The Adventurous Bride

by Molly Liholm

  “The Hamptons, Long Island.” Meg watched his reaction anxiously.

  Oh great, he was involved with a rich, flighty woman. Maybe even an heiress. A woman who didn’t know the value of hard work or the zeroes on her credit card statement. No wonder she had ended up in mystical, kooky Sedona.

  He shook his head, knowing he was getting himself in deep. “And I didn’t marry you because...?”

  “You got cold feet. You told me before the ceremony.”

  “And now I’m back to try to win you again?”

  “Yes,” Meg agreed happily.

  Humph. Adam knew he was getting himself into danger, but he had to remember Kelly. To find the man who had hurt her, he’d be willing to suffer anything. Even Megan Cooper.

  “Of course, I’ll be resistant. After all, you did betray me once. But I’m also the forgiving sort, so you should be able to make progress.” Meg looked up at him hopefully, as if she wanted him to kiss her.

  Considering the ridiculous situation he’d somehow gotten himself into, he knew he’d have to watch himself. A woman like Meg was only trouble. No matter how appealing she looked. Or how much he was thinking that kissing her seemed the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances. After all, they had been engaged... sort of. Now he was already losing himself in her crazy way of thinking. He took a step toward her.

  The front door of the shop tinkled. “Hello, Meg?” a man’s voice shouted. The door dosed and heavy boots sounded across the wood floor of the store.

  “In the kitchen, Greg,” Meg answered, looking disappointed. So it wasn’t the famous Reid Logan. For some reason Adam found himself curious to meet her suitor.

  A blond-haired man in his late twenties walked in. Dressed in chinos and a faded denim shirt, with his longish hair and perfect smile Greg looked like he had stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad. All that was missing was his Jeep. He crossed the kitchen and kissed Meg on the cheek, positioning himself close to her territorially. Then he surveyed Adam with suspicion. “I met Rachel after I dropped off my last clients from their four-wheeling trip. She said the guy who dumped you was back, looking to do, like, the big reunion thing.”

  Meg’s face lit up as she began to weave her elaborate story. “Yes. Greg Trenton, meet Adam Smith.” She waited for the men to shake hands, but when neither made a move, she shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned to Adam. “Greg runs a four-wheel-drive outings company for tourists. Adam is my former fiancé.”

  Frowning, Greg nodded at Adam, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Meg doesn’t want you back, man.”

  So Meg had more than one suitor. Adam picked up another muffin, wondering how she would react to Greg’s caveman tactics.

  “Greg! That’s not your place to say.” Meg shook off Greg’s arm and moved next to Adam. He smiled at her and then sat down at a kitchen stool, finishing the muffin as if nothing untoward was happening. He wasn’t about to get jealous over a pretty boy like Greg. Meg placed a hand on his shoulder proprietorially, speaking to Greg. “Adam’s come to Sedona to apologize for the way he canceled our wedding, and I’ve accepted his apology. What the future holds is in the future. Or maybe the vortexes.”

  Vortexes. Adam’s situation was only getting worse and worse. He needed to be careful he didn’t get sucked into a vortex. He also hated every pretty inch of Greg.

  Greg opened his mouth and then closed it as though realizing whatever he said would be a mistake. But then he opened it again, unable to resist speaking his mind. The boy was very young. It had been years since Adam had been compelled to say what he was thinking.

  “But, Meg, he left you at the altar.”

  “Yes,” Meg said. “It was a very difficult day. But if I can forgive Adam, then I think you have to, too.”

  “But you can’t trust him. He might hurt you again.”

  “That’s a chance I’m willing to take.” Meg’s words were soft but firm. Adam rather liked the way they sounded. Don’t fall for her charms, he reminded himself.

  Adam smiled at Greg. “Meg is a woman worth fighting for.”

  “Yes.” Greg glared at him.

  So Greg did want Meg. How many men did she have trailing after her? First the famous Reid Logan, then Greg Trenton. Her allure was potent, but Adam didn’t want to get caught up in her trap. He knew better.

  Greg frowned at Meg. “Be careful,” he insisted. “I can tell this guy isn’t trustworthy. Why has he come back now? Have you asked him that? He might have some kind of ulterior motive.”

  Meg put her hands on her hips and shook her head at Greg. “If you’re going to be so rude, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Ulterior motive, indeed! If he’d wanted my money, he could have gotten that the first time around.”

  Greg crossed his arms. “I don’t want to interfere, but you know that we all care about you. I don’t want to see you hurt again. When you first came here, Michelle said, like, she could see that there was a spark missing in you. It’s only been recently that you began to give off, like, heat and light again. I’ve been wanting to ask you out, but I didn’t want to rush you.” He shook his head, regret on his face. “Now it looks like I’m too late. You.” He pointed his finger at Adam. “I’ll be watching you.”

  Meg took Greg’s arm and began to steer him away from the kitchen, talking quietly. Adam could hear Greg speaking animatedly once they got to the front door, then Meg’s calm tones. Adam sat in the kitchen and considered his situation: bad and getting worse.

  “Damn,” she said when she came back into the kitchen.

  “He’s a persistent boy,” Adam replied, still drinking his coffee.

  Meg glared at him. “A fat lot of help you were. You could have acted a little more romantic around me. Luckily, Greg was too jealous to notice your clear lack of interest.”

  “I’m not good at playing games. All I want is for you to tell me how to get in touch with Abigail Milton and then I’ll get out of here.”

  “But who are you?” Meg demanded once again. She was persistent. “Are you a private investigator? A corporate spy? A mercenary?”

  “Nothing like that.” He liked the way she tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms in frustration. No masking of emotions or wants. She was the most alive woman he’d ever met.

  “Well...?”

  “I’m a journalist. I write about business. Profiles on companies, analyzing the stock market, stuff like that.”

  Meg made a noise that sounded like a harrumph. “If you’re not going to tell me, just say so. There’s no need to lie.” Incredibly, she actually looked upset by his revelation, but then her expressive face cleared. “So what do we do first?”

  “We aren’t doing anything. I work alone.”

  “Not this time. You need me to help you around this town. I could point you in the right direction a lot faster if you told me what and who you were looking for.” When Adam remained silent, Meg only shook her head and tried a different approach. “How did Abby get in touch with you?”

  He decided it couldn’t hurt to tell her a few of the details. Ever since Abby had contacted him, events had happened so quickly he hadn’t had time to stop and analyze the situation. He’d been reacting instead of planning. Going over his case with Meg would help clarify it in his own mind. “Abigail Milton mailed me a letter. Unfortunately, she didn’t put enough postage on it so it took a long time to reach me in New York. So I guess I showed up late.”

  “But what was in the letter?”

  Adam considered how much to tell Meg. Not a lot. She’d undoubtedly go blabbing all over town. “Abby suspected high-level computer forgeries.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Somehow Abby learned that someone she knew was creating computer-generated identities.”

  Meg creased her brows, analyzing his words. “Abby was always playing around on her computers, claiming she could create a better program than the kids in Silicon Valley, but I still have no idea what you’re talking about. What is a compu
ter-generated identity?”

  “Basically it’s a completely new identity that is almost impossible to prove false. People have been expertly forging passports and other paper identities for years, but if for some reason you wanted to create a completely new life for yourself, a computer forgery is even better.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you would have a past, not just papers,” Adam explained. “If you’re a criminal or a terrorist and want identification to get into a country, then paperwork is fine, but what if your ambition is for more? If you wanted to work for the government or a high-tech industry and even most of the top corporations, a good security check will reveal that John Doe only came into existence recently. There would be no records on this person. No bank accounts or school reports or medical exams. That’s what investigators look for—something beyond your birth certificate, passport and other papers.”

  Meg nodded in understanding, “So a computer-generated false identity gives you history. In the old days a Russian spy undercover in the U.S.—a mole—had to live for years under a false identity, in order to establish the reality of that identity. Like Kevin Costner in No Way Out.”

  He had to admit she was fast. “What Abby found was a computer program that literally goes into all kinds of existing data banks and adds John Doe. Suddenly there are school attendance records, a credit history, parking tickets, everything that’s stored on computers. One day, John Doe doesn’t exist anywhere; the next, he has a history that covers everything stored in main frames.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “Exactly. If what Abby claims is true, then our government could be hiring fake people—spies—and fully believe that the security check on them is one-hundred-percent accurate. I checked out some of her facts—some of the names—and she might have something.” Adam had been scared by what he’d uncovered. If what Abby claimed was true, and his initial investigation showed that it could be, then security in any country could be breached.

  Plus there was his personal matter of Kelly. He had no idea how deep his sister was involved in the computer forgeries, but she was connected somehow. Otherwise they wouldn’t have tried to kill her. It was why Adam was working alone. His first priority always was to protect Kelly. If she was up to her pretty little neck in illegal goings-on, he’d rescue her, just like he always did.

  “And when you began checking out what Abby claimed, the bad guys found out and got nervous?” Meg continued, putting the few facts together.

  “It looks like it. I was ambushed shortly after arriving in Phoenix. But they didn’t get anything out of me.”

  “What happened to the letter that Abby sent you?”

  Embarrassed, he mumbled the answer.

  “What?” Meg asked.

  Knowing she would persist until he admitted the truth, he took a deep breath and blurted it out. “I ate it.”

  Meg’s lips twitched, but she only said, “So, the bad guys don’t know who your source was or where you were heading?”

  “No. That’s why I wanted to get here to see Abby right away. I figured she could show me what led her to think someone in Sedona was involved, and then we could go to the police together.” Maybe. Depending on Kelly’s role.

  “But Abby is gone. Every once in a while she says she’s had enough of being nice to tourists and playing with her computer and wants to commune with nature. She heads off on a retreat, to be completely alone. I never know how long she’ll be gone.” Meg remained silent as she considered what he’d told her.

  Adam took another sip of coffee. It went down the wrong way when he suddenly remembered something. “Damn.” He’d been in such a hurry to destroy the letter. He couldn’t believe that despite his amateur spy theatrics he’d made such a mistake.

  “What?” Meg demanded.

  Adam could hardly believe his own stupidity. “The envelope. I didn’t destroy the envelope. It had The Gateway’s return address on it. They know I was heading here.”

  Which meant he couldn’t leave. Meg was in danger whether he stayed with her or not, but if he was with her at least he could try to protect her.

  She understood immediately. Rather than looking frightened, she gazed at him with pleasure. “So you can’t leave me. You’ll have to stay to make sure whoever is after you doesn’t come after me. In exchange, I’ll help you.”

  “This isn’t a game.” He was furious with her. She needed to be frightened, to be cautious. “It’s a dangerous situation. You can’t protect yourself if you don’t believe it.”

  “I’m not a fool. Many people actually believe I’m a very practical, logical person.” Adam made a derisive noise, but she ignored him. “I don’t want to lose you, either. I’ve waited my whole life for you. That’s why I look pleased.”

  The woman had only known him for a few hours and she was determined to cast him in the role of romantic hero. She was even more of a fool than he’d feared. Adam considered the situation and Meg. This was supposed to be a very minor investigation, but he felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into a quicksand pit of questions. He needed to regain some control over the situation or he would be lost.

  Meg continued to look at him with satisfaction. Well, he could do something about scaring her. He stood and walked over to her and took hold of her by the shoulders, aware of how much bigger and stronger he was. Meg only smiled, oblivious to her situation. “You have no idea what kind of a man I am. Or even if Adam Smith is my real name.”

  “You’re my adventure,” she answered.

  Ridiculous woman. He tightened his grasp on her shoulders and heard her suck in her breath. He pulled her closer to him, so that they were barely touching. She didn’t resist; instead she looped her arms around his neck.

  “Are you trying to frighten me?” she asked softly, her breath hot against his cheek. He smelled her perfume again.

  Ignoring his sudden desire to run his hand along the soft skin of her cheek, he pulled her hard against him. He felt all of her soft curves. “Oh!” Meg gasped, but didn’t say anything more, merely continued to look at him, her expressive brown eyes letting him see into her soul.

  With one hand he cupped a breast, waiting for her to push away. Instead her eyes widened and her mouth opened with a sigh. That’s when he lost it. He covered her parted lips with his. Kissed her hard and deep and lost himself in her.

  She was so sweet. He angled his mouth to take the kiss further. Her passionate response swept him away. She filled all of his senses—she was all he could think of, all he could imagine. He took her bottom lip into his mouth and she moaned and he pulled her even closer. He wanted to be inside her, so he thrust his tongue between her lips, tasting and exploring. Her tongue mated with his, showing her to be just as needy, just as wanting.

  His hands explored her body, the sweet fullness of her breasts, the lush curve of her hips. Her body fit him so perfectly, he could easily imagine them together naked. He wanted to touch and kiss every single inch of her.

  He wanted to make love to her.

  He wanted to make love to Meg more than he’d wanted to make love to any woman in a long time, and considered sweeping her into his arms and carrying her back to the roll-away bed in the storeroom. They would be so good together; he could feel it. She’d be so hot and sweet, giving him everything, trusting him completely.

  Instead, he pushed her away from him, noting her flushed face, her kissed lips. His own breathing was ragged, his body aching for release.

  Meg smiled at him, gasping for breath. He felt like he’d run a marathon.

  “That’s twice,” she said. “If you kiss me once more, we’ll be lovers.”

  4

  “NO.” The word escaped his lips as a sound of horror, but Meg didn’t seem to notice. “No,” he said more firmly and calmly. “We are not going to be lovers. And I’ve only kissed you once,” he added on rather desperately. “What kind of stupid rule is three kisses, anyway?” Megan Elizabeth Cooper was not his destiny. She was his ailment
and he was going to cure himself of her.

  He knew kissing her had been a mistake.

  Meg’s golden brown hair framed her face as she shook her head, touching her kiss-swollen lips. She sighed, looking bemused, then turned those killer brown eyes on him, and he felt himself losing his footing. She weakened him more than any of his injuries. “True, I did kiss you the first time, but you felt it, too. It wasn’t like kissing anyone else. We have that special chemistry...that connection between us. You can make my palms sweat.”

  Adam made his voice cord and calm, no matter how his insides were quaking. He refused to wipe the sweat off his palms onto the thighs of his jeans. What she was saying was ridiculous. Her kiss had not affected him more than any other woman’s kiss. At least he insisted to himself it hadn’t. “We’re attracted to each other. That’s it. Nothing more. You’re being ridiculous just like my ex-wife. Are all women like this?” He shook his head. “You still don’t know who I am or if you can trust my story, but you want to go to bed with me.” He liked the cool logic of his argument. He wished he believed it.

  “Crazy, isn’t it?” Meg agreed. “And it’s so unlike me. That’s how I know you’re the man for me. I felt it the first time I saw you...a little click, like a missing piece fell into place.” She looked encouragingly at him, as if she wanted him to confess a similar response.

  Adam shook his head, but Meg wasn’t dissuaded. Kissing her to scare her had been a bad plan, one he wasn’t about to repeat. He needed to remember why he was here. Kelly. And he couldn’t forget about Allison. His ex-wife had thrilled and attracted him, just like Meg, but then she had turned into another obligation. Another person he had to take care of. Just like Kelly and the rest of his family. Now he had his independence and he planned on keeping it. He liked being a loner. He wasn’t giving up his freedom for any woman, no matter how alluring she might be. No matter how much kissing her had been more of a mind-blowing experience than he could ever recall.