The Look-Alike Bride (Crimson Romance) (19 page)

The white car wavered then dodged around the Buick, clipping the front end. To Adam’s surprise, the Buick executed a swift backup-and-turn maneuver and followed closely behind the white car.

“I don’t know who they are,” Adam said aloud, “but they don’t seem to be friends of those two.”

He glanced at the mountainous forest, broken in some areas by fenced fields and side roads. They seemed to be heading steadily higher, as if they were climbing one of the mountains. It was hard to tell, thanks to the bushes and trees lining the highway. He managed to gain a little distance, so that he at last had both cars in his view.

The white car took a turnoff on two wheels down an even narrower dirt road. The blue Buick remained on its tail. Adam reached the dirt road and followed the blue Buick, even though he had to peer through a cloud of dirt and dust to do so. He hit a deep rut and the Jeep bounced high in the air and landed with a jolt. Butch slid off the seat onto the floorboard and scrambled back up. Adam hoped the dog didn’t bounce out of the Jeep on the next big bump.

The dirt road seemed to travel on forever through the woods where the shrubbery almost scraped the sides of the Jeep, and kept climbing higher. Adam’s phone sounded its ring tone. He jolted and reached for it without taking his eyes off the dust cloud obscuring the blue Buick.

“You’re still back there?” Adam said surprised to hear his brother’s voice. “On this road? You’ll tear up your car. I don’t how where this road goes.”

“There’s a ranger station near the top of this mountain,” Jeremy said. “The road’s a dead end.”

“A ranger station? Any chance that a ranger is there right now?”

“Let’s hope so,” Jeremy answered. “Who are those guys in the blue Buick?”

“I don’t know,” Adam said grimly. “Let’s hope it’s not a rival group and we’ve stepped into the middle of a feud.”

He replaced his phone and glanced in the rearview mirror. Jeremy’s silver SUV followed at some distance behind the billowing dust his Jeep kicked up. He peered ahead at the cloud of dust they were following and calculated how close they were to the ranger station his brother had mentioned. If the dirt road dead-ended there, near the top of the mountain they were on, it meant that whatever happened next would take place there, whether anyone liked it or not.

He wondered what the two kidnappers had planned. Perhaps they wanted to use Zara as a negotiating tool in hopes of getting some concessions from the U.S. Government.

Or maybe they wanted revenge on Zara. On that thought, his blood ran cold. Telling them they had the wrong woman was not likely to make any difference.

He forced his mind to consider all the possibilities that lay ahead. If the white car tried to double back and pass him on the narrow dirt road, he could stop them. His Jeep was an older model, all metal and sporting a big solid bumper. The mostly fiberglass white rental car would come off a poor second in a contest over who got the right-of-way on the narrow dirt road.

He peered through the overhanging branches and the billows of dust. Ahead, he saw a clearing and a log building that stood near a tall metal tower. The next instant, the Jeep burst into the clearing and he saw that the white car was still in motion, circling the clearing slowly as if seeking an outlet through the encircling trees and brush.

The blue Buick halted and two men leaped out, leaving both doors open. They took shelter behind the opened doors in police fashion, guns drawn and trained on the white car.

Jeremy’s SUV bounced into the clearing behind the Jeep, and when Jeremy saw that Adam had halted, he pulled the SUV up beside the Jeep. A moment later, Adam’s cell phone sounded.

“What’s the plan?” Jeremy asked, when Adam answered.

“There isn’t one,” Adam said. “Just stay where you are. If you hear gunshots, tell Mom and Maureen to hit the floor and stay there while you get the heck out of here.”

“No plan?” Jeremy sounded disappointed. “I thought for sure you’d have something daring worked out by now, where we could save the girl and come off looking like heroes.”

Adam wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or shake his head in disbelief. “This is what’s known as an unprecedented situation. Things are fluid. Very fluid. I don’t even know who those guys in the blue Buick are.”

“They act like cops,” Jeremy said. “Okay. I don’t feel quite so dumb now.” He paused then added, “This is weird. They’re barely moving.”

Adam kept his gaze fixed on the white car with its tinted windows on the other side of the clearing. It rolled forward at a very slow speed, but nothing moved inside the car, so far as he could tell. He wondered whether Leonie was sitting where she could see that he had followed her.

Adam had almost forgotten the phone at his ear when Jeremy suddenly spoke. “If you’ve got guns, I’ll take one.”

“I don’t. You’ve been watching too much television.” Adam stiffened when his narrowed vision caught a movement across the clearing. “The car door’s opening. Sit tight. Let’s see what goes down.”

A short man slowly emerged from the driver’s position. Dressed in fishing clothes, he stood still for a moment as if getting his bearings, then produced a white handkerchief from his pocket and waved it.

The two men behind the open doors of the blue Buick remained where they were. One motioned for the driver to move forward, into the center of the clearing.

Adam kept his cell phone at his ear, conscious that Jeremy was also watching the developments.

“What are they doing?” Jeremy asked.

“The white car wants to talk.” Adam watched the short man walk toward the center of the clearing and stand near the stairs that led up into the ranger station. “They probably want to trade Leonie for safe passage out of here.”

“So what do we do?” Jeremy asked. “Mom wants to go over there and have it out with all of them. Maureen is all for it, needless to say.”

“Tell them both to sit still.” Adam kept attention focused on the unfolding drama. “I still don’t know who the guys in the blue car are.” He hesitated. “If anything happens, get the women out of here fast.”

“Will do,” Jeremy said, with unmitigated good cheer. “But I think the guys in the blue car are cops. I’d better let Maureen drive Mom to safety while I stay to help you.”

Adam heard feminine voices disputing this statement while he kept his unwavering attention on developments. The short man walked slowly forward, hands in the air. The men in the blue car remained where they were, in position to shoot, and gave more commands.

The short man shook his head and held out his hands, palms out, in the classical gesture of emptiness.

The rear door of the white car began to open slowly. Adam swiftly stepped down from the Jeep, ready for anything. In another minute, Leonie would emerge . . . .

All hell broke loose. The moment the man in the backseat put one leg out of the car, he screamed and turned to beat at something on the floorboard with one hand while trying to aim a gun with the other. He fell out of the car, and tried to stand up, staggering; Leonie fell out behind him, holding onto his leg with both her hands. He tripped, tumbled to the ground and dropped his gun, still yelling. The gun skidded a few feet away.

Butch leaped out of the Jeep and raced across the clearing to latch onto the man’s arm, while Leonie held onto his leg in a choker-hold Adam had never seen before. She sank her teeth into his calf.

The man screamed again. “Let go! Ow! Get them off me!” He kicked at Leonie, but she blocked his kick with her upraised knee.

Adam ignored the two men in the blue Buick. So far as he was concerned, they could have the two crooks in the white car, so long as he got Leonie back. He reached the gun and kicked it further away.

“You can let him go now, darling.” He grabbed Leonie’s arm and lifted her bodily. “Let go of his leg. Let’s let Butch handle this.”

“Adam!” she exclaimed. She let go the downed man’s leg and reached for him. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

He wrapped her in his arms and held her close. If she figured she was going to put him through this again, she had another thought coming, and so he would tell her as soon as he got through kissing her.

One of the men from the blue Buick came over to take charge of the man on the ground, and Adam moved her behind him.

“Ma’am, would you mind calling off your dog?” the man asked politely.

“Who are you?” Adam kept Leonie behind him.

“I work for the government,” the man said. “Agent Glenn Bieler, sir. I was sent to watch over Miss Daniel once she reported she was being shadowed.”

“Fine time for you to show up at last,” Adam said. “Who are these goons?”

“That’s what we intend to find out,” the agent said in grim tones. “Sorry about your scare, Miss Daniel. You were never in any danger. We had a tracer on the car.”

Adam found that questionable, but he managed somehow to keep silent. Leonie had probably been frightened enough.

Leonie called softly to Butch. The dog, still gripping the kidnapper’s fishing-shirt-clad wrist in his teeth, looked up at her. He gave the wrist one last gnawing with his teeth, then dropped it and rushed toward Leonie. She knelt to receive him and buried her face in his soft fur.

Adam looked down at the kidnapper, who lay on the ground and stared up the barrel of Agent Bieler’s semiautomatic pistol. “This is what you get for trying to separate a woman from her dog,” he said.

Leonie buried her face in Butch’s fur, filled with gratitude. Butch wasn’t hurt, and she was okay. Two government agents had taken charge of the kidnappers. She still had no idea why they had taken her, but she had no doubt Zara’s profession was behind the atrocity somehow.

At least Zara had taken her seriously and had sent someone to look after her. She supposed that was something, but this was it so far as Leonie was concerned. She was through being Zara. Let her sister hire an actress next time. Or let her simply go on her mission, with no one to take her place like the rest of the peons in the world.

Her next actions, she realized, included thanking Adam for rushing to save her, and then quietly disappearing, never to be seen again.

Or, at least not to be seen again dressed and made up as Zara. She was through forever with Zara’s wardrobe and Zara’s identity.

She looked toward the Buick through tear-filled eyes. Both kidnappers sat in the backseat in handcuffs. Adam and Jeremy had gone aside to speak to the two agents, while Maureen and Frances waited in Jeremy’s SUV, watching her and Butch. Leonie smiled at them and buried her face in Butch’s fur once more. How was she going to get through the rest of the afternoon as Zara?

She was going to tell the Silverthornes the truth, that was how. Then she was vanishing into her cabin and refusing to come out again until Zara got home.

The joy she felt at regaining her freedom turned abruptly into the proverbial dust and ashes. She would likely never see Adam again. Her wonderful summer love affair would end the minute she told Adam who she really was.

She had to tell him, Leonie decided, after a second or two spent following her own thoughts in circles. She couldn’t just vanish without giving him a reason. Such an action went against everything she believed in.

Tears filled her eyes. He’d probably be furious. No man liked being deceived the way she had deceived Adam. He’d hate her.

For some reason, that thought devastated her. It was ridiculous, because it was probably better all the way around if Adam hated her. Maybe he would take up again with Zara and suffer no useless guilt.

The real problem, she admitted, was that she loved him. After all the trouble she had gone through to convince herself that she could handle a summer fling, she had gone off the deep end over Adam Silverthorne. Worse, she already loved his family. Was this some sort of judgment on her for her stupidity or what?

Adam left the group near the Buick and knelt beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Butch actually turned his long muzzle toward Adam and licked his hand. If Leonie hadn’t been so upset, she might have professed herself amazed. Apparently, the dog knew Adam had come to her rescue.

“Yes, thank you.” She sniffed back tears. “Butch knows you rescued me and he wants to thank you.”

Adam smiled. “Don’t cry, darling. I don’t think we’re going to see or hear from those two again. Agent Bieler says they’re recent hires who don’t seem to know what they’re doing. They told him they were kidnapping you so they could prove to someone called Smith that you were the real Zara Daniel.”

Leonie closed her eyes. Once she told Adam who she really was, she never wanted to show her face in the Hot Springs vicinity ever again.

“Everything is going to be okay.” Adam wrapped her in his arms and laid his face against hers. “Butch is fine. I won’t let either of you out of my sight until I know those two are in prison.”

The blue Buick slowly moved around the clearing and headed toward the narrow dirt road that provided the only exit. Both agents lifted their hands to Adam and Leonie, then drove slowly out of the clearing.

Leonie sighed and let herself draw comfort from his strength and warmth. In the meantime, she still had to deal with Jeremy and the two Silverthorne women, who piled out of Jeremy’s SUV and hurried toward them.

“Is the dog okay?” Jeremy asked. “He still might get ptomaine poisoning from that goon’s arm.”

“Are you hurt, dear?” Adam’s mother asked Leonie. “There’s no need to cry. I feel sure your dog avenged you well on that nasty man. Yes, you’re a fine boy. I saw you get that mean old kidnapper.”

“Hello, Butch,” Maureen said. “You’re certainly a smart fellow to help catch those thugs. I’m so glad to meet you at last.”

Leonie saw that Butch received the attention with aplomb. He politely sniffed at the hands presented to him for approval and accepted their accolades as his just due.

She, on the other hand, hovered about two inches from total internal meltdown. She felt like a liar, a cheat, and an impostor.

“Adam, darling, you’d better give her your handkerchief. This has all been too stressful for her.” Frances patted Leonie’s shoulder kindly. “First she has to deal with all of us, then those criminals kidnap her. What a day.”