Backwards Honeymoon

“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 my car, and leave just as I normally would. I’ll probably beat you to the park, but if I’m not there, hang around back in the trees till I show up.” He pulled the vines back and stepped into the wall.

“Jonah,” she said softly, and he turned. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me until we’ve gotten somewhere.” A moment later the door closed with a creak and he was gone.

Kathryn walked as fast as she could, aiming for the brilliant sliver which was all she could see of the sun. It seemed to be sinking faster than it ever had before. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if darkness fell while she was still in the woods. She didn’t think the small vial of pepper spray which she always carried in even the smallest handbag would be much help at all against a bear or a cougar or any of Minnesota’s other wildlife.

But before she realized that the pine woods had been gradually thinning, she stumbled out of the shadows and found herself at the edge of a park so tiny it was nothing more than a U-shaped lane with a picnic table and a garbage can. It wasn’t as late as she had feared; now that she was out of the woods she could see that the sun was only starting to drop below the horizon.

Parked in the lane was the old car Jonah Clarke had been working on in his father’s driveway, and Jonah was leaning over the picnic table with a map spread out in front of him. She saw that he’d stopped long enough to change his greasy T-shirt for a pullover that matched his eyes.

Kathryn almost ran the last few steps. “You’re a marvel! How did you know I’d come out exactly here?”

He looked up from the map. “Considering that it was you doing the navigating, it was nothing more than a lucky guess. I was starting to wonder if you’d had second thoughts and decided to just follow the wall around to the front gates instead.”

She shook her head firmly. “And leave you waiting here, wondering what happened to me?”

“It was a pleasant daydream, anyway,” Jonah mused. “Come on, let’s get going. Want a sandwich?”

“No, thank you—but if you have some water I wouldn’t turn it down.”

“In the car.”

She slid into the passenger seat and he handed her a bottle of spring water. She took a long, satisfying swallow.

He’d started the engine but made no move to put the car into gear.

“Where are we going?” Kathryn asked.

“Well, it sort of depends on what you want to accomplish. But since there’s nothing north of here but the Canadian border—”

“I have my passport,” she said brightly.

He stared at her. “You leave home with nothing except the clothes you’re wearing but you take a passport?”

“Well, not deliberately. I mean, I didn’t consciously think about leaving the country. But Douglas was going to take me to Bermuda for our honeymoon, so of course my passport was in my handbag.” She dangled the tiny purse in front of him and thought, I wonder how Douglas intended to pay for Bermuda. Or was he expecting that I would?

Jonah grunted. “Nevertheless, I think we’ll go south. It’s three hours to the Twin Cities, so you’ll have plenty of time to tell me what you’re planning to do.”

I’ll do that. Just as soon as I figure it out myself. “Three hours? It never takes me that long to get to the Cities.”

“That’s because you take the main highway, which is exactly the first place they’d look for us.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

He shot a sideways look at her. “There’s obviously a good deal you haven’t thought about, Katie Mae.”

“I guess I’m really lucky you decided to come along,” she admitted. “For one thing, they’ll be looking for a woman alone, not a couple. It’s perfect.”

“Perfect? That’s one possible point of view. Not necessarily mine. You can start by telling me what prompted this sudden decision to leave home. At least, I hope you aren’t going to tell me you’ve been planning this escape for weeks.”

The dry note in his voice made her smile a little. “No, it was quite sudden. What it boils down to is that I found out just this afternoon that Douglas didn’t want to marry me, but he desperately needed my money.” Despite her best efforts, her voice quivered just a little. Putting it into words, admitting what a gullible fool she’d been, didn’t come easily.

“Your father’s money, you mean.”

“No, my money,” she corrected. “When Daddy incorporated his restaurant chain and started selling franchises to people all over the country who wanted to run Katie Mae’s Kitchens, he put thirty percent of the company in my name.”

“And you were how old then?”

Kathryn considered. “Three. Maybe four.”

“Great idea. A major stockholder who can’t spell kitchen, much less know her way around one.”

She decided to ignore him. “At any rate, Douglas was forcing himself to marry me so he could use my money to pay off his gambling debts.”

There was a long silence. “You made a good decision,” Jonah said gruffly.

“I’m glad you approve.”

“To dump him, I mean. Running away…well, that’s not so smart. Why didn’t you tell your father what you’d found out? Kick the jerk out and then go right on and dance at your party?”

“I tried,” she said softly.

“Jock didn’t believe you?”

“He trusts Douglas. Just as I did.”

The hiss of the tires on the highway mingled with the throaty hum of the engine to produce a hypnotic murmur. The strain of the day gradually began to melt out of Kathryn’s body, to be replaced by exhausted acceptance.

“I never thought Douglas loved me,” she said, almost to herself. “That was all right, because I didn’t exactly love him, either. But I thought he respected me. Liked me. To find out that he didn’t…that it was just the money again….”

“Again?”

She nodded. “All my life people have been more interested in my money than in me. But it never went this far before. The others weren’t as good as Douglas at covering things up, so it didn’t take as long to discover the truth—that a man who was admiring my every habit and hanging on each word was really eyeing my bank balance instead.”

“It’s happened a lot, then.”

She sighed. “It seems like just about everybody I ever dated. I think 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.”

“Well, now’s your chance to get away from them. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“Yeah,” she said softly, and turned to face him. “You’re right. Once in a lifetime.” She took a deep breath. “Jonah Clarke, will you marry me?”

CHAPTER TWO

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.”