Kidnapping His Bride. Hayley Gardner
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sheriff’s intended bride meeting with his brother. By the time they’re done building this story up, everyone’s going to think I’ll make Clay a terrible wife.”
“They’d be right, but for the wrong reasons.”
Her irritability level rose another notch, like mercury in a thermometer. She leaned in close to him and whispered, “You’re wrong. Unlike you, who had to prove the only way you could be content is to be totally free, your brother liked being married.” He’d loved his deceased wife Lindy tremendously. The whole town knew that. “Clay and I both want the same thing—to stay in Claiborne Landing among family and friends—which is why we will be compatible. That compatibility will bring us happiness.”
Griff didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. His eyes did his talking for him, and suddenly, Tessa realized how close the two of them were, almost face-to-face, mouth to mouth. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek. Without knowing how it happened, she found herself wanting, desperately, to kiss him.
Her emotions were doing her thinking again, that’s how it had happened. She backed up abruptly. “Just how long are you going to be in town, anyway?”
“Long enough to figure out who made the effort to get me here.”
“Why would that matter?”
“Somebody besides me thought you two getting married was not a great idea. I’m kind of thinking it might be good to stick around long enough to find out who and the why behind it. Stock up ammunition.”
“It’s a wedding, Griff, not a war.”
“Divorce is a war, and I figure that’s where you two will eventually wind up if you don’t think this through all the way.”
Tessa groaned. She was going to have to get Griff out of town, and the sooner, the better. To not do so could only lead to disaster.
“I’m going to call Clay.” She rose and turned as Doc Casey rounded the corner again, this time carrying catsup and mustard bottles to the other table. Then she remembered Sadie had her purse, and she would need a quarter for the pay phone. Rather than ask Griff for anything, she walked up to Doc Casey to ask him to let her use the phone in the back, just in time to catch his last words, “Don’t worry, boys. Things’ll pick up right soon now.”
“Looks like you’re having a sudden surge of business, Doc.” She frowned with disapproval. “Could it be the entertainment?”
Doc Casey’s eyes twinkled. “Naw. There hasn’t really been any.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“But there’s fixin’ to be,” he added gleefully. “Clay just arrived.”
“You called him?”
“Have to stir up the pot for the audience,” he said, without one lick of guilt whatsoever coming from him.
Sure enough, the now grating jangle of the bells announced Clay’s entrance through the front door. He saw Tessa and came to the doorway between the dining rooms, where he stopped and stared from her to his brother with a look that asked them both, What now?
Her heart went out to him. Clay had had enough to deal with being a deputy sheriff and a single father to a six-year-old for the past year after his wife Lindy’s death from cancer; he didn’t need to be in the middle of an argument between his only brother and his soon-to-be second wife, and definitely not in front of the biggest gossips in town.
“Doc, sometimes you go too far,” Tessa said, indicating the elderly men with a nod of her head.
“C’mon, Miss Tessa, don’t spit bullets over this. Deputy sheriff’s fiancée gets carried off from the wedding by his own brother and ends up here? Biggest thing to happen around Claiborne Landing in ages. Usually Athens sees all the action. If this had been happening at your grandma’s doughnut shop, she would have called in her favorite customers, too. Have to be loco not to.” Doc Casey lumbered over to the other table and left her to deal with Clay.
“Tessa, what is going on?” he asked quietly, his face now unreadable.
“Your brother kidnapped her, deputy!” the old man next to Tessa said. “Picked her up, plopped her over his shoulder and carried her right out of the church.” He slapped his knee with his Casey’s Kitchen cap. “Wish I’d a been there.”
Tessa glanced at Griff, who was frowning at both of them. She frowned right back. If he’d only been ten minutes later, she’d be married to Clay and wouldn’t be in this predicament. Speaking of happiness, well, to say the least, she’d been happier. A lot happier.
Like when she’d been in Griff’s arms. She hushed that thought away and turned her attention back to Clay, the one she couldn’t let get away, the same second as Doc Casey reappeared with a tray, headed for Griff. With this anonymous e-mailer loose, she didn’t want to let anyone alone with Griff for long, so she grabbed Clay’s sleeve and led him well away from the table with the elderly customers, to an empty area where she could talk softly to him without being overheard and still keep her eyes on Griff. Even across the room she could feel his eyes on her. Warmth drifted up through her body like the smoke before a fire.
“We’ve got to get Griff out of here. Someone sent him an e-mail telling him we aren’t in love.”
“So he came and kidnapped you from the wedding.” Clay ran his splayed fingers through his wavy black hair, looking, Tessa thought, as disconcerted as he had after his wife’s death over a year before, only without the pain this time. “Who would send him news like that?”
“I don’t know,” Tessa said grimly. Noting with relief that Casey didn’t say a word to Griff as he delivered their food, she gestured for Clay to lean down. “What I’m worried about is,” she whispered, “what if this person somehow has found out the truth behind our engagement, gets Griff aside while he’s here and tells him. We can’t let that happen.”
Clay agreed. “I’ll stick to him like glue for the rest of the day, but after that, since I’m not getting married today, I’ll probably need to go back to work.”
“After that,” Tessa said, “it’s my turn anyway. What we need is a way to make him leave. If he does, maybe the e-mailer will think Griff doesn’t care about our getting married and leave him alone.”
Clay gazed down at her for a long minute. “I think I might have an idea, but let me think about it. I’ll let you know. You sure his leaving is what you want?”
“I swear,” Tessa said. “Where Griff is concerned, I’m ice.” She’d have to be. Everyone in town knew that she’d been in love with Griff Ledoux when she’d been younger, even while he was in the Academy. It hadn’t been easy to convince them all that she’d fallen for Clay. But the people in the town were family, and she cared what they thought of her, so she had. She wasn’t about to gamble with her future now by showing that she had any feelings at all left for Griff.
Even though she did. Just physical, she assured herself, but even that was more than she wanted to deal with.
“What about the wedding?” she asked.
“It’s off for now. The pastor had another one in Ruston to get to. I told everyone we’d be in touch. I think they headed over to your grandma’s for the free food.”
“Let’s hope that’s where they went,” Tessa said, staring grimly at the small crowd in the diner watching them. “We sure don’t need any more help here.”
Across the room, Griff worked on the burger Doc Casey had brought right before Tessa started whispering in Clay’s ear, which had made Griff tense up inside something awful for some reason. His brother said a few words, then Tessa looked at Clay with those jewel-blue eyes of hers, and her hand briefly brushed Clay’s sleeve. Griff felt a sudden flush of heat as though it were he whom she was touching. He quickly pushed down the surge of jealousy that followed, fully aware he had no right to that feeling.