The CEO's Accidental Bride

The rain beat down harder, gusting in from all sides, and soaking everything inside the cart. Her shorts grew wet. Her bare legs became streaked with rivulets of water through the dust from the meadow. And her socks and running shoes were soaking up raindrops at an alarming rate.

She rubbed the goose bumps on her bare arms, wishing she’d put on something more than a sleeveless blouse. Too bad she hadn’t tossed a sweater in the backseat.

Lightning flashed directly above her, and a clap of thunder rumbled ominously through the dark sky. It occurred to her that the golf cart was made of metal, and that she was sitting on the highest point on the island.

She wasn’t exactly a Boy Scout, but she did know that that particular combination could be dangerous. Fine, she’d walk already.

There was still plenty of light to see the trail. It was all downhill, and it couldn’t be more than forty-five minutes, an hour tops, to get back to Dylan’s house.

“What do you mean, she’s not here?” Zach studied a disheveled Dylan, then Lindsay. He didn’t need to know what they’d been doing. Though it was completely obvious to anyone what they’d been doing. “Where would she be?” he demanded.

He’d checked the rose garden over an hour ago. He’d also combed through the entire castle, including the attic rooms and the staff quarters. And he’d just confirmed that Aunt Ginny was napping in her room. So the two of them weren’t together.

“Maybe she went to the beach?” Lindsay ventured, ineffectually smoothing her messy hair.

“When was the last time you saw her?” asked Zach.

Dylan and Lindsay exchanged guilty looks.

“Never mind.” What they’d been doing for the past three hours was none of his business. And they certainly weren’t Kaitlin’s babysitters.

“She can’t be far,” Dylan said. “We’re on an island.”

Zach agreed. There were only so many places she could be without having flown away on a chopper or taken a boat. And she didn’t do either of those things.

There was the chance that she’d fallen off a cliff.

He instantly shut that thought down. Kaitlin wasn’t foolish. He was sure she was fine. He watched the rain pounding against the dark window. It seemed unlikely she’d stay outside in this. So maybe she was already back at the castle. He could call—

Wait a minute.

“You’ve got her cell number,” he said to Lindsay.

“Right.” Lindsay reached for her pockets. Then she glanced around, looking puzzled.

After a few seconds, Dylan stepped in. “I’ll check the pool house.”

Zach shook his head in disgust. He did not want to know the details of their tryst. He pulled out his own phone. “Just tell me her number.”

Lindsay rattled it off, and Zach programmed it into his phone then dialed.

It rang several times before Kaitlin came on the line. “Hello?” Her voice was shaky, and the wind was obviously blowing across the mouthpiece.

She was still out in the storm.

“You okay?” he found himself shouting, telling himself not to worry.

“Zach?”

“Where are you?”

“Uh…”

“Kaitlin?” Not worrying was going to be a whole lot easier once he figured out what was going on.

“I think I’m about halfway down the cemetery trail,” she said.

“You’re driving in this?” What was the matter with her?

“Not driving, I’m walking.”

“What?” He couldn’t help the shock in his exclamation.

“I think the cart’s battery died,” she explained.

Okay. That made sense. “Are you okay?”

“Mostly. Yeah, I think so. I fell.”

Zach immediately headed for the garage. “I’m on my way.”

Dylan and Lindsay came at his heels.

“Thanks,” said Kaitlin, relief obvious in her voice.

“What were you doing up there?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Where is she?” Lindsay blustered, but Zach ignored the question, keeping his focus on Kaitlin.

“The roses,” said Kaitlin, sounding breathless. “Ginny asked me to put the roses on Sadie’s grave.”

“Are you sure you’re not hurt badly?” Adrenaline was humming through his system, heart rate automatically increasing as he moved into action.

The wind howled across the phone.

“Kaitlin?”

“I might be bleeding a little.”

Zach’s heart sank.

“I tripped,” she continued. “I’m pretty wet, and it’s dark. I can’t exactly see, but my leg stings.”

Zach hit the garage door button, while Dylan pulled the cover off a golf cart.

“I want you to stop walking,” Zach instructed. “Wherever you are, stay put and wait for me. What can you see?”

“Trees.” Was there a trace of laughter in her voice?

“How far do you think you’ve come?” He tried to zero in. “Is the trail rocky or dirt?”

“It’s mud now.”

“Good.” That meant she was past the halfway point. “You want me to stay on the line with you?” he asked as he climbed onto the cart.

“I should save my battery.”

“Makes sense. Give me ten minutes.”

“I’ll be right here.”

Zach signed off and turned on the cart.

“Where is she?” Lindsay repeated.

“She was at the cemetery. Cart battery died. She’s walking back.”

Lindsay asked something else, but Zach was already pulling out of the garage, zipping past the helipad and turning up the mountain road. The mud was slick on the road, and the rain gusted in from all sides.

He knew he shouldn’t worry. She was fine. She’d be wet and cold, but they could fix those problems in no time. But he’d feel a whole lot better once she was safe in his—

He stopped himself.

In his arms?

What the hell did that mean?

Safe inside was what he’d meant. Obviously. He wanted her warm and dry, just like he’d want any other human being inside and warm and dry on a night like this.

Still, it was a long ten minutes before his headlights found her.

She was soaked to the skin. Her legs were splattered in mud, her hair was dripping and her white blouse was plastered to her body.

As the cart came to a skidding stop, he could see she was shivering. He wished he’d thought to bring a blanket to wrap around her for the ride home.

Before he could jump out to help her, she climbed gingerly into the cart. So instead, he stripped off his shirt, draping it around her wet shoulders and tugging it closed at the front.

“Thanks,” she breathed, settling on the seat next to him, wrapping her arms around her body.

He grabbed a flashlight from its holder behind the seat and shone it on her bare legs. “Where are you hurt?” He inspected methodically up and down.

She turned her ankle, and he saw a gash on the inside of her calf, blood mixing with the mud and rainwater.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” she ventured bravely.

But Zach’s gut clenched at the sight, knowing it had to be painful. The sooner they got her home and cleaned up, the better.

He ditched the flashlight, turned the cart on and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his body in an attempt to warm her up.

“What happened?” he asked as they straightened onto the road, going back downhill.

“Ginny wanted to put the roses on Sadie’s grave. But she was too tired after the tour of the garden.” Kaitlin paused. “It’s really nice up there at the cemetery.”

“I guess.” Though the last thing Zach cared about at the moment was the aesthetics of the cemetery.

Then again, Kaitlin was fine. She was cold, and she needed a bandage. But she was with him now, and she was fine. He reflexively squeezed her shoulders.

“I’m soaking your shirt,” she told him.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I feel stupid.”

“You’re not stupid. It was nice of you to help Aunt Ginny.” It really was. It was very nice of her to traipse up to the cemetery to place the roses for Ginny.

“The other cart’s still back there,” she told him in a worried voice. “It wouldn’t start. Did I do something wrong?”

“The battery life’s not that long on these things.”

She shivered. “Will it be hard to go and bring it back?”

“Not hard at all,” he assured her. “But we’ll wait until the rain stops before we do that.”

The rain was pounding down harder now, the lightning strikes and thunder claps coming closer together. The cart bounced over ruts and rocks, the illumination from the headlights mostly absorbed by the pitch-dark.

“Thanks for rescuing me,” she said.

Something tightened in Zach’s chest, but he ignored the sensation. She was his guest. And there were real dangers on the island. The cliffs for instance. He was relieved that she was safe. It was perfectly natural.

“It was nothing,” he told her.

“I was getting scared,” she confessed.

“Of what?”

“I’m here on a mysterious pirate island, in a graveyard, in the dark, in a storm.” Her tone went melodramatic. “The whole thing was starting to feel like a horror movie.”

Zach couldn’t help but smile at her joke. “In that case, I guess I did rescue you.” He maneuvered around a tight curve, picking up her lightening mood. “And you probably owe me. Maybe you could be my slave for life?”