The Unrelenting Tide (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans - Christian Romantic Suspense) (28 page)

Panic surged. The last thing she needed was to have her face flashed all over the news. Why hadn’t she thought this through?

Massive lights and mics on poles swayed like a nightmarish forest, moving along with the vehicle as it rolled forward and eased around a curve in the road. Why couldn’t the driver just gun it? For a split second, she regretted coming here. What had she been thinking, agreeing to marry someone with whom the media had such an insatiable fascination?

“Kate! Look this way.” A deep voice carried above the others even through the rolled-up windows of the car. “Aren’t you scared of him? Come on, admit it!”

Scared?
A shiver clambered down her spine at the implication. Shuddering, she lowered her chin and brought her hands to her cheeks. The only thing she had to be scared of was having a clear image of her face land on the evening news or the front page of a major newspaper. The suggestion that she should be afraid of Chase was comical in contrast to the disaster these idiots outside her car could initiate without even realizing it.

“Did he do it, Kate?” A man with a microphone jogged alongside the car, shouting. “What’s he told you?”

A dull ache thumped at her temples. As the driver managed at last to pick up speed and pull away from the pressing crowd, Kate spoke, more to herself than to him. “It’s a circus out there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She looked at his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Has it always been like this…since…you know?”

“Only at first.” The car veered out onto the road and the commotion faded into the distance. “It had all but died down. You coming out here put fresh wind in their sails. They’re here now because of you.”

“Because of
me
?” A sick feeling churned in the pit of her stomach. “That’s ridiculous. I didn’t do anything.”

“No, ma’am.” His tone remained noncommittal.

The adrenaline completed its trek through her system, leaving her drained and trembling. “They can’t get near the house, can they?”

“Mr. Cole’s property is gated. The media knows not to trespass.”

“Good.” Twisting around, she took a reassuring glance through the rear window. “I just want to be left alone.”

“You’ve come to the right place.” He looked at her in the mirror, his eyes smiling slightly. “Shaw Island’s residents are known for keeping a low profile.”

“Perfect.” Removing the glasses, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I want to keep my profile so low not even a snake will take notice.”

He chuckled lightly and focused on the road ahead.

Forcing a calm breath, Kate placed the glasses in her Chloe handbag and smoothed the crisp cream linen skirt Chase had bought for her in California. She admired the stylish peach top and matching pumps that were so unlike anything she ever would have picked out for herself. How lucky could she get, having Chase now to direct her sense of style.

Pressing into the plush seat, she took in the passing beauty of the island. Since she’d hardly given any thought at all to what it would be like to live in the Pacific Northwest, its magnificence came as a pleasant surprise.

The sun danced happily through trees that appeared a vivid emerald even through the tinted glass. Coming from a place that felt grimy and overpopulated, the abundance of pure nature here could easily overwhelm. It was truly a world away from the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, earning it points in its favor right off the bat.

Of course, California had its share of plusses, but staying there had not been an option. Guilt gripped her stomach at the thought of the mess she had made of her life, and of the people she’d abandoned.
Poor Dakota.
She gulped back tears at the thought of his innocent little face. Her leaving must have broken his heart.

She lowered her lids as if ending a scene in a movie to begin another. There were enough other people who cared about Dakota and would see to his needs. She had to believe that. Her eyelids lifted, but tears threatened. If Dakota were capable of fully comprehending the situation, he would know that leaving had been her only choice. Either leave or wind up dead.

Still, it weighed on her that she hadn’t been able to say goodbye or to offer any sort of explanation. Now she just had to close the door on the past and appreciate that fate had intervened, bringing Chase into her life at just the right time.

Glancing down at the impossibly huge diamond on her finger, she brightened. Chase was everything she could ever want. Handsome, smart, funny. So what if he was thirty years older than her? That was a bonus in her book. Not to mention that he was
rich
. Rich beyond belief, with no problem lavishing his wealth on her in every way imaginable.

True, there was the issue of his recent past that had put him—and by association
her
— in the limelight, but that was just a natural byproduct of his being so wealthy. The public would always be hungry for scandal, whether real or imagined. As long as she took care to maintain her new look—especially keeping the dark roots at bay— and didn’t let the cameras get too close, she could ride this out with ease. This was child’s play compared to what she had already survived.

Gazing out the window, she watched a sailboat glide across the gray-green bay. That reminded her of another bonus…. Chase owned a yacht. A
yacht
! She could scarcely believe it. She tipped her head back, picturing long days luxuriating on the deck of his…
their
boat, without a care in the world. Her troubles were truly over. Well,
almost
at least.

She rolled the tension out of her shoulders. Yes, the notoriety was easy to overlook when everything else about the man was just so perfect. Some women would have a problem with a fiancé who traveled half the time for business, but not Kate. She would enjoy having time to herself in his secluded house on this practically private island. This place was a gift.

As the summer sun sparkled through the trees, reality held her in its grasp.
Finally
. Her new home. And now she had nothing to do for the next two weeks but plan the wedding.
I’m amazingly lucky
.

The road followed the gentle curve of the bay, then straightened and moved inland. Now trees and green fields swathed them on both sides. Kate sighed. This island felt like a dream. Nothing bad could happen to her here. The paparazzi would soon tire of trying to scare up a story. She and Chase would get on with their lives in this stunning paradise where no evil could touch them. Life would be good.

The car slowed, and Kate’s stomach buckled. They had to be nearly there.

As they took a severe right off the main road, a thicket of trees next to the passenger side of the car fluttered in the afternoon breeze, its branches reaching out as if trying to disengage from the tangle. A smile reached Kate’s lips as she thought of Audrey Jr., the man-eating plant in
The Little Shop of Horrors
.

As she leaned closer to the window and pictured the shrubbery crying out ‘Feed me, Seymour!’, a dark form emerged from the foliage and lurched at the limo. She jerked back, her mind freezing as she caught a fleeting glimpse of a face, or rather the place where a face should be, inside the hood of an oversized black sweatshirt.

In the split second it took her to choke back a scream, the figure retreated back into the dense stand of trees.
Gone
.

As the car picked up speed again, Kate twisted around. There was no sign of anyone near the road.

She whirled back to question the driver. Surely he had seen the man lunge at the car from out of the roadside bramble, and would offer some explanation. But his eyes in the mirror focused on the road ahead. She swallowed her concern. If the driver didn’t seem alarmed, it must have been nothing. Just a kid from the island, maybe. Or another reporter hoping to get her attention. That would explain the hood. And the lack of a face.

A cold shiver ran up her arms.
Ridiculous
. Maybe it was a mask she had seen, or the face was too shadowed by the hood to disclose its features. Or, more likely, she had just imagined the whole thing. Exhaustion ruled and reigned, not only from the long trip up from California but from the ordeal she’d been through over the past few months. Could be she was seeing things.

Shaking off her uneasiness, she looked ahead and her heart raced for a different reason. The driver slowed in approach to an ornate metal gate. He stopped and held up a tiny remote. As the gate slid open and the car glided through, Kate wrung her hands. Why was she so nervous?

Excited-nervous
.
That was it.
Not scared-nervous.
Her emotions had always been so scrambled that she had a hard time identifying them. Time to start getting a handle on that.

She pulled in a deep breath and looked through the windshield at the tree-lined drive ahead. As the car leisurely rounded a curve, the flora thinned like a curtain parting.

Holy cow.
Chase had told her all about his house—
their
house—but nothing could have prepared her for this. She let out a gasp, to the apparent amusement of the driver, who responded with a light chuckle.

“This is it, Miss Jennings.” He glided the car around the sprawling circular drive, stopping at the foot of a wide walkway. “Welcome home.”

Slowly, she lifted her gaze.

She’d never lived in a place that had actual landscaping, but it had probably taken massive hours and mega bucks to make this yard look so perfectly natural. Even the house itself seemed so harmonious with nature, it could have sprouted up out of the ground.

The walkway made a gradual incline toward a set of huge stone steps which ascended to the stage-like, flowerpot-dotted wraparound porch. Three stories of elegant natural wood, stone, and glass competed for height with the evergreens which formed a protective half-circle around it. Large stone chimneys emerged on either end of the roof. And windows? They were everywhere. This house went on for days.

A lump suddenly appeared in Kate’s throat. What had she done to deserve this?

Barely six weeks ago, she’d been holed up in a filthy motel room, afraid to go outside for fear of being shot or worse. Tears welled at the memory. If she hadn’t met Chase when she had, who knows what would have happened.

But now here she was, in this magnificent place, about to be reunited with the love of her life.

The driver had gotten out and walked around to her side of the car. He opened the door and held out a hand to her. Taking it, she swung both feet to the ground and stood, instantly regretting that morning’s decision to wear the three-inch heels just because Chase had once commented that they made her legs look a mile long. It could very well take the rest of her natural life to adjust to walking in these things.

She forced a calm breath, appeased by the smell of pine trees and clean air. So different from the city. The only sound to break the anticipative silence was the soft twittering of a few birds. She could definitely get used to this.

The massive double doors at the front of the house swung open and Chase appeared, smiling broadly. He stepped out onto the porch, looking even more handsome than she remembered. His chiseled features, still tanned from the California sun, and silver-streaked hair made him look more like a matinee idol than a businessman. Kate smiled. There was nothing at all wrong with being attracted to good looks, at any age. Older men admired and appreciated younger women—why couldn’t the reverse be equally acceptable?

Smoothing her hair, she rebuked herself. Why hadn’t she thought to check her make-up before getting out of the car? She was still so unaccustomed to wearing it and felt a little conspicuous, not trusting it to remain natural looking on her face.

As Chase descended the stairs, she moved to meet him. Gliding gracefully up the path, her body seemed to get ahead of her feet. Her right knee twisted painfully and sent her nearly pummeling into one of the tidy green bushes lining the walkway. She quickly righted herself, embarrassment flushing her skin.

What a klutz.
She was going to ruin everything if she wasn’t more careful.
Darn heels.
She made a mental note to go back to flats and work her way up from there.

“Darling.” Chase reached her in an instant and placed his hands on her upper arms. “Are you alright?”

A demure nod was all she could muster. “My foot fell asleep.” She shook the offending appendage for good measure.

Beaming, he gave her a warm hug, then tipped her chin up with his index finger and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

A shadow of disappointment crossed through her. She had hoped for a more passionate welcome, but this was no doubt too public a place for that. Why had she been so foolish as to expect more?

Chase called to the driver. “Take Miss Jennings’ things to the guest house.”

The guest house?
She frowned. She wasn’t exactly a
guest
.

He caught the question in her eyes. “I thought it would be more romantic for you to have your own space until the wedding. I mean….” He ran his fingers through her hair. “You did make it crystal clear in San Francisco that you wanted to wait.”