Читать книгу Backwards Honeymoon - Leigh Michaels - Страница 9

JONAH’S hand jerked on the steering wheel and the car swerved across the center line and halfway into the oncoming lane. He pulled it firmly back to safety and reminded himself that no matter what kind of kooky question his passenger asked, it was no excuse to take his attention off the road even for an instant.

“It’s fortunate that eighteen-wheeler wasn’t any closer,” Kathryn said coolly.

Almost automatically, Jonah defended himself. “It was a good quarter of a mile away.”

“And closing fast. What’s the matter, did I shock you?”

“You could say that. What the hell are you talking about, asking if I’ll marry you?”

She shifted her shoulder belt and wriggled a little. “I thought the question was pretty clear, myself. What didn’t you understand?”

“For one thing, how you got from having a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to dump the fortune hunters to issuing a marriage proposal.”

Kathryn shrugged. “It wasn’t much of a leap. I just figured you were thinking along the same lines.”

“Me?” Jonah knew he sounded appalled, and he didn’t care. “I was suggesting that the rich little girl who attracts all the riffraff could disappear right now. You could go somewhere new and just be plain Kathryn Campbell instead, and then you’d be sure that any man who came buzzing around you wasn’t after the money, because he wouldn’t know about it.”

“Would I be sure?” she asked, sounding almost wistful. “How could I ever be certain that he hadn’t done some secret research?”

She had a point, Jonah supposed. There were lots of ways to find people’s secrets, and anyone who was interested in marrying money would certainly know how to sniff out the details. “So change your name. If you’d go wait tables at a Katie Mae’s for a while, you’d soon learn to tell who was serious and who wasn’t.”

“Hide out in my father’s own restaurant chain?”

“He certainly wouldn’t be looking for you there. But I suppose you couldn’t live without your luxuries for longer than a day or two, and it would be more difficult to conceal your financial circumstances if you were driving a Porsche and wearing designer suits.”

“How much do you want to bet that I can’t do without all the luxuries? Besides, I don’t own a Porsche, I’ve never owned a Porsche, and I don’t intend to own—”

“Then no doubt you prefer Jaguars. Don’t change the subject, Katie. What the devil were you thinking, asking me a question like that? Or do you ask every man you meet to marry you?”

“Don’t be silly. I only thought that you might be…well, everybody could use a little extra money, right?”

“I suppose so,” Jonah admitted. “But—”

“So I thought we could make some sort of a deal. I do owe you, you know.”

“You said I could have my choice, remember?” He frowned. “You can’t actually be serious. Because I think I heard you say that you’d pay me to marry you, in order to avoid being chased for your money—and that makes no sense at all.”

“Yes, it does. It would be clean and up front, with no sneaking and no lying.” She looked out the window. “Oh, just forget it.”

He’d like to forget it. But the question she’d asked was still echoing through his mind. Along with it circled something else she’d said, in that wistful way of hers: That was one of the reasons I wanted to marry Douglas, so it would all be over and I wouldn’t have to guard against fortune hunters anymore.

Now he could see the convoluted, Katie-Mae-Campbell sort of logic in the plan. It ranked right up there with her escape stunt.

“You’re saying that you’d rather marry an honest fortune hunter,” he said slowly, “than one who’s trying to hide himself behind a pretense of loving you.”

“At least I’d know the truth. Really know it, not just suspect.” To his surprise, there was no defensiveness in her voice, only a note of sadness. “And knowing up front would be a lot better than being made to feel like a fool in the end.”

At that instant, Jonah wanted—more than anything else in the world—to be able to wipe her unhappiness away. But that, he told himself severely, was clearly not one of his saner impulses.

“So what will you do next?” he asked casually.

“Now that you’ve turned me down? I don’t know. Probably look for someone else who likes the deal better.”

The woman was completely self-destructive. How she had managed to make it this far was beyond him. Out on her own, alone in the world—she’d be shark bait, no question about it. But even worse, she was actually going to invite the sharks to come closer and circle around….

He took a deep breath and tried to look at things from her perspective. Her nickname was a byword across the nation. Her picture—actually it was a photo of her as a child, but there was no question the resemblance was still a strong one—was a trademarked symbol. How could she ever be absolutely certain that any man loved her for herself and not her money?

“How did you decide on Douglas?” he asked.

For a moment he thought she wasn’t going to answer. “His family mined iron ore in the Mesabi Range. Only instead of reinvesting everything in iron, they bought banks. His share of the family wealth should have been worth a whole lot more than my thirty percent of Katie Mae’s Kitchens.”

“Ah,” he said on a note of discovery. “So you were something of a fortune hunter yourself!”

“I thought someone who had his own money wouldn’t be particularly interested in collecting more. Obviously it wasn’t a workable plan, so I’ll try something else.” She was staring straight ahead as she said softly, “I’m going to marry somebody. I’d much rather it be you, Jonah.”

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment,” Jonah said dryly. “You don’t know anything about me.”

She shot a glance at him. “So what? I knew an awful lot about Douglas. Probably just about everything there was to know—except for the gambling debts.”

“I take an occasional five-dollar flyer on a sports pool,” he warned.

Kathryn shrugged. “Big deal. Besides, I know the important things. I know your father. I know you grew up on the estate.”

“If you think that makes us similar, take another look. There’s a great deal of distance between the big house and the gardener’s cottage.”

“Of course there is. But just because you were there, you can understand—more than anyone else can—how it was for me, growing up there.”

He cast his mind back over the years. Not that he’d seen her often—and perhaps that was the point she was trying to make. Katie Mae Campbell had not only been isolated by walls and gates, but by her social status. Even the few other children who lived on the Campbell estate had been discouraged from making any contact with her. Jonah himself had never tried; the few times he’d encountered little Katie Mae had been completely accidental. But then he’d been half a dozen years older and much too mature—in his own estimation, at least—to be interested in a little girl with glossy black curls and wide, dark blue eyes. A girl who was always dressed in ruffles and who looked as if she’d never dream of climbing a tree.

How lonely she must have been, he thought.

“Your parents meant well,” he said. “Keeping you protected like that. After that kidnaping threat—”

“I know they had to protect me.” The resignation in her voice abruptly gave way to something like triumph. “See? You do understand how it was.”

“A little, maybe.”

“And I know that you’re kind,” she said softly, “or you wouldn’t have helped me get outside the walls in the first place. Very kind, or you wouldn’t be helping me right now.”

Lunatic, he thought, would be a more accurate description.

He let the silence lengthen and finally said, “I think we should find a pay phone so you can call your father. At least let him know you’re safe.”

She laughed. “And you talk about me not being logical?”

“If you didn’t even leave a note—”

“There wasn’t time.”

“He’ll be worried about you.”

“Jonah, that place is so wired for sound that he could trace me within fifteen seconds of answering the phone.”

“He has good reason for that. And maybe I can figure a way to get around it.”

“If you can do that, you’re the greatest electronics genius of your day. Even twenty years ago, he had a good enough bugging system that—” Her voice caught.

Jonah nodded. “That he told the FBI precisely where to find the extortionists who’d phoned him and threatened to snatch you if he didn’t pay them off. I remember. That incident is exactly why you shouldn’t leave him in suspense this time.”

“The system is a whole lot more sensitive now.”

“I’ll figure something out—at least a way to get a message to him. He’s not young anymore, Katie. Don’t make him suffer unnecessary stress.”

“Who are you, anyway? His doctor?” She sighed. “All right, but it’s on your head. If your great idea fails and he finds me, I’m holding you responsible.”

“Maybe he’ll be so glad to hear from you that you’ll be headed straight home of your own free will.”

She didn’t answer that, but the tilt of her eyebrows spoke volumes. A little later, she said, “This deal we’ve been talking over—what about if I offer you fifteen percent of Katie Mae’s Kitchens?”

“Fifteen percent of the company or fifteen percent of your share? Not that I’m indicating interest either way, you understand. It’s just idle curiosity.”

She looked at him sideways. “Oh, sure, you’re just curious. I meant of the company. That leaves me fifteen percent. My father still holds forty and the rest of the shares are owned by a bunch of investors, so it wouldn’t change anything, really. I’d still be a major stockholder.”

Jonah shook his head. “You need to learn to negotiate, Katie. Pick your man carefully, approach him right, and you could probably settle for five percent. Certainly for ten.”

She raised her chin a fraction. “I’d rather be fair up front and get things settled quickly.”

Shark bait, he thought. She’s doomed.

Fifteen minutes later, Jonah slowed for a small town. “I wonder if there’s a library here.”

“Probably not one that’s open at this hour on a Saturday night. What do you want to look up, anyway?”

“Libraries have public-access computers, sweetheart. If nothing else, we can send your father an e-mail. He does have an e-mail address, doesn’t he?”

“Oh, yes. His newest toy is a gadget the size of a remote control that lets him download his mail anywhere. He’s in love with that thing. But can’t e-mail messages be traced?”

“Not this one. Not by the time I get done with it.”

“In that case, there’s an easier solution.” She pointed at a low building across the highway.

“A coffeehouse?”

“Look at the neon sign in the window.”

“Internet access. Perfect.” He swung the car into the parking lot.

The coffeehouse wasn’t particularly busy, but Jonah guided Kathryn to a booth instead of toward the row of computers along one side of the room. When she gave him a questioning look, he said, “I could use a cup of coffee. Besides, we’d be more likely to be noticed if we went straight for the computer. Noticed—and remembered, in case anyone happens to come along and ask. What would you like?”

“Whatever you’re getting for yourself.”

“I’m ordering a large, plain, house blend—black, no sugar. If you’d rather have something fancy—”

Kathryn shook her head. “I wish you’d get over this idea that I only like something if it’s expensive and exotic.”

He gave the order to the waitress and added casually, “By the way, what’s special about the computer in the corner over there? The one that has its own little room?”

The waitress looked over her shoulder as if she wasn’t sure which one he meant. “It’s wired for sound,” she said. “We’ve got some customers who can’t type, so they like that one. They can just talk to it.”

Jonah summoned his best smile. “Can you put me on the waiting list to use it?”

The waitress blinked and gulped. “I’ll make sure you’re next.”

He turned back to find Kathryn looking at him thoughtfully.

“Don’t start talking about your bargain here,” he said.

“I wasn’t planning to. I do have some discretion. I also am capable of feeling shame, which you obviously aren’t. Flirting with the waitress like that—”

He was mildly indignant. “I didn’t hurt her in the process of getting what I wanted.”

“Maybe not, but she’s going to be hanging around staring at you and soaking up every word you say as long as you sit here. If you didn’t want to be noticed—and remembered—you’ve gone about it exactly wrong.”

Their coffee arrived at breakneck speed, and the waitress confided, “The guy who’s using the computer now is in here every night, so I told him his time was up in five minutes.”

“Thanks,” Jonah said.

Kathryn only raised her eyebrows and sipped her coffee.

Once they were in the enclosed booth, it took him hardly any time at all to set up the Internet connection so it would operate like a regular telephone. “Here.” He handed the headset microphone to Kathryn. “You talk in here, but your father’s voice will come out of the speakers.”

She hesitated. “And you’re certain he won’t know where I’m calling from?”

“If his system can figure out anything at all—which I doubt—it’ll tell him you’re in Seattle. Go on, dial the phone.”

She clicked out the number of Jock Campbell’s private phone line on the screen display, and just moments later heard her father’s voice. “Daddy?”

“Kathryn! Thank God. Where are you, darling? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Daddy.”

“And you’re coming straight home, aren’t you? Douglas is here with me. He’s upset, of course, and he doesn’t understand why you left anymore than I do, but he’s quite willing to let bygones be bygones.”

Kathryn shot a look up at Jonah, who had perched on the arm of her chair. “So he’s willing to marry me even though I ran away?”

“Of course he is, darling.”

In the background she heard an Ivy League accent. “Tell her we’ve both made mistakes. Of course I’ll forgive her.”

“Well, that’s too bad for him,” Kathryn said crisply, “because I’m not willing to forgive his. You might ask him about his last trip to Las Vegas, Daddy—the one when he was supposed to be somewhere else. And while you’re at it, you might take a really careful look at Douglas’s finances.”

Jock sounded puzzled. “What was that, Kathryn? I only heard part of that. Your voice was breaking up, as if there was some electronic interference.”

Jonah muttered, “Hang up.”

“Is there someone there with you, darling?” Jock’s voice sharpened into suspicion. “Is someone telling you what to say?”

“No, Daddy. I just called to tell you not to worry about me. But I won’t be coming home for a while.”

“Kathryn—”

She clicked the disconnect button and turned to Jonah. “There. I tried to be reasonable. Are you satisfied?”

He nodded absently. He was thinking hard.

“Good.” She led the way back to their booth. “Now that I’ve set Daddy’s mind at rest—so to speak—what’s next?”

He took a long swallow of coffee. “What else do you have in that purse besides a passport?”

“Credit card. Makeup. Nail file. That kind of thing.”

It figured, he thought. She carried everything she considered essential, but not much that was useful. “Any actual money?”

“Not much. I’ve never been in the habit of carrying cash.”

He supposed that for most of her life she hadn’t needed to. There would have always been someone with her to pay the bill or sign the charge ticket. “That’s too bad, because I don’t have a lot on me at the moment, either. Your credit card accounts are probably already being watched, so if there’s a transaction, Jock will know it before the ink’s dry. I’ve got a card, too, but it won’t be good for much longer, either.”

“Why not? Nobody knows you’re with me.”

“Jock will know soon enough, honey. They’ll be questioning everybody who was on the estate today. And when they find out that I left about the same time you did, and that nobody’s seen me since…. Well, it never did take Jock Campbell long to add two and two and come up with half a dozen. We are going to need to get hold of some serious cash.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re going to be on the run for a while. I wish the library was open.”

She frowned a little and said very gently, as if she was humoring him, “If you’re thinking of somewhere to rob, wouldn’t it be better to choose a bank?”

“Thank you for that excellent advice, Katie Mae,” he said dryly. “I’m not planning to steal the overdue book fines, I want some information—because at the moment, I don’t know how far we’ll have to go, or even in what direction.”

“For what?” She was beginning to sound exasperated.

“To find a state…” he set his coffee cup down with a firm click and looked at her very deliberately “…where we won’t have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get married.”

Kathryn choked on a mouthful of coffee. “You mean…you…”

“I’ll marry you, yes. Or are you backing out of the deal?”

Am I? She’d have expected to feel relief at his announcement, not this sudden wave of blinding panic. This was what she’d wanted, she told herself desperately. What she’d asked for. But now…

It’s just the suddenness of it, she told herself. It’s the same good idea it always was. I’m just surprised that he changed his mind, that’s all.

Of course, said a little voice in the back of her brain, fifteen percent of a national restaurant chain was well worth changing one’s mind for.

But wasn’t that the whole point? She knew exactly why he was marrying her; that absolute certainty was why she’d made the offer in the first place.

“No,” she said as firmly as she could manage. “I’m not backing out.”

“Then from here on out, we’re partners. Fifty-fifty in everything, right?” He held out a hand.

She laid her palm against his and felt an almost electrical zing from the contact.

“What am I thinking? I don’t need a library,” he muttered, and only an instant after taking her hand, he pulled away. Before Kathryn could gather her wits, he’d crossed the room again to a vacant computer station.

She sipped her coffee. It was cold now, but she didn’t care.

Married. She could almost hear her father roaring at the news that within hours of her broken engagement she was seriously planning to marry a different man.

A very different man, she thought. With Jonah, there were no false promises, no crossed fingers behind the back, no faked declarations of love. Just honesty and openness. And kindness, of course. Perhaps that was the most important factor of all, in Kathryn’s estimation. Few men would brave Jock Campbell’s wrath in order to help his daughter, even with the promise of a good chunk of his empire dangling before them. Jonah—despite his firsthand experience of what the man was capable of—hadn’t hesitated. And he’d done a good deal of helping even before she’d offered him the deal of a lifetime.

Well, Kathryn corrected, he hadn’t hesitated much.

Jonah came back to the table, folding a paper napkin. “This may be a little trickier than I thought. It appears that the easiest places to get married in this country are a long way from Minnesota.”

“Well, putting some distance between us and my father might not be a bad idea.”

“A very long way. We don’t have enough cash to buy airline tickets, and if we used a credit card, Jock would know about it long before we reached our destination.”

“He’d probably be waiting for us in the terminal,” Kathryn agreed.

“So it needs to be somewhere within driving distance. However, as far as I can determine, every state around here requires either a waiting period or blood tests or both.”

“I can see why you’d object to the waiting period,” Kathryn said reasonably, “but what’s wrong with blood tests? Are you afraid of needles or something?”

Jonah shook his head. “It’s the uncertain time element that bothers me. It can take days to get a lab report, maybe even longer than the official waiting periods are. And the more time we stay in one place—”

“The more likely it is that Daddy will catch up with us.”

“Of course, he can’t really prevent you from doing anything you want,” Jonah pointed out. “You’re an adult and you can marry whomever you choose, even if Jock’s standing right there yelling at you about it.”

Kathryn made a face. “Not a pretty picture. I think I’d rather present him with a fait accompli.”

“That’s what I expected you to say. So the best choice I’ve found is Nevada.”

“Las Vegas?” She was horrified.

“What’s wrong with it?”

She bit her lip. “I guess it’s a silly objection, but apparently it’s one of Douglas’s favorite playgrounds. And it’s not what I’d call within driving distance, either. Wouldn’t we be better off—”

“To stay right here and play sitting ducks? There isn’t a courthouse in Minnesota that will be open again until Monday, and then there’s a five-day waiting period. How certain are you that Jock wouldn’t hear about his daughter applying for a marriage license in Minnesota—especially since it’s the second one in just a few weeks?”

“You have a point,” Kathryn admitted.

“We might as well spend the weekend on the road. We don’t have to go all the way to Vegas, anyway, because anywhere inside the state line will do.”

Kathryn sighed. “I suppose, if it’s the best we can do, we should get started.”

Back in the car, he thrust a road map at her and said, “Plot me a route to Wisconsin.”

Kathryn stared at him. “Wisconsin? I wasn’t the best geography student on the planet, but the last time I looked Wisconsin was due east of here, and Nevada is southwest. Why on earth do you want to go to Wisconsin?”

“To rob that bank you were talking about earlier.” He flicked the turn signal and pulled onto the highway. He must have seen her expression, however, for he laughed. “Not literally, Katie. But we must get hold of some cash, so we’re going to have to use the credit cards. If we use them along the way, we’ll be giving Jock directions on how to follow us. So we’ll go the opposite direction, create a false trail, then double back and make our run for Nevada.”

She unfolded the map. “Don’t tell me,” she said as she buried her nose in it, trying to make out the fine print. “In your day job, you’re a spy. Right?”

“Darn, you guessed my secret. Now the director will have to assassinate us both.”

She put the map down. “You’re excited about this,” she accused. “You’re enjoying it.”

“Well…yeah, I suppose I am. Come on, Katie, this is an adventure we can tell our kids about.”

Kathryn gulped.

He shot a look at her. “What’s the matter? Hadn’t you thought that far ahead yet?”

“I guess not,” she admitted.

“Well, you’ll have at least twenty-four hours to think it over before it’s too late to change your mind,” he said easily. “Probably more like thirty-six.”

She turned back to the map, but she hardly saw it; the lines appeared to be squiggly.

Kids, she thought.

She and Douglas had never talked about the subject, but somehow she knew that they would have discussed having children, not kids. She’d never thought about the difference before, but suddenly it loomed as wide as the Gulf of Mexico. Having children with Douglas would have seemed almost clinical. Having kids with Jonah, on the other hand….

Would be one heck of a lot of fun, whispered a wicked little voice.

But she’d think about all that later. She ran a finger across the map. “This would have been easier if we’d started out in the right direction, you know.”

“Well, if I’d realized when we left Duluth that we weren’t headed for the Cities…” He sounded a bit absentminded.

“Okay. There’s a place coming up where we can turn onto highway—”

But Jonah was obviously not listening. His gaze was fixed on the rearview mirror. “Damn,” he said under his breath. “I didn’t think even Jock could move this fast. But I’m not speeding, so—”

Kathryn twisted around to look. Behind them, precisely keeping pace, was a highway patrol car with the emergency lights running. And as she watched in disbelief, the siren began to wail, and the officer flashed his headlights, signaling them to pull off to the side of the road.