s what made you have the harebrained idea of becoming an international news reporter.”

  Braden looked from one to the other. “Who is Trevor?”

  “Her fiancé. He—”

  “Lincoln,” Arizona stopped him. It was too personal.

  Braden studied her a moment and didn’t press for details. “I won’t let you exploit my sister for a news story.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly that there was no doubt he meant it. “It’s going to get in the news anyway. Why not let me break it? Besides, I could help you. Publicity will put pressure on police to work hard to find her.”

  “I don’t need that kind of help. This is a private family matter.”

  “You heard the man. You aren’t going,” Lincoln said.

  Now she was getting mad. “Why do you always think whatever I do is a bandage for what happened?”

  “Because everything you’ve done since then has been exactly that.”

  She had to find a way to convince him he was wrong. “Define everything.”

  “You’ve gone overboard in the last few years,” Lincoln said. “If you aren’t saving puppies or volunteering to help natural disaster victims, you’re jumping out of planes every week. Slow down.”

  “I don’t jump out of airplanes every week.”

  “You know what I’m saying, A.”

  She loved it when he called her A. It had begun when she was in school and received the one and only A in twelfth grade. That’s when she�
��d aspired to go to college. That one A, and her brother making her feel so good about it.

  “I need a good story,” she said simply, pleading.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have come.” Braden turned to leave and then froze.

  Arizona looked to see what had stopped him. A white BMW was parked across the street. A man sat inside.

  “Who is that?” her brother asked.

  With all three of them staring, the man in the BMW drove into the street and disappeared under the canopy of trees down the road.

  Braden swore.

  The rough sound captivated Arizona. So did his edgy profile. The translucence of his eyes radiated strength. So did his straight, proportioned nose, for some unknown reason to her. A mouth worth exploring. She didn’t understand the potency of her response to him.

  Who are you? she nearly asked.

  He turned to her, caught what must be her rapturous look, and the tension along his brow tightened. “Do you really jump out of planes?”

  “Occasionally.” She was still drowning in his sex appeal.

  His eyes scanned all over her face, nothing showing as to what he thought of her favorite sport. “Then go do that instead of a story on my sister.”

  While the affront doused the heat simmering in her, he glanced up the street once more.

  Lincoln noticed. “Are you being followed?”

  “I shouldn’t have come.” He started to walk away.

  “Wait.”

  Reluctantly, he faced them again. Arizona began to feel contrite. He’d come for help from Lincoln, and she had interfered.

  She sighed her exasperation. “All right. I’m leaving.”

  Kissing her brother’s cheek, she said to Braden, “Nice to meet you.”

  He just watched her, surprise emerging into his nearly unreadable eyes. He hadn’t expected her to back down. Well, she lived with aggressive reporters all the time. While she intended to do a serious story, she couldn’t inflict the same torture on Braden and his sister. She’d just have to find another opportunity.

  Making her way down the narrow driveway, she started for her car. The street in this old neighborhood wasn’t wide, leaving little room for cars to pass. The houses were big and close together, with mature trees towering above. All part of the charm.

  At the driver’s door, she looked over the hood at Braden and Lincoln, both in an involved conversation. She had to force herself not to go back and insist on Braden allowing her to join him. She could help him. Even if she didn’t do a story, she could help him find his sister. It killed her that she wouldn’t be able to. Not doing anything filled her with that familiar helplessness. She hated that feeling. And she’d do anything to make it go away. Usually that meant being proactive. But she couldn’t now. Braden—and her brother—wouldn’t let her.

  She hoped they found Braden’s sister. Maybe there was a way she could help from here in the States. She’d do something. She had to. She couldn’t back off and do nothing. Not when there was a woman who’d disappeared in the Caribbean. It was too much like her fiancé’s situation to ignore. She didn’t know Braden’s sister, but that didn’t matter. Trevor was gone forever because she’d done nothing to help him. If she could help Braden, in any way, she would.

  Hearing a car approach, she waited for it to pass before opening her door. When it didn’t, she looked back to see that the white BMW they’d seen earlier had stopped in the middle of the road and a man was coming toward her. Large and muscular, he wore a black, long-sleeved shirt with black jeans and boots.

  She began to back away but she wasn’t fast enough. He pounced on her, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the BMW.

  “Let go of me!” She struggled, her resistance hurting her arm where he held her roughly. He opened the passenger’s door of the BMW.

  He was taking her.

  She put her foot against the doorframe to keep him from shoving her inside, screaming.

  Where was her brother?

  Just then, the stranger’s grip vanished and she fell to the pavement. As she bumped her head on the rear fender of her car, she heard gunfire. Scrambling to her feet, she took cover behind her car and searched for her brother and Braden. The stranger was firing at both men. Braden had ducked behind the tree in Lincoln’s front yard. Lincoln lay on the ground, gripping his knee in agony.

  The man backed toward her, gun aimed toward the front yard. Arizona moved to the other side of her car as Braden crawled to Lincoln and dragged him to the cover of the tree.

  Arizona froze as the man aimed his gun at her. He grabbed her arm again, methodical and sure. Terrifying. Fleetingly, she wondered if this was how Trevor had felt when he’d been taken.

  She stumbled as the man yanked her back against his chest and forced her with him around the rear of her car. He put his gun to her head just as Braden emerged from the cover of her car. Somehow he’d made it from the tree to there. She strained to see Lincoln. He must have seated himself up behind the tree.

  Something whizzed by her ear, disturbing her hair. She realized it was Braden’s foot when the gun went flying. The man released her to face his opponent. Arizona stumbled with the abruptness of it and landed near the curb on her hands, yelping with the hard, rough contact.

  Hurrying to her feet, she saw swinging legs and blocking hands as the two men fought between the vehicles. The gun was on the road behind her car. She started for it as Braden delivered a well-planted kick and the stranger fell closer to it than her.

  The man took the gun and rolled to aim it at Braden.

  Seeing Braden lunge for cover on the other side of her car, Arizona crawled along the sidewalk as the spray of loud gunfire erupted.

  The next thing she heard was the squeal of tires and the revving of a fast engine. Climbing to her feet, she braced herself by the front fender of her car. Braden rose from where he’d crouched in the front as the BMW disappeared down the street.

  Lincoln.

  “Lincoln!” She ran for her brother, who still held his shot and bleeding knee, leaning against the tree.

  Braden was already calling for help.

  “I’m okay,” Lincoln said. “Who was that?” He looked up at Braden, who shook his head, still breathing heavily from exertion and adrenaline.

  “He was going to take me,” Arizona uttered, unable to believe it. Why her?

  “To use you for leverage,” Braden answered her silent question, his face grim but set with resolve.

  “For what?”

  He only stared at her, having no answer, at least none he would give. Not only was he gorgeous, he wasn’t the kind of man who could be controlled. Neither was he a man who scared easily. His sister was missing and the man who was following him had just attempted to kidnap Arizona. Whatever he wanted, he was willing to go to great lengths to get it. And he believed he could get it from Braden.

  Did Braden know what that was? Did he know why his sister had disappeared?

  There was no time for her to ask questions. Lincoln needed a hospital and the sound of sirens was approaching.

  Chapter 2

  Braden watched Arizona pace the emergency room in front of the uncomfortable seat he occupied, chewing her thumbnail. Still in those shorts and colorful top, she had the same effect on him as the moment he’d seen her when she’d opened Lincoln’s door. Grapefruit-sized breasts. Hooker shoes that he would not complain about. Ever. Her legs made him imagine R-rated things.

  She stopped when she saw a tall, thin doctor approach wearing a white uniform and rectangular glasses.

  “How is he?” Arizona asked anxiously. He got the feeling she was close to her brother.

  “Fine. The surgery went well. Give him the night to rest. By morning he’ll be able to go home.”

  “Thank God,” she breathed.


  Braden stood while the doctor finished explaining Lincoln’s condition. He’d have a long recovery but he’d regain full use of his knee. Lucky.

  When the doctor left, she slowly turned to him, weary with relief. But then a new light entered her eyes. Fresh panic.

  “We have to get out of here.” She grabbed his arm.

  What was her hurry? He stayed where he was.

  She gave up with a breath of exasperation, dropping her hands. “Any minute now, the press is going to descend on this place like flies at a food festival.”

  “Why?” What would draw the media here?

  She cocked her head. “You try being one of Jackson Ivy’s kids and stay out of the news.”

  Her father was a famous movie producer. Now he understood her urgency and felt a little of it himself. If he was going to search for his sister, he didn’t need the press announcing his arrival in Tortola. He also wished there was a way to leave Arizona behind. She might attract too much attention. But he had no choice. Someone had gone after her, and the police had nothing to go on. Even if they found something during the investigation of their attack, it would take too long.

  He started for the exit. “I would think you’d welcome the press.”

  Her pinched brow told him she didn’t understand his meaning. Everything she did was so animated. Was she aware of that?

  “The press hounds my family.”

  “The way you want to hound my sister. She’s had enough of that already.”

  Shock rendered her speechless for a second, and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “No, I wouldn’t. The kind of news I’m after is different than that, but I understand you not wanting me to do any story. What you don’t understand is I can still help you.”

  She wanted to help him? Would she do a story anyway? Was this a way of getting him to let her go with him? He was taking her, but not because he needed help.

  Outside, he steered her toward his car. “Why would you want to help me?”