She wondered if Brendan was staying at the motel, but she doubted it. She wasn’t staying there herself this time. With the wedding so close, she was rooming with Donna at her mother’s house.
At six-thirty they left for the rehearsal. The church was already filled with family and friends.
And then Kaitlin saw Brendan. He was across the aisle, talking to one of Bill’s ushers, when he caught sight of her.
His eyes moved up and down her so pointedly that she flushed and turned away. Her little cousin, Brandy, was about to start attacking the candles, so she chased quickly after her. Then her mother found her and whispered, “What’s taking so long?”
Startled, Kaitlin told her, “I don’t know.”
Then Barbara came by, almost in tears. “We’ve lost an usher.”
“What do you mean, you’ve lost an usher?”
“Terry Simmons isn’t here. He’s forgotten the wedding! He’s left the country—I’m sure of it!”
“Barbara, don’t cry, don’t panic. He’s just late. He’ll be here,” Kaitlin assured her.
But as it turned out, they didn’t have to find another body. Brendan managed to track Terry down at his office. He had merely written down the wrong time for the rehearsal. The priest paced, Barbara wept and Brandy tried to eat the candles while they all waited.
When Terry appeared he apologized profusely to Donna, and she kissed him and hugged him and told him she didn’t give a damn, as long as he was finally there.
Kaitlin caught Brendan’s eye and saw that he was smiling with amusement. She smiled, and the rehearsal was on.
Bill’s mother had arranged for the dinner at a country club. Kaitlin and Brendan would be sitting with Donna and Bill, as well as another couple from the bridal party.
Brendan looked striking that night. No matter how elegant his clothes, the rugged planes of his face gave him an aura of masculinity that was sharp and appealing.
He didn’t touch her after the rehearsal. He had led her along the aisle, and they had stood together beside Donna and Bill. But once they left the church, he didn’t touch her.
Except with his eyes. And the look in them was decadent.
Dinner was delicious. The conversation flowed smoothly, and the champagne was great. Kaitlin knew she was drinking too much champagne again, but she couldn’t help it. She was flushed, her palms damp. She wanted to be alone with Brendan. She wanted to watch him.
She wanted him to touch her….
And she still wasn’t the least bit sure what question she was supposed to be answering.
Apparently she wasn’t going to find out, either. When dinner was over, he helped her out of her chair. “Watch the champagne tomorrow night,” he warned her. “I’ll see you then.”
Early the next morning she discovered that she wasn’t going to have to wait until the wedding to see him after all.
Donna had asked him to follow them to pick up the dresses because the gowns were bulky, and they needed the extra space in his car to carry them. When they arrived at the bridal shop, Donna went to the counter to speak with her consultant.
Brendan came over to Kaitlin. “Have you been thinking?” he asked tensely.
“You son of a bitch!” she hissed softly. “I’ve been doing nothing but thinking, and I don’t even know what the hell it is I’m supposed to be thinking about!”
Before he could reply, Donna let out a cry of distress.
They stared at one another, then hurried to her. Tears were glimmering in her eyes. “She can’t find them! Mrs. Taylor can’t find my gowns!”
Mrs. Taylor came hurrying in from the pressing room where the ready-to-go gowns were usually kept. “Donna, don’t worry now, they have to be here somewhere. Relax, I’ll keep looking.”
Donna threw herself into Brendan’s arms, moaning that her whole wedding was being destroyed. Kaitlin glanced at him over her cousin’s head, then turned, determined to search the place herself. She wandered into the rear of the store, then found that she was in a long hallway hung with endless rows of gowns. She followed it back, toward the alley behind the store.
Then she heard the whispering. “Let’s go. Now!”
She pushed through the last of the gowns. The back door was open, and a small panel truck was parked beside it. The sliding door of the truck was open, too.
There were no words written on the truck, Kaitlin realized. Nothing that advertised the bridal shop.
And the man loading it was doing so quickly. Very quickly. Looking over his shoulder now and then.
She gasped as she saw the last of the load being thrown on top. Five of them—the color of the dresses for Donna’s bridal party—and a wedding gown.
Donna’s wedding gown!
“Hey!” she protested. She went tearing after the truck. One of the two men loading it was just pulling down the sliding door.
“Stop! You can’t take those! Those are our gowns!” she cried.
Then she saw the two of them exchange glances. One was tall and dark, the other was small and fair.
“What are we gonna do, Spike?” the short one asked the older, dark-haired man.
Spike swore.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and Kaitlin spun, praying it was Brendan, and that he could make the men give the gowns back.
“Get her, Henry, that’s what!” Spike said quickly.
“What?” she gasped. Then she realized the obvious. These men didn’t work for the shop. They were stealing the wedding gowns!
And now they were planning on taking her, too.
“No!” she gasped and turned to flee.
Fingers wound into her hair. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped down hard over her mouth. And then she was lifted up and sent flying head first into the pile of wedding gowns.
Her head cracked against something, and the world grew dark for a moment. She was only dimly aware when the door was closed.
Spike and Henry were in the back with her, she realized a moment later. She tried to rise, tried to scream, tried to throw herself against the sliding door. Spike made a flying leap for her legs as the truck jerked into the traffic, and she went down again, half-smothered by the gowns.
“Get her hands!” Spike roared to Henry.
Pudgy little Henry did so, even though Kaitlin fought and tried to bite. With Spike sitting on her legs, nothing she could do was much good.
It was only when her hands and ankles were tied that she panicked. Absolutely panicked. She had heard something about a ring of people who stole bridal gowns in the north and sold them in the south. Donna had told Barbara about it.
And now she was in the middle of it. She was in a truck, going only God knew where, and she was tied hand and foot.
Chills seized her; she shivered violently. They could kill her.
She opened her mouth, gasping for air, desperate to scream.
“Gag her,” Spike ordered flatly.
And a grubby handkerchief was tied over her mouth, so tightly that she could scarcely stand the pain. She couldn’t barely breathe, and the world was darkening again.
Brendan reached the back of the shop just in time to see the plain white truck disappearing. He hadn’t seen Kaitlin; he hadn’t heard her.
But when he looked down, he saw one of the little faux-pearl teardrops she had been wearing in her ears. He swore, catching sight of the license plate and watching the direction the truck had chosen, then went tearing through the shop.
“Call the cops,” he told Donna quickly, scratching out the license number.
“Thieves have my dresses!” Donna cried.
“They have more than your dresses,” Brendan warned her. “They have your maid of honor!”
He didn’t wait for any of her questions but went running out the front door to his car. He revved it and went jerking into the street. He nearly hit a garbage can, then gritted his teeth hard, his heart thudding, when he had to slow to allow an old lady to pass.
Damn Kaitlin! She
didn’t think!
He was so mad at her he wanted to explode!
Then he realized that he wasn’t mad, he was just scared as hell. He’d waited all this time to see her. All these weeks. He’d wanted to give her some space.
And now…
Who knew what the hell was happening!
He turned another corner, burning rubber. And there, heading onto the highway, was the truck.
He increased his speed and followed it.
They were heading to the countryside, he realized. Passing from town to town.
Where the hell were the police? he wondered. He had been driving forever. No, he admitted, glancing at his watch. Only about fifteen minutes.
Then the truck turned off the highway and, before long, headed up a dirt road. Brendan forced himself to slow down, then he followed, too.
And there, behind a high row of trees, was a long line of warehouses. The truck pulled up to the first.
Brendan parked under the trees and sat for a moment, gritting his teeth. He wished to hell he had some kind of weapon. A gun, preferably. The police were nowhere around. And Kaitlin was in there.
He got out of the car. Hell, he liked to think he’d done more than learn how to sail in the Navy.
He moved quietly toward the building and slipped around the side. And then he found a window.
They were arguing about her. They had her propped up in a chair, her hands and feet tied, the filthy gag still in her mouth. And Spike had a gun. He was waving it around, fighting with Henry and another man, Sam, the driver.
Sam didn’t want to hurt her. “I ain’t going to jail for murder one!”
“I ain’t going to jail at all, but if we don’t get rid of her, we’re all going to rot. Hell, we truss her up, blow her away and sink her in concrete. No one will ever be the wiser,” Spike said.
“You’re disgusting!” Henry told him.
She wasn’t going to cry, Kaitlin determined. She wasn’t going to panic anymore. What good would it do? She couldn’t even begin to move. She just had to pray that Henry and Sam would have the deciding influence. Oh, God! How had she gotten into this?
Tears stung her eyes despite herself.
Stubby little blond Henry was looking at her with sympathy. Spike started to say something about blowing her away, and Henry exploded.
“Not here, Spike, you hear me? Not here!” And he caught Spike’s arm and dragged him down a corridor, with Sam close on their heels.
Kaitlin closed her eyes and tried to loosen the ties around her wrists. Absurdly, she thought that it wouldn’t matter if she chafed her wrists. They were wearing gloves for the wedding.
They can bury me in gloves, too, she thought.
Oh, she was going to be sick….
Don’t panic, don’t panic….
Brendan, I love you. I’ll never get to tell you, but I’d answer yes to anything. I don’t care if we ever marry again. I don’t give a damn about a wedding, I’d live with you. I’d follow you. I’d forgive you. I’d love you.
There was suddenly someone behind her, someone with a knife. A little switchblade type thing; she could hear it as it snapped open. A moan sounded in her throat.
“Shh! It’s me!” warned a voice.
And then she sensed it. The clean scent of his cologne, and another scent that was all man, the man she loved. She wasn’t going to be stabbed in the back. It was Brendan. Relief almost made her black out.
The rope was nearly shredded. It wasn’t a switchblade, she realized, just a little pocket knife. He loosened her gag. “Oh, Brendan!” she murmured. Then, “Hurry. There’s three of them. Spike, Henry and Sam. Spike’s the mean guy with the gun. Henry’s the short, paunchy one, the easiest to get past, I think. And—”
There were footsteps coming toward them. Brendan swore and slipped the gag over her mouth as Henry appeared in the room, Spike and Sam behind him.
Brendan left Kaitlin and swaggered into the center of the room. “She’s a real pain in the butt, isn’t she?” he demanded, before they could speak.
Spike had his gun pointed at Brendan’s chest. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“I’m here to make a deal,” Brendan told him, hoping the other man wouldn’t stop to wonder how he had known where “here” was.
“What?” Henry demanded.
“Yeah, I want some of these down San Antonio way. Fifty-fifty. I’m telling you, I can sell them right and left, no questions asked.”
Spike swaggered up to him, wagging the gun beneath his nose. It was a .38, an old police issue, probably stolen, Brendan decided.
What difference did that make? he wondered. No matter where it had come from, it was a lethal weapon.
But Spike didn’t seem to be comfortable with it. Yeah, he waved it around. But Brendan was almost certain that he’d never used it on a human being. Spike was more talk than action.
“I want the girl, too.”
Spike shook his head. “You can’t—”
“I’m glad you tied her up. She’s Irish, you know. She’s got one of those god-awful tempers. And she’s trouble. Lots of it. But she kind of grows on you. Now, I’ll give you big money for the dresses, but I want the girl thrown in, too.”
Henry turned to Spike. “These are going to be as hot as tamales! Let’s give him the damn things—and the girl, too.”
Spike wasn’t looking at Brendan, who realized that this was his chance. He slammed his arm down in a heavy chop on Spike’s. The .38 went flying.
He punched Spike, who went down, but then Sam came after him, trying to butt him like a bull. He sidestepped Sam and chopped down on his neck and shoulders. Sam went down, too, but then Henry was running for the gun.
Brendan made a dive for him, caught his ankles and brought him down heavily. He made an oomph sound and went still, but Brendan knew that Spike was up and coming after him again. He had to reach the gun himself.
Then he didn’t need to. Kaitlin was up, the ties discarded, her mouth free from the gag. She went racing past him, sweeping down on the gun just as Spike began to get near it.
She spun around, furious, aiming it at Spike’s heart. “I don’t know how to use one of these things, and I’m nervous as hell, but I think you just tug on the trigger here. You wanted to blow me away, so if you take one more step in my direction, I swear I’ll blow you right to kingdom come!”
Spike must have believed her, because he went dead still. Brendan rose, walked over to her, reached for the .38 and smiled. “That was pretty good. But I do know how to use that thing, so do you want to let me have it?”
She gave him a brilliant smile and handed him the gun. And then she passed out cold, not falling hard, just wilting slowly to the ground.
Brendan heard the sirens at the same moment. At last, he thought gratefully.
All in all, Kaitlin decided later, it was a wonderful wedding. A beautiful wedding. The stuff that dreams were made of. Eventually.
First she’d had to bargain with the police, flirting outrageously with a young officer to get him to give her Donna’s gowns when they should have been evidence. And, of course, Brendan had been furious with her for flirting.
Then they’d split up. She’d helped Donna dress, along with the other bridesmaids. Then the limo had come for them, and they’d sipped champagne on the way to the church.
Then came the next snag.
There was no groom. Donna’s father found out that the driver had gone to the wrong town, so there was no way on earth the groom and his best man could show up at the church anywhere near on time.
But they did. Brendan and Bill arrived in an old pickup truck, smiling and proud of themselves. Cheers went up, and the wedding was on. And it was beautiful, just beautiful, with Brendan and Kaitlin waging a discreetly silent war over the placement of Donna’s train.
Then her cousin was wed, and they were leaving the church amidst the glow of candles.
Someone had forgotten the champagne for the limo ride to the re
ception, but no one seemed to mind. The embarrassed driver offered them a six-pack of Canadian beer, and they all laughed and decided that they’d just have to smell like a brewery when they arrived at the hall.
The flower girl didn’t quite make it across the floor when she was announced at the reception—her daddy was in the band, so she stopped and swayed to the music. But Kaitlin, smiling, knew that it was part of the beauty, part of the humanity and part of the wonder that Donna would get to remember all her life.
Suddenly she thought she was going to cry.
Gram had always had it right. It wasn’t the wedding that mattered. It was the marriage. And any way it was done, it was the vows that mattered, not the tinsel. It was people, and it was love….
The first dance was announced. Donna danced with Bill, then with her father. And then Kaitlin was able to dance with Brendan.
But there were so many people there. They weren’t able to talk. Not for a long time.
Not until Donna had tossed the bouquet—aiming straight for Kaitlin. And she had caught it.
And Bill somehow managed to slam Brendan right in the forehead with Donna’s garter. He had to catch it; the darned thing fell right in his hands.
And so Brendan was on his knees before Kaitlin again, as he had been so many years before, his fingers moving deliciously over her stockinged thigh. She knew that she was smiling, and that her eyes were glittering, and he probably didn’t need an answer to anything anymore.
He must know that she loved him, that she always had.
Finally the garter was on her leg, and everyone was cheering and laughing.
“Think I can get it all in with this one shot?” he asked her, gazing into her eyes. He was striking in his black tux and tails, but it was his crooked smile that seized her heart. That and the huskiness in his voice.
“Get what in with one shot?”
“Well, you know, it just always seems that I’m on my knees for you. Asking you to marry me.”
“What?” she whispered.
“I want you to marry me again, Kaitlin. I’ve never stopped loving you. I never will. And I believe with all my heart that we belong together. I want a family now, Kaitlin. I want to go sailing with you, and I want you to tell me all about your problems at work. And most of all, I want to sleep beside you, to hold you. I want to see the blue of your eyes every single morning. I want to cherish the time that we have left. I want to give you the wedding of your dreams this time. I promise that I’ll never shut you out again. I’ll probably still have a bad temper, but then, you do, too, so we should be able to deal with that, as long as we always talk. I never want to lose you again, so I know I’ll always be there. I’ll give you the biggest diamond you’ve ever seen—”
Wedding Bell Blues Page 17
