Mystery Bride

by Daniels, B. J.

  Impulsively, she threw her arms around the man’s neck and kissed him. He stiffened in surprise. But there wasn’t much he could do, considering both his hands held champagne glasses. She heard the library door bang open as she buried her fingers in the stranger’s thick, lush hair and deepened the kiss, listening behind her for the familiar sound of a bolt sliding back on a weapon just before it was fired.

  To his credit, it took him only seconds. He tossed the champagne glasses over his shoulder and pulled her into his arms, kissing her back with nothing short of wanton abandon. She barely even heard the champagne glasses break on the rock wall behind them as he stole more than her breath.

  She surfaced slowly from the kiss, letting out a small satisfied sigh as he leisurely lifted his lips from hers. She blinked, then glanced around in confusion. The patio was empty except for the two of them; the library door was closed, the lights extinguished, the two men gone. She hadn’t even heard them leave. She hadn’t heard anything but her pulse roaring in her ears and the erratic thump of her heart.

  She looked up at the stranger in whose arms she was still enveloped.

  He looked as stunned as she felt. “Wow,” he said as he pulled back, his expression clearly shocked and…a little uncertain? “So much for idle chitchat.”

  She felt her face flush. “I—”

  “Please, don’t apologize. I’m flattered.” He offered her his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Will Sheridan.”

  His large, warm hand closed over hers.

  “Sam-Samantha—” she stammered. “Moore.” Or less. “Samantha Moore.”

  He smiled again, and she felt his powerful force field pulling her in.

  “I’m delighted to finally meet you,” he said in that soft, deep voice of his. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this.” He sounded a little embarrassed. “Although, I have to admit, it didn’t go quite like I’d planned it.”

  Was he saying he knew her? She was sure she’d never met him before. He wasn’t the kind of man she’d forget. One thing she was sure of: she’d never kissed him before. But she definitely wouldn’t mind kissing him again.

  “You took me by surprise,” she stammered. Especially his kiss. Boy howdy.

  “Trust me, not half as much as you did me.”

  His laugh warmed her like summer sunshine.

  “You have a great smile. I want to know everything about you.”

  She doubted that. Still, she felt her cheeks redden from the heat of his gaze. This man could charm a woman right out of her high heels.

  “Could we go somewhere and get better acquainted?” he asked excitedly. “I really do want to know everything about you.”

  That was the problem with kissing a man the first time you laid eyes on him. He often got the wrong idea. But she did want to get out of here, and the quicker the better.

  She was just fumbling for an excuse to escape when her eye caught a movement. A woman appeared behind him. The smell of perfume reached her before the woman did.

  “Will?” the woman enquired.

  As he turned at the sound, Samantha quickly stepped back into the shadows.

  “Will! What are you doing out here?”

  The woman was dressed to kill and was obviously their hostess, Katherine Ashley. If her pinched tone and the frown on her face were any indication, she wasn’t happy to see Will out here in the dark.

  Samantha had a feeling Katherine Ashley would be even less happy to find him out here in the dark with an uninvited guest, especially one who was here to bust two of her invited guests. Seeing her chance, Samantha edged along the doorway in the dark and ducked behind the potted plant she’d bumped into earlier. Quietly she slipped into the unlit library.

  “I’ve been looking all over for you, Will,” she heard Katherine Ashley say. “I want you to meet the woman I told you about.”

  “I’ve already met—”

  Samantha glanced back from the darkness of the library and saw him turn to introduce her. She felt a tug of regret as she saw his surprise to find her gone. Surprise—and disappointment?

  She grimaced as she was smacked with a good strong jolt of guilt. Will Sheridan had come along just when she’d needed him. She hated to think what might have happened if she’d been caught alone outside the library by the men she’d photographed. He’d saved her bacon. Not to mention the added bonus of his kiss. Under other circumstances—

  She put the thought out of her head. Although it had never come up before, she never got romantically involved while on a case.

  She made her way back to the rock wall where she’d started, and, checking to make sure the coast was clear, slipped off her heels, wriggled up her dress and shimmied over the stones again. As she dropped to the expanse of manicured lawn that stretched between her and the road where her Mustang convertible was hidden in a clump of trees, she heard the silk rip again. This time all the way to her thigh.

  Holding the dress up around her hips and her heels, she jogged barefoot through the darkness to the car. Once behind the wheel, she tossed her heels into the back seat and picked up her cell phone.

  “I’ve got the photos,” she said the moment the line was answered. “You’re info was right about the commissioner. He is selling construction bids.”

  “Good work. That didn’t take long. I assume it was uneventful?”

  Absently she ran her tongue over her lips. “You know how these parties are.”

  “Send me the film, and I’ll take it from here.”

  She hung up, suddenly anxious to get moving. The ball was over. It was time for Cinderella to get home.

  Too bad she hadn’t left the prince a glass slipper so he could find her again. Instead, she’d given him a false name and disappeared on him. Some princess she was.

  Well, if she ever saw him again— Like there was any chance of that. She didn’t even live in the same city, and definitely didn’t travel in the same circles.

  “So long, Will Sheridan,” she whispered as she pulled away and glanced in her rearview mirror. The road behind her was empty. What had she expected, Will to come after her?

  Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she picked up the phone again and checked her messages. With a little luck, she might be able to sleep in tomorrow, since she had a long drive ahead of her tonight.

  “Sam—?”

  Her heart began to pound at the once oh-so-familiar voice on her machine.

  “It’s Lucas.”

  As if he had to tell her. On key, her heart began to ache. Funny, but even after all these years just the sound of him could still make her hurt. Lucas. She swore under her breath and almost missed the rest of his message.

  “I need your help, Sam. I’m in trouble. I need you to look after—”

  She heard a noise in the background. Then silence.

  She stared at the phone in disbelief. She hadn’t even realized he knew where to find her. And now, after all these years and everything that had happened, Lucas had the nerve to call her out of the blue and say, “Hey, I’m in trouble. I need your help. Look after—” After what? His dog? His cat? His boat? His finances? Her heart began to beat harder. Oh God, surely he wasn’t going to say his son? Zack? But why call her? Why not call Zack’s mother?

  She dialed Seattle information, got Lucas’s home number and called it. The line rang and rang.

  She hung up, unable to shake the scared feeling that had settled around her heart. Distracted, she barely noticed the dark-colored van that pulled out after her a few blocks from the party.

  Normally, she could lose herself behind the wheel. Especially in the convertible with the top down. But on the five-hour drive home to Butte, not even speed, the cool fall night or letting her hair down could keep her from thinking about the party, Will Sheridan, the kiss and Lucas’s call.

  When she pulled into her driveway a little after 2:00 a.m., she saw in the headlights that something was terribly wrong. The front door of her sma
ll house stood open. She pulled her .357 from beneath the seat and carefully opened the car door.

  The night was black, the shadows hunkering in the bushes around the house even blacker. A deathly quiet hung over the neighborhood. Not even the dog down the street barked.

  As she padded barefoot to the front door, she raised the weapon, bracing herself for whatever might be waiting inside. The place had been ransacked. She wasn’t overly neat, but she could see the damage the moment she stepped in. A faint light leaked out of the kitchen, spilling across the cluttered floor.

  She swore under her breath. Why would someone do this? It wasn’t as if she had much of value to steal. Behind her, through the still-open doorway, she heard a car engine. She turned in time to see a dark-colored van cruise by. It was too dark to see the driver, not that she paid that much attention. The van continued on down the street, the sound of its engine dying away as she turned back to her vandalized house.

  She quickly searched the two floors. Nothing seemed to be missing, not that she could really tell in all this mess. The thing was, whoever had broken in hadn’t bothered with her TV, stereo, VCR or the two good paintings she’d purchased for the living room. That about covered everything of value.

  Once sure the burglar was not inside, she locked up and dialed 911, requesting her father, knowing she was in for a lecture on security systems.

  She had barely hung up from talking with him when the phone rang, making her jump. Trying to still her racing pulse, she picked up the receiver, expecting to hear Lucas’s voice.

  “Samantha?”

  Talk about déjà vu. Another blast from the past. Memories drifted over her like confetti—bright-colored vivid flashes of the past. Almost all of it painful.

  “Cassie?”

  It had been years since she’d heard from her former college roommate. Not since Cassie’s wedding to Lucas. Certainly not since Cassie’s divorce from Lucas a year later.

  In those few seconds, she wondered what Cassie had been doing the past five years. It beat wondering what would’ve happened if Lucas had never met Cassie.

  “I know it’s been a long time—” Cassie sounded apologetic.

  The call shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Not after the one from Lucas.

  But there was something else in Cassie’s tone that made her wary. “What’s wrong?” she asked, remembering Lucas’s cryptic message on her machine.

  “Have you heard from Lucas?” Cassie asked.

  Her heart began to pound again. “Just a short message on my machine. I tried to call him, but I didn’t get an answer.”

  “Have you talked to him lately?” Cassie asked, sounding hesitant.

  “No.” She hated to admit that she hadn’t even thought of Lucas in a long time. The great love of her life. The great loss of her life. When had she quit thinking about him every minute of every day?

  “Or received a letter or maybe a package from him?” Cassie asked, her voice taut.

  Heart racing, Sam asked, “Cassie, what’s happened?”

  “Lucas has disappeared and Zack—” Cassie’s voice broke. “Oh, Sam, I need your help.”

  Chapter Two

  Wolf Point, Montana

  Two days later

  Will Sheridan prided himself on his tenacity. Samantha’s sudden disappearance the night of the party had left him all the more eager to find her.

  But before very long he’d realized it wasn’t going to be as simple as he’d hoped. There was no Samantha Moore listed in the phone book. Nor did any of the Moores listed in Billings, Montana, know of a Samantha who fit her description.

  Worse, when he’d called his sister, she’d been distracted over the commissioner’s recent resignation.

  “He’s being investigated for corruption—corruption, mind you. And he was at my party,” she cried. “Can you imagine? A criminal at one of my parties?”

  “Alleged criminal,” he noted distractedly, then quickly asked her about Samantha Moore.

  Katherine assured him that no one by the name of Samantha Moore had been invited to the party—not as a guest or as a date of an invited guest.

  “Are you sure you didn’t just imagine this woman?”

  His sister had sounded a little peeved because he hadn’t cared for the woman she’d had in mind for him. Not that Jennifer Finley hadn’t been adequate.

  But she was no Samantha Moore. After Samantha, no other woman held any interest for him.

  There were, however, several things about her that did cause him concern. The first of which was the Sudden and Sensuous Kiss.

  And the fact that she’d literally disappeared from the party afterward. Why was that? He might have thought her shy, if not for the kiss. Or perhaps she hadn’t wanted Katherine to see her, since Samantha wasn’t, it appeared, an invited guest. Another small concern.

  Neither explanation seemed to fit, but whatever the reason for her disappearance, he intended to find her. And he’d told Katherine as much.

  “I just hope you know what you’re getting into,” she’d said haughtily before hanging up.

  Did he? He’d assured himself with his usual confidence that he could handle whatever there was to learn about the woman. After all, unless he was completely wrong about her, she was going to be his wife.

  And he was seldom wrong about things.

  Two days later, on a hot, late-fall afternoon, he found her quite by accident. She was sitting in a blue Firebird in Wolf Point, Montana, her attention on something in the opposite direction from him.

  He’d literally done a double take when he saw her as he drove past. She didn’t look anything like she had at Katherine’s party. And yet, he’d have known her anywhere.

  His first impulse was to get out of his car and walk up to her driver’s window. She had it rolled down, and was leaning back in the seat as if waiting for someone in the shade of the trees lining the quiet street.

  He pulled over half a block past her car and walked back, coming up behind the Firebird. The car had plates for Silverbow County—a county clear across the state from where he’d first seen her. He wondered what she was doing in Wolf Point—sitting in a car this far from home. If her home even was in Silverbow County. And the car seemed all wrong for the woman he’d met at the party. Maybe she’d borrowed it from a friend.

  As he approached the Firebird on the passenger side, watching the side mirror as he advanced, he was even more intrigued by this woman. Strangely, he had the feeling she might bolt if she saw him. Or maybe not so strangely. After all, she had disappeared from the party without a word—and after that very intimate kiss.

  He’d almost reached her car when he heard the engine turn over. He wasn’t about to let her get away again. Impulsively, he rushed forward, grabbed the passenger side door handle and pulled. The door swung open, and he jumped in.

  SURPRISE DIDN’T EVEN come close to describing what Samantha felt when Will Sheridan leapt into the front seat of the Firebird. Her hand went for the pistol duct-taped beneath her seat—stopping just short of the weapon when she recognized him.

  “Hello,” he said, reminiscent of their first encounter. Except for the lack of champagne.

  “Will Sheridan?” She stared at him openmouthed and tried to get her heart rate back to near normal.

  He grinned. “You remembered.”

  Not likely that she’d forget. However, she’d never dreamed she’d see him again. And certainly not here. Certainly not now. What could the man possibly be doing so far from where she’d met him? Not to mention his timing, which was nothing short of amazingly bad.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Looking for you.”

  Oh, no, this didn’t sound good. He must have found out that she was the one who busted the commissioner at his sister’s party.

  “Imagine running into you here in Wolf Point,” he said, his look questioning, suspicious. Not surprising under the circumstances.

  It was beyond even her imaginat
ion. She’d sized up Will Sheridan at the party and had known, even before she investigated him later, what kind of man he was. A stable, successful construction company owner with good standing in the community. Everything a woman could want. If that woman liked predictable and unimaginative. And terrible timing.

  “Why were you looking for me?” she asked, already knowing the answer, wondering how she could get rid of him—short of shooting him.

  “We didn’t get to talk the other night at the party.”

  That stopped her. “What?”

  He grinned. “I want to get to know you.”

  She stared at him. He had to be kidding. “Why?”

  It was the kiss, dummy.

  Pleeeeze. I’ll admit it was a nice kiss—

  Oh, come on. Can you even remember the last time a man made you feel like that?

  Let’s not even go there.

  “Why?” He laughed. “I should think it’s obvious.”

  It was the kiss. She dragged her gaze away to look down the street at the tan rental car parked in front of the motel. Time was running out. She had to do something. And quick.

  She tried to keep the urgency out of her voice. “Will, I’m flattered but this really isn’t a good time.” Major understatement.

  He seemed to notice then how she was dressed. A jogging bra that showed a lot of cleavage and midriff. A pair of skimpy running shorts. Cross-trainers and ankle socks. No makeup. Her unruly sun-streaked brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was amazed he’d even recognized her.

  “I guess my timing isn’t very good?”

  Boy howdy.

  He smiled and reached for the door handle. She never knew she could feel relief and disappointment at the same time.

  But he didn’t get out.

  “Here’s the thing. I had a little bit of a hard time finding you,” he said, turning back to her. He flashed her a hundred-watt smile. “Now, I’m afraid if I let you out of my sight you’ll disappear again, and I might not be so lucky next time.”

  She stared at him. How had he found her? That was some luck.