Stealing the Groom: A Stealing the Heart Novel (Entangled Bliss)

by Weiss, Sonya

  Not that any of the boys ever saw it.

  Now that they were both adults, Amelia tried to reason that maybe Claire had grown up, that perhaps high school Claire had seen the error of her ways and changed her behavior.

  But she simply did not trust that the Queen of Mean had undergone a personality transplant.

  The phone quit ringing but restarted immediately after it had stopped.

  “This might be Claire. I should let her know what’s going on. No doubt everyone is freaking out right now.” Chad prompted, jerking his head toward the phone. “I’ll talk to her.”

  When Amelia heard him lift the phone in the back, she reacted. She pressed the button on the front console to end the call and put the phone on lock.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Chad demanded as he looked from the phone in his hand to her.

  “I know you might be a little confused as to why I interrupted your wedding.” She took a deep breath, wanting to make him understand her desperation.

  “A little confused? That’s the understatement of the century.” Chad slammed the phone down. “Everyone is going to wonder what the hell happened to me. What if they think I’ve been in a wreck getting to the church? Or if this might actually be a real kidnapping?”

  She thought of Ann. And the disbelieving look on the chauffeur’s face when she’d jumped into the limo and sped off.

  “I think everyone is well aware of the fact that you’re not going to make it today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I instructed Ann to let everyone know we’d run off together once we were long gone.”

  “Dammit, Amelia.” He stared at her hard for a few moments, then said, “This damn monkey suit is uncomfortable.” He inserted a finger in the collar to loosen his tie. Then he slowly pulled the strip of cloth from around his neck and tossed it aside. He removed the tuxedo jacket, folded it carefully, smoothed out the wrinkles, and placed it on the back seat beside him. “I hope you brought a change of clothes for me. I’d like to at least get comfortable.”

  “Ah, no.”

  “Dammit, Ame, how many times have I told you if you want to succeed in any endeavor, you have to have a workable plan?” He shook his head in disbelief.

  “Dammit, Chad,” she mimicked, “some of us don’t live by spreadsheets, day planners and by-the-minute schedules.”

  “Because some of us prefer chaos,” he shot back.

  “Not chaos. But rather, unscripted life.”

  “Without a plan, failure is inevitable.”

  “I got you, didn’t I?” She couldn’t prevent the smugness in her voice. Besides, she had a plan. Kind of. She just wasn’t going to blurt it all out to him yet.

  “Yes, you did. But you forgot about risks that could ultimately derail you.” He held up his hand and counted each statement on his fingers. “Number one, before you locked down the phone, I could have called the police. You didn’t even think about that, and I doubt they would have been as lenient with you as I have.”

  She couldn’t argue that.

  “Number two, I could have called Claire as well. I’ll bet she’s freaking out right now.”

  “Yeah, freaking out over losing your fat bank account,” Amelia muttered, frustrated a man as intelligent as Chad couldn’t see past the tall blonde’s face and figure.

  She jerked her gaze back to the interstate, lowered the sun visor to keep the afternoon sun out of her face, and managed to say firmly, “She’s not the right woman for you.”

  “I suppose you know the right woman for me?” A trace of irritation colored his voice. “Please tell me you don’t have a bride waiting at the end of this ride. That would be a little much, even for you. Watch out a second.” He maneuvered his body into the front seat, his long legs bumping against her as he settled.

  “No one is waiting at the end of the ride.”

  “That’s one positive note at least,” Chad fastened his seat belt and bent forward to search the glove box.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for something to write with. I need to draft a plan.”

  “A plan for what?”

  “To make this groomnapping go as smoothly as possible.”

  “You’re helping me?” Amelia blinked at him. Up close and personal, his nearness played havoc on her nerves.

  He just stared at her as if…

  As if he was almost grateful for this whole scheme of hers. She couldn’t deny he was being pretty darned calm about the whole thing. Very un-Chad-like considering he had a plan for everything, lists about lists on getting tasks done.

  “Sure I’m helping, if nothing else, for the sake of my own sanity. Because point number three, you could never pull this off unless I wanted you to. And right now, as bad as this sounds, I do.”

  “You don’t want to marry Claire,” Amelia said triumphantly, the boulder of worry rolling off her shoulders.

  “Like you, I don’t want to get married at all but I have to, and Claire is a logical choice. She’s available, interested, and willing to be my wife within the terms I’ve stipulated. And everything was going as it was supposed to and then you left your apartment in New York and breezed back into town…”

  “I wasn’t at my apartment, I was on an assignment, but after you left a message on my voice mail telling me you were getting married did you expect me not to show up and try to talk some sense into you? Sense that you completely ignored.” She glanced over at him to gauge his reaction, but his expression remained closed.

  “What I expected was for you to accept that unlike you, I have responsibilities.”

  “If you’re so responsible, why are you determined to go along with me?”

  “Because I’d hate to see your obviously well-thought-out plan crash and burn,” he said, still searching the glove box. “And I confess, the idea of another night of bachelorhood, hanging out with my best friend, holds some appeal, even if there’s going to be hell to pay when we get back to Sweet Creek.”

  Amelia glared at his lowered head. Save a guy from himself and this was the thanks she got? Throwing an impromptu bachelor party?

  She jabbed his shoulder with her index finger. “Knowing how Claire runs through men and money, I’ll bet I just saved you millions in a divorce settlement.”

  “Ouch.” Chad rubbed the spot. “For your information, Claire and I have already worked out the logistics for the divorce. You think I was actually going into this without a prenup?”

  Amelia was so astonished she nearly stopped the car in the middle of the road. “What?”

  Chad shrugged. “According to my grandfather’s stipulations, as long as we’ve been married six months, I get my full shares in the company, which gives me control. I can finally start turning around the disaster my father left. After I get the shares, Claire can have a divorce along with the remainder of a healthy financial settlement.”

  “It all sounds so cold. Why would your grandfather do something like that?” Amelia pressed the gas pedal and shivered despite the warmth of the sun filling the front of the car. “There are no benefits to marrying someone like her.”

  The amused look he gave Amelia caused her to clench her teeth. “Other than that,” she said, not liking the mental image of Chad and Claire together—or even him standing within fifty feet of Claire without being in a shark cage.

  Amusement still evident in his voice, Chad said, “I told you right after you got back to town, I gain a marriage with no heartache and no messy emotions involved.”

  “I can’t believe you’d sacrifice yourself just to get controlling interest.”

  “That’s not all there is to it.” Chad shook his head. “For the past year, Walker Industries has been operating in the red.”

  Amelia gasped. “How can that be?”

  “My father stole a great deal of company funds in a pathetic attempt to bribe my mother to come back to him. When she didn’t, he gambled the money away in casinos and then covered it up. He’d l
ied to investors and the board of directors for years.”

  “What does that have to do with you getting married?”

  “My grandfather is an old man. The board of directors wants me at the helm because they no longer trust his judgment. But he’s stubborn and won’t relinquish my full shares unless I get married first. He thinks that will prove I’ve grown up, settled down, and can handle the company.”

  She shook her head. “No way. I’m calling BS. Your grandfather knows you’re responsible and can handle any business situation. And being distracted by a new wife isn’t going to help you run a company, it’s just going to draw your attention away from it.”

  “Agreed. That’s why I think there’s a deeper ulterior motive. Lately he’s been harping on me to settle down, get married, start a family. Claims I’m working myself into an early grave for no good reason. As if saving the company was ‘no good reason.’” He rolled his eyes. “I explained there was no rush, there was time to think about the other stuff once the company was in the clear.”

  She laughed, swiping a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You’ve never wanted to think about the ‘other stuff.’”

  “God no. But my grandfather doesn’t know that.”

  No, Chad had only confided in Amelia about that. “So he didn’t believe you?”

  “I thought he did. Then I announced my plans to merge the company with another local business to help increase profits and rebuild our base. Grandfather immediately said he would block it. The only way I can move forward with the merger is if I hold those shares.”

  “And the only way you can hold the shares is to find a wife.”

  “Bingo.”

  Amelia couldn’t believe his grandfather, Henry, would be so calculating. Usually the man was an old softy. Then again, her own grandfather said that Henry hadn’t been the same since Chad’s father died. Perhaps that is what motivated Henry’s newfound “embrace life” attitude.

  But unfortunately, his “embrace life” scheme had turned into just another one of his grandson’s business deals.

  Amelia exited the interstate and pulled into a parking space at the rest area. She killed the engine and shifted to face him. “You don’t love Claire.”

  Was it her imagination or did his Atlantic-blue gaze drop to her lips? Linger there long enough to heat the car to the temperature of an oven on broil? Of course not. He wasn’t any more romantically interested in her than she was in him.

  Amelia was the first to look away. “You don’t love Claire,” she repeated as the burrito she’d had last night rumbled around in her stomach.

  Chad gave up on finding something to write on and slammed the glove compartment. “No, I don’t.” He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then shook his head as if to clear it.

  “You know how I feel about love. How I’ve always felt about it. So me not marrying for love shouldn’t come as a shock to you, Ame. That particular emotion belongs in fairy tales and movies, not in real life.” He looked down to brush a speck of lint from his tuxedo trousers.

  “You’re not your father, Chad. And you don’t have to marry someone like your mother. You have the choice to find someone trustworthy and loyal.”

  He raised his head, the muscle working in his jaw the only indication of how much he hated discussing his father. “No, I’m not my father, which is why I refuse to go down the same road he did. It was love that destroyed him, not a lack of it, like I incorrectly thought years ago when we made that silly promise. It wasn’t because he hadn’t taken a chance on love, it was because he loved too much and got burned. Things have changed. Times are different. I won’t marry a woman I love and I don’t want one who loves me. No emotion. No heartbreak. Keep it all strictly business. My plan is perfect. Or it was, until you groomnapped me.”

  Amelia could only imagine the heartache in store for him if he committed to living without love.

  “No plan is perfect,” she finally offered.

  “This one was.”

  The man defined stubbornness. Weary from having failed to convince him, she said, “Fine. Do you want me to take you back to Sweet Creek?”

  His lips pursed as he considered her words. “No. We can take this trip out of town tonight and head back to Sweet Creek in the morning.”

  “You honestly think that’s going to fly with the family and friends you left behind at the church? Especially after they’ve heard you ran off with me?”

  “Maybe. Probably.” He shrugged. “The wedding was somewhat thrown together to begin with. I doubt it’ll make much of a difference if it’s thrown together again a few days from now. The proverbial damage is done, for today’s ceremony anyway. And I’m sure Claire will be willing to forgive and forget, given financial compensation.”

  Amelia nodded, her heart suddenly lighter at having a bit more time to convince Chad to call off the wedding for good. “Okay. I guess I shouldn’t have acted so impulsively. I was trying to save you.”

  He grinned, slow and sexy, and Amelia’s breath caught. She was over that silly crush. What was wrong with her?

  “Impulsiveness is part of your charm. But really, Ame, there are worse things in life than marrying Claire.”

  “Much worse,” Amelia agreed, “you could marry her and end up exactly like your father.”

  Chapter Two

  Unwilling to be baited, Chad shot back, “Or worse than ending up like my father, I could end up married to you.”

  Amelia gasped. “In your mind, marrying me is worse?” She scowled. “You should be so damn lucky as to marry me.”

  Marriage to Amelia?

  Hell, no. Just like his parents, he and Amelia were opposites. His thoughts jumbled as he watched people in a nearby car get out and stretch. His mind distantly registered a couple walking pets in the dog-walking area.

  Amelia as his wife. No way.

  A hundred reasons why marrying her would spell disaster flashed rapid-fire through Chad’s mind. They’d both end up in a marriage neither wanted—Amelia because she needed to be free to run away, and him because he wasn’t going to let love destroy him the way it had destroyed his father.

  No two people were as opposite as him and Amelia. They practically defined the word “opposite.” Maybe even more than his mom and dad had.

  He was a suit and tie kind of guy. Elegant dining at upscale restaurants.

  She lived in blue jeans and her favorite T-shirts. She preferred hot dogs and barbecue chips on a picnic blanket.

  She was a just-because woman. She’d once flown all the way to Michigan in December with her sisters just because she wanted to build a snowman. Had flown to California alone just because she wanted to see the sunset on the West Coast.

  As a freelance photographer, she never stayed in one place long. She was always flitting off to various parts of the world to take photographs of locations—the kind that people looked at in coffee table books and dreamed of visiting.

  He’d take routine over dreams any day. Dreams would let a man down, but routine never did.

  The thought of marrying her, of being involved physically with Amelia, his childhood pal, his teenage confidant, caused his heart to react in a new way.

  He shoved it aside.

  Claire, no matter how shallow, was the better—safer—bet. A business arrangement and nothing more.

  So why the hell was he running from his wedding?

  He looked at Amelia. “Lucky to marry you? How do you figure? What about love, as you pointed out?” he reminded, trying desperately to gain some sense of normal in the conversation.

  Amelia gave him a suspicious look. “We are talking hypothetically, correct?”

  At his nod, she continued, “By lucky I meant that starting out as friends, at least we would have more going for us than you and Claire.”

  “And the ramifications of a marriage between the two of us?”

  “In our hypothetical world, we could stay married long enough for you to get your full shares and take over the com
pany. When the dust settles we go our separate ways.” She shrugged. “I’m surprised you didn’t come to me first instead of agreeing to this sham with Mean Girl Number One. You know I would have helped you.”

  He heard the reproof in her tone. “You’re too much of a free spirit, you’ve said so yourself. You couldn’t even stay put for six weeks, let alone six months.”

  Not that he would have asked her to marry him even if she weren’t such a free spirit. There were too many variables. Too many things that could go wrong.

  What if he fell in love with her? Then she’d leave. Run off the same way she always did. Break his heart. He couldn’t. Too much to risk.

  When the silence stretched to the point of becoming uncomfortable, Amelia cleared her throat and said, “We should laugh this off, chalk the groomnapping up to another Amelia-moment-gone-wrong.”

  She unbuckled the seat belt and moved to get out of the car.

  He closed his fingers gently around her arm to prevent her from leaving. “Hold on a second,” he said as much to himself as to her, fighting a battle with bitterness she couldn’t see.

  An image of his father, the man love had broken and driven to find solace in the depths of a bottle, flashed in Chad’s mind.

  The drunken rants, the pleading, the crying on the phone, begging for his wife to return.

  He’d loved Chad’s mother so desperately that it had destroyed him when she’d left him for another man. He’d spent exorbitant amounts of money trying to win her back. Instead of focusing on Walker Industries, he was consumed with his ex. Made bad business decisions, one right after the other.

  And as a result, his father had almost destroyed the company.

  After his father drank himself to death, Chad began putting Walker Industries back together slowly, piece by piece, but hadn’t been out of business school very long and running the company had been an adjustment. He felt the burden of trying to protect the jobs of the people who worked for him on his shoulders every day.

  Protecting his family’s business was challenging enough. Having to protect his heart, too, might just break him.

  Chad had sworn to himself he’d never be like his father. Love would never destroy his life. He wouldn’t allow it.