And The Bride Vanishes Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Excerpt

  About The Author

  Other Books By

  Title Page

  Coast Of Characters

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Copyright

  It was a typical, quiet Thursday afternoon…

  Although it was June, an overcast kept the air cool. As she descended the front steps of the bungalow, Linda heard the rumble of skate wheels on the sidewalk. Two children whizzed by. Down the block, Janet’s neighbor knelt, weeding her flower bed.

  The normality of the situation reassured her. The past four months had been a nightmare, but after today, that would all be over. She was marrying a good, honest man—even if she didn’t love him. Maybe, in time, she’d even come to believe that her dead husband had indeed been a liar and a con man from the start. As she stretched one last time, before opening the car, she felt again the weight of the baby. Whatever else Wick had done, he’d left her with this precious gift.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw something whip toward her from behind the cars. The figure was so out of place that for a moment she couldn’t react. Why would a man dressed in black, wearing a ski mask, be slinking around the bushes? This can’t be happening, she thought as an arm encircled her neck and a familiar voice whispered, “Sorry to prevent your marriage to the man you really love…but I’m afraid you already have a husband.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  A former news reporter for The Associated Press, Jacqueline Diamond has written several highly praised suspense novels under the name Jackie Hyman. As Jacqueline Diamond, she has written more than twenty romances for Harlequin American Romance. She also writes for Love & Laughter.

  Books by Jacqueline Diamond

  HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  218—UNLIKELY PARTNERS

  239—THE CINDERELLA DARE

  270—CAPERS AND RAINBOWS

  279—A GHOST OF A CHANCE

  351—BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

  406—OLD DREAMS, NEW DREAMS

  446—THE TROUBLE WITH TERRY

  491—A DANGEROUS GUY

  583—THE RUNAWAY BRIDE

  615—YOURS, MINE AND OURS

  631—THE COWBOY AND THE HEIRESS

  642—ONE HUSBAND TOO MANY

  645—DEAR LONELY IN LA…

  674—MILLION-DOLLAR MOMMY

  687—DADDY WARLOCK

  Don’t miss any of our special offers. Write to us at the following address for information on our newest releases.

  Harlequin Reader Service

  U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

  And the Bride

  Vanishes

  Jacqueline Diamond

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Wick Farley—Did he fake his own death to cover up a crime?

  Linda Farley—Caught between conflicting loyalties, she must protect herself and her unborn child.

  Avery Lyme—Would he kill to have the woman he loves?

  Granville Lyme—Venturing into murky waters, he may have caught a shark by mistake. Janet Capek—Is she Linda’s best friend, or her worst enemy?

  Felice Capek—She would do anything to protect her daughter.

  Yuri Capek—An old man with a secret past, he’s woven a web of deceit.

  Police captain Harvey Merkel—There might be more to him than meets the eye.

  Pierre D’Amboise—A wealthy émigre, he has something to hide.

  Sarah Walters—She set off a deadly chain reaction.

  Mina Barash—Witness to a kidnapping, she wants to help, but is it all a game to her?

  Chapter One

  As she slipped into her wedding dress, Linda Farley felt the baby move for the first time.

  Instinctively she cupped her abdomen with her palms. Despite all that had happened these past few months, or perhaps because of it, an intense appreciation of life rippled through her.

  Who was this little creature? In the subtle but eager movements, she sensed both its curiosity and its helplessness. A fierce protective instinct awoke at the realization of how dependent this child was on her.

  The quiver came again, like a signal. This was the fifth month. It was normal to feel the baby stir now, perhaps the only normal thing in Linda’s world, and yet it seemed like a rebuke.

  When the baby quieted, she finished zipping herself into the high-waisted gray silk dress. It must do triple service: as a wedding gown, as a maternity outfit and as a reminder of mourning.

  “Ready for me to fix your hair?” Her best friend, Janet Capek, peered into the bedroom.

  “I should have taken your advice and worn a hat.” Linda regarded herself dubiously in the dressing-table mirror. In her opinion, her shoulder-length dark hair offered few possibilities. Stick-straight, it had an almost mystical power to cast off the effects of curling irons. “It’s hopeless.”

  “Nonsense. Your hair is gorgeous. Don’t you know that goes with being pregnant?” In reality, Janet was the one with great hair, swept back into a dark-blond mane. “You’re sure you don’t want flowers? How about a few rosebuds?”

  “No, thanks.” Linda gestured toward a spangled circlet lying on the dresser. “I found that yesterday. I—I don’t want anything else.” Flowers reminded her too much of funerals, but she didn’t want to say so, not today.

  “So have a seat.” As soon as she did, her friend went to work creating a chignon. About four inches taller than Linda, Janet had to bend slightly as she reached over the back of the dressing-table chair, but she didn’t complain.

  These past months, she’d been a source of unfailing support, even offering the use of her spare bedroom. Living here had provided Linda with the security of another adult’s presence in case anything went wrong with the pregnancy. In addition, since she was paying only token rent, Linda had been able to conserve the small amount of savings Wick had left when he died.

  As always, the thought of her husband—her late husband, her baby’s father—sent dark shivers through her. She couldn’t fully accept his death, even now. This whole day, this wedding, felt as if it were happening to someone else.

  “Linda?” Janet secured a twist of hair with a bobby pin. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” She managed a smile. “The baby moved a little while ago.”

  “Really? Can I feel it?” Janet waved the hairbrush excitedly.

  “It’s gone back to sleep,” she said. “But I’ll let you know the next time, I promise.”

  Her friend sighed. “But you won’t be living here. Promise you’ll call me when it moves! Unless you’re on your honeymoon. Or I’m working.”

  “Or it’s the middle of the night,” Linda teased.

  “Or I’m working and it’s the middle of the night!” Janet was a police dispatcher. “But any other time!”

  They both smiled, and Linda’s spirits lightened. This was no time to dwell on the past. All right, so she had fallen deeply and blindly in love with a man she barely knew. And he had died under questionable circumstances two months after their wedding, before she even knew she was pregnant.

  But now she was marrying a fi
ne man, Wick’s best friend. Avery Lyme was handsome, kind and wealthy. As Janet pointed out, the man came straight out of Prince Charming school.

  Linda didn’t feel the same passion for Avery that she had for Wick, but she was fond of him. And she’d known for years that Avery had a crush on her.

  He would make a good husband, and he was willing to raise Wick’s baby as his own. She couldn’t afford to doubt him, or herself. Not when there was a third person to worry about, a child who needed a stable home and protection from a small town’s wagging tongues.

  “There!” Janet stood back, admiring her handiwork. “You look like a princess!”

  “You did a great job.” Arranged in a knot and spangled with stars, Linda’s hair presented a lovely appearance. In her ears twinkled the tiny diamond earrings Wick had given her on their one-month anniversary; she supposed she ought to remove them, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to get rid of this one last reminder.

  She couldn’t help contrasting the somber way she looked today with her appearance at the wedding six months ago, when she’d left her hair free-flowing except for a small braid entwined with daisies. She’d selected a shimmering gown in pale pastels, and she’d imagined she was dancing rather than walking down the aisle.

  Most of all, she had chosen Wick, a stranger, a loner, a man whose brown eyes glowed when he looked at her. His tall, strong body had seemed like a shield that would protect her forever.

  Forever hadn’t lasted very long, Linda reflected grimly. She didn’t quite believe, even now, that Wick had been embezzling from the company where he worked, but he had unquestionably stolen some computer files.

  Then, that storm-swept night four months ago, he’d handed them over to an unidentified person in a sleazy bar. On his way home, perhaps after drinking too much, he’d skidded off the Fairview Avenue bridge, into the lake. His body had never been recovered.

  He’s gone. And out of my life, she told herself sternly. From this day forward, Avery and the baby are myfamily.

  She needed to forget Wick. But first she had to get through this day, one step at a time.

  It helped to visualize Avery waiting at the altar. They’d known each other since high school, even dated a few times, but Linda had always known the easygoing blond man felt more romantically for her then she for him.

  Over the years, she’d seen tenderness in his gaze when he regarded her. After she took a secretarial job with his family’s real estate company four years ago, he’d gone out of his way to make her feel comfortable. He’d even insisted that his formidable father, company owner Granville Lyme, rein in his sometimes-sarcastic tongue.

  Right now, Avery was just what she needed. Her friends and her parents, who had disapproved of Wick, thought so, too.

  “Ready?” Across the room, Janet straightened the collar of her maroon-and-gray suit, which might ordinarily be a touch severe for a maid of honor but suited this particular occasion. “You’re sure you won’t let me call a limo?”

  “Even if we wanted to, I don’t think we could find one at the last minute. But I don’t want to,” she added hastily.

  “It would look nice. But hey, I like to show off my new car, so let’s go!” Janet collected her purse, retrieved their bouquets from the refrigerator and shooed Linda out of the house.

  Although it was June, an overcast kept the air cool, and the windshield of Janet’s Taurus still bore a trace of dew. Within a few weeks, though, blistering summer heat would sweep through this Riverside County town, reminding the residents that, in spite of their manmade lake, they lived on the edge of a California desert.

  As she descended the front steps of Janet’s one-story bungalow, Linda heard the rumble of skate wheels on the sidewalk. Two children whizzed by, heads lowered and legs pumping. Down the block, Janet’s silver-haired neighbor, Mrs. Barash, knelt on a pad, weeding her flower bed.

  It was a typical, quiet Thursday afternoon in one of Inland’s older residential areas. An odd day for a wedding, she supposed, but, as a real estate agent, Avery was accustomed to taking his “weekends” in midweek.

  The normality of the situation reassured her. The past four months had been a nightmare, but after today, that would all be over. In time, Linda supposed, she might even accept her parents’ view that Wick had been a liar and a con man from the start.

  But she would never allow anyone to disparage him in front of their child. Her parents’ refusal to respect her feelings on that subject was one of the reasons she had decided not to stay with them after Wick died.

  Janet was locking the door when the phone rang inside. She paused, debating whether to answer it, then shook her head. “I’ll let the machine pick up.”

  “It’s probably a salesman,” Linda said.

  After two rings, the noise stopped. Janet was hurrying down the steps when it started again. “Darn!” She turned and glared at the door. “That’s my signal.”

  “I know,” Linda said. “But how many other people do?”

  “Just my family and Harvey. Which means I’d better take it.” Jamming the key into the lock, Janet gave it a twist. “I’ll be right back.”

  Linda nearly followed her friend inside. Janet’s boyfriend, police captain Harvey Merkel, had kept them apprised of the initial investigation into Wick’s death and the subsequent suspicions against him.

  Maybe the police had come up with some new information. Maybe they could prove Wick hadn’t sold confidential information and then gotten drunk before plunging his car off the bridge.

  She stopped herself, dismayed at the direction of her thoughts. Why was she clinging to the hope that her husband hadn’t been a criminal?

  Besides, Harvey wouldn’t call now just to tell his girlfriend about the investigation. It was probably Janet’s mother, Felice, with a question about the reception at the Inland Shore Club, to which the Capeks belonged. Because of Linda’s strained relationship with her own parents, Janet’s family had helped make the wedding arrangements.

  Linda moved toward her friend’s car. The Taurus had shiny black paint, in contrast to the other, older cars lining the curb. The door was unlocked, but Linda was in no hurry to get in. Through the open window, the newcar smell touched off a lingering bit of morning sickness…or maybe it was prewedding nerves.

  She wanted to be somewhere else, but there was nowhere else that she belonged. She wanted to be the person she’d been a year ago, before Wick Farley came to work for the Lyme Company. Or she wanted to fastforward into the future, years from now, when these conflicting feelings had been put to rest and she was happily settled in a new life.

  A blur of movement behind her made Linda turn. She thought she’d seen a shadow move behind the line of parked cars, but there was no one in sight. Perhaps it had been a cat, or a coyote. It wasn’t unusual for one of the doglike creatures to slink in from the surrounding brushlands in search of food and water.

  As she stretched one last time before opening the car, the weight of the baby settled against her pelvis. Her awareness of the child anchored her. Whatever else Wick Farley had done, he’d left her with this precious gift.

  Would he have behaved differently, if he’d known about the pregnancy? Linda supposed that depended on what kind of man he really was. She doubted she would ever know.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something whip toward her from behind the cars. The figure was so out of place that for a moment she couldn’t react. Why would a man dressed in black, with his face covered by a ski mask, be slinking around a residential neighborhood?

  The door of the house banged open. “Would you believe it? They hung up before I could—Oh, my God!” Janet’s cry reached Linda a split second before an arm encircled her neck and a damp cloth clamped over her nose and mouth.

  This can’t be happening was her last thought before she spun downward into darkness.

  SHE AWOKE to a pounding headache and a sense of heaviness. For a moment, Linda thought she’d been tied, but she found she
was able to lift her hand to her temple and push back a strand of hair.

  Blinking, she realized she lay on a cot at one end of a long, narrow room. Harsh light glared through a window at the far end. It must be near sundown, she gauged from the angle.

  Sundown. That meant she’d missed her wedding. What must Avery, the Capeks and her parents think?

  But then, Janet had seen—what? Vaguely, Linda recalled a masculine figure darting toward her, and a cloth pressing over her mouth. The man must have used some kind of chemical to knock her out.

  The baby! Had it been harmed? Although she felt as if her limbs were made of concrete, Linda managed to press one hand to her abdomen. An answering twinge might have been the child. She held her breath and waited and then she felt it again, a reassuring ripple.

  Relieved, she struggled to collect her thoughts. Someone had kidnapped her, but who and why?

  In a big city, it might not be unusual for a woman to find herself fighting for her life, but Inland had a low crime rate, with random violence almost nonexistent. Furthermore, her attacker had snatched her in broad daylight, right in front of Janet.

  He had come prepared with knockout medication and a ski mask. The conclusion was inescapable: he hadn’t been driving around looking for a victim. He had specifically targeted Linda.

  With a brain almost as sluggish as her body, she tried to figure out why anyone would want to snatch her. No one could be foolish enough to expect more than a modest ransom for her, not enough to justify taking such a risk.

  She hadn’t harmed anyone, which ruled out revenge, and her job as a secretary in a real estate firm didn’t make her privy to any valuable secrets. She supposed confidential data about the Lyme Company’s wealthy clientele, which included several émigrés from unstable countries, might interest some people. But if that was what the man was seeking, he should have kidnapped Avery’s father, not his bride.