“Months. She’s a published author with two grown kids, solid and financially set for life. We were getting married once we returned to Texas.”
“So, how did this happen?”
He couldn’t explain it even to himself. “Bad luck. She saw this man and was convinced he was her dead husband. It was just a fluke, a coincidence.” He raked a hand through his hair. “The crazy thing is that Jon might really be her husband.”
“That’s the crazy part?”
Collin fell silent. He didn’t know what more to say. There was only one way to prove himself, but that meant the deal had to go through. “I can do this,” he said quietly. He could feel Gerald studying him, assessing the situation and looking as if he was trying really hard not to hurt him.
“I’ve given it some thought,” Collin rushed on. “At the border, if it’s the same cop and he asks about my fiancée, I tell him she is staying a few more days at the spa with her friends. With everything she bought, including a wedding dress, there isn’t room for her in the car anyway, I tell him and chuckle. Then I add, Maybe I should think about what I’m getting myself into.” He was watching Gerald’s expression closely. “I will make it work.”
“Maybe,” Gerald said after a long enough time that Collin was sweating profusely. “But not without the woman and the man you called Jon. Any idea how we might find them?”
“Well...” he said, thinking quickly. Moments before he wouldn’t have been surprised if Gerald had pulled a gun and shot him. Now he felt there might be hope. “She can’t cross the border. I have her passport and her phone.”
“But if she tried to cross, she would tell them about you, wouldn’t she?”
“No, I told you. I have one of her daughters. She isn’t stupid.”
Gerald gave him a look that said he thought Collin was, though. “What’s the man driving?”
He described the pickup. “I’m sure it’s registered to Jon Harper.” He spelled the name for him. “Montana plates.” He gave him as much of the plate number as he could remember.
Gerald nodded. “Let me see if I can find them.” He looked at his watch. “In the meantime, you have something to pick up.” He handed him a piece of paper with the address on it.
“Me?” Collin had hoped Gerald would be bringing the goods to him. Now, it seemed that he was being sent to get them. That way, if anything went wrong, Gerald would simply disappear, and Collin would take the fall.
He tried to breathe through his apprehension as he nodded and turned to leave. Why would Gerald set him up? He’d lose the drugs. The man wouldn’t do that. No, everything was fine. The deal was going through. He hadn’t blown it. Gerald wasn’t going to kill him. At least, not yet. Kate didn’t know when he was picking up the wedding dress or where, so neither did Jon Harper. There shouldn’t be any problem at the bridal shop. No cops waiting.
But as he drove to the address he’d been given, he also couldn’t help feeling as if he was being watched. His skin crawled. He’d asked for this. Begged for it so he could get himself out of trouble. What had he been thinking? If he got caught—worse, if he screwed this up—
He couldn’t let himself think about that. He parked in front of the shop, sat for a moment as he tried to calm down. It was early. There was hardly anyone on the street. But that didn’t mean they weren’t watching from one of the rooftops, just waiting for him to get out of the SUV and pick up the goods.
It wasn’t like he had a choice. He couldn’t back out now. They’d kill him. It was now or never, he thought as he opened the door and stepped out. A gust of winter air stole his breath. Closing the door, he walked to the front of the shop. The door was still locked, but when he tapped on it, an older woman appeared, unlocked it and ushered him quickly into the dark shop before relocking it behind him.
She led him through racks and racks of wedding dresses to the back. A huge box sat on the table. “It’s all ready,” she said.
He stepped to the box and started to lift the lid, but she stopped him. “Best not to disturb the dress. If it is opened at the border, it will just look like a beautiful wedding dress with lots of volume. So be very careful with it.”
Nodding, he gently picked up the box. It was incredibly heavy, but he doubted a homeland security officer was going to lift the box out of the SUV or take the dress from the box. The one thing he hadn’t seen at the border was drug dogs.
She followed him back through the shop. At the front door, she unlocked it and put up the open sign as if he was just another customer. He walked to the SUV, opened the hatch and carefully put the box in as if it was filled with explosives. As he closed the hatch and went around to the driver’s seat, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched, that any minute cops would be all over him.
He climbed behind the wheel. Still no cops. He started the engine. The street was relatively empty. He let out a laugh. This had been almost too easy. He tried not to look around for Kate or Jon. He’d told Kate about the wedding dress, but she probably thought it was a lie. Even when the bags of drugs were cut from inside the dress, it would still be a beautiful, one-of-a-kind wedding dress. He’d ordered it in her size.
Just the thought of her slim, beautiful body now in Jon’s hands... He touched his throat, thinking of her neck and his hands around it. But first he had to get the drugs across the border—without her. Unless Gerald’s men were successful and found her—and Jon Harper.
As he drove back to the rental house, he began to get nervous again. What would happen if Jon and Kate couldn’t be found?
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
WHEN COLLIN REACHED the house, he drove into the garage, shut off the engine and went inside to find Gerald in better spirits. Apparently the man put the word out on the pickup with Montana plates. Jon’s truck had been found in the parking garage at a local hotel.
That surprised him. He’d expected Jon to take off with Kate. Maybe not to the border, but at least to run and hide. Not stay in a local hotel. But if Kate told him about the highway patrolman who stopped them, Jon might have realized that running was the wrong thing to try to do.
“You have Kate?” Collin asked, half-afraid of the answer.
“Not yet. My men are waiting for them to leave the hotel,” Gerald said.
“What are you going to do with her?”
Gerald studied him for a long nerve-racking moment. “You still need her. Given what you’ve told me about her feelings for the man, it sounds as if we can use him to get her to do what we want.”
Collin nodded. “That’s good.” Especially since he’d lost Danielle. “She would do anything for him.” He hated the bitterness he heard in his voice.