by Mollie Molay
“Do for what?” Arden peered at the huge plastic bubble. It was full of small, plastic oval containers, some with miniature toys inside, others with candy or bubble gum. The machine was a child’s diversion and certainly nothing she could imagine Luke wanting or needing.
“You call this shopping?”
“Yeah,” he answered digging into his trouser pockets. “Damn! Got a couple of quarters?”
Arden opened her purse, extracted her coin purse and handed him the coins. “You don’t really intend to put the money in there, do you?”
“You bet!” Luke inserted the quarters, turned the crank and out fell a small container. Inside was a square of bubble gum. “Two more quarters, please.” He scowled at the plastic bubble as he held out his hand.
“You got your bubble gum, aren’t you satisfied?” Arden gave him two more quarters.
“I don’t chew gum,” he said absently as he studied the machine. “Here, you can have it.”
“No, thanks,” Arden answered. “And furthermore,” she said, as she rummaged in the bottom of her purse for change and thrust it out to him, “these are the last of my quarters. From now on, you’ll have to find your own.”
“Not when I have what I was looking for!” Luke held up the plastic bubble to the light. “Hold still for a minute,” he said as he twisted the container open and extracted the one-size-fits-all ring. “Give me your left hand.”
Mesmerized by the sheer quirkiness of the situation, Arden stuck out her hand.
Luke tried to slip the plain gold band on her ring finger and silently muttered his frustration when it didn’t fit. He adjusted the ring to make it bigger and tried again.
“There,” he announced with satisfaction, holding her hand up to the light. “Now no one’s going to question whether we’re married.”
Arden stared at the ersatz wedding ring for a moment then back at Luke. “You call this a wedding ring?” She looked inside the shop. Her glance lingered on a display of jewelry. “I can understand why you felt you had to buy me a ring, but was this the best you could think of?”
“Without attracting attention, yes,” Luke remarked impatiently. “It would have looked suspicious to anyone watching if I bought you a real wedding ring in there after everyone thinks we’re already married.”
“You may be right,” she answered. “But it seems to me no woman should have to pay for her own wedding ring! Even if it only cost one dollar.”
Luke sighed and handed her a five dollar bill. “Keep the change. Anything else?”
“Yes,” she answered firmly, determined to keep the situation light even though her heart was waltzing to three-quarter time around her chest at the thought of being Luke’s wife. “Just keep in mind, putting a wedding ring on my finger doesn’t actually make me your wife!”
“Relax,” Luke answered. “How many times do I have to remind you this is all an act, for your sake as well as mine?”
“I grant you it started out that way, but we seem to be getting in deeper and deeper.”
“Arden, I swear to you the ring’s only for cover. The way the guard kept glancing at your finger, I knew I had to do something fast.”
Arden eyed the gold ring. The metal seemed to shine under the red-and-green glass Christmas globe revolving above her head. The ring might have cost only one dollar, but it somehow seemed more real than the genuine gold wedding rings in the glass case inside the shop. And very precious. Perhaps it was because the ring was part of her fantasy and because Luke had given it to her. “I just hope it doesn’t turn my finger green,” she commented softly, holding her hand up to the light.
“In the space of a few hours? Hardly likely,” Luke answered, glancing around them. “You can take it off as soon as we get to Cancún. Come on, let’s go back. The guard’s not in sight.”
If Luke only knew. It was a ring Arden intended to keep forever.
“Well,” she conceded, keeping her thoughts to herself, “I’ll wear the ring to keep us both out of trouble. That is why you gave it to me, isn’t it?”
Luke swallowed his answer. Sure it had been part of a charade. But putting it on her finger had left him with a strange feeling, almost as if she were his bride. A feeling he wasn’t too sure was good for him.
Chapter Five
Arden discovered how wrong she could be when the lights in the terminal clicked off and on again. A sure sign there was an important announcement coming. In minutes, to loud groans,’ the bad news came over the loud speakers.
“Attention. Your attention, please. In response to the many inquiries about departing flights, we now have official confirmation that no flights will be allowed in or out of JFK until at least eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Due to the lack of sufficient machinery to clear the runways and the continuing storm, it is possible there will be further postponements. The City of New York regrets any inconvenience this delay has caused.”
An instant clamor broke out at the neighboring gate. Shouting their dismay, angry passengers ran up to the check-in counter. Children cried.
“Non, non, I must return home at once!”
“My ticket is for tonight!” another passenger insisted. “I demand to be flown to Paris immediately! I cannot wait until morning!”
“I’m sorry, sir. No flights have been authorized for departure until morning,” the counter agent protested as the crowd around her grew more and more agitated. “Besides, the flight crew was sent home hours ago.”
“Then I demand you order them to return!” a tall man with a scarf tied over his head and under his chin to keep warm shouted. “It is freezing in here!” He shook his clenched fist under the startled attendant’s nose.
Another irate passenger shook his clenched fist under the agent’s nose. “My family is waiting for me at De Gaulle! They will wonder what has happened to me!”
“Don’t worry about that, sir. The authorities at De Gaulle and all other airports throughout the world have been notified of the delay. There’s nothing I can do for you. Except to put you all on standby for the first available flights.”
“Standby? Are you saying there is no guarantee I will have a seat on the next plane?” he shouted. He waved his ticket under her nose. “I will not put up with such a delay. I must get on the plane!”
“We’ll do our best,” the agent replied, clearly dismayed. She took a tentative step backward when the crowd surged toward her. Angry voices rose to a crescendo.
The horde of passengers milling around the agent became more and more unruly. Several looked ready to jump over the counter. The agent looked more and more apprehensive and threw up her hands as if to defend herself.
Luke started forward. “Wait here,” he told Arden. “I’m going over there to see if I can help. It looks as if that man’s about to jump over the counter and attack that poor woman!”
“Luke, wait!” Arden grabbed his sleeve. “What if real trouble starts and you get involved? You’ll only be drawing more attention to yourself!”
Luke paused in midstride. Arden was right. More attention was the last thing he needed.
The beleaguered agent reached under the counter. An alarm sounded, a red light started to blink over her head. Security guards made for melee.
“Good Lord!” Their tour leader glanced around her own group apprehensively. She reached for her cellular phone and spoke for a few minutes. “I was told the latest announcement was intended to forestall any further problems. Instead, it looks as if it backfired, doesn’t it?”
“What’s the matter? Wasn’t no good enough for those people?” Luke inquired.
“Evidently not.” The tour leader laughed uneasily. “It’s a good thing you people are taking the delay so well!”
Taking things so well?
Luke didn’t look so agreeable to Arden. But everything was okay with her. The night was rapidly turning into an adventure, thanks to Luke.
“By the way,” Agnes Chambers announced, “I’d like to take this opportunity while w
e’re all together to check you all against my passenger list. In all the excitement, and the way you all kept moving around, I couldn’t do it until now. But it is important. When I call your names, please answer ‘here,’ just as if we’re back in school.” She smiled at the broad groans at her remark.
“Adams, Alcott,” she called out, checking names off the list as the couples made themselves known. “Border, Delancy, McCauley, Morgan…” Her voice droned on and on as she read through the alphabetical listing and listened for the affirmative replies. “Travers?” There was no reply. “Is there a Mr. and Mrs. John Travers here?”
Arden glanced over at Luke. He shrugged his shoulders.
The tour leader frowned, put a question mark next to the name and went on to finish the list.
“Maybe I should have answered when she called ‘Travers’?” Arden whispered to Luke. “She’s going to see my tour documents sooner or later.”
“Just as well that you didn’t,” Luke replied dryly. “After all, I’d already answered to McCauley. Since we’re together, it was bound to raise some questions.”
“Well, I guess there’s no harm done. At least until we board the plane,” Arden said worriedly. “We’ll just have to think of some diversion if we’re discovered.”
“Let’s cross that bridge when the time comes,” Luke answered. “Until then, I have other troubles to worry about”
“Troubles? What kind of troubles?”
“The guy standing over there on your left is checking me over,” he muttered under his breath.
“Who?” Arden gazed around her. There were a dozen people in her view. Until someone shifted and she saw a familiar face. “You mean the security guard?”
“Right. The one who helped me chase the Smiths after your luggage was stolen. And the one you told about my lost luggage. No, don’t stare at him,” he whispered urgently. “Damn, he’s coming over. Now remember, you’re my wife and we were married yesterday!”
“How could I forget?” Arden answered, nervously twisting the bubble-gum-machine wedding ring.
The guard came to a stop in front of Luke. He held a small poster in his hand.
“After I talked to you, something about the two of you kept bugging me. So I stopped in the security office and found this.” He shoved a Man-Wanted poster at Luke. “Mind answering a few questions?” he asked.
“Not at all.” Luke replied amiably. “What’s up?”
The officer checked Luke’s appearance against the poster, quietly reading aloud the vital statistics of the wanted criminal.
“Height, six feet three inches. Weight, one hundred and eighty-five pounds. Hair, eyes, brown.” His voice trailed off. “Except for the mustache, the description sure fits you. Darn near one hundred percent. It doesn’t say anything about that scar on your chin, but I guess you could have gotten that after this picture was taken.” Frowning, he turned to Arden.
“You sure this man is your husband?”
“Why, yes,” Arden replied sweetly. “What makes you think he’s not?”
Luke looked on in silent approval. Hell, he was used to being questioned. But Arden? With her background, she must have more than a few reservations about the situation. Instead, she was quick on the uptake and with her answers. Seeing her wide-eyed, innocent expression, he knew he hadn’t given her enough credit. She was a damn good actress.
“Because your husband resembles a wanted criminal, that’s why,” the suspicious guard replied. “Here, take a look at this and tell me if it isn’t a match!”
He held up the poster for her to view. Sure enough, although the picture was grainy, Arden could see there was the same sable hair, square jaw and piercing eyes that had attracted her in the first place. Except that the eyes of the man in the poster looked cold, threatening. Luke’s eyes as he quietly gazed at her now were enigmatic, but she knew they were capable of warmth.
Still, after one long look, Arden’s heart sank. Except for the wanted man’s mustache and the scar on Luke’s chin, they looked enough alike to be brothers. But, on second thought, the man definitely wasn’t as handsome, nor did he have that attractive mysterious edge surrounding Luke that appealed to her senses. Luke’s glance sent shivers of excitement through her. The criminal’s cold and deadly eyes sent shivers of fear.
But the Wanted poster did serve to remind her she didn’t know all that much about Luke McCauley.
“There may be a slight resemblance, but I can assure you this man definitely isn’t Luke,” Arden announced after pretending to scrutinize the poster. Deciding to take the chance on Luke being the man he said he was, she pulled her thoughts together. “Except they do have the same hair coloring,” she conceded. “On the other hand, with this grainy print it may not be the same. What is this man wanted for?”
“Well, ma’am,” the officer said with a sharp glance at Luke, “to start with, armed robbery.”
Arden swallowed hard.
“Not only that,” the guard said eyeing her narrowly, “I heard the guy had a female accomplice. From the description that came over the fax, she kind of sounds like you. Even to the blond hair.”
“Sounds like me! Good heavens,” Arden echoed. She kept her smile, but her blood ran cold. “Imagine that! And what does this woman have to do with the robbery?”
“She manned, er, drove the getaway car.”
“It wasn’t me,” Arden answered firmly. “I was at home in Queens every day last week getting ready for my wedding. I can give you my home address and you can check if you want to.” She prayed the guard wouldn’t take her up on her offer.
For a minute the man looked as if he was going to. “No, thanks. I guess I’ll pass for now.” He pocketed the poster and turned back to Luke. “Where were you last week?”
“I couldn’t have committed the crime. I was in Rio on business.”
“Got anything to prove it?”
“Sure, but only if I have to,” Luke answered. He returned the officer’s piercing gaze with a noncommittal one of his own.
“Let’s just say I’m asking. For now.”
The man’s voice held a veiled threat and a promise of things to come that Luke didn’t care for.
He dug into his inside coat pocket and fished out his passport. As he handed it to the guard, he realized if he was smart, he’d better find a country to go to that didn’t have an extradition agreement with the United States.
The suspicious guard leafed through Luke’s passport. “Hong Kong, Sydney, Taipei, Guatemala, Manila, Rio… Sure get around don’t you?”
“It’s all in a day’s work,” Luke replied modestly. “I plan to give it all up after this commission.”
“I guess you might be clean at that,” the man remarked before he returned the passport. “At least for the bank robbery. But you have to admit the resemblance was close.”
“Maybe to you, but not to me,” Arden interjected. She mustered a dazzling smile. “I know you’re doing your best. As you always do, I’m sure. Besides, Officer Hayden,” she said as she took in the name tag on his uniform, “my husband has proved he wasn’t in the country when the crime was committed. He’s as innocent as I am. You don’t suppose for one minute that I would have married him if he’d been a criminal, do you?”
To Luke, Arden looked soft and innocent.
The poor guard looked as if he ought to apologize.
Luke decided he couldn’t have chosen a better champion if he’d tried.
What was he so worried about, anyway? Luke wondered, as the security guard continued to study him. So what if he did resemble the guy in the poster? He had an airtight alibi. But it was definitely something to be aware of in case someone else picked up on the resemblance.
Hell, it wasn’t as if he’d done anything illegal. Not yet, anyway. With his background of working for the secret service, and thirty-two years of clean living, no one would think he was even considering it. Thinking about committing a crime wasn’t in the same class as doing it, anyway. So, unless t
he lawman was a mind reader, which he doubted, as they exchanged stares, he was home free.
“Sorry if I worried you and your husband for nothing,” the guard said, with a last, lingering look at Luke. “Just doing my job. I guess tonight is a heck of a way to start a honeymoon.”
“You’re right on both counts, of course,” Luke answered with a smile that barely reached his lips.
“Of course,” Arden echoed.
As soon as the man disappeared, Luke let out a big sigh. “I don’t know why it had to be me again. There must be dozens of more suspicious characters running around the terminal tonight.”
“If you don’t mind my saying so, I would say it’s the handcuff around your wrist,” Arden commented dryly. “If I were you, I’d try to get rid of it any way you can. It’s not doing either of us any good.”
She’d come to Luke’s defense not only for his sake, but for her own. After the officer had told her the bank robber had a blond female accomplice, the last thing she wanted was to start her new life with a night in jail while they checked her out. As for Luke, in spite of his assurances that he wasn’t involved in the current crime, she couldn’t be sure he had always been on the up-and-up.
The dark edge she’d sensed the first time she’d laid eyes on him had briefly returned when the guard had started to question them, but it was carefully hidden now.
Still, she was impressed by his confident demeanor and the way he’d handled the crisis. He appeared to be as worldly as she had been sheltered, and had probably seen a side of life and done things she could only dream about. It was too bad he wasn’t going to be around long enough to be her tour guide on her own road to adventure.
“I could use a good stiff drink,” Luke announced, still feeling the hot breath of the law breathing down his neck.
“I don’t blame you,” Arden agreed. “But before you do, I would like to ask you a couple of questions of my own.”
“Shoot.” From the frown on her forehead, he knew as sure as he knew his own name that Arden wasn’t convinced he was an innocent man.
“Are you a wanted man?”
