Buch lesen: «The Wedding Arbor»

Chapter One

“How do I get myself into these things?” Sara Stone said to herself, gripping the steering wheel of the compact car and hoping the road ahead hadn’t washed out. Not that she’d know for sure until it was too late!

Peering into the sheeting gray rain she gritted her teeth and pressed on. Red-clay-colored runoff water was cresting uneven berms on the upper side of the road, carrying with it rocks the size of tennis balls and all sorts of other rubble.

Sara’s knuckles were white on the wheel. She started to pray silently for safety, then paused, uneasy. There was a time when she had blithely sworn God answered all her prayers. Lately, however, she found herself anything but confident.

“Please, Lord?” she said cynically, only half believing she’d be heard. “I’m nowhere near ready to die. Okay?”

Suddenly the compact little hatchback began to fishtail. Losing traction it kept sliding no matter what she did. Finally it came to rest precariously on the edge of the roadway. One rear wheel hung off in space. The other was bumper-deep in the sticky clay.

“I can still get out of this.” She gunned the motor. The wheels spun. The car’s chassis shuddered and bucked as it sank even deeper into the mire.

Disgusted, Sara shut off the engine, sat back and took a deep breath. Rumbles of thunder shook the skies. Isolated and alone, she held perfectly still, waiting for whatever peril was sure to follow. Her whirling mind returned again and again to the old comedy line about being in “a fine mess.”

If only she hadn’t panicked and run away when the police refused to believe she was being stalked. Tensing, she glanced in the direction she’d come, half expecting to see the headlights of Eric’s car. That would serve her right, wouldn’t it?

Samson’s ears pricked up. He raised his broad, white head to stare at the door, then at his master, Adam Callahan.

“You should have thought of that before the rain started,” Adam warned gently. “If I let you out now you’ll have to spend the night on the porch.”

The enormous white dog looked back at him wisely.

“I mean it, boy. There’s no room in this cabin for a soggy dog the size of a Shetland pony. I don’t care how lovable you are.”

Samson rose. Walking slowly to the door he appeared to listen for a moment before returning to stand beside Adam’s chair. His chin rested on the man’s knees, his chocolate-brown eyes pledged sincerity. When Adam made no move, the dog nudged him gently.

“Okay, but you won’t like it out there. You’re going to get soaked.”

Already waiting at the door, Samson was not wagging his tail, an unusual reaction Adam found rather disquieting. “Don’t go far.” He flicked on the porch light and eased open the door.

The dog burst out into the night. Adam’s jaw dropped. “Hey, you, come back here!”

Adam pulled on a yellow slicker with a hood, and heavy, black rubber boots. Quickly snapping them he stepped out onto the porch to peer into the storm. Samson’s distant baying was the only clue to where he’d headed.

Adam left the cabin at a trot. The next time that mangy ball of fur wanted to go out in the rain he was going to tie a long rope to his collar and stand on the porch holding the opposite end.

“My next house is going to have a spare room to keep wet dogs in,” he murmured, starting into the forest. “And my next dog is going to be a miniature dachshund, or some other little breed, instead of a Great Pyrenees. It’ll have short hair and stubby legs. Then let’s see it get away from me in the middle of an Arkansas monsoon!”

Sara hadn’t moved from the driver’s seat since she’d lost control of the car. She had no idea whether it was safe to climb out.

Making a droll face she remembered praying for patience and wondered what kind of sense of humor God must have. If there was a God, after all.

She recalled her recent disillusionment with Eric Rydell. He’d been hired to teach sixth grade in the school where she taught kindergarten and first. She had trusted him implicitly and introduced him to all her friends. She’d even taken him to church with her until she’d discovered what an accomplished liar he was. His pious, conventional facade was so convincing that most of her acquaintances still refused to believe how unstable he was. They were trying to talk her into getting back together with him! What she really needed was their moral support.

In truth, it was the man’s unnatural possessiveness that most frightened her. None of her fervent prayers for deliverance from it had been answered. She swore he had even begun watching her house. That was when she’d taken matters into her own hands, rented a different car in which to make her escape, and headed for the Ozarks. Maybe, by the time school started again in the fall, he’d have gotten over his ridiculous obsession with her.

And maybe not. Her heart sped, her palms sweating. Had she imagined getting a glimpse of his car in her rearview mirror back on the highway? Were his threats genuine? And if so, had he noticed when she’d turned off the paved road? Or was she simply conjuring up demons where there were none?

The storm raged on. A bolt of lightning struck. Sara flinched and felt the car shift slightly. Tiny hairs prickled at the back of her neck and her forearms. The car offered more protection than she’d find outside in the wilds but there was something immensely disquieting about teetering on the edge of goodness-knows-what while she waited to slide into oblivion!

Sara jerked open the driver’s side door before she could change her mind. She felt the car’s precarious balance change. The roar of a rain-swollen river echoed from somewhere behind. It sounded so close. That ended her choices. No way was she going to take the chance of sliding into the water, car and all!

“Okay, okay,” she told herself. “Take it easy. The main thing is, to not panic.”

She eased her left leg out and placed one foot on the ground. Reaching for the waterproof backpack containing personal items and her precious laptop computer, she eased it past her chest and out into the rain as she stood up.

“Oh, yuck!” Mud squashed beneath and all around her sandals. It oozed between her toes. Wind-driven rain plastered her clothing to her body like panty hose sticking to bare legs on a humid, southern summer day.

“There are no bears, there are no bears,” Sara chanted. “There are no…aaah!”

She clutched the pack to her chest like a shield. The fingers of one hand covered her lips to stifle a squeal. A dingy-white specter rushed out of the underbrush and headed straight for her.

Sara tried to half fend it off, half catch it. She screamed, her high pitch carrying well above the din of the storm.

The animal’s greater weight and momentum propelled them both backward into the mud. She was quite relieved to realize it was a dog and not a deer or a mountain lion. It stood above her and slobbered friendly greetings all over her face and neck. Sara tried in vain to sit up.

“Get off me, you big ox. Now!”

“Just tell him to get down,” a male voice quickly offered.

“He is down. We both are. Oh, my…” Her last statement ended in a gurgled shriek as the dog renewed its efforts to lick her face with a tongue as wide as her palm.

Twisting her head she blinked hard against the rain and tried to get a better look at the stranger.

“Are you okay?” The man’s voice was gruff.

“Oh, fine. Just peachy.” Sara continued to try to forcibly remove the determined animal. “Would you mind?”

“Samson.” The enigmatic stranger spoke with authority. “Down. Let the nice lady go.”

After one parting swipe with his tongue the dog backed off. Sara felt imbedded in the soggy ground and pushed herself into a sitting position, trying to avoid getting any more mud on the precious pack.

Looking up, she tossed her head to swing her bangs out of her eyes, then reached up to smooth the blond hair back with one hand. She realized too late that she had just drawn a band of red clay across her forehead.

“That was cute.” The man was not smiling.

“I’m so glad you’re impressed.” Sara was anything but amused, herself.

“Actually, I’m not,” the blue-eyed man said. “I can understand my dog wanting to come out in the rain, but I’d think a person like you would have more common sense.”

“I was trying to find my great-grandmother’s old homestead.”

“In the middle of this storm?” His tone said more about his opinion of her poor planning than his actual words.

“It wasn’t raining when I left home.”

“So, why didn’t you turn around when you saw what the weather was like?”

Sara was not about to admit she’d been running away. “I couldn’t turn back. The road was too narrow. The visibility was bad.”

He snorted with derision. “You mean, you might have wound up in a ditch if you’d tried to go back? Seems to me that’s exactly what did happen.”

“It wasn’t my fault. I slid backward.” She was growing exasperated with his know-it-all attitude. Wiping one hand on her ruined skirt she held it out to her would-be rescuer. He made no move to help lift her the rest of the way. She stared up at him. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Well, aren’t you going to give me a hand?” She hoped he didn’t remember that stale old joke and literally applaud her predicament.

“You said you’re not hurt. I’m glad. The way I see it, you got here all by yourself—in spite of the worst storm we’ve had this season—so you must be the independent type. Why should you need me for anything?”

Sara struggled to her feet to face the man eye to eye. She was disappointed to find she’d have had to stand on a box to avoid literally looking up to him. Clearly, she needed to do something to alleviate his annoyance. Perhaps if she introduced herself…

“I’m Sara Stone.” She shielded her face from the downpour with both hands and tried to smile. “Who are you?” For a few uneasy moments she thought he might refuse to tell her.

“Adam Callahan,” he finally said.

“I could use some help with my car, Adam. Please?”

He glanced past her shoulder to eye the stranded vehicle with disdain. “Do I look like I have a tow truck?”

That did it. Sara was through trying to be polite. She was drenched and freezing. There was a fair chance Eric would drive up and accost her at any moment. And the new laptop computer she had finally decided to buy was likely to be ruined if she didn’t get back in the car soon.

“If you could just help me push the stupid car, I’ll gladly go away.” She had to shout to be heard above the noise of wind and rain.

“It’s much too dangerous to drive anywhere while the roads and creeks are flooded.”

She made a disgusted face. “So, what do you recommend I do?” Noting the perplexity in Adam’s expression she couldn’t help grinning. “Besides, take a flying leap, I mean.”

He glanced over at the muddy, blue hatchback. “Looks to me like you almost did that, already.”

“I know.” Wide-eyed, she suddenly realized how close she had come to sliding into the rain-swollen gully. “I’ve never driven on anything but smooth pavement before.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

Sara watched him study the car’s hazardous position. “Can we push it?”

“Sure.” He shot her a cynical look. “You put your water wings on, get behind it, and push while I steer.”

“Very funny.” She faced him with her hands on her hips, keeping her stance wide for better balance due to the rising wind. She sure wished she’d worn something more suitable for stomping around in mud and water.

Adam turned away, ignoring her. He scanned the nearby underbrush, then broke a long, bare limb off a fallen tree. Swinging it around he gave Sara a momentary start until he placed it under the stuck rear bumper of her car and got into position to lift with his shoulder.

“You go over to the other side. Open that door so you can get a good hold and push from there,” he ordered.

“My camping gear will get rained on.”

“If it isn’t waterproof you got cheated when you bought it. Do you want my help, or not?”

“I do, I do.” She pressed her hands and inside shoulder to the door frame. “Okay. Ready when you are.”

“Now!” he shouted.

Sara held her breath and strained with all her might.

The tree limb snapped with a loud crack. Adam yelled and his hood fell back. Sara jumped away. She could finally see the dark, thick hair and chiseled features he’d had hidden beneath the yellow slicker. She could also see he’d given up his attempt to help.

“It’s no use,” he shouted. “We can’t do it by hand.”

“Okay. Now what?”

“How should I know? If I had a brain in my head I’d leave you here and go home where it’s warm and dry. But I can’t do that, can I?”

For the first time since they had met, Sara thought beyond the immediate present. If Adam wasn’t going to leave her, then he must intend to keep her with him. That presented a whole new set of problems. Was it safe to go anywhere with a man she’d known for only a few minutes? Could she trust him?

“Go ahead. Leave me here.” Sara put on a brave front. “I’ll just wait till the storm passes.”

“And then what? In case you haven’t noticed, that old wreck of yours is axle-deep in mud.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I have a sleeping bag and plenty of provisions.”

“Where?”

“In the back seat and under the hatchback.”

“How do you propose to reach them without falling off the cliff?”

“Well, I…”

Adam scowled at her. “I thought so. I suppose you’d better come with me then. My conscience won’t let me leave you here. Come on. I’ll take you to my place.”

Sara didn’t move. She insisted she wasn’t afraid. Not really. She just couldn’t make up her mind whether or not it was a good idea to go with him. The safest choice was to continue to decline his neighborly offer, no matter how innocent it was.

He wiped his wet face with a quick pass of one strong hand and pushed his hair off his forehead. “Well?”

“I’m not going with you.”

“Fine. In that case, I think you should know one thing. These hills are riddled with limestone caves. Every once in a while, when the soil gets waterlogged like it is now, the ceiling of one of the caves collapses.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Adam eyed the contents of her car. “Have you got a tour book in there?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Look it up. There’s a big one in southern Missouri. Grand Gulf, I think they call it. A cave roof fell in and created such an impressive canyon they made a state park out of it.”

Sara had been analyzing him as he spoke, trying to accurately judge his truthfulness. After being fooled so completely by Eric, she no longer trusted her intuition. Still…“You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Nope.” He held out his hand. “Well?”

She hesitated, changing her mind repeatedly. Should she? Shouldn’t she? The idea of being warm and dry certainly sounded appealing, even if she was forced to listen to more of the man’s unwarranted criticism while in his company.

Adam shook his head in disgust as another bolt of lightning struck across the wooded valley. “That was too close. I’m not going to stand here and beg while we both freeze to death or become toast.” He reached down and grabbed her wrist.

Sara gasped. “Hey! What…?”

“I’m taking you home with me, lady, and if you scream or pitch a fit I’m going to let go and leave you right here. I’ll be happy to forget my idiotic dog ever led me to you. Got that?”

“Perfectly.” She made a successful grab for the strap of her pack, lurching and stumbling along behind Adam.

The man had a valid point. It was pretty stupid to just stand there and argue. When he’d had time to calm down she’d tell him exactly what she thought of his high-handed tactics.

But I’ll do it politely, if it’s still raining, she added, shivering. Being warm and dry sounded wonderful. She wasn’t about to risk being pitched out into the storm again because she was too outspoken.