Rescuing A Runaway Bride (21 page)

Samantha’s car was still in her apartment’s parking lot he noted as he pulled up to the building. He ran to the building, punched in the sequence on the alarm, and entered the apartment shouting her name. There was no reply. His fears were confirmed. She’d vanished.

He walked inside, looking around. There was no sign of a struggle. Everything looked as it had when he left this morning.
Except for the scrap of paper on the counter.
He picked it up and read the note written in Samantha’s handwriting.

Jake, it’s over. I realized you and I weren’t meant to be together. It’s Grayson I love. We’re going to be married. Please don’t try to stop me.

Samantha

He sagged down in the chair in disbelief. It couldn’t be true. Then he noticed the smudge on the bottom of the page. He picked it up and peered at the doodle. Samantha always doodled when she was tense.
An umbrella.
Stormy weather.
Samantha was in trouble.

He sprang to his feet and ran to the door while pressing the speed dial on his cell phone for Samuel Logan’s office on his cell phone. “Sam, Ramsey here. Grayson’s snatched Samantha. Delbert probably knows where they are going. What’s that? Grayson St. James has one of the corporate jets on standby? He’s going to pilot it himself to go to a trade show in Las Vegas? I’m heading for the airport now. Have some of my staff meet me there for back-up and call the police.”

Jake shut the door behind him and reset the alarm, although it was rather pointless now that Samantha was gone. He started down the walk when he saw one of her neighbors.

“Well, hello, Jake,” Mrs. Morley said. “Are you here to water Samantha’s plants?”

Jake slowed down to glance at Samantha’s friendly neighbor who was watering the begonias in her window box.

Maybe she knew something. “Have you seen Samantha?”

“Oh, so you don’t know.” She beamed, touching her hand to her heart. “It was so romantic. I saw them less than an hour ago. She and that handsome fiancé of hers have eloped.”

Jake’s mouth went dry. “Eloped?” St. James must have used deadly force to get Samantha to comply.

“Yes indeed. You couldn’t have gotten a feather between them, holding onto each other so tight they were.”

Jake frowned as the image formed in his mind. “Did Samantha have her arm around him?”

Mrs. Morley’s brow wrinkled. “No, come to think of it, she didn’t. She just stood there kind of stiff like. It was probably just wedding jitters. Funny thing, though, she warned me that it was going to rain and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.”

“Stormy weather.”
It confirmed the doodle on her note.
The panic code!
He felt ice flow in his veins. Samantha was in big trouble.

Jake dashed back to his car and high-tailed it toward the private airstrip Logan Industries used. He could only pray he was in time because he had the sick feeling once Samantha became Mrs. St. James, Grayson would kill her.

* * * *

Samantha slanted a curious glance at Jennifer while they waited in a control shack for the jet to get fueled up. Gold hoop earrings swung in her ears as she hopped up on a table while pointing the gun in Samantha’s general direction.
What is Jennifer getting out of this?
She seemed bored to tears as she stood guard over Samantha.

Jennifer noticed Samantha watching her and scowled. She waved the gun lazily in Samantha’s direction. “Don’t get any bright ideas, rich bitch.”

Samantha froze in the folding chair she was sitting
on,
terrified the gun might accidentally go off. “Don’t worry. You have nothing to fear from me.”

She smirked, plopping the gun down on the table and picked up a fingernail file. “You bet I don’t. God, I can’t wait to blow this town. Bright lights! Casinos! Vegas
is
where it’s at.”

“You don’t say.” Samantha glanced out the window. Grayson was on the tarmac getting the plane ready. When she turned back, Jennifer continued to shape her long, red talons. She didn’t relish the idea of getting on the jet with these two psychos. If only Jake would arrive.

“I do say,” Jennifer said then chuckled. “What do you say, honey? Want to spend your wedding night with me? I can arrange it. Or maybe you’d like to try a threesome.”

Samantha shuddered at the thought of sharing the same bed with these two monsters. “No thanks.”

“You don’t have to act like you smelled something bad. You know I don’t like you.” Jennifer scowled, picking up the gun again. “If you hadn’t freaked out when you caught us in the act, we wouldn’t have had to trail your sorry ass over half the countryside. You’ve been more trouble than you’re worth, lady. I told Gray we should have moved on to the next score long ago.”

So they were a couple of con artists. Somehow it didn’t surprise Samantha. “As long as we’re laying our cards on the table, why did you try to run me off the road and then shoot Jake back at the cabin?”

“That was Gray’s idea. At first, he thought he’d scare you back to him. When that didn’t happen, he decided to just snatch you, but that damned pain in the ass Ramsey kept getting in the way.”

Samantha frowned.
“Another thing, why did you have to pick on my brother?”

Jennifer shrugged. “We figured while we were waiting for the golden goose, we might as well score a little cash. Stuffy old Daddy Delbert got suspicious and freaked, so we had to set up a fall guy. Hot-to-trot Tad was an easy mark.”

Samantha frowned at the easy mark slur than gasped as the words Daddy Delbert sunk in. “Delbert is your father.”

“No, stupid, he thinks he’s Gray’s long-lost father. Gray’s mother had a fling with him when she was passing through town. Gray decided to con him and viola. The ripest plum on the tree just fell into our laps. He was so hungry for a family. The old man was pissed about having to retire, so it didn’t take much to fire him up.”

Out of the corner of her eye Samantha thought she saw someone walking behind one of the jets. It was Jake, she could tell as he came closer. She inched closer to the table and the gun that rested upon it, thanking her lucky stars Jennifer was too busy shaping her nails to notice. Just then, the faint wail of a siren intruded.

Jennifer stopped filing her nails, turned to look out the window, and let out a shriek. “Shit, it’s Ramsey.”

Seeing her options vanish, Samantha jumped up and flipped the table with all her might, sending a swearing Jennifer crashing to the floor.

“Damn it to hell,” Jennifer sputtered, reaching for the gun.

Samantha lunged forward and snatched it away, saying, “Freeze, you psychopathic slut.” She surged to her feet, holding the gun on the other woman. “You’ll sit there and shut up if you know what’s good for you.”

The siren grew louder. She flicked a glance out the window. Grayson must have heard it too, because he spun around in that direction. She caught a flash of movement to the side of her in time to see Jennifer run out the door.

The gun shook in Samantha’s hand, but she couldn’t bring herself to shoot Jennifer. Bucking up her courage, she lit out after the other woman, yelling,
“
Stop!”

“Screw you!” Jennifer shrieked, while racing toward the jets.

Samantha chased her across the tarmac. Thankfully, Grayson seemed to be too focused on the sirens to notice until they were right on top of him.

Grayson gasped when Jennifer ran up to him. “What in the hell are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be guarding her.” He gazed past her at Samantha as she approached, and his jaw dropped. “Oh, I see. Baby got cute!” He reached into his boot to pull out a knife and advanced on Samantha, saying, “Drop it.”

Jake emerged from the side of a jet, his revolver pointed at Grayson.
“My words exactly, moron.
Drop the knife.
Now!”

“Go to hell, Ramsey.” Grayson spun and lunged at Jake, slashing at him with the knife. He drew first blood, opening up a gash on Jake’s arm.

Jake feinted to the side, kicking the knife out of Grayson’s hand, and knocking him to the ground just as the police drove up. He placed one booted heel on Grayson’s throat, pressing hard enough to make him freeze. “One more false
move,
and it’s all over for you. Got it?”

Grayson coughed, giving a little nod.

“Good!”

Jennifer stepped to the side and started to scuttle away.

Samantha stepped forward, stopping her at the point of a gun. “Not so fast. The police will have plenty to say to you, too.”

Several other squad cars arrived on the scene and Laura hopped out of one of them. She ran forward, saying,
“
Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine,” Samantha said, “but I can’t say the same for my hero. How bad is that arm, Jake?”

“It’s just a scratch.” He shrugged.

A patrolman came up. “Paramedics will take care of that, sir.”

Jake let them wrap his arm,
then
walked over to hug Samantha.
“How about you?
Are you all right, sunshine?”

Samantha nestled against him. The warmth of his embrace seeped strength back into her bones. “I’m fine now that you’re here. Thank you for rescuing me.”

“You’re most welcome.” He bent to give her a thorough kiss.

Just then, a black Lincoln tore onto the tarmac. Tad and Samuel jumped out just as the squad car containing Grayson and Jennifer pulled away. Samuel rushed over to them, demanding, “What happened?”

Samantha stepped away from Jake’s embrace and into her father’s. “I’m fine.
Jake came to the rescue, as usual.
Grayson wanted to kidnap me and force me to marry him. He wanted to gain control of my trust fund stocks. He and Delbert planned to oust you from the board and take over the company.”

“We have Delbert in custody. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Samantha inhaled the mingled scents of tobacco and leather as her father hugged her. She gazed up at the new lines on his face, knowing that she’d put quite a few of them there during this crisis. Despite their many differences, they had found common ground. If he could change, then so could she. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she stepped away.

“Everything’s under control, sir,” Jake confirmed. “The authorities have Grayson and Jennifer in custody.”

“That’s fine,” Samuel said,
then
cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Samantha smiled at her father, knowing he wasn’t used to such public displays of affection from her. Then she glanced over at Tad who hovered a bit tensely in the background. “Jennifer was in on the whole thing, Tad. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, sis,” Tad said softly. “I’m well over her.”

Samantha watched as Laura stepped up and put her hand on Tad’s shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Maybe cupid would strike twice for their families. Although Jake hadn’t actually said the three little words, “I love you,” she was sure that he did.

* * * *

The next evening, she sat alone in her townhouse eating dinner. Jake made himself scarce since Grayson’s arrest and she consoled herself with the excuse he was busy helping the prosecutor build a case against Grayson and Jennifer.

It turned out there were a long line of warrants out against the two, and they’d tried something like this before. Even worse, it had been proven Grayson wasn’t Delbert’s son. It’d had been
a con from the word go
. Once told the truth, Delbert collapsed with guilt and was now helping the police wrap up the case.

Tad and Laura
were
now an item, and Samantha was living the life of a nun and eating dinner alone. Sometimes life wasn’t fair.