Backwards Honeymoon. Leigh Michaels

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      “I gathered that much,” he said dryly. “So what are you going to do instead?”

      “I’m…leaving.”

      “I see. Well, if you’re looking for your Porsche, I think the garage is still on the other side of the property.”

      She bit her lip and looked at him, debating. She was down to minutes, if even that long, before the alarm went up, and standing here talking was getting her nowhere at all.

      “Jonah,” she began. “You know perfectly well that I—”

      “Mr. Clarke will do.” He mimicked her tone. “Or, if you insist, you can call me…well, let’s stick to Mr. Clarke. It’s much tidier.”

      “Mr. Clarke,” she said firmly. “You grew up here on the estate, am I right?”

      He nodded. He looked wary, she thought.

      “Then you must know if there’s any way out of this place other than through the front gates.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know me, but you’re assuming that I was the sort who would go sneaking out over the walls at night.”

      “Well, didn’t you?”

      He grinned. “Of course I did.”

      “How?”

      “Oh, no. I’m not telling you.”

      She caught at his sleeve. “Please,” she said. “I’m desperate, here. I have to get outside these walls, right now. Will you help me?”

      His eyes narrowed. “Tell me exactly what’s in it for me—besides a whole lot of grief when your dad catches up with me—and I’ll consider it.”

      She looked up at him and let her voice go sultry. “What do you want?”

      “What are you offer—” He broke off and shrugged. “Oh, forget it. Katie Mae, you are too dangerous to be let loose on the world.”

      “I told you not to call me—” She paused. “Come to think of it, you can call me anything you want to if you’ll just help me get over the wall.”

      “Will going through it be good enough?” He pushed open the side door of the garage and leaned into the dark interior. Then he dangled a large, old-fashioned key in front of her.

      In a rush of gratitude, Kathryn said, “I’ll give you anything you want.”

      “I’ll think it over and let you know. Come on.”

      His loose-limbed stride ate up the ground; Kathryn had trouble keeping up with him as he plunged deeper into the woods which filled a good part of the Campbell estate.

      “So where are you headed?” he asked over his shoulder.

      “You don’t think I’d tell you, surely.”

      “That probably means you don’t know.”

      “No, it means I expect you’d turn around and sell the information to my father.”

      “Sure I will. I’ll march right up to him and say, ‘Jock, old buddy, I can tell you where your daughter went, and I know because she confided in me while I was hoisting her over the wall.’ I’m sure he’d reward me, probably right after he slugged me in the face.”

      “What about the key? I thought that meant there was a door or something.”

      “You don’t think I’d tell him all my secrets, do you? He’d have it sealed up in a minute, and who knows—I might want it again someday.”

      “Thinking of moving back in with your father, are you?” she asked sweetly.

      “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but you never know what might come up.” He stopped abruptly. “Here.”

      Kathryn could see the vine-shrouded wall beyond the last row of trees, but she couldn’t see anything that resembled a gate or a door. “Where?”

      “Good disguise, isn’t it?” he said cheerfully. “The vines were here when I found this place, but it took me a couple of years to train them just right so they’d hide the door without breaking when it was opened. Let’s see if they still do.” He pulled back a curtaining vine to reveal an arch-topped door built of heavy planks.

      The key slid silently into place and the lock opened with a discreet click. On the other side of the thick wall hung another curtain of vines. Kathryn ducked underneath it and looked out across an expanse of pine woods that spread downhill as far as she could see, full of undergrowth and brambles. She looked uncertainly out across the dappled hillside. “Um…where am I?”

      “Some Boy Scout you’d make. About five hundred yards through there is the state highway.”

      She bit her lip. “I suppose once I get there I could hitchhike.”

      “I’d suggest you hurry, or you’ll probably be trying to thumb a ride with some of your own wedding guests.”

      She looked up at him through her lashes. “Maybe you should come with me.”

      He said something under his breath. She was rather glad she hadn’t heard it clearly.

      “Jonah…I mean, Mr. Clarke…you won’t ever be able to collect whatever I owe you for helping me escape, if you don’t know where I went.”

      The silence stretched out endlessly.

      “One thing’s certain,” he muttered. “It’s becoming obvious that I like pain. All right, I’m in for the adventure.”

      She smiled in triumph. “Then let’s lock the gate and get going.”

      Jonah shook his head. “Not so fast. I may be a masochist, but I’m not an idiot. I was checked into the estate on the guards’ list this morning. If I’m not checked out the same way, all hell will break loose and they’ll be looking for both of us.”

      “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

      “Along with half a million other things you haven’t considered, I’ll bet. Anyway, I don’t fancy being shot at by the FBI because they think I’m holding you hostage.”

      “Why would they think that?”

      “Did anyone see you leaving?”

      She shook her head.

      “Did you tell anybody you were going?”

      “Not exactly.”

      “Then they have no way of knowing if this stunt was your idea or someone else’s. Look, we haven’t got time to argue. You take off through the trees—just walk toward the sunset and you’ll come out near a little roadside park. I’m going to go back in, get СКАЧАТЬ