The Stolen Bride. Jacqueline Diamond

door.

      Erin stood there, too shocked to stir. Her stepfather had just banned her from talking to her mother, and Alice hadn’t said a word.

      Desperately, she turned to Joseph. “She’s obviously terrified. Can’t you do anything?”

      He made a frustrated noise. “Not unless I can demonstrate abuse.”

      “He almost drowned her!”

      “I can’t prove that, and believe me, I tried.” Joseph steered her away from the building. “Unless he does something overt or she asks for help, our options are limited.”

      Erin could hardly bear to walk away, knowing that once again she was failing her mother. “She was always so strong until Dad died. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”

      “You can’t predict how people will react to losing a spouse.” They kept to the edges of the country club as they circled toward the parking lot, avoiding the golf center where people might gawk at her bridal gown. “I thought my mother would fall apart when Dad died in prison. Instead, she went back to work as a legal secretary and made a new life for herself.”

      Suzanne Lowery had been a full-time mom, devoted to her family and always kind to Erin. She’d suffered when her husband’s alcoholism ended his police career. She’d supported him through rehab and encouraged him to apply for a job at the Marshall Company, where he’d risen to chief of security.

      Then, during Joseph’s senior year in high school, his father had been accused—falsely, Erin believed—of robbery and murder. She’d tried to stand by the Lowerys but Joseph had pushed her away. She wished now that she hadn’t let him.

      “I’m glad she’s okay,” Erin said. “For my mom, Dad’s death was like the bottom dropped out of everything. I guess I should have let her lean on me, but I was selfish. I took a month’s leave and went back to work.”

      “It isn’t selfish to grow up,” Joseph said. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

      Erin wanted to accept his absolution, but she retained a brutish image of Lance storming at her mother. What good was being rich if she couldn’t protect the person she loved most?

      Joseph had left his aging sedan in a side lot. “I figured my dent magnet would stand out like a sore thumb next to all the Lexuses and Cadillacs in front,” he said, unlocking it.

      “Is this an undercover car?” Erin moved aside a couple of files and a fast-food bag before shifting into the seat. At least there was plenty of legroom for her full skirt.

      “Nope, it’s mine. Not much to look at, but it’s paid for.” After tucking her inside, he closed the door.

      In Tustin, Erin had driven a low-priced model bought with her own earnings, but she knew it wasn’t the same thing. In the hospital, realizing how much trouble it would be to deal with the car while recuperating, she’d donated it to charity. Once she got permission from the doctor to drive again, she could always buy a new model. Joseph didn’t have that option.

      Money only made a difference if you let it, she thought. In essential ways, the two of them were equals.

      When he settled behind the wheel and stretched his shoulder muscles, the vibrations traveled along the bench-style seat. Erin relaxed. She used to love riding beside him.

      “Let’s stop by your parents’ house,” he said. “While they’re out, it’s a good time for you to pick up a few clothes. Then tell me where to take you.”

      “I have no idea,” she said.

      “No hurry. Give it some thought.”

      She fell silent as they headed between the emerald slopes of the club’s golf course. Beyond it, atop a steep rise, stood the grand house where she’d grown up. Her father had built it to command a spectacular view.

      She missed it, although she was glad Lance Bolding didn’t get to preen himself in the mansion Andrew Marshall had cherished. The house now belonged to Dr. Ray Van Fleet and his socialite wife, Jean, old friends of her parents. They were probably sitting in the ballroom right now, waiting for the wedding to begin.

      The wedding. Already, it seemed unreal. Erin had virtually sleepwalked through the past weeks, as if the preparations and the wedding belonged to someone else.

      Now she tried to think of a place to go. Although the Marshall Company owned a number of apartments, she didn’t like the notion that Chet could get a key to any of them. A hotel room? Employees could be bribed, she thought.

      Joseph had asked who might want to kill her. If that was really a possibility, she needed to be careful. Very careful.

      She started to tremble. Everyone in Sundown Valley seemed to pose a threat. Except for Joseph, of course.

      As for Tustin, she didn’t want to be fifty miles away if her mother needed her. Besides, she’d been attacked there.

      She tightened her grip on her purse. She wasn’t going to get hysterical in front of Joseph. She’d think of somewhere to go.

      His next words drove that concern out of her head—and replaced it with a more immediate one.

      “Don’t get excited,” Joseph said, “but I think someone’s following us.”

      Chapter Four

      “What?” When Erin twisted in her seat, her face betrayed her alarm. Joseph disliked upsetting her. The words had slipped out before he’d had time to think.

      He’d noticed the luxury sedan in his rearview mirror on the way around the lake. It had shot off Golf Club Lane some distance behind them, speeding away from the country club until it caught up and then slowing to trail a dozen car lengths behind.

      “Do you recognize it?” he asked. “I thought maybe it was a friend of yours.”

      Erin shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

      There were too many curves and trees for him to make the plate, and the car was painted a neutral shade. The driver appeared to be alone, although Joseph didn’t discount the possibility of someone hunkering down.

      He wasn’t ready to phone in a report, however. Joseph didn’t want to get the department involved in what might be simply a Marshall family dispute.

      “It’s probably nothing,” he said. “Just some golfer going home.”

      “If you think he’s following us, he probably is.” Erin’s hands clenched.

      “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

      “Don’t treat me like an invalid! Even if I am one, sort of.”

      “I won’t. But it was premature to say anything.” Joseph hadn’t intended to make his friend any more paranoid than she already was. He felt edgy enough himself after those unpleasant scenes at the country club.

      They passed Rainbow Lane, which led to the old fishing area where Joseph and some of his high school buddies used to sneak forbidden beers. But the pier had been declared unsafe years ago, and Joseph had given up drinking after alcoholism cost his father his police career. Joseph didn’t intend to run that risk.

      When they swung right on Aurora Avenue toward the Marshalls’ property, the luxury car continued on along Via Puesta del Sol. “False alarm,” Joseph said.

      “Good.” Erin beamed. He wondered if she had any idea of how appealing she struck him with those lively eyes and a mouth that fit naturally into a curve.

      She’d never been vain about her appearance or her social position. Sometimes Joseph used to forget she came from a rich family. It hadn’t mattered so much when they were kids, but he’d learned long ago that it mattered to adults.

      They passed a cluster of cottages. Farther along the pavement, a Do Not Enter sign marked the point where the road became