Stolen Bride. Sally Carr

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СКАЧАТЬ said, let me go,’ she snarled.

      With a little smile he dropped her hand, and after a mock bow, he turned and walked to the edge of the trees.

      Cara breathed out in one gusty sigh. Making sure he had his back to her, she let the dress drop to her feet. She ran to his suitcase, her high heels wobbling perilously in the soft earth. With a muttered oath, she kicked them off, knelt and flipped the catches on the case, then began rummaging desperately through his clothes.

      ‘There’s a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts at the bottom,’ said Finn.

      She looked up to find him staring at her. ‘Go away!’ she screamed.

      ‘Cara,’ he said gently. ‘We’re not exactly in the fitting rooms of Saks Fifth Avenue. Get the damned clothes and get in the car.’ Blushing furiously, she did as he said, pulling on the shirt and running to the passenger seat as he stuffed the dress, the wreath and her shoes into his case.

      ‘Attagirl,’ he said, sliding into the driving seat and taking a good look around. ‘Just getting dusk now. It’ll be fully dark in a few minutes, and with luck no one will notice us at all on the autostrada.’

      Cara stared at him, the memory of what they had done suddenly becoming horribly real. ‘Luca’s men will see us get on,’ she whispered. ‘They’ll be watching for us when we go through the toll booth.’

      He glanced at her. ‘We’re not going through the toll booth,’ he said at last, starting the car and driving onto the road.

      ‘But there is no other way,’ she objected.

      Finn shook his head. ‘This road leads to the con-struction site for the new section of the autostrada,’ he said equably. ‘I was looking at it yesterday, funnily enough, and it’s just about completed. We just get on it, drive along till we hit the main autostrada and then, voilà.’

      ‘Are you French?’ she asked after a short pause, thinking for the first time of that strange lilt to his otherwise perfect English. ‘Because you are certainly mad.’

      ‘Irish American, actually,’ he said mildly.

      ‘Even worse,’ she replied glumly, shrugging irritably as he glanced sidewise at her.

      ‘Have you any better ideas?’ he inquired.

      She shook her head.

      ‘Well, then,’ he said. ‘At least this one has the advantage of surprise. No one will be expecting us to use this route, and when we get on the autostrada we just keep on it till we hit the French border.’

      ‘Uncle Pancrazio is a very powerful man,’ she told him. ‘And so is Luca. They have contacts everywhere, and they’re not going to stop until they find us.’

      ‘You think we should give up?’ Finn asked softly.

      Cara clasped her hands together tightly. ‘I don’t know why you stepped in like that this afternoon,’ she began. ‘I don’t believe it was anything to do with your stupid book. But maybe you should just drop me off here and get away on your own. The risk is too great for you. I...I’ll go back to my family and apologise.’

      ‘And marry Luca,’ Finn added softly.

      ‘He probably won’t want me now,’ she said shakily. ‘Anyway, I can stand up for myself. Don’t bother about me.’

      Finn screeched to a stop among the piled-up building materials on the road site. Cara put her hands out to stop herself from hitting the windscreen, then looked at him. ‘What did you do that for?’ she demanded.

      Finn was glaring at her, and she sat up straight. ‘Well?’ she asked, trying hard and failing to stare him down.

      ‘If you think I went through all that this afternoon just so you could turn yourself into some sort of sacrificial virgin on my behalf,’ he snarled, ‘you better think again.’

      ‘It’s the only reasonable way out,’ she said furiously.

      ‘All this talk of escape to England is just so much hot air. There’s no way they’re not going to catch us.’

      He stared hard at her. ‘Just tell me, once and for all,’ he said grimly. ‘Do you or do you not want to marry Luca?’

      Cara moved her hands impatiently, pleadingly. ‘Of course I don’t want to marry him. I told you the truth. I just got led along by degrees until I found myself right on the edge of the chasm. But the price you’ll pay for pulling me back is too great.’

      ‘What do you think your family will do if they catch us?’ His voice was soft, almost conversational, as if he was discussing the outcome of a local election.

      She looked at her lap. ‘I don’t know,’ she said dully.

      He reached over and tipped her chin. ‘Cara, that’s the first time you’ve tried to lie to me, and you’re not very good at it. We both know that we’ve gone too far to back down. If you went back now, your life wouldn’t be worth living.’

      ‘At least I would be alive,’ she replied bitterly. ‘You have to get away. You’ve risked enough.’

      A slow smile spread over his face as he looked at her.

      ‘What?’ she demanded. ‘What are you smiling at?’

      ‘You,’ he replied, putting the car into gear and beginning towards the distant ribbon of lights that marked the autostrada. ‘You’re a very brave woman, Cara, but I think I’ll take a rain check on your offer.’

      ‘It’s no use arguing with you, is it?’ she asked softly.

      ‘No,’ he replied. ‘Not this time. And do me a favour, will you?’

      ‘What?’ she asked.

      He flicked her a glance. ‘Do up your damn seat belt before I have a nervous breakdown.’

      

      It was almost fully dark, and there was no moon. Cara pulled off her tights and pulled on Finn’s shorts. They were impossibly big on her, but with luck the shirt would hide the bagginess. She glanced at Finn, tensing as he slowed down.

      ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.

      ‘There are cars guarding the slip road,’ he said. ‘Your family is more thorough than I gave them credit for.’ He glanced at her and squeezed her hand. ‘But maybe we can still get through. Get in the back, on the floor.’

      Without a word, she did as he said. Finn drove steadily towards Luca’s men. He wound down the window, and she held her breath. There were shouts and then Finn answered. ‘Would you believe it,’ he yelled in perfect Italian. ‘Three pairs of lovers on this stretch of Godforsaken road, and none of them were our birds. I’m going to take a turn on the autostrada, see if they’ve managed to escape the net.’

      Cara lay on the floor behind his seat, her fists clenched, waiting for the angry shouts to come, the gunshots, willing Finn to accelerate, get the hell out of this crazy place. But he just kept going СКАЧАТЬ