Kidnapped (2 page)

“I'll do that. It was a beautiful wedding, Caroline. You did a nice job.”

She felt a blush start and hated the fast warmth. “Thanks, I enjoyed helping Sharon put it together.”

He just smiled at her demur. Someone had been telling him details she thought were private. Sharon had needed to work more hours on call at the hospital in order to get time off for the honeymoon, and Caroline had been able to stagger her summer job hours so she could help with wedding preparations. Making it a perfect day had been her gift to her sister. She hadn't realized others would hear about her efforts though.

“Mark's happy. It's nice to see,” Luke said.

“So is Sharon.”

“Benjamin mentioned he gets to spend the next week with you?”

Caroline nodded. “We're going on day trips to a nearby ranch to ride horses.”

“An ideal vacation for a young man.” Luke set down his glass and tugged a pen from his pocket. He wrote a number on his napkin and offered it to her. “If you need anything in the next week, call me. I'll be back at my Sandy Hill home for the foreseeable future. Just in case Benjamin tumbles off one of those mighty steeds as he does battle with imaginary dragons. Mark and Sharon will be more than a few hours away.”

“I appreciate it.” She memorized the number as she folded the napkin in her hand. “Benjamin is serious about the badge and the idea of being a lawman. I'm sure he'll be asking you some questions over dinner.”

“He already asked if I would teach him to shoot.”

“And what did you say?”

He smiled. “Ask Sharon.”

Caroline ran her tongue around her teeth. “Smart man. I need to go get my picture taken.”

“Hmm. I'd like one.”

“A wedding picture?”

“That too. If you keep blushing like that, the photographer will get a wonderful photo.”

“You're not supposed to notice.”

“That would be a shame.”

She smiled back at him, unable to resist his subtle flirting. “You can comment then.”

He offered his arm. “Let me see you safely to the chapel.”

She rested her hand on his jacket sleeve. Her long dress made walking with a natural stride impossible, but he adjusted to the constraint from the first step. The crowd parted for them. At the door to the chapel, Luke's pager went off again. Caroline slid her hand from his arm. “They'll just keep trying to get your attention. You might as well make your calls. I'll make sure we wait for you.”

He looked at the number on the pager. “Unfortunately true. Go finish your work of the day while I finish mine, and then come keep me company tonight so we can talk without distractions.”

She wasn't used to someone so swiftly claiming her time, but she laughed, appreciating it and him. “I'll do that.” She smiled as she walked into the chapel, wondering just how much of her own life was about to change as a result of this wedding day. She wasn't one for taking great adventures, but occasionally—a little diving into the deep end of life might get interesting, and she was in a mood tonight to find out.

* * *

“Would you like to walk awhile?” Luke leaned down to be heard as he paused behind her chair at the restaurant table.

The bride and groom were away, and the guests were dispersing. Caroline nodded. She needed to stretch her legs and get some fresh air before she called it an evening. It was either accept the invitation or admit to herself she was too flustered by his attention to do so.

He held her chair for her, caught up his jacket from the back of his chair, and said good night for them both. The hotel where she was staying adjoined the restaurant, and Luke escorted her through the restaurant to the garden path connecting the two buildings.

He'd waited for her in the hotel lobby earlier while she went up and changed from her wedding finery to something more comfortable for the evening meal. He had left his tie in the car and turned up the sleeves of his white shirt to his elbows and relaxed, while she had just lost her bravery.

“I learned a lot about Sharon and Benjamin at dinner. Now tell me about Caroline Lane.”

Caroline wasn't sure how to answer. “There's not much to tell. I grew up in Benton, went away to college to get my teaching degree, and returned to Benton when I graduated. I've been teaching fifth grade at a private Christian school ever since.”

She caught his smile at how she summarized her life. “You love to teach.”

She glanced away to inspect the flowers along the garden path. “Yes. I grew up thinking of myself as a teacher, the same way my sister wanted to be a doctor.” He didn't ask another question, and she tried again to get him to talk about himself. So far this evening he'd smoothly turned aside questions by other guests at dinner. “Did you always want to be in law enforcement?”

“I like making the world a safer place.” His smile reminded her of Mark's—self-knowing, touched with humor. “That makes being an FBI agent sound grander than it is, but the job suits me. There aren't a lot of gray areas to crime.” He gestured to the bench up ahead, and she moved that direction, taking a seat.

She noted that while he said the job suited him, he hadn't added that he enjoyed it. She knew it couldn't be that pleasant, the way his days unfolded. He'd come to the wedding with a murder investigation underway, and even through dinner he'd received two more pages. It was obvious that when he was quiet, his thoughts hadn't been on the conversations around him but rather on the details of a case that left him looking grim. “It's nice to have this day over; it's been long.”

“Very. Do you think Sharon and Mark getting married was a good idea?”

She turned startled eyes toward him. “Don't you?”

“It's just a question, Caroline.” He stretched out his legs and folded his hands across his chest, relaxing as he had earlier when talking with Benjamin, like a load was shifting off his shoulders.

“It took Sharon a long time to get over the death of her first husband, and as time passed, I wondered if she'd ever want to move on. Mark—he made her laugh again like I hadn't heard in a long time. Sharon enjoys being married, being a wife. So yes, I think it will be a good marriage. They love each other a lot.”

“My cousin has been career focused since college. He waited so long to marry, I admit I was surprised when I got his call. I understood once I met Sharon. Mark already loves Benjamin like his own.”

Maybe it was the day and the direction of her thoughts today, but Luke sounded wistful. Caroline hesitated but asked the burning question anyway. “Have you ever been married?”

She knew so little about Luke Falcon. While Mark had mentioned him often and spoke highly of the man, his remarks hadn't included many hard facts.

“No. I came close back in college, but the timing never seemed to work out. Jenny and I dated through high school and college, but I ended up going to one coast and she to another for graduate work.” His expression cleared. “I'm glad now in a way; it would have been hard on her. Some people have a life that can be shared more easily than others. My partner is married. Jackie's got two boys and a husband who adore her. I watch them and often wonder how they've made it work.”

“You've got a job that's hard to leave behind at the end of the day.”

Luke nodded. “The day they invented the pager and mobile phone was the day police work fundamentally changed for the worse. The job's changed me,” he admitted. “Didn't someone once say something about the sadness of innocence lost? A few years at this job took away a lot of good assumptions I had about people.”

He shook his head. “How did we get on such a morbid topic as work? Are you and Sharon big into holiday traditions?”

“The important things about blending families.” She nudged off one shoe and drew her leg up under her, smiling as she considered his question. The traditional days to celebrate mattered a lot to her, if only because they provided excuses to stop and reconnect with friends and family. If she had her wish, every one of them would be a big deal.

“The very important things,” he agreed. “What should I know first?”

“We're a close family.” Because she thought he was alone too much in his life, she searched her memory for all the events that would clue him in on how that was about to change. She smiled. “Next time he sees you, you're sure to get a Benjamin welcoming hug. He's into establishing his circle of important people right now, and getting a dad and an ‘uncle' in a matter of a day is a big deal for him. This wedding anniversary will be more than just a day for Mark and Sharon to remember.”

She pushed her hair behind her ear. “I like Christmas best. Snow, the smell of fresh-cut pine, and hot cider. I start piling gifts away in October, and around the second week of December the tree goes up. Benjamin likes to try to guess the gifts.”

“Would it be a bit scrooge of me to mention I often choose to work the Christmas Day shift? By the end of December I've had about as much Christmas as I want for the year.”

“It does get a bit overwhelming when Christmas music starts in November. We're more traditional about birthdays—there's always a favorite meal and a cake, and depending on what seems most important, either a trip somewhere or one significant gift. It's always been kind of like a wish-come-true day for us.”

“I like that idea.”

“You do celebrate birthdays, don't you?” Caroline teased.

“I take the day off if possible—leave the pager at work—and find somewhere off the beaten path to explore.”

“Time being the most precious gift of all, given the demands in your year?” Caroline asked.

“Yes.”

“Where have you explored?”

“Caves, forests, underwater reefs, shipwrecks. I went skydiving one year and about ended up with permanent vertigo.”

“Do you have plans for this year?”

“I'm getting old. I'm leaning toward horseback riding for the day followed by a steak grilled over the fire. No more walking.”

She laughed, suspecting he could probably do a ten-mile hike on a bad day without breaking a sweat. “That sounds like a nice day to look forward to.”

“Have you settled on plans for your News Year's Eve yet?”

“No.”

“Spend it with me. Those two days I will have off, and I'd enjoy sharing the celebration with you.”

“Thank you, Luke, but you don't need to save me from being sad. I won't have Sharon and Benjamin with me for the holidays this year, but it won't be so bad.”

“I'm asking purely for selfish reasons.”

“It's over two months away. You might change your mind.”

“I won't.”

“I admit, you're puzzling me. It seems like an odd request, asked so far in advance.”

“Not from where I sit.”

She didn't quite know what to say. She slowly nodded. “Okay. I'll block off New Year's Eve and Day as taken.”

“Thank you.” He leaned back to study the hotel. “What time did Karla say she was bringing Benjamin back to the room?”

She glanced at her watch. “I've got another twenty minutes before the pool closes. Benjamin will stay in the water until the last minute and ask to swim again first thing in the morning.”

“Then there's time for coffee.” Luke rose and offered her his hand. “You prefer the flavored kind I noticed.”

She let him pull her to her feet and balanced against him while she slipped back on her shoes. “A touch of French vanilla makes coffee so much more memorable.” Like this evening had turned out to be memorable. She was glad she had joined him.

Chapter One

One Year Later

M
ark Falcon knew success and enjoyed it. As the late afternoon sun came in the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, it reflected off the architecture awards on the side table, a rainbow painting the wall. His son made the shadow of a barking dog in the blue and purple bands. Mark judged the distance and made a bear appear, which moved in to gobble up the dog.

Benjamin laughed. “Your hands are huge, Dad.”

The boy's wonder combined with the name
Dad
—he had done a few things very right in his life, and marrying Sharon and adopting her son last year were near the top of the list. “Yours will one day be as big.” He made the shadow of a tree house. “The tree house blueprints should be done printing. Why don't you go see?”

Benjamin dashed from the office to the open drafting room. Mark followed at a more relaxed pace. Nine now, with a touch of MacGyver in his unquenchable curiosity, his son seemed to be thriving under his attention. Mark was trying to rearrange his life to provide that time, but he had worried about the transition.

He was confident now that keeping the family in Benton, Georgia, an hour and twenty minutes outside Atlanta, had been the right decision. The schools were good, the hospital and medi-cal clinic where Sharon continued to work top-notch, and the town still had open land and woods around it. Mark didn't mind the occasional commute to Atlanta when business required it; the pace in Benton better fit what he wanted for his family.

He watched his son carefully tear the blueprint from the wide printer. “It's perfect.”

Mark picked up an empty carrying tube. “I'm glad you like it. We'd better stop by the lumber mill this weekend to order our supplies. By the end of October you'll be inviting your friends over.”

“You'll teach me to use the saw?”

“I will. You can even make the trim if you like; we'll finish this tree house right. A good architect always finishes the finer details.” He offered Ben a pen and an official label for the blueprint tube. “What do you say we pick up your mom and get dinner? I'm starved.”

Sharon tried to keep her last patient appointment to no later than five on Wednesday nights so they could have a family night. The last couple of weeks their dates had been hot dogs from a street vendor and rented in-line skates at the park. For a practical doctor, Sharon didn't always act much older than her son.