B.J. Daniels - Mystery Bride

“See that box on the floor at your feet?” she asked.

He looked down to see a cardboard box about eight inches square. “Yes?”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d pick it up.”

Amazingly, it didn’t seem like such a strange request, all things considered.

He rattled the handcuff. “I’m not sure I can do it locked to your dash.”

She shot a look at him. “Oh, I think you can handle it.”

He wasn’t sure that was a compliment. Worse, it appeared she wasn’t ready to uncuff him.

He lifted the box from the floor with his free hand. It was much heavier than he’d expected. “What’s in here—iron?”

She didn’t answer.

He turned back the cardboard flaps on the box. At first it looked like a box full of children’s jacks, the kind his sister used to play with. Only these jacks were huge. But as he looked closer he saw that the box was packed with sixteen-penny nails welded together and ends sharpened to make large, ugly-looking multi-sided spikes.

He looked at her askance. He was in the construction business but had no idea where anyone would buy something like this, or let alone have it made. Or why anyone would want to.

As she took a curve to the left, she rolled down her side window, grabbed the box from him and hefted it out the window.

Stunned, he swung around just in time to see the box explode as it hit the blacktop. Spikes pelted the Buick’s windshield. An instant later, the Buick’s front tire blew and the car began to rock, then swerve. The Buick hit the ditch in a cloud of dust, burrowing into a small dirt hillside.

“Wow,” the kid said. He’d unbuckled his seat belt and now stood looking back as the dust settled over the Buick. “Awesome.”

Will pulled Just Zack down and got him buckled in again as Samantha slowed. She smiled down at the boy and gave him a high-five. The kid was grinning from ear to ear. This woman was not a good role model.

“I’m Samantha but most people just call me ‘Sam.”’

Just Zack turned shy.

“And this is—” her gaze shifted to Will “—Will, an acquaintance of mine.”

Passing acquaintance, he thought. What was going on? Why had she grabbed this kid? And who were those men? And more to the point, who was this woman?

He realized he was getting a headache just trying to figure it all out. And what was the point? Obviously, she was all wrong for him.

Absently, he considered what he might be doing right now if he’d listened to his sister’s advice. He glanced down at his left wrist to check the time. His watch was gone! How was that possible? He’d just had it.

“My watch—”

“Give it back, Zack,” Samantha ordered, not even looking at the boy.

Zack let out a long-suffering sigh, reached into his jacket pocket and extracted the watch.

Samantha snatched it from the kid and handed it to Will. “Sorry. I should have warned you.”

Will stared down at the boy, then at Samantha. They both looked so…innocent.

Samantha turned off the highway onto a dirt road.

“There is a good explanation for all of this, right?” he asked, sounding pathetically hopeful. He glanced over at her when she didn’t answer.

She no longer had the gun resting on her thighs. The late-afternoon sun slanted into the car, turning the wisps of hair around her face golden as she slowed the Firebird to an almost legal speed and glanced over to meet his gaze.

“There is always an explanation. I’m just not sure it’s one you’re going to like.”

A fork in the road loomed ahead. Left would take her to the nearest town where she could get rid of Will. Right would put some distance between her and the kidnappers and take her to someplace safe for the night.

Relatively safe, she amended. Being around Will made her feel anything but. He reminded her too much of her girlhood dreams of love, marriage, babies and happily ever after. All the things she didn’t want to be reminded of, especially right now. That’s why she’d like nothing better than to take Will into town and be done with him.

“Just out of curiosity, how many men have you handcuffed to your dash?” he asked, jerking her from her dilemma.

“Not that many,” she said, sounding defensive even to herself. Most males gave her a wide berth. Her mother said it was because she intimidated men. “Act helpless,” her mother advised. “Men like that. Look at your cousin Shelly. Men just flock to help her. Have you ever met a more helpless woman?”

The truth was, she was no Shelly. She didn’t even think she could act that helpless.

As she slowed for the fork in the road ahead, she felt Will studying her like a bug in a mason jar.

You should never have kissed him!

Oh? What would you suggest I should have done? Get us both killed?

You could have told him the truth after the kiss.

Oh, come on, give me a break. I thought I was never going to see him again. And anyway, I liked the kiss—

“Hello?”

She blinked and glanced over at him. He was looking at her oddly. She stared out over the hood and saw that she’d stopped in the middle of the road at the fork.

“Well?” he asked, looking worried.

She glanced down at Zack. He looked worried, as well. She smiled at him and winked as if to say, No problem here. But even as she hit the gas, she wasn’t sure she was making the right decision. That alone scared her.

She took the fork to the right, heading for the hills. Will Sheridan be damned. She had to hide out for a while until the dust settled. Until she figured out what was going on. There was little doubt in her mind that something was wrong with this case.

And as for Will—well, he’d just have to cool his heels, too. She still couldn’t believe he’d tracked her down— Let alone tracked her down to ask her for a date! Her luck with men definitely wasn’t improving.

When he’d first gotten into the Firebird, she’d been so sure it was about her busting the commissioner at his sister’s party. Obviously he still didn’t realize what she’d been doing there. But when he did—

She glanced over at him. What would he do? She’d thought she had him all figured out. Until he climbed into her car and refused to get out. From what she’d learned about the man, that was so far out of character that it wasn’t even in his solar system anymore.

She eyed him, wondering what had caused such impetuous behavior.

Hello? Remember the way you kissed him at the party?

Come on, one little kiss?

She narrowed her gaze at him. Did she have reason to be concerned about what he’d do next? No, she didn’t think she could expect any more surprises out of him. What you saw was what you got: a successful businessman in control of his normal everyday life and happy about it. Except, he didn’t look all that happy right now.

She grimaced at the thought, as the Firebird left the pavement and barreled up the narrow dirt road toward the mountains. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will’s brow shoot up. She ignored his pointed look.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not taking me to the next town where I can get out?”

“We can’t go there just yet,” she said. “But trust me, I’m as anxious to let you out of this car as you are to get out.”

“I highly doubt that.”

She groaned inwardly, wishing they could have met under other circumstances— Who was she kidding? It wouldn’t have made any difference. Eventually he’d find out the truth about her, and a man like Will Sheridan wasn’t going to take that well.

No reason to think about might-have-beens. She had to deal with now, and that was going to be challenging enough.

WILL LOOKED UP the empty road, at the sun setting behind distant low mountains, the day fading into the horizon. This was all his fault. What kind of fool spotted a woman at a party and followed her out to the patio with two full glasses of champagne, thinking to himself, This is the woman I’m going to marry?