Wife By Deception

He had no doubt the change was deliberate. She was obviously a better actress than he’d realized. Diabolical, even. He had a fairly good guess as to why she’d changed. She’d probably set her sights on a guy who preferred a classier image for his woman than the one she’d been projecting.

Her long, platinum-streaked blond hair, which she’d usually worn flowing in sexy disarray, had been replaced by a primly braided, dark blond upsweep. That alone was enough to change her image completely. Also missing was the dramatic makeup that had added a wicked allure to her natural beauty. If she was wearing makeup at all, it was minimal. And she wasn’t sporting her usual jewelry—a profusion of bracelets, rings and necklaces, as well as big, dangling earrings. Now she displayed only a single sapphire ring, one demure gold chain and tiny gold studs at her ears.

Her clothes were another remarkable difference. She’d always favored tight short-shorts, halter tops and high-heeled strappy sandals. When she’d gone out for the evening—which she often had—she’d donned sensational low-cut dresses, usually in red or black. Always sexy, even after the pregnancy had compromised her chorus-girl figure. Now she wore relatively long khaki shorts, a simple sleeveless white blouse and low-heeled sandals.

Not that she wasn’t still sexy. She was. Maybe more so. But he’d be damned if he’d think about that.

Disgruntled that he’d even noticed, he watched the passing scenery.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the changes in her, though. Like the cotton underwear she’d packed in her suitcase instead of her usual see-through lace. Her current lover apparently wanted a woman drastically different from the real Camryn. Poor bastard.

The deception went much deeper than her clothes or appearance. Even her household had undergone a change. She’d never shown the slightest interest in making their house a home. It had never been more to her than a temporary resting place. The house she now lived in was as cozy and elegant a home as he’d ever seen.

But then, maybe the house wasn’t hers. Because the investigator had spotted her yesterday—on the Fourth of July—he hadn’t had the chance to discover anything at all about her current activities—whom she lived with, what she owned. Not that any of that information mattered much, now that he had her.

Mitch assumed the house belonged to the new man in her life. That would explain the house, the furniture, the leather-bound books, the piano. The guy was in for a rude awakening when Camryn’s true colors began to shine through. Which, in time, they would.

It had taken Mitch himself quite a long while to understand her true character. When they were first married, she’d promised to be a good mother. She quit smoking and drinking for her unborn baby’s sake, and actively tried to win his family’s approval. Though their marriage wasn’t based on love, he’d believed they stood a chance of making their parenthood work. By the fourth month of her pregnancy, though, the novelty of being his wife had worn off, and she’d begun sneaking off to bars and casinos every night in search of new thrills.

She had him served with divorce papers one month after the baby was born. She’d been ready to move on to greener pastures. Too bad she hadn’t stayed to follow up on the legal details…like whether the divorce had gone through.

She’d put on quite a show for the court proceedings, especially at the custody hearing. She’d pulled her hair back with a bow, used very little makeup and wore a sweet yellow sundress to court. Fortunately for him, the judge knew her from various local bars and understood a good deal about her true character. Otherwise, he might not have believed Mitch when he’d testified to her negligence with Arianne.

Camryn was and always would be a self-centered party girl who wanted her kicks regardless of who suffered, including her infant daughter.

And that brought up more questions about this drastic change in her. If she was aiming to please a man, why had she chosen someone who clearly preferred a more sedate woman? Didn’t sound like Camryn’s idea of fun. Maybe the guy had money. Or…power.

That was a disturbing thought. Maybe this dramatic change in persona was part of a plan to arm herself with money and power. The poor sap she was involved with would probably meet them in the courtroom with a highpowered attorney and deep pockets full of ready cash. The prospect only strengthened his resolve to get her to Louisiana to face a judge who knew the true story. No amount of money or legal shenanigans would sway Judge Breaux—not when it came to the welfare of a child.

But what if she convinced the judge that motherhood had changed her into a decent, caring, model parent?

That had to be the driving force behind the change in her. Anxiety surged through Mitch. He knew Camryn enough to be sure that the differences were only superficial. When she had achieved her ends, she would revert to her old fun-craving, irresponsible, negligent self.

Why, then, did she still want custody of the baby?

When she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d considered it a new adventure. From things she’d told him, he knew she’d envisioned motherhood as one big heart-warming scene from a greeting-card commercial. But reality slowly intruded into that idealized notion, and boredom had set in. She’d been itching to leave Terrebonne Parish for a more exciting place.

He wasn’t surprised that she’d skipped town, but he hadn’t expected her to take his daughter with her.

Nothing in her experience could have prepared her for motherhood on her own. She’d had plenty of help with the baby from his family, and after she’d left, he’d believed she would grow tired of the never-ending work and responsibility of caring for Arianne by herself. He’d expected her to send the baby back to him…or, God forbid, abandon her to someone else’s care.

Neither of those things had happened. This, more than anything, puzzled him. Why did she continue to want Arianne? A baby would only cramp her style and curtail her freedom. She had to have some ulterior motive other than motherly love. He honestly believed Camryn was incapable of such unselfish devotion.

What was on her mind? Or, more appropriately, up her sleeve?

It was then, as he sat staring out his passenger window and pondering the question, that he felt an odd little tug at the back pocket of his jeans. He froze in absolute incredulity.

She was lifting his wallet.

The idea was too ludicrous to believe. Did she think he wouldn’t notice it missing? Did she intend to take his cash and credit cards?

Too curious to work up much of an anger, he allowed her to gradually pull the wallet free of his pocket, and through the reflection in the passenger window, watched her slip it into the pocket of her khaki shorts.

“Um, excuse me, but—” she was speaking to Darryl rather than him “—could you please stop at the next exit? I’d like to find a ladies’ room.”

Maybe she was hoping to escape him with the “ladies’ room” ruse and skip out with his money. Nothing too new about that, he supposed. She’d maxed out his credit cards and spent all the cash she could before she divorced him. She’d then left town with his daughter. About the only thing he hadn’t lost to her was his small house on the swamp, his fleet of shrimp boats and his heart. His heart remained strictly his own, thank God.

“Cap’n, you want me to stop?” Darryl asked him.

“Pull over here.”

Camryn’s lips parted in dismay as Darryl swerved the van onto the shoulder of the highway.

“We’re stopping here?” she said. “You expect me to…to go in the woods?”

He lifted a shoulder. “It’s up to you, chèr’. But we’re not stopping anywhere else, and we still have quite a ways to drive.”

Although clearly dismayed, she nodded and sat forward in the seat.

He clicked a handcuff around her wrist, and the other around his own. “Ready?”

She gaped at the handcuffs binding her wrist to his, then stared at him in patent horror. “You don’t mean that you’re…you’re…coming with me!”

“You didn’t think I’d let you loose in those woods, did you?”

He had to admire her acting ability. He could swear her objection was based on outraged modesty rather than a foiling of her escape plan. But he knew damn well she’d never been overly modest, even before they’d been married. At times she hadn’t even bothered to close the bathroom door.

An oddly convincing blush crept into her face, and she pressed her lips into a thin, white line. “You will not come with me,” she decreed, her tone imperial and her bearing regal. “I won’t allow it.”

She really had that lady-of-the-manor act down pat. “You think I should just let you out and, uh, trust you to return?”

“Absolutely.”

“So…you’re trustworthy, are you, chèr’?”

Something flickered in her pretty brown eyes. Looked a little like guilt. Imagine that. She recovered quickly enough, though, and tilted her chin at a haughty angle. “Yes, I am.”

“Then why do you have my wallet in your pocket?”

The color drained from her face, and she silently stared at him. Never had he seen her more at a loss. Not a lick of her former arrogance remained.

He held out his hand—the one that wasn’t chained to hers.

Color rushed back into her cheeks as she dug into her back pocket and placed the wallet into his palm.

He flipped it open, glanced to see that his credit cards and cash remained in place, then slipped the wallet into his pocket. His shirt pocket, this time. “What were you planning—to skip the country, compliments of my American Express?”

“No. Of course not. I…I wasn’t going to take anything from your wallet. I just…I just…”

He waited, curious as to what explanation she’d come up with.

She seemed fresh out of creativity, though. At least, for the moment. She bit her lip, looking utterly humiliated.

Something about her reaction bothered him. Crazy as it sounded, she seemed too mortified. The old Camryn would have been merely upset at being caught. A subtle difference, but one that he couldn’t easily shake off.

Why did the change in her seem so deeply ingrained?

He didn’t know, and he didn’t like not knowing. He’d have to watch her every move. Good thing he intended to transport her by boat most of the way rather than car. Even if she succeeded in some trickery along the way, she couldn’t do much damage in the Gulf. No one out there would interfere.

“You want to use the woods or not?” he demanded.

“No. I’ll just wait.”

He shrugged and sat back in his seat, forcing her to do likewise, since her wrist was cuffed to his.

“Could you please release my wrist?” she asked, her dignity back in place.

“Don’t try to steal my wallet again,” he warned as he unlocked the cuff from his own wrist, then from hers. “Won’t do you any good, anyway. Cash and credit cards won’t mean much to you out there in the Gulf.”

“The Gulf? Of…Mexico? Do you mean, we’re going on a boat?”

Another odd response. “I damn sure wouldn’t try crossing on a raft.”

She digested that quip in silence, then asked, “What kind of boat?”

He turned and searched her face for signs of mockery or sarcasm. She had to know the answer to that question. Why had she asked it? “The Lady Jeanette,” he told her.

And though he realized Camryn was a good actress and hesitated to believe anything she said or silently conveyed, he also knew that his reply hadn’t told her a damn thing. The question was still as bright and bothersome in her eyes. How could she not know he’d meant one of his shrimp boats?

More perplexing still, he detected fear in her expression. Fear. Why would the thought of traveling on his boat frighten her? She’d enjoyed herself the last time she’d gone out to sea with him. She’d enjoyed herself a little too much, actually.

“Why are we going on a boat?” An almost undetectable tremor reverberated in her voice.

“Because I don’t want you causing problems along the way. On the water, there’s less chance of it.”

Looking troubled, she searched his face, as if she suspected some hidden meaning.

Darryl called over his shoulder, “Is Joey gonna meet us at the dock, Cap’n?”

Before he had time to answer no, that he’d instructed Joey to head straight for home, Camryn cut in, “Joey?

The same Joey who has Arianne? Will he bring her, too?”

That question, more than anything, convinced Mitch that something was going very wrong here. Even Darryl glanced back through the rearview mirror to frown at the woman who’d asked the question.

“You know Joey, Cam,” Mitch answered, watching her. “Why would you ask a question like that?”

From the blankness of her stare, he knew she hadn’t caught his meaning. She clearly had no clue to what she’d said wrong.

“Do you mean—” she hesitated “—he won’t be bringing Arianne to the dock?”

What in the hell was going on?

“I mean,” said Mitch, “that Joey isn’t a he. She’s my sister.”

His sister.

In the tense silence that followed, the facts of the situation rearranged themselves in Kate’s mind. The person keeping Arianne was not the shady gangster character she had envisioned but a woman who held the same family relationship as she herself—Arianne’s aunt. A measure of relief came with that knowledge, but only a slight measure. She had no solid reason to believe this Joey was any more competent or caring with babies than a strange man would be.

On the heel of those thoughts came the understanding that she’d made a huge mistake in referring to Joey as “he.” Both Mitch and his driver were waiting for an explanation. You know Joey, Cam. Why would you ask such a question?

And this was just the beginning. If Mitch was taking her to “his neck of the woods,” as he’d called it, she could be facing a community of people whom Camryn should know. How could she possibly bluff her way through this impersonation?

The answer occurred to her in a flash of unprecedented brilliance—an explanation that would cover her latest blunder and any she might make in the future, as well as offer Mitch an explanation that might help soften his attitude toward Camryn.

And though it would be a lie, it would be more of the truth than she’d told so far.

Meeting his frankly suspicious gaze, Kate said, “I wasn’t going to mention this, since I doubt you’ll believe me. But I suppose I do owe you an explanation.” Taking in a stabilizing breath, she chose her words carefully. “In January, I was involved in an automobile accident. I sustained a head injury. Since then, there have been things I can’t remember. Like, um—” she braced herself, half afraid to utter the rest of the explanation “—Arianne’s last name. Or, where she was born…or—” she finished in a quieter tone “—who her father was.”

She then waited for the bomb to hit target.

At first, his face didn’t register a reaction. As the moment dragged out, his brows converged in a frown. “Are you trying to tell me…?”

He didn’t finish the incredulous question, so Kate finished it for him. “That I don’t know you. Or where you’re from, or anything about you.” When he continued to stare in stupefied silence, she added with fervent honesty, “That’s why I took your wallet. I wanted to see your license…to find out your name.”

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