The Stolen Bride

by Jacqueline Diamond

  “You make it sound so simple!”

  “It is simple,” Joseph told her. “Figure out the next step and take it. Don’t look too far ahead or you’ll end up like the proverbial caterpillar, lying in a ditch because he couldn’t figure out which foot to put in front of the other.”

  Studying him in the soothing light, Erin noticed a tiny twig that must have fallen into his hair earlier. She scooted around the table and plucked it off.

  “Thanks.” Joseph regarded it in amusement.

  She didn’t want to go back to her chair. Instead, Erin wiggled into his lap.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as his body adjusted to support hers.

  “Acting on impulse.”

  She thought at first that he might demur. Instead, he wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against him. Resting her cheek on his shoulder, she breathed his scent and wondered how and why they’d spent so many years apart.

  Tilting her head, Erin kissed the corner of Joseph’s mouth. She felt him holding back and wondered if she should stop. On the other hand, this might be a good time to stop burdening herself with useless inhibitions.

  Tomorrow, someone might take another shot and aim better. Why not go after what she wanted tonight? It would give her one fewer thing to regret.

  “Kiss me,” she said.

  “Are you sure?” His arms lay loose around her.

  “No discussion.” Erin smoothed one hand along the back of Joseph’s head and guided him down.

  His lips grazed hers. For a suspended moment, she thought he was going to pull away and then—slowly, tantalizingly—his thumbs played along her cheekbones and he kissed her again. His mouth lingered on hers, his tongue probing gently. Inside Erin, a response blossomed all the way to the taut buds of her breasts.

  There was so much of him to explore. The rough line of his jaw. The tanned skin of his neck. The delicious masculine aroma of his shirt and, as she lifted it from his waistband, the texture of his bare chest beneath her hands.

  Unzipping her dress, he lowered it over her shoulders. Cool air played along her bare skin until his warm breath replaced it. “If this is what you want, honey, I’m just the guy to give to you,” he murmured close to her ear.

  “Keep going,” Erin said.

  “No problem.” The dress came down and her bra with it. Holding her from behind, Joseph cupped her breasts in his hands, flooding her with pleasure.

  His hands slid to her stocking-clad legs and smoothed upward, stroking her until she could scarcely bear the heat. Erin released a breath that came all the way from her soul.

  Beneath her on his lap, she felt his masculine hardness press against the fabric of his slacks and her wispy underwear. In her inexperience, Erin had imagined sex to be languorous and romantic, stoked by satin sheets and exotic perfumes, but she preferred this earthy spontaneity and Joseph’s male eagerness.

  Shifting position, she unworked his belt and felt him ease down the waistband of her panty hose. He caught her bottom tightly and before she knew it there was nothing between them.

  “Just a minute, honey.” He groped for something in his pants pocket. “Hang in there.”

  “Protection?” The other night, he’d said he didn’t have any.

  “Sometimes it pays to plan ahead.” His lips brushed her earlobe.

  Here she’d believed this was all her idea, yet Joseph had obviously made a stop at a store earlier. Erin didn’t know whether to turn around and poke him or compliment his foresight. Under the circumstances, she decided, she ought to be grateful.

  “Good for you,” she said.

  “Not that I was expecting anything,” he noted.

  “Sure you weren’t.” Since he seemed to be having trouble getting organized, Erin glanced down and saw the problem. “Let me help,” she said.

  “I didn’t think you knew how,” Joseph said.

  “I can figure it out.”

  And she did. Holding him in her hands and hearing him groan in pleasure thrilled her. Wanting to excite him even more, Erin stroked his shaft until he shuddered. “Honey, you don’t want to go any further with that.”

  “I don’t?”

  “Let’s not waste it.” Shifting her on his lap, he played one hand across her breasts, tantalizing them while, below, he caressed her body until it blazed white-hot.

  When Joseph grasped her hips, Erin lifted herself and felt his thickness push into her. Something stopped him—her virginity, she realized—and then it was gone. She gave a little cry at the mingled sensations of joy and pain.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asked hoarsely.

  “Don’t stop,” she said. “Not ever.”

  He took her at her word.

  Nothing about sex was the way she’d imagined it. Not this position, seated on his lap facing away; not this wild, rushing need; not the amazing way their bodies fit together. Especially, not the sensation of yielding herself completely.

  From behind, his arms surrounded her and his cheek pressed hers as he moved in and out of her. Erin had never suspected she could merge so completely with a man or feel so complete.

  The speed of Joseph’s thrusting intensified. A spark jumped between them, ignited and burst into flame.

  Erin couldn’t distinguish his moans of pleasure from her own as waves of exquisite awareness rolled from her center to her fingertips. They sank back together, half-floating, for a span of time.

  “I didn’t know,” she breathed at last. “I didn’t know it was like that.”

  “I didn’t, either.”

  “But…” Erin stopped. She didn’t want to discuss his past. It was good to know, though, that he hadn’t found such contentment with anyone else.

  She never wanted to get this close to any other man. For her, there could only be Joseph.

  At least she would always have this memory, for as long as she lived.

  JOSEPH LAY NESTLED against Erin in the queen-size bed. He wanted to live exclusively in this moment when they belonged to each other.

  He knew how easily circumstances could tear people apart, without warning and without recourse. He had to accept that it was going to happen and not let that worry him.

  Above all, he hoped he hadn’t done anything to hurt Erin. Perhaps it was naïve in this day and age when people treated sex like a cheap commodity, but to him the connection they’d experienced meant they would always be a part of each other in some sense.

  But he knew what his role was and where he belonged, even if it meant having to prove himself over and over again to a community that might never fully accept him. Erin, on the other hand, hadn’t yet come to terms with her wealth or position. When she did, Joseph had to prepare himself for the fact that their paths were going to diverge.

  Well, they had tonight, and maybe more good times before the end came. That was all he asked.

  Joseph tightened his hold on Erin and let an unfamiliar happiness fill him. He fell asleep curled around her.

  AS ERIN HAD EXPECTED, yesterday’s shooting made the Tuesday morning newspaper. Lynn Rickles was scoring a lot of front-page bylines.

  “I’m glad she doesn’t pester us with phone calls,” Erin said as she handed the newspaper to Joseph. They were eating breakfast at the small table in the kitchen after a lovely if turbulent night during which they’d awakened twice to make love.

  He finished another bite of cereal before glancing at the paper. “That might be because I have an unlisted number.”

  “And here I thought she was treating us well because this is such a polite town!” she teased.

  “Well, brace yourself,” he said. “If this story hasn’t already hit the big-city papers and TV stations, it should now. A sniper in the hills, a runaway bride and a corpse in the lake. Who could resist?”

  “Do you think they’ll send reporters all the way out here?” she asked.

  “If they do, I’ll chase them off the property,” Joseph told her. “They’ll have a hard time harassing us from the street.”<
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  That was reassuring, but of course the press was the least of Erin’s worries. Even though Lance obviously hadn’t been the shooter yesterday, his gruff demand that she stay away from her mother only reinforced her concern for Alice.

  Someone had to be either very afraid of them or very angry, she thought. Or else expected to gain something important from their deaths.

  The fact that Lance hadn’t fired the bullets didn’t make him innocent. He could have hired an assassin.

  Joseph turned the page. “Gene Norris is certainly doing his utmost to shield his candidate. He’s announced that, on behalf of the Marshall Company, Chet’s offering a reward for the person or persons who fired at you.”

  “Rick doesn’t consider him a suspect, does he?” Erin supposed that her rejected suitor had an obvious motive to seek revenge. Nevertheless, she was convinced he hadn’t been behind the attack six weeks ago, when he’d had reason to believe she might accept his proposal, and she suspected the same person was behind both assaults.

  If only she could remember those crucial moments before she’d been hit! She’d been dredging up an image when the first shot rang out, Erin recalled. Something about a chocolate bar. Nope—whatever she’d been thinking, it was gone.

  The phone rang. Setting aside the newspaper, Joseph picked it up. “Lowery.”

  His expression darkened as he listened. A vise clamped across Erin’s chest. Mom, she thought. Don’t let anything be wrong with Mom.

  He hung up. “That was Rick.”

  “Is it my mother?” she asked.

  “No, no.” Joseph’s expression remained clouded, however. “It’s your aunt.”

  “What happened to Marie?”

  “We were on the right trail,” he said. “Unfortunately.” From the regret on his face, she knew that whatever Rick had called about, it wasn’t good news.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Tell me,” Erin said.

  “Rick sent divers into the water first thing this morning.” Coming to sit by her, Joseph enclosed her hands in his. “They found a woman’s body.”

  She didn’t want to ask, but she had to. “Is it her?”

  “They’re not sure, but she’s the right size and they think about the right age,” he said. “She’s been in the water a long time. They’re going to send for her dental records.”

  “Do they know what she died of?”

  “There’s no obvious sign of trauma, according to Rick,” Joseph said. “It’s possible she drowned.”

  Erin leaned against him, grateful for his warmth. The image of her aunt submerged in the lake chilled her. Icy water closing over her. Impossible to breathe.

  “Erin?” He gave her a nudge. “What’s going on?”

  She started as if awakening from a bad dream. “I can’t help identifying with her. After being out there in that creepy place, I feel like I know what she went through.”

  “We’re not even sure it’s Marie,” Joseph reminded her. “Listen, Rick asked us to meet him for lunch to review what we know. It’s strictly off-the-record. He’s not mentioning it to anyone else, even Tina.”

  The implications weren’t lost on Erin. “He believes the chief may be involved?”

  “The possibility has to be considered.” Shadows filled Joseph’s dark blue eyes. “We’re lucky to have Rick on our side.”

  “He’s risking a lot,” she pointed out. “His job, even his girlfriend.”

  “‘I could not love thee, dear, so much, Lov’d I not honour more,’” Joseph quoted.

  “I can’t believe you remember that!” Erin had treasured the line from seventeenth century poet Richard Lovelace when she came across it in high school.

  “It stuck in my mind when you read it to me,” he said. “It’s not a bad slogan to live by.”

  She’d been right when she concluded that Rick and Joseph had a lot in common, Erin thought. Both were men of integrity and courage.

  “I wonder if anyone has considered comparing the caliber of either of those bullets to Chief Norris’s gun,” she said.

  “We’d better save that one until we’re ready to tip our hand,” Joseph said.

  ERIN’S COMMENT ECHOED in his mind a few hours later when they met Rick in the South of the Border Café. It was located in a blue-collar, largely immigrant section of town where they were unlikely to run into anyone they knew.

  Keeping secrets kept getting harder, he thought. Just before they left the house, Tina had dropped by on her lunch break with a plate of lemon bars made by her students. “I hope you enjoy them,” she’d told Erin. “The kids know you’re a friend of mine and they made them specially for you. How are things going?”

  There was no sign of guile on Tina’s open face, only concern for her friend. Joseph had to remind himself that she lived with the enemy, or at least with a father who might be his foe. They didn’t dare confide in her.

  Erin had remembered that. For a woman who’d been amazingly naïve until a few days ago, she’d demonstrated with Tina that she’d learned how to give bland reassurances while playing her cards close to her chest.

  Her chest. He’d better not think about that or any other part of her anatomy right now. After last night’s incredible love-making, Joseph wished they could spend the day in bed.

  But he had to prepare to let her go. Erin only belonged to him for a little while. She was growing stronger every day.

  “A complicated case like this can take a long time to investigate,” Rick told her after they ordered lunch. “Even though I’ve got other detectives assisting me, I need your help—both of you. I asked the chief to reinstate Joseph, but he refused. Without him, I feel like I’m working the case with one hand tied behind my back.”

  To be on the safe side, Joseph made sure the waitress wasn’t near enough to overhear before murmuring, “Have you found anything that implicates the chief?”

  “Not exactly. His actions concerning you seem indefensible, yet I can’t figure any reason why he’d want to hurt Erin,” Rick said. “Not unless she knows something, perhaps something she doesn’t realize is important.”

  “What about Lance?” she asked. “He’s got to be mixed up in this.”

  “I’ve subpoenaed his phone records,” Rick told them. “I’m particularly interested in whether he’s contacted Todd Wilde or Marie Flanders. One of my officers is going through them right now.”

  Joseph was grateful for Rick’s thoroughness. “You wanted this meeting so we could compare notes, right?”

  “Exactly. And maybe try a little brainstorming.”

  “Well, then, let’s do it.”

  Over plates of Mexican food, they reviewed everything Chief Lima had said and what Erin had learned yesterday at the Marshall Company. “You know, there was one little detail that probably doesn’t mean anything but I should mention it,” she said. “The board secretary, Betsy Rydell, was recently promoted to assistant manager at the mall. Her replacement is a woman I’ve never met before. Stanley Rogers, the CFO, has a new secretary as well.”

  “What do you make of that?” Rick asked.

  “I don’t know,” Erin admitted. “There’ve been so many personnel changes. My mother lost her old housekeeper as well. If someone wanted to keep secrets, wouldn’t he remove anyone who might get suspicious?”

  “Good point.” Rick checked his tape recorder, which apparently was working fine. He’d explained earlier that he wanted to be able to concentrate on their discussion rather than on taking notes, which made sense to Joseph. “I’ll talk to Ms. Rydell. Anything else you can think of?”

  “My mom’s near drowning happened very close to where Todd and Marie were found. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

  “It could be due to the isolation,” Rick explained. “Or simply a coincidence.”

  “Your mother insists what happened to her was an accident,” Joseph reminded them. “But it troubled me right from the beginning.” He shared with Rick his theory that someone might be blackmailing Al
ice into silence. “It can’t be a threat to harm Erin. Someone has already tried twice to kill her, so why wouldn’t her mother come forward? If it concerned Marie, that might change now that we know she’s dead.”

  “Chet promised to arrange for me to see Mom,” Erin said. “Maybe she’ll open up to me.”

  “Going to the Bolding house could be dangerous.” Rick’s comment mirrored Joseph’s concern.

  “I don’t care.” Her chin came up. “I left Mom alone after Dad died, and that’s why she turned to Lance. I won’t abandon her again.”

  “Then keep Joseph with you,” Rick told her. “I don’t want to be fishing you out of the lake.” Seeing her startled reaction, he added, “Sorry. We cops tend to put things bluntly.”

  She waved away the apology. “The important thing is, you’re not going to fish my mother out of the lake. Not if I can prevent it.”

  Joseph admired her loyalty and her nerve. At the same time, he vowed not to let her out of his sight until this case was resolved, no matter what she said.

  IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON before Erin got the call she’d been hoping for. After greeting her, her mother’s raspy voice said, “I’m sorry I didn’t phone sooner. I’ve been worried about you. You weren’t injured in that horrible shooting, were you?”

  “No.” She sank onto Joseph’s couch. Across the room, he looked up from where he’d been trolling the Internet on his computer. “How about you? How do you feel?”

  “A little weak,” her mother said. “Chet told you about my illness, I understand. I’m glad he did.”

  “Me, too,” Erin said. “Listen, Mom, I don’t like you staying by the lake. Weird things are going on.”

  “I know. I heard about…this morning.” Apparently the possibility of her sister’s death was too painful to discuss, or, more likely, Alice refused to acknowledge it until receiving confirmation. “I want to talk to you about, well, everything.”

  Excitement mingled with apprehension inside Erin. She hoped her mother meant to explain about the night of her accident, but her safety came first. “We’ll pick you up in a few minutes. We can go stay somewhere away from all this trouble. How about a hotel in L.A.? I’d like you to see some cancer specialists there too.”