LITMIR.BIZ

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so much as a by-your-leave—”

      “Some poor slob?”

      “Yes, some poor slob. You just ran out on the guy, didn’t you? Left him standing in the church?”

      “You don’t understand the situation. I can’t believe you feel sorry for him. I’m the one who—” She stopped abruptly.

      “You’re the one who what?” Troy demanded. He refrained from throwing at her that he understood all too well what it was like to be jilted.

      “Nothing. Never mind.” Andie crossed her arms and stared straight ahead, her lips set in a mutinous line.

      “All right.” Troy blew out a frustrated breath and tried to sound calm as he proceeded. “Let’s try starting over. You can begin with just what the heck is going on here, and I’ll see what I can do to help.” By help, he really meant how best to get rid of her, but he bit that part back.

      He hoped he wasn’t asking for trouble by exploring the situation further, but maybe if he knew what her problem was, he’d be able to figure out what to do with her.

      His gaze fastened on her pink rosebud mouth, and that little, traitorous, instinctive part of him that kept rearing up thought of at least one thing he could do with her....

      He crushed the thought. Correction, he reminded himself staunchly. That was one thing he absolutely was not going to do with her.

      He was going to have to get better control of his thought patterns. Now would be a good time.

      “I—I can’t explain,” Andie said, still staring out the window, avoiding his gaze.

      “Well, if you want to come to California with me, you’d better start trying,” Troy said tightly.

      He should be miles away. Instead, here he was, parked on the side of the road, trying to figure out what to do with a beautiful, errant bride. It was ludicrous, unbelievable...but it was real.

      Andie finally returned her gaze to the man beside her.

      “I was supposed to get married today,” she offered briefly.

      “No kidding.” Troy arched an eyebrow and glanced pointedly at her attire. “What happened?”

      Andie twisted her hair. “I changed my mind.”

      “Really?” Troy couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

      “Yes, really,” Andie said defensively.

      “So you came to this momentous conclusion while you were standing at the altar, I take it?”

      “No, of course not! It hadn’t gone that far!”

      Troy gave a harsh laugh. “Oh, well, thank goodness, it hadn’t gone that far. I’m sure that must be a source of comfort to the groom.”

      Andie had had it with the grilling. The whole reason she was running away was so she wouldn’t have to answer all these questions.

      “It’s very complicated,” she said briefly, hoping he’d be satisfied. Again, she stared off determinedly in the direction of the highway, trying to convince him by her body language that the conversation was over.

      Apparently, he didn’t understand body language.

      “Okay, so it’s complicated. I’m listening,” he prodded.

      Andie gave up and swiveled her gaze back to him. He had incredible eyes, she admitted to herself. Large, intense, with darts of green-gold heat in their brown depths. He’d said he’d try to help her. But did he mean it?

      She was tempted to tell him everything. She chewed her lip, wavering.

      In the end, she settled for only part of everything.

      “I need some time to think.” She sighed. “I need to get away, that’s all.”

      “There has to be somewhere else you could think besides my truck,” Troy said. “Let me take you somewhere—”

      “No!” Andie knew good and well there wasn’t one single place she could go where her parents wouldn’t find her and turn on the pressure. “Look, I need to get away.” She had to convince him she meant business. “If you won’t take me with you—”

      “What? What are you going to do if I don’t take you with me?” Troy waited.

      Andie looked out toward the highway, her thoughts tumbling atop one another, desperately searching for an answer. Trucks and cars zoomed along in the distance.

      “I’ll get someone else to help me,” she bluffed. She lifted her chin. “I’m sure somebody will pick me up.”

      The idea of hitchhiking terrified her. She knew she’d never be able to do it.

      The question was, would the man beside her—the man who looked as if he’d gladly throw her under the wheels—believe that she might do it?

      Troy’s gut tightened. He imagined pretty Andie standing on the side of the road in her wedding dress with her thumb out.

      And some stranger stopping and taking her in. She could end up attacked, or worse.

      He pulled the truck back into gear and headed for the highway, cursing under his breath all the way. Dog growled, sensing his mood. Glancing at Andie, Troy saw she was scrunched up in the corner, as if uncertain of either man or beast in that moment.

      Troy hit the highway at full speed, blending into the weekend traffic heading west. He pulled the truck’s huge visor down against the bright, late-afternoon sun. The highway lay like a ribbon of black heat in front of them, surrounded by green, grassy shoulders and low, rolling, wooded hills.

      He was behind schedule already. He was irritated. His dog was irritated. And he was stuck with a sexpot in a bridal gown who wouldn’t even tell him her last name, for Pete’s sake.

      It was going to be a long trip.

      “Tell me this,” Troy demanded after a few minutes. “Have you done something wrong, committed some kind of crime?”

      Every possibility lay open for why she would be fleeing a wedding. She could have been involved in some sort of scam for all he knew.

      He didn’t need that kind of trouble.

      “No!” Andie said immediately. “I haven’t broken the law, I promise.”

      Troy’s mind chugged along to other options. “No one’s going to be looking for you? I’m not going to be arrested for kidnapping you or anything, right?”

      What if her family panicked over her disappearance? All Troy needed was for a posse of private eyes to come hunt her down. What kind of mess had he stepped into the middle of?

      “No—well, I don’t know what they might do.” How were her parents going to react to her absence? Andie wondered suddenly. It hadn’t occurred to her that anyone might think she’d been the victim of foul play.

      She hadn’t thought about a lot of things. It struck her abruptly that she hadn’t even brought her purse with her from the dressing room. She wouldn’t have been able to pay that taxi if it had stopped. And she had no way of supporting herself on this cross-country trip.

      She was totally dependent on the man beside her. The man who was looking at her as if he wanted to wring her neck.

      On impulse, she pulled out the diamond studs in her ears and slapped them down on the dash. “Here. I’ll pay you back for my expenses. In the meantime, you can hold on to those for collateral.”

      The expensive earrings were worth far more than he would spend on her during the next ten days, she was sure. But she didn’t want to be any more beholden to him than necessary.

      The studs bobbed in rhythm to the truck’s purr. Troy guessed they were at least two carats each. “What do you mean,

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