“I can take you across.”
They both walked down the dock where Craig climbed into the boat and the old man cast off, using a paddle to propel them across the water.
Craig looked back, seeing the dense swampy area where the shack was almost hidden from view.
“Thank you,” he said when they got to the other side. As he reached for his wallet, the old Cajun shook his head.
“No need.”
Craig climbed out and started along the shore, watching for the men who had chased him. It seemed they had given up pursuit for the moment, but what about Stephanie? He made it to his vehicle and climbed in, torn between caution and speeding as he headed back to the B and B.
He wanted to rush to the cottage, but instinct had him stopping down the block, and proceeding on foot, casting his thoughts before him, trying to contact Stephanie. He knew she had to be worried—and probably angry that he’d left her alone.
There was no mental sign from her as he approached the cottage, and he felt his chest tighten.
Then he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. It was Ike Broussard, climbing out of a car and heading for the cottage.
As far as Craig knew, the bastard hadn’t kept the appointment at the restaurant. What was he doing here now?
Craig speeded up, calling out a mental warning to Stephanie as he watched the man push the front door open.
He’d barely disappeared inside when a massive explosion shook the little building, throwing Craig to the ground.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Craig covered his head with his arms as debris rained down around him. As soon as he could, he scrambled to his feet and ran toward the building.
Stephanie. Oh Lord, Stephanie,” he called out as he surveyed the damage. The building simply wasn’t there, and the man who had stepped inside had vanished.
Craig’s whole body was shaking. He’d left Stephanie here when she’d begged him to take her with him. He’d thought he was doing the right thing, and now she was gone—the way Sam was gone. That had been the worst thing that had ever happened to him. This was a thousand times more devastating.
He heard a siren in the distance. The fire department, and probably the cops. Instinct told him to get the hell out of there before the authorities arrived.
Quickly he backed away and ran down the block to the spot where he’d left his car.
“You got her out of the cottage okay?”
“Yeah. We’re already a piece down the road. Be there soon,” the man in the backseat said into his cell phone. He listened for a minute, then said, “We expect to be there in forty-five minutes.”
Stephanie knew that John Reynard had several residences. One was a plantation house about forty miles from New Orleans. Which was where they were going, Stephanie surmised.
In the distance she thought she heard a clap of thunder, but when she looked out the car window, the sun was still shining.
The driver glanced back at her and grinned like he knew something she didn’t.
She looked away, wondering what had happened back there. After one of the men had hustled her out of the cottage, the other had gotten something out of the trunk and gone back to the cottage, but she’d had no idea what he was doing. Was the thunderclap something to do with that?
A shiver went through her. Thunderclap? Could it have been an explosion? She went cold all over and cried out in her mind,Craig, are you all right, Craig?But she got no answer.
She had to get back to him. She had to know he was okay. But how?
She belonged with him, not with the man she’d promised to marry because of misplaced loyalty to her father.
She’d felt guilty about her relationship with him, and she’d told herself that was her fault. Now she knew it wasn’t true. It had as much to do with him as with her, and it was too bad she hadn’t seen that a long time ago.
But her father wasn’t her immediate problem.Thatwas John Reynard. Every time the car slowed to take a curb or stop at a traffic light, she thought about jumping out and making a run for it. but that would only confirm her guilt. And what was the chance that she could evade these men?
She would have to face John, but what could she say to him that he would want to hear—and that he’d believe?
