by Debra Holt
An hour later, Mercy had her list of errands and headed on her way. She had to work to keep her mind from straying to new areas that were now taboo—most notably her mother’s engagement and a certain tall, annoyingly opinionated sheriff.
At the bookstore, Mercy found herself lost in the shelves, amazed at the number of new books by her favorite authors. She had some catching up to do. When she checked out, she had three books in her bag: two thrillers and a biography.
She had just arrived at the grocery store when her cell phone rang. She pulled into an empty parking space, shut off the engine, and answered the call. She had put off the inevitable as long as she knew she could.
“How are things in Hawaii?” She spoke first.
“The better question is how are things in Texas?” her brother snapped back. “And why haven’t you done something to stop this marriage idea of our mother’s? I’ve been trying to call you since last night.” There was a long pause on the line. “Are you there? Did you hear what I said? How could you let Mother get into this mess?”
Mercy took a deep breath. “News travels fast.”
“Not fast enough, apparently. If it had, I would have had time to get on a plane and come over there myself. I expected more from you, Mercy. You’re right there!”
“Hold on, Steven.” Mercy tried her best to keep her temper in check. “I just found out about this myself yesterday.”
“I found out when our mother called last evening to tell me the good news. Then my phone rang a few minutes ago, and it was Russ. He just received a call from Mom, too. What is going on?”
“Take a deep breath and calm down. You already have high blood pressure. You know about as much as I do. Mom says she’s in love. I have to admit she seems to be very happy and—”
“Cut the romantic stuff, Mercy. This is our sixty-seven—soon to be sixty-eight!—year-old mother we’re talking about. Just who is this guy? Someone sensing a good thing, I bet.”
“Good thing?”
“Mom has property and money in the bank. She’s a target for any con artist with half a brain. I expect you to get a move on and stop her. Get rid of this guy.”
“I’ve met the man, Steven. He isn’t a con artist. He’s very well-respected in the community, and his stepson is the county sheriff.”
“Oh, well, that makes it all right then,” he snapped, his tone openly sarcastic.
“Look, you and Russ both need to calm down. If you make a big deal out of this, you’ll only make Mom more determined to hold on to this man. Besides, Larry has money. In fact, he owns a company. Plus, they met at church.”
“At church,” he repeated in the same tone. “Well then, that makes it doubly okay. I’d also say she’s more than determined already. She’s on her way to Las Vegas!”
Mercy had opened her car door to step out, but at those words, she dropped back into her seat, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“Las Vegas? What in the world are you talking about? I just left her this morning.”
“I see this is something Mom didn’t share with you. It seems the happy couple is off to Las Vegas. Their plane left two hours ago. Our mother is eloping like some teenager.”
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Mercy shut the door of her car. Groceries were the last thing on her mind now.
“Well, you’d better believe it. And you’d better get to the airport, get on a jet, and stop her.”
“Me? Stop her? Just how am I supposed to do that?”
“You’ll find a way. I can’t get there before Wednesday. Russ is in the middle of final arguments in a court case. It’s up to you, Mercy. You’ve got to save Mom from herself and from this man. She needs to stop and think calmly about all of this. Get moving!”
Mercy couldn’t remember the conversation after that, except that it was short but not sweet. After they hung up, she sat still in the parking lot, all thoughts of errands and a quiet Sunday afternoon forgotten. Grabbing the phone, she punched in her mother’s number. It rang several times and then went to voice mail. If she were in flight, she wouldn’t be able to reach her.
Great. Why didn’t Mom say anything to me about this ridiculous plan? Maybe because she knew I’d try to stop her.
Another thought came immediately to her, and she didn’t hesitate. She probably would have if she hadn’t been desperate, but she dialed information and got the phone number for Sheriff Joshua Wellman.
Let’s see what he has to say about this mess now.
He answered on the fourth ring. Mercy put the skids on the pulse rate problem at the sound of his voice … even though it was irritatingly comforting to her jumbled senses. She channeled those unwanted emotions into her irritation.
“What does your stepfather think he’s doing with my mother?”
After a heartbeat of silence on his end, he exclaimed, “Mercy? Hello to you, too. This is a nice surprise. I didn’t think I’d be talking to you twice today.”
“Cut the cuteness.” Not in the mood for pleasantries or anything else, she snapped, “My brother just informed me that your stepfather has taken my mother to Las Vegas. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
“Yes, I heard about it just after you left this morning. Didn’t they call you? It sounds like you’re not pleased.”
“No, they did not call me. And that’s such an understatement. And if I’m not pleased, as you put it, you should have heard my brother a little while ago. Thankfully, there’s an ocean between him and the state of Nevada right now. I need to know what you’re going to do about it.”
“Do about it? I plan to throw a party for them when they get back. Other than that, I—”
“A party! Are you joking?”
“No, I don’t believe I am. You’re invited, of course.”
The nerve! This man was making a joke about the whole thing.
“I can see I won’t get any help from you.”
“Help? What help do you need?”
“Help in stopping this fiasco. Oh, what’s the use? I don’t have time to waste. I have to make a plane reservation and get to the airport.” Mercy clicked the phone closed and tossed it to the passenger seat beside her.
That man!
Turning the key in the ignition, she put the car into gear and backed out of the parking spot at a semi-sedate speed. She made it back to her house in record time and had an airline reservationist checking flights before she opened her front door. There was a flight leaving in a little less than two hours. She quickly booked a seat on it. She had very little time to pack, speak with Lacy next door about taking care of Peanut, and get to the airport. Mercy moved into high gear.
Just short of an hour later, her car had nestled into long-term parking, and her rolling case and carry-on had disappeared from sight on the x-ray conveyor. Ticket in hand, Mercy stood in the security line, her purse and shoes in the plastic tub awaiting her turn. She checked the time on her wristwatch again. She’d been on the run for the last hour, and this was the first chance she’d had to let it sink in. If someone had told her yesterday she’d be catching a plane for Las Vegas today, she would have told them they were insane. Or maybe it was just her that was insane. Either way, this put a real glitch in her comp time vacation schedule.
Mercy made it through the checkpoint and finally dropped into a chair facing a large window and an empty gangway, waiting for the plane to arrive. Slipping her feet into her shoes, she closed her eyes for a few seconds to let her mind catch up with her racing body.
“That was close … didn’t think I’d make it in time.”
Her eyes flew open and met the clear blue gaze of the man who had dropped into the seat beside her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m on my way to Las Vegas. And you?”
“Are you following me?”
“No, I don’t believe so. I’m going to a wedding. What about you?”
“I’m going to stop a wedding.”
Josh studied Mercy though
tfully. “Stop it? Do you really think you can do that?”
“We’ll soon find out.”
“Why do you want to stop it?”
Mercy looked back at him as though he had sprouted two heads.
“Why don’t you?”
“I asked you first.” His calm regard only amped her irritation level.
“Because my mother has no idea what she’s doing. She’s rushing into this whole marriage thing much too fast. She’s too emotional. She’s listening to her feelings and not thinking,” she sputtered under his intense regard.
“I see.” Stretching his long legs out in front of him, he clasped his hands across his trim stomach. His gaze skipped briefly across their fellow passengers seated in the waiting area. Several moments passed. “Is your mother given to flights of fancy? Does she act like this often?”
“Of course not. She’s one of the most level-headed people I know. She’s the rock of our family.”
She tried very hard to avoid the blue gaze turned fully upon her. It was hard enough to concentrate on the matter at hand, but when he looked at her in such a studied way, her concentration cracked.
“A level-headed person … so why can’t she decide if she’s in love or not? If she has all her mental faculties, she can certainly make her own decisions about her life. Don’t you agree?”
She hated his logic.
“It’s very clear you and I don’t see eye-to-eye on this matter. You should go back home. This will be a wasted trip for you.”
“Are you going?”
“Of course I’m going. I promised my brothers I would.”
“If your brothers weren’t so upset about this, would you still go?”
She tossed a handful of hair back across her shoulder. One, two, three … Mercy ended on number ten, then took a breath before she tried one more time to make her point.
“I’m going to try to get my mother to stop and look at this objectively and not emotionally. She’s caught up in the romance right now. I don’t want her to regret things when the bloom wears off.”
“Wears off. Interesting choice of words,” he replied. “I get the distinct impression you don’t think much of romance.”
Mercy jerked her gaze back to his. “What I think about romance is none of your business. I do believe, however, that emotion can cloud even the most level-headed person’s judgment, and marriage is not something to jump into blindly or on a whim.”
“I agree. However, I think your mother knows what she wants, and so does my stepfather. They didn’t just jump into this. They’ve both given it serious consideration for months before they made it official. They’re two consenting adults, Mercy, and what we think won’t make much difference to them. It’s their life, not ours.”
Whatever Mercy might have replied was lost when the intercom announced their flight. She kept her mouth shut and proceeded to gather her bag and her wits. They might be headed in the same direction, but they didn’t have to go together. She moved quickly down the ramp and into the plane, her eyes searching for a seat that did not have an empty one beside it. She spied such a seat at the back of the plane and made a beeline for it, grateful to fly on an airline without assigned seating. Mercy busied herself with the seatbelt and then took in the view outside her window.
Only when the plane began to taxi away from the terminal did she sneak a peek toward the front of the plane. She spotted the familiar figure seated three rows from the cockpit. If luck landed on her side, he would be off the plane and out of sight before she exited in Las Vegas.
That was her plan as she played it out in her mind. For the next two hours, she would keep her mind occupied with one of the new books she had brought along to pass the flight time. Somewhere along the way, however, she lost interest in the pages of the biography, and her eyes drifted shut to the hum of the engines. Sometime later, the simultaneous decrease in the whine of the jet’s engines outside her window and the ping of the intercom system jarred Mercy’s eyes wide open. She blinked a couple of times and moved to look out the window beside her.
Mercy had never been to Nevada, much less Las Vegas, but she found herself amazed at the size of the city that stretched below them. Then a sudden thought dawned on her—she had no idea how or where she would find her mother. Just a small detail in a hastily hatched plan. She ignored the feeling of dread that reared its head.
Well … retreat is not exactly an option.
Mercy waited for the plane to empty before she made her way down the aisle and up the ramp to the terminal. She had caught just a fleeting glimpse of Josh’s tall back as he disappeared out the door of the plane a few minutes ahead of her. She hoped he would be long gone by the time she exited the plane. His presence was a disturbing and unwanted one on the trip. He had made it very clear where he stood in the whole matter.
McCarran International hummed, a beehive of activity, as she followed the signs to baggage pickup. The noise level rose a few decibels as she passed through the area where slot machines lined the walls and travelers eagerly pulled or pushed the levers, seeking their fortunes at the gateway to Sin City. If Mercy had not been on an important mission, she might have been tempted to drop a coin, just to say she had done so. She had never understood people’s fascination with gambling, but when in Vegas, why not? Maybe on the way home, she’d try her luck.
Mercy claimed her bag and headed for the exit. A blast of dry heat hit her as she left the air-conditioned building. She felt as if she had stepped into a furnace. She slid on a pair of sunglasses to protect her eyes from the glare that reflected off anything and everything that sat still long enough. Stepping to the curb, she waited for the next available taxi, but a dark town car pulled up next to her and stopped. A uniformed driver got out and came around to where she stood. The rear passenger’s side window lowered, and Josh smiled at her, his easy smile lifting the corners of his mouth and causing crinkle lines beside the enticing blue eyes he leveled on her.
“I’m glad you waited until I found our transportation.”
Before she could formulate a response, the driver had retrieved her luggage from the sidewalk and placed it inside the trunk with effortless efficiency. Then he opened the rear door and waited for her to join Josh in the backseat.
“It’s awfully hot out there,” Josh said. “You weren’t planning to walk into town, were you?”
Mercy bit back the retort that came to mind. It was hot. Why not take advantage of the ride?
She slid onto the seat, mindful to keep several inches between the two of them. Her handbag reinforced the barrier as she placed it on the seat. Mercy looked just in time to spot the amused lift of Josh’s mouth as he took note of the movement. He saw far too much, she decided. Let him think what he wanted. She kept her eyes on the scenery outside the window.
“I suppose you have a plan?” His voice brought her eyes back to him.
“Do you?”
“I asked you first.”
“Which means you probably don’t have a clue either. What makes you think I intend to share information with you? We aren’t exactly on the same mission.”
“Very shrewd of you,” he replied, his smile again causing that long-dormant stirring within. Everything in her inner being seemed to respond to this man of its own volition. Her eyes narrowed at that self-admission.
“You’re the lawman here. Where do you plan to begin?”
He took his turn at glancing out the window. Mercy couldn’t help but note the strong line of his jaw, the steadiness of his gaze again. For a brief moment, she felt almost glad he sat beside her. Even though they were on opposite sides of the issue, he was the one familiar person in a strange city.
She sensed he chose his words carefully when he spoke. “I suggest we first find a place to stay and then telephone area hotels to see if we can find where they are. If the calls don’t yield anything, we can begin searching every wedding chapel in the area. Sound like a plan?”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Where did you make a hotel reservation?”
Mercy’s eyes darkened. In her rush, she hadn’t thought of a hotel either.
“Okay. We’ll just head to mine first.”
Of course, he thought of details … why not? She had been intent on getting to Las Vegas as quickly as possible. She hadn’t yet thought about a place to stay or where to begin looking for her mother. Judging by the number of hotels they passed, she didn’t think it would be too difficult to find a room.
Several minutes later, Mercy stood a few feet away from Josh as he spoke with the desk personnel at a huge hotel. Her eyes grazed the furnishings and the vast space of the marble-floored lobby. Photos she’d seen in magazines hadn’t done justice to the opulence of the place. Josh turned from the desk and motioned for her to join him, a furrow to his brow.
“There may be a problem finding a suitable room for you. Seems there’s a major prizefight going on in town this weekend, along with a few conventions. I took the liberty of making a decision on your behalf. You might as well get upset with me now so we can get on with the reason we’re here.”
“This doesn’t sound good. Why would I want to be upset with you … this time?” Mercy eyed him with suspicion. What was he up to?
“I upgraded my original reservation to a suite … two bedrooms, of course.” He added the fact quickly and smoothly. He even managed to keep an almost straight face as he spoke.
“Well, how about I just take the room you gave up?” Mercy smiled in return, equally proud of her quick thinking.
“That room goes to the next people on our waiting list,” the clerk spoke up.
At a loss for words, Mercy tried unsuccessfully to formulate a plan. She felt too tired, hot, and frustrated.
“I assume this suite is the type that can lock off one of the bedrooms— making it into a separate room altogether?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it can be divided if you so desire,” the clerk responded.
