by Debra Webb
Sweat beaded and rolled on Thurston’s forehead. “Got it,” he muttered as he grabbed the lever and opened the massive door.
Relief poured through Doug.
As the door swung outward a shot echoed inside.
Gunshot.
Doug recognized the sound.
Fear sent his heart plummeting to his feet and he shoved Thurston aside and rushed into the vault.
Eddi and a man were struggling.
Doug quickly moved up behind the man and pressed the tip of his barrel into the back of his skull. “Drop it and let her go.”
The struggle ceased.
“Put the gun down,” Doug ordered once more.
“I don’t think I can do that,” the old guy said.
Though Doug couldn’t see his face, he determined that the man was at least sixty. “Let her go and we’ll make this easy.”
His hand visibly tightened on the sleeve of Eddi’s dress. Her gaze collided with Doug’s and it was all he could do to maintain his composure.
“Ain’t nothing about this gonna be easy,” the kidnapper warned.
“If you hurt her,” Doug cautioned softly, “you’re dead. Let her go and at least you’ll live.”
The guy abruptly pushed Eddi away and wheeled around to face Doug, the weapon leveled at his chest. “What good would that be? I ain’t going back to prison.”
Doug saw the desperation in the man’s eyes a beat before he pointed the weapon at his own head and fired.
Eddi cried out as the man crumpled into a lifeless heap. Doug rushed to her and took her in his arms.
“It’s okay now.”
She clung to him, sobbing against his shirt.
“I w-was afraid you wouldn’t come to rescue me,” she murmured haltingly.
He kissed her forehead and smiled down at her. “It looked to me as if you were doing a fair job of rescuing yourself.” Fear squeezed his heart when he thought of what could have happened while she was struggling with the bastard.
“Now.”
They both wheeled around at the sound of Thurston’s voice.
“I hope this clears me of suspicion,” he demanded, looking sorely impatient.
“Upstairs,” Doug ordered. “He had to have had a partner. Someone who gave him the combination.”
Thurston flung his arms upward in frustration. “The lawyers are always the bad guys,” he grumbled.
SOLANGE D’MARTINE PLACED the receiver back in its cradle and started to walk the floors of her parlor once more. “The Harpers have landed. They’ll be here soon.” She wrung her hands. “Dear God, what if we can’t find her?”
Irene accepted the cup of coffee the butler offered. She squared her shoulders and refused to allow the tears brimming behind her lashes to fall. “Our Eddi is quite capable. She’ll be back, you’ll see.”
Solange shook her head. Irene could only imagine how she felt, having already been through this kind of nightmare before. She loved Eddi herself and she wasn’t even related to her by blood or marriage. And she knew Eddi. She would be back. Irene blinked again. She had to come back.
“We should help in the search,” Ella offered, declining a cup of coffee.
Solange looked up at that. “Perhaps we should. If Doug and Brandon don’t find her in the vault, perhaps we’ll begin a new search party.”
“May I get you anything, madam?” the butler asked abruptly of his mistress.
She looked at the man as if she’d forgotten he was in the room and shook her head.
“Very well, madam.”
He hurried from the room. Irene watched him go, unnerved by his seemingly sudden need to get away.
“We have to do something now,” Mattie insisted, drawing Irene back to the conversation. “We can’t just sit here.” She stood and joined Solange in her pacing.
“Why are they looking in the vault?” Minnie wanted to know.
Solange shook her head. “Something about it being underground. I’m not sure.”
Irene stood, realization rocketing through her. “They suspect a member of the household as being the perpetrator?”
Solange shrugged. “How else would someone have gotten into her room? Certainly no one else knew about the vault. Only the family attorney, the butler and myself.”
Ella narrowed her gaze. “I knew that fancy-pants lawyer was up to no good.”
Mattie shook her head solemnly. “I disagree. In cases like this it’s almost always the butler.”
Minnie rolled her eyes. “The butler was just in here serving us coffee,” she protested. “How could he…?”
Minnie’s statement trailed off. They all looked at each other as the epiphany buzzed through them all at the same time.
The ladies rushed into the entry hall. The front door stood wide open and James Montgomery was running down the steps as if the devil himself was hot on his heels.
“Stop him!” Irene wailed.
The man who’d been introduced as Ryan Braxton was already moving from the library toward the open door. “What’s going on, ladies?” he asked in that enigmatic voice that made her shiver in spite of present circumstances.
“Mattie was right,” Irene explained as the others rushed out the front door in hot pursuit. “The butler did it.”
TWO HOURS LATER, Solange, Eddi and her parents, as well as the Club, sat in the parlor while Doug related the story the butler had told to the police. He had been in on the kidnapping of Edouard D’Martine twenty-five years ago. He hadn’t meant any harm to come to the young heir, he’d only wanted the money. When things went sour, he’d thanked God he hadn’t got caught. At least he still had his job. His partner, Joe Calhoun, was the one to come up with this latest scheme. Montgomery hadn’t wanted to go along, but Joe had blackmailed him into doing it.
Doug didn’t believe that last part. He felt certain Montgomery was taking advantage of the fact that the only witness to his misdeeds was dead. That part, however, was for the authorities to determine. Ryan had turned the man over to the local police and, after the confession, had called the information in to Doug so that he could inform all those waiting at the house for some kind of explanation.
Not that any explanation would ever be good enough, but the family needed to understand why this terrible thing had happened. Doug needed to understand.
Doug longed to take Eddi back into his arms, but as soon as her parents had shown up she’d turned to them for solace. Even before that, between her grandmother D’Martine and the members of the Club, she hadn’t needed Doug.
Doug leaned against a bookcase and studied her now. He wondered if there was anything he could say or do to regain her trust. The only thing he knew for a certainty right now was that he could not imagine the rest of his life without her in it. He couldn’t lose her.
Eddi wished she could read Doug’s mind. She looked up and caught him staring directly at her, but he quickly looked away. He didn’t even smile. Almost as if he’d been caught thinking something he shouldn’t. Maybe he hoped he could get out of here soon and back to his own life. Certainly whatever he was thinking wouldn’t have anything to do with her.
She closed her eyes for one long moment and relived how he’d brought out the woman in her night before last. She wished again that he’d taken what she’d offered. Maybe then…
She opened her eyes. No use in worrying about what could have been. She was lucky to be alive. Best thing to do was just to be thankful for that. She shuddered as she considered the hours she’d spent in the vault with that evil man. It was still hard for her to believe that James had been involved. He’d completely fooled her.
“There’s something I have to say,” Solange announced above the Club members who were still marveling over their exploits of bringing down the butler halfway between the main house and the garage.
Eddi’s gaze moved to the woman she had grown to love over the past few days. She smiled. She’d been wrong. It didn’t matter that she already had two grandmothers, she not only needed this one, too
, she wanted her.
Solange’s gaze settled on Millicent Harper’s. “I owe you an apology. It’s been a long time in coming and I apologize for that as well.”
Eddi’s mom shook her head. “You don’t owe me anything,” she protested kindly. “I loved Edouard. I know you only wanted what was best for him.”
“But I was wrong,” Solange countered. “If I’d been more open, perhaps things would have been different.” She smiled at Eddi. “Perhaps I wouldn’t have missed so much.”
Millicent swiped at her eyes. “He loved you and his father very much. He spoke of you with such respect and fondness.”
Solange dabbed at her own tears with a lace handkerchief. “Thank you for telling me that.”
Millicent smiled. “It’s only the truth.”
“Enough of rehashing the past,” Irene said, blotting at her damp cheeks. “You’re all forgetting that today is Eddi’s birthday.”
Eddi’s mouth dropped open in surprise. Even she had forgotten it was her birthday. She was twenty-five. Her gaze shifted to Doug and her hopes fell. She was doomed. Twenty-five and unmarried.
The curse had nailed her after all.
The Club had been right.
Each and every one of them, including Eddi, teary-eyed, they all hugged her and wished her a happy birthday. Doug was last and kept his touch brief and polite. Eddi’s heart ached with renewed hurt. She just wasn’t sure she would ever get over loving Doug. And doggone it she did love him.
“We brought you a birthday present,” Irene announced knowingly.
“Oh, my,” Ella said, looking distressed. “I’d forgotten all about that. I do hope it’s still okay.”
Irene winked. “I’m sure it’s fine. Doug, be a dear and escort Eddi out to my car and retrieve it, won’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said politely and turned toward Eddi.
She had to admit that his smile was a little stiff, like his movements as he followed her from the house. Whatever the Club was up to, Eddi was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work. Doug probably had the same feeling. She’d heard the whispers as they left the room. They had something plotted. She only wished that she could warn them that their master plan was doomed for failure.
Eddi was cursed and Doug had his own problems. Problems she hadn’t given fair weight to.
When they reached Irene’s Caddy, Eddi turned to him. “Just so you know,” she said, needing to do this before whatever the Club had planned made it any tougher, “I know you didn’t set out to deceive me. And you didn’t take advantage of me either.” She shrugged and looked away. This part was too hard to say while looking into those devastating blue eyes. “I kinda took advantage of you.”
“Eddi.” He moved in close, trapping her between the car and his muscular body. Every part of her reacted instantly. “I wish I could take back the wrong choices I made.” He tipped her chin up where she had no alternative but to look at him. Even that mere touch sent fire sizzling through her. “But it’s done. I am sorry I didn’t tell you the whole truth. I hope you realize how much you mean to me.”
Her heart very nearly stopped beating. “What do you mean?” She had to know exactly what he meant by that last statement. Anticipation made her heart pound back into action.
“The fact is…I’m in love with you. I’d like to make this real.” He looked hesitant, maybe a little afraid. “That is, if you want the same thing.”
A wide smile stretched across her face. “I do.”
Before she could consider that she’d just said “I do,” he kissed her. The hot, sweet melding of lips went on and on and Eddi knew that what her momma always said was true—actions speak louder than words. Doug was just as in love with her as she was with him. It was all right there in his kiss.
When at last they came up for air, she murmured, “We’d better see what the ladies have for me in the car.” She nipped his lip with her teeth. “It could be most anything.”
Doug drew back and peered through the window of the back seat. Surprise claimed his handsome face. “It’s a man.”
A man? Eddi moved away from the car and opened the back door. Her mouth gaped when she recognized the minister from her church back home leaning over the back seat.
“Preacher Lansford!” She shook him. He appeared to be sleeping. It was past nine in the morning. Surely he hadn’t been asleep in the car all this time.
He roused, sat up and looked up at her. “Eddi.” He smiled, then frowned. “Are we at the church already?”
No explanation of his disorientation was needed. Eddi could smell the Remedy on his breath. To her knowledge the man didn’t even drink a beer much less one-hundred-proof moonshine. She shook her head, knowing full well the ladies had spiked his tea.
“What’re you doing here, Preacher?” she asked, trying to figure how he could be her birthday present.
He appeared to shake off a bit of his confusion and felt around on the seat next to him until he’d located his Bible. When he had the Good Book firmly clasped in hand he scrambled out of the car and peered down at Eddi in his usual kind and authoritative manner. “Why, I’ve come to preside over your wedding. Ms. Irene and Ms. Ella said you were to be married today.” He shot a look at Doug. “Said it was necessary, if you get my meaning.”
Appalled, Eddi looked from the preacher to Doug and felt the heat of embarrassment rush all the way to the roots of her hair. “I’m sorry,” was all she could think to say. And she’d thought further humiliation was impossible.
Doug took her in his arms and smiled. “Why wait? We should just go for it. I’m game if you are.” His smile widened into a grin. “What do we need with a big church wedding? We’re here, the preacher’s here.”
Was he really asking her to marry him? Did he really want to jump back into the limelight of a high-profile family? “But marriage is a big step. You’d never be able to stay out of the limelight in this family,” she countered, so uncertain and at the same time so hopeful.
He leaned down and nuzzled her ear. “Oh, but the wedding night will make it worth the effort.” He kissed the sensitive area beneath the shell of her ear. “You make it worth the effort.”
Shivers chased each other down her spine, but she tried to think rationally. “What about a license and—”
“Oh,” Preacher Lansford spoke up. “Got that right here.” He opened his Bible and produced a folded document. When he opened it there was her signature as well as Doug’s.
“How did they—”
“Don’t question fate,” Doug interrupted. His eyes told her that this was the right thing to do. And Eddi Harper always did the right thing.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love bursting inside her. He was right. Why question fate? She’d always believed in fairy tales anyway.
If a plumber could become an heiress anything was possible.
Epilogue
“I’m so glad this case worked out so well.” Victoria Colby closed the folder on the D’Martine case. “Have you heard from Doug since he and his lovely wife left for their honeymoon?”
Ryan Braxton smiled. “He called once to let me know they’d arrived safely. I don’t expect to hear from him again until they return.”
Victoria smiled then, too. “Happy endings are always good.”
Ryan knew what she meant. Eddi was safe and she and Doug were very happy together. The D’Martine family had been united with the Harpers. All was as it should be.
A heavy sigh from his boss told the rest of the story however. “I wish there was always a happy ending.”
Again, Ryan knew precisely what she intended by the seemingly nonchalant statement. Victoria had lost her only child, a son, long ago. No body—not even a single clue—was ever found to indicate what became of him. Then her husband had been murdered. For Victoria there had been very few happy endings on a personal level.
But there could be one, to Ryan’s way of thinking. Lucas Camp. It took only one meeting with
the enigmatic man to know how he felt about Victoria. The events that had taken place on St. Gabriel Island were still fresh in everyone’s mind. Lucas Camp would do anything for Victoria. She owned his heart. But she might never allow herself that kind of happiness for fear of losing again.
“We never know,” Ryan offered. “We can only hope.”
Their gazes locked and Ryan knew that she knew what he meant. Only time would tell if that knowing would change things.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7160-3
GUARDING THE HEIRESS
Copyright © 2003 by Debra Webb.
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