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“Yeah, but that was—”
“Let’s be honest, okay? I’m—what’s that phrase of yours? I’m a desk jockey. If I were going to run away, I’d probably tuck a couple of credit cards in my pocket and ring for the chauffeur to bring the car around.” Bill gripped Liam’s arm. “I’m afraid for her. I can’t imagine where she’ll go. Carrie says she didn’t even change her clothes or take anything with her. What will she do for money?”
“She took her car,” Carrie offered excitedly. “A white Civic. It’s not in the driveway anymore.”
“Well, then, she’ll drive until she runs out of gas.”
“Who knows where she’ll be by then?” Bill’s hand dug into Liam’s flesh. “I’m begging you, man. You’re like a brother to me, you know that. You’ve got to do it.”
There’d been times in Liam’s life when he hadn’t much liked himself. He’d thought that those times were all behind him. But as he looked into the pleading eyes of his oldest friend, he knew he’d never hated himself as much as he did at this moment.
“All right,” he said slowly, “I’ll find her for you.”
Bill expelled a breath. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until this is over.”
“I know you, Liam.” Bill put out his hand. “You’ll find my Jessica, and you’ll do the right thing.”
Liam looked at his oldest friend’s outstretched hand, clasped it and forced a smile to his lips. “I’ll do the right thing,” he said softly. “I promise you that.”
CHAPTER THREE
LIAM SAT BEHIND THE WHEEL of his rented Corvette as Bill leaned through the open window.
“Call me as soon as you find her, okay?”
“Look, I can’t guarantee—”
“Tell her I love her, that whatever’s wrong, we can work things out.” He gripped Liam’s shoulder. “I don’t know how to thank you, man.”
“Don’t,” Liam said quickly. “Not until I’ve brought Jessie back.”
“Jessica.” Bill’s voice broke. “Her name is—”
“Sure.” Liam shifted into gear. “I’ll be in touch.”
Bill said something else but Liam didn’t wait to hear it. He stepped on the gas and the Vette’s tires squealed as he shot down the long driveway. Another couple of minutes listening to Bill talk about Jessie and how he couldn’t think of a reason in the world she’d have done this, and he’d have blurted out the truth.
“I know the reason,” he’d have said. “It’s because I violated our friendship and my principles over a woman I don’t even know.”
“Hell,” he said softly, and clamped his hands more tightly on the steering wheel. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that there was no percentage in reliving the past. You made a mistake, you set it right and you moved on. That was exactly what he was going to do. Find Jessie, make her see reason, return her to Bill and move on.
He drove fast, slipping in and out of traffic, heading for his hotel so he could trade his morning coat and striped trousers for something that wouldn’t make him stand out in a crowd. The only thing as noticeable as a woman driving around in a bridal gown would be a man pursuing her rigged out in a silly suit. Besides, who knew what story Jessie might tell if people asked for explanations? The last thing he needed was interference from some helpful soul who might take him for the groom she was fleeing.
Liam dressed quickly, trading his formal wear for faded jeans, an ancient Princeton Tigers sweatshirt, sneakers and a leather bomber jacket he’d had so long that it felt like an old friend. Then he got into the Vette, doubled back toward Lake Washington and got on the road Jessie would have taken. An excited guest had told him she’d headed toward the city, but where would she go? No apartment, no credit cards, no cash…well, not exactly. Carrie had remembered that Jessie kept a fifty-dollar bill and her driver’s license in the glove compartment of her car.
“Mad money, she called it,” Carrie had explained, while Bill clutched her hand like a lifeline. “I always told her that was just making it easy for a thief, but—”
“It’s okay,” Liam had replied. “She won’t get far on fifty bucks.”
Now he tried putting himself in Jessie’s place. What would she use the money for? Like him, she’d want to get out of that bridal regalia. And she’d want a place to go to ground, but in a city like Seattle, how could anybody afford clothes and a hotel room on fifty bucks? That was the question, although the bigger one was what he could possibly do or say when he found her to make her see that kiss for what it really was.
Liam glanced in his mirror, gave the Vette a little more gas and switched lanes.
It was simple, really. What had happened between them was lust. That good old male-female, down-and-dirty, I-want-to-get-you-between-the-sheets thing called lust. They’d been sexually attracted to each other, she’d been all nerves, and he’d taken advantage. End of story.
He wasn’t a gentleman like Bill. And he couldn’t let a moment’s stupidity and weakness on his part ruin what Bill wanted. A wife, a couple of kids, a dog and a cat.
