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

by Catherine Lloyd

  “My real name is Louise Rutherford. Everyone calls me Scout.”

  “Louise, one of the problems I face in my business is that I am continually underestimated. I suppose it has to do with me being a woman. There is a misconception I won’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done in order to protect my enterprise. When Noel thought he was stealing from a man, he was frightened and obedient. When he discovered I was a woman, he was less respectful of the danger. I can’t allow that, Louise. I can’t be made to look weak. There is always a competitor waiting on the sidelines ready to move in on my share of the market.” Scarlett leaned back in the passenger seat and sighed. “Noel Trace has landed me in it up to my ass. I had to shoot him or I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

  “You have the money back. The problem is over.”

  “Far from it. Noel left me exposed. He was skimming off the top; he made no effort to cover his tracks and protect the organization. The digital money trail leads right back to me. Noel gets a million bucks and I get the IRS. That’s where you come in. You’re going to work with my computer guy and the financial director to close the holes and create a legitimate paper trail. Fortunately, antique dealing is a very fluid market. It can absorb heavy gains and losses without raising too many eyebrows. You’ll have no trouble.”

  Scout’s mouth went dry. “You’re only supposed to be using me to get to the airport and then you were going to let me go.”

  Scarlett laughed. “When did I give you the impression I was going to let you go?”

  The steering wheel felt sticky under Scout’s hands. “I thought that was the point of a hostage. You get away and then you let them go because they’ll slow you down.”

  “You’re not going to slow me down. You’re going to do everything I ask. The first thing on the agenda is getting back to New York.” Scarlett’s eyes shifted. “I swear if I never see another tree....”

  “I can get you out of Vermont. But that’s as far as I’m going.”

  “Sure. No worries. The airport will be fine. I can make a call from a pay phone there and the ranger will be dead within the week. Pay phones are the most undervalued service we have in this country. Cost effective, difficult to trace, I don’t even own a cell phone anymore.”

  “I said I’m not leaving Vermont. Do whatever you want. I’m not helping you.”

  “Of course you are. I know you and the forest ranger had a little something on the side. Louise, please don’t bother to deny it. I haven’t seen anyone blush like that since convent school.”

  “It’s none of your business. I’ve known him for years. We’re friends.”

  “I wish my friends looked like that.” Scarlett yawned. “What did you see in Noel?”

  “That’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question,” Scout muttered and pressed the accelerator. “It doesn’t matter now. Noel is dead. You’ll kill me too eventually. My life is already over.”

  The van went over a serious bump, throwing Scarlett off balance. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she said, her eyes darting nervously to the window. The woods had closed in, brushing the sides of the van. The road had disintegrated into a track. “There is always room for negotiation.”

  “No more negotiation. You aren’t going to make it to the airport.” Scout floored it. The van roared forward, crashing through the trees. “I can’t let you get to a pay phone to order a hit on Ryder.” Her face was hot. Branches of saplings whipped the windshield. “Ryder isn’t going to die for my selfishness or Noel’s greed.”

  “He doesn’t have to, you crazy bitch!” Scarlett shrieked. “Take us to the airport or I’ll blow your head off!” She raised the gun.

  “So do it!” Scout bellowed furiously. “Do it! Do it! With or without me, you aren’t getting out of this forest alive. I can’t let you. Because one day—maybe not today, or next week or month—but one day you’ll have Ryder killed!”

  “I have no issues with the ranger! I swear. He’s safe as long as you cooperate.”

  “If I leave Vermont, he’ll come looking for me. I’m all he’s got and he’s never going to let me go. He doesn’t know how! You’ve seen that already when he called the sheriff—I didn’t tell him to do that! He’ll make trouble for you as long as he has breath in his body. It’s his duty. Ryder will push and push until you have no choice. Deal or no deal, you will have to kill him.”

  The van smashed forward, driving deeper and further into the forest. The trail had given way to a track, sprouting saplings and thick grasses. The undercarriage of the van was taking a beating. It wouldn’t hold up longer, but it didn’t have to. Scout fixed her attention on the forest trail ahead. She had driven them far enough in to make it nearly impossible for Scarlett to find her way out alone. Scout braked, put the gear in park and turned off the ignition. The motor ticked in the silence.

  “Where are we?” Scarlett peered through the windshield into the wilderness.

  “This is the end of the line. Shoot me if you want to but this is as far as I go. In fact, shoot your way back to civilization for all I care, and good luck making it through the forest in those shoes while hauling a suitcase of money. You won’t get far.”

  “All right, you win.” Scarlett looked into Scout’s eyes. “Well played. I think you and the forest ranger are much more than just friends. I think you maybe you’re a little in love with him. Look, I’m not completely heartless. What happened between you two last night? You can talk to me, Louise. Maybe we can work something out.”

  Scout looked away. “I have nothing to say.”

  Scarlett made a soft sighing noise. “I know more about you than you think. Noel talked a lot about you to Delores. Don’t be angry. He thought he was confessing to a stripper. Noel felt guilty about cheating so soon but he said he hadn’t had sex in seven months. You wanted to wait until you were married. Is that true?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Scout’s ears were hot. Her eyes tingled.

  “No, it isn’t, and to be honest, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to wait. But here’s the thing—Noel told Delores he was dreading the honeymoon because you wanted to get pregnant right away. You weren’t using birth control. He didn’t know how he was going to break it to you that he didn’t want kids. What a dilemma.”

  “None of this matters.”

  “No, not so far as it involves Noel. That relationship was never consummated. But last night was supposed to be your wedding night. Obviously, a woman who wants to get pregnant is not using birth control. You spent the night in the forest with your friend, the ranger. Two young people, alone in a life-threatening situation, no one would judge you if you gave into temptation. But have you considered the possibility that your ranger friend got you pregnant?”

  Scout froze, her eyes fixed straight ahead, seeing the night she spent with Ryder in a whole new light. Where was she in her cycle? The calculation, quickly performed in her head, confirmed it was possible. A whole night of sexual intercourse. Yes, it was definitely possible.

  “Ah, I can see from the look on your face that in nine months, the population of Mandrake Falls is going to increase by one.” Scarlett let her voice drop. “Louise, are you prepared to let your baby die?”

  Scout looked away. “You’d say anything to get me to do what you wanted.”

  “True, but I’m also right, aren’t I? You are very likely pregnant with your ranger friend’s baby. In which case, you need to reconsider what you are doing here. If there is even the smallest chance, you owe it to that innocent little life to do everything in your power to protect it.”

  Silent tears rolled down Scout’s cheeks. “Stop. Stop it. Just tell me what you want.”

  Scarlett’s voice dropped to a growl. “Get me out of this goddamned forest.”

  “All right.” She started the motor, beaten and disorientated. The only way out was either to back up or push through to the gravel road that bisected the forest and pray the van held up. Scout put the van in gear and pressed the ac
celerator. The van lurched forward, somehow coping with the underbrush. “We’re already on the other side of the bridge out of range of the roadblocks coming from this direction. It’s rough but we’ll make it through.”

  And when they did, then what?

  If she was pregnant, what kind of life would her child grow up in? The antique shop would become a money-laundering front, and her life and her child’s would be in constant jeopardy. As for Ryder, she would have to lie to him about the baby’s paternity and how she felt about him to get him out of her life. He would believe her because they vowed they’d lie to the world if they had to but never to each other. She would have to hurt him like he’d never been hurt before.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Scarlett said, glaring at the forest view. “This is looking pretty damn hopeless.”

  “No, it’s good. See that stand of trees? The entrance to the highway is on the other side.”

  Scarlett pulled forward in her seat and squinted. “I see nothing but trees.”

  Scout slammed on the brakes sending Scarlett hurtling into the dashboard. She wrenched the gun from the woman’s hand and threw it hard through the open window. Scarlett shrieked and reared up. Scout gritted her teeth against the pain she knew was coming and drove her fist into Scarlett’s jaw the way Ryder had taught her to do in high school. The redhead blinked once and then slumped against the door, out cold.

  Pain shot up her arm but Scout didn’t give herself time to think about it. She jumped from the van and sprinted back along the trail, dodging branches that tugged at her hair and clothes, reveling in the welcome rush of adrenaline. Ten minutes; that’s all she needed to put enough distance between her and the van. From the throbbing in her hand, Scout figured she must’ve hit Scarlett hard enough to put her out for that long.

  An engine roared to life directly behind her. She risked a glance over her shoulder. No! Did the woman have cement in her jaw? Scarlett was hanging out the driver’s side window, reversing the van at top speed down the trail, trying to run Scout down.

  Scout ducked off the trail, cutting through the woods where the van couldn’t follow. Scarlett shouted an oath but Scout didn’t look back as she darted deep into the trees, confident her adversary was far behind. So confident that Scout almost missed the sound, like the crack of a falling branch, ricocheting through the air. She felt the bullet sing past her ear. A scream stifled in her throat and she twisted midair to see Scarlett chasing her on foot.

  Kidnapping was a felony. Even if the feds couldn’t gather enough evidence to connect Scarlett to organized crime they’d get her for life on kidnapping if Scout lived to testify. There would be no second chance. Scarlett would make sure Scout never had a chance to escape again.

  Her thoughts tumbled over one another as she fought panic. There had to be an answer. There had to be a way out of the forest. Which direction would Ryder take?

  The woods cleared a little ahead and Scout’s heart leaped. The main logging road must be ahead. If she could beat Scarlett to it, she could flag a truck down and radio for help. Scout ducked her face into the crook of her arm to protect her eyes from the branches that were like whips, and broke into a flat out run. She was the fastest runner in Mandrake Falls ever since she was a kid. She could outrun anyone she told herself—a buxom redhead in stilettos was no match for her. The clearing was directly ahead. Suddenly, the world gave way beneath her feet and for an instant, Scout was airborne. She looked down and her stomach swooped. The ravine that cut through the woods at unexpected points was below. Seconds later, just long enough for her to remember the baby she might be carrying, Scout was crashing over jutting rock and the roots of trees. Her fingers crabbed frantically at roots and shrubs and dirt as she tumbled down the steep incline to the base of the ravine, stopped finally, abruptly by a fallen tree. Her body slammed into it, knocking the wind out of her.

  Scout faced the clouded sky overhead and blinked. She was still alive. Bright white light flashed behind her eyes and she knew she was losing consciousness. She fought the pull to sleep fearing she would slip into a coma and die. Fearing above all, leaving Ryder alone like he was after Grady died. A sink full of dirty dishes, rancid food on the table and filth in every corner—the old man didn’t lift a finger after Ryder left for university. When she opened the door, the November air chilling the kitchen, Ryder was sweeping up. He turned, let the broom fall to the floor with a clatter and closed the distance between them in two long strides. He collapsed, shaking, into Scout’s arms and wept. She stroked his hair and back while he held on as if letting go would mean spinning back into the lonely squalor of the kitchen.

  She had to stay conscious. She couldn’t leave him. She couldn’t hurt him. She had to stay conscious.

  The sky swirled sickeningly and went black.

  TRACKING THE van to the old logging road had been the easy part. It was only logical that Scout would take Scarlett through the wood where they had the best chance of coming across a route that would lead them out to the highway and clear of the roadblocks. Ryder examined the packed earth for a sign that his theory was right. The ground was very dry; they hadn’t had rain for a couple of weeks but there were subtle indications that a vehicle had turned off the logging road and onto a dirt track that ran north.

  “This is it,” Ryder said, straightening. The agents, who had been waiting at the cars for his signal, joined him at the track. “They came this way, judging from the depressions in the ground cover. This road is a dead end. They wouldn’t have gotten far before the forest closed in on them. Take it slow and keep an eye out.”

  Black-jacketed teams fanned out on either side of the track, inching their way through the trees.

  “Was our hostage aware that this road was a dead end?” Agent Coffrey fell into step beside Ryder.

  “Scout knows these woods at least as well as I do. So, yeah, she knew what she was doing coming this way.”

  The agent whistled. “She’s taking an awful risk, interfering with O’Hara’s escape. Backing a killer into a corner like that—”

  A shot rang out. Ryder whirled, staring after the sound. “What the hell was that?”

  Sheriff McIntyre shouted behind them. “Gunshots! Scout is under fire!”

  In the next instant, an agent called out. “We’ve got the van!”

  The searchers reacted instantly, positioning themselves to surround the vehicle. Coffrey yanked open the back panel door. “Clear!”

  No sign of Scout or Scarlett. Fear balled in Ryder’s throat. What if she was already dead? Panic rising, he fought he urge to charge into the forest and disturb the very tracks he came here to follow. Calm down, calm down. Think. There was only one way to find Scout. Ryder gazed long and hard into the deep green of the trees, seeing through them, past them, to a thing that didn’t belong.

  There was a flash of red.

  “There!” he barked hoarsely.

  In a split second the agents spotted Scarlett and simultaneously snapped into position behind the trees. Agent Coffrey called out, “FBI! I’m a federal agent. Step out where you can be seen and drop your weapon.”

  Scarlett hesitated for a moment as if weighing her chance at escape before emerging from behind the trees. She held the gun aloft and then dropped it to the ground. Federal agents and Sheriff McIntyre’s men swarmed around her but Scarlett didn’t put up a fight. Within a few undramatic seconds she was cuffed.

  “Where’s Scout?” Ryder demanded.

  “Well, hello to you too, ranger man,” Scarlett cooed. “Miss me?”

  “I’ll let you know in twenty-five years. That’s the minimum for kidnapping.”

  Scarlett lifted her eyebrows. “Kidnapping? Who said anything about kidnapping? I asked for a ride out of town and Louise obliged. She was free to go at any time. If anything, I am the victim here. She drove me into this godforsaken wood and then took off. I tried to follow but I lost sight of her in the forest. I decided I was better off staying with the van anyway. I might h
ave died out here if you gentlemen hadn’t come along.”

  “You fired your weapon,” said Agent Coffrey.

  “Yes, I did. I thought I saw a bear. I was frightened.”

  Scarlett wasn’t giving anything up. Her confidence alarmed Ryder. “You’ve killed her.”

  The woman’s expression was flat. “I certainly hope not. I shot at what I thought was a bear. With these trees it was very hard to tell what was crashing toward me. Hunting accidents happen all the time. You must know that, ranger.”

  “Which direction?” Ryder shouted, losing control.

  “You’re a tracker, right?” Scarlett purred. “So track.”

  McIntyre squeezed Ryder’s shoulder. “We’re not going to get anything out of her here. Let the feds get her back to the office and maybe they can negotiate a deal for Scout’s location.”

  “No,” Ryder said helplessly as he watched Agent Coffrey lead Scarlett to a sedan. “Without Scout, they don’t have a case. O’Hara can’t allow Scout to be found.”

  “Ranger man!” The redhead called to him from the sedan. “I forgot to offer you my congratulations. If you ever do find Louise, tell her from me I was touched to be the one she chose to confide in.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ryder took a step toward her.

  “I’m the first to know. Isn’t that a hoot? Louise is pregnant. You are going to be a father, ranger man!” Scarlett’s laugh was cut off abruptly by an agent shoving her into the back seat of the black sedan.

  Ryder stared after the car, trying to make sense of what O’Hara said. Scout was pregnant? It wasn’t possible. Scarlett must be trying to throw him off, to destroy his focus and slow him down so he wouldn’t find Scout in time. If Scout had a gunshot wound, she could be dead by the time the searchers reached her. She could be injured, dying. Or dead already.

  “Where do you want us to begin?” Sheriff McIntyre was standing at Ryder’s shoulder. Ryder turned blindly to the forest. It appeared to him to be a green shadowed maze that for the first time in his life he couldn’t track his way through.