Runaway Bride Read online

  It was good to have these thoughts sorted, good to recognise that she felt more at peace with herself than she had in weeks.

  To her relief, Damon was starting to relax, too. He stretched his legs out as far as the car’s cramped interior would allow, let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

  Great. Finally, he trusted her driving, and she felt better than ever.

  Bella drew a deep lungful of the fresh air rushing past them. She’d never been this far north before. She took in details of her surroundings and pondered on the lives of the people living in the vast cattle stations that stretched for miles on either side of the highway.

  She felt so relieved and light-hearted she might have broken into song if Damon hadn’t been dozing. Instead, she hummed softly under her breath, and she was still humming when she saw the blue-and-white car appear in her rear-vision mirror.

  Was that a police car?

  Uneasiness lifted the hairs on the back of her neck. Hastily she checked the speedometer. Whoops—just over.

  With a guilty grimace, she applied the brakes and hoped she wasn’t in range of the police radar.

  She was out of luck. Almost immediately, blue-and-red lights began to flash behind her. Damn.

  The police car drew closer, the lights flashing bossily. Bella groaned, ‘Oh, God,’ and unhappily pulled over to the edge of the highway.

  Beside her, Damon stirred. ‘What’s up? What’s happening?’

  ‘Police,’ she muttered miserably. Wasn’t this the story of her life? Every time she tried the tiniest adventure, fate slapped her down.

  Damon shot a glance behind and saw the police car pulling up. ‘Were you speeding?’ ‘Not really.’

  Bella half expected Damon to swear, but he merely let out a soft, resigned sigh. She felt sick as she heard the crunch of a heavy tread on the bitumen behind them. In the car’s side mirror she saw a tall, blue-uniformed figure. She sat up straight, lifted her chin to a dignified angle.

  The policeman was young and puffed with self-importance. ‘Good morning,’ he said in an annoyingly pseudo-friendly voice.

  ‘Morning, constable,’ Damon answered.

  The young policeman ignored his greeting and fixed cool blue eyes on Bella.

  She tried to look innocent. ‘I wasn’t speeding, was I?’

  The policeman shrugged. ‘Can I see your licence, madam?’

  ‘Oh? Oh, yes. Sure. It’s in my bag.’

  Her bag was at Damon’s feet and their hands collided as they both reached for it. Their gazes met and Damon’s eyes held a silent message of empathy. Then he smiled and winked.

  His smile helped, but Bella was flushed and shaking as she handed over her licence. The young policeman frowned officiously and began to jot down her details in his notebook.

  Beside her, Damon let out an annoyed huff. ‘How about an explanation, officer? What’s the problem?’

  ‘I’ll need your licence too, sir.’

  Bella was sure Damon would protest this time. After all, he was merely a passenger. To her surprise he said quietly, ‘Yeah. Whatever.’ Then pulled his licence from his wallet and handed it over.

  Now she was seriously scared. Why did the policemen want Damon’s licence, as well? This couldn’t be a mere speeding infringement.

  Memories of Damon’s reckless reputation flashed through her thoughts. He’d been pretty wild in his teens. He’d even been arrested by his own father when he was eighteen and it had caused a scandal that fired up Willara’s gossips for months. Bella’s parents had listened, and they’d refused to let her see him. Not long after that Damon had left town.

  She’d always believed the infamous event was a storm in a teacup, blown out of proportion by small-town rumours, but she had no idea what Damon had done since then. She wasn’t intimate with the details of his past ten years.

  The policeman certainly seemed suspicious. Directing a mean, narrow-eyed glare at her, he reached in and snatched the keys from the ignition.

  ‘Hang on.’ Damon looked at the policeman in surprise. ‘You owe us an explanation, mate. What’s your problem?’

  ‘You’re the ones with the problem.’ The constable spoke with annoying, self-righteous confidence. ‘I’d like you both to step out of the car. This is a stolen vehicle.’

  ‘Stolen?’ Bella cried. ‘That’s impossible. It’s a hire car.’

  She felt Damon’s hand close over hers, squeezing her fingers gently but firmly. ‘Just do what he says,’ he murmured softly. ‘I’m sure we can sort this out.’

  The policeman nodded. ‘You’ll have to come back to the station with me.’

  Bella choked on a gasp. This couldn’t be happening. It was a nightmare. She couldn’t breathe.

  But she was also as angry as she was scared. She hated the policeman’s tone. Chin high, she challenged him. ‘Can’t we just follow you?’

  ‘No, Miss Shaw. I’ll arrange a tow truck for this car.’

  ‘Surely you’re not arresting us?’ asked Damon.

  The young policemen almost smiled. ‘If you like, I can arrest you right here on suspicion, or you can come to the station to answer some questions.’

  No! This couldn’t be happening!

  Horrified, Bella turned to Damon. His lovely grey eyes were dark with sympathy and a deeper, unreadable emotion. She expected him to say something, to do something, to become the risk-taking hero she knew he could be. But he simply gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head and then an equally faint shrug.

  To her dismay, she knew exactly what he was telling her.

  We have no choice. Come on. Let’s co-operate.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TRAVELLING down the highway in the back of the police car, Damon was only concerned about Bella. She sat very stiffly with her back straight, her hands tight fists in her lap. Her green eyes were fixed dead ahead, not meeting his, and he knew she was terrified and bewildered. It was more than possible she was also wondering if he really had stolen the car.

  He wished he could reassure her, but it wasn’t worth trying to talk within the copper’s hearing. This was probably Bella’s first encounter with the police, whereas he’d been pulled up more times than he cared to remember.

  On many of those occasions the police had been nasty or they’d been agents of really nasty regimes, often armed to the teeth with semi-automatic weapons. Too often, they’d looked as if they wanted to shoot him, to take him off somewhere to interview him with electrodes attached.

  Damon had learned fast and he knew there was always a system, always someone higher who would make the final call. The trick in these situations was patience. It wasn’t worth provoking or shouting about rights. It was best to hold your tongue, stay firm and confident. Not lose the plot.

  He wished he could reassure Bella that on the scale of things Australia was the best place in the world to be riding in the back of a police car. She looked so serious and white-faced, so angry and afraid.

  This was beyond awful.

  Bella had never been inside a police car and she was fighting a rising tide of panic. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. None of this felt real. It couldn’t be happening, and yet the tiny part of her brain that was still functioning told her this was about as real as it got.

  She wished she knew what Damon was thinking. His dark face looked unbelievably calm, and she wanted to believe he was innocent. Now, when the chips were down, she felt her old loyalty to him rushing back. She didn’t want to doubt him, but how could she be sure?

  Problem was, she didn’t really know him anymore. Had she ever really known him? There’d always been a secretive, dark side to Damon, and yet she’d jumped into a car with him yesterday as recklessly as she had when she was seventeen.

  Hot tears threatened and she closed her eyes to hold them back. One thing was absolutely certain: she mustn’t cry. She had to look on this nightmare as a test of her character. She had to be strong.

  With her eyes closed, she let her mind escape
to happier times with Damon, to the very start of those brief, sweet months when he’d been her high-school sweetheart.

  It had all been very Romeo and Juliet. Very intense and poignant. And quite innocent for the most part. Their friendship and romance had started without fanfare and in a very ordinary way on the sporting field after school.

  Bella had stayed back for netball practice, and on those afternoons she couldn’t take the school bus back to the farm, so she usually walked across the playing field, taking the shortcut to her grandparents’ place.

  Remembering it now, she couldn’t help smiling.

  Damon had been alone, kicking a football around. She could still picture him in his baggy striped jersey and shorts, jogging backwards with eyes fixed on a ball that he’d kicked high. He’d almost backed into her, but she’d ducked out of his way so they didn’t collide. Her sudden appearance had distracted him, however, and he’d missed catching the ball.

  He hadn’t seemed to mind.

  Bella would never forget that moment when they’d looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. Damon was so incredibly hot, with his wild dark hair and sexy, square jaw and wonderfully broad shoulders. She could still recall the flash of silver in his grey eyes. And right from the start there’d been a thrilling air of danger about him.

  Amazingly, Bella hadn’t been scared. When Damon smiled at her she felt no fear at all, just a fierce rush of excitement.

  They’d said hello. There had been no need for introductions as they’d already known each other by name and sight. Damon had been a grade ahead of Bella, but she’d watched him from afar, attracted by his dark, slightly brooding good looks.

  However, the meeting on the football field had been the first time they’d been completely alone, and Damon had been surprisingly friendly. Friendly in an easy, relaxed way. Not too smooth, and not obviously trying to chat her up. He’d walked with her across the playing field and then they’d stood leaning at the fence.

  For ages. Just talking.

  Suddenly she had been able to talk to this formidably sexy boy about practically anything.

  They’d even talked about their parents—a subject that high-schoolers normally shunned. Bella had known Damon’s dad was the new police sergeant and that they’d moved from Brisbane to Willara, so she’d asked if his dad was happy about the transfer.

  Damon had been offhand. ‘Sure he’s happy. It’s a good promotion and he gets to be the boss of a much bigger region.’

  Even that first time, she’d sensed his tension when he spoke about his dad. He hadn’t mentioned his mother at all, but she’d heard through the grapevine that she’d been killed in a car crash.

  On that first afternoon, they’d also found common ground in being only children. Bella had admitted she was spoiled, and Damon had pulled a face as if that was a concept outside his experience.

  Mostly, they’d smiled a lot. It had seemed they couldn’t stop smiling, and Bella had been so thrilled to be sharing this conversation with him. She’d never felt so excited or over-the-moon happy. Just drinking in Damon’s wild, rugged beauty and silver-grey eyes, she’d been sure she was floating.

  Before they’d parted, he’d touched her just once, ever so briefly. His fingertips had skimmed light as moth wings over her wrist, electrifying her. Then he’d been gone, running back across the playing field, leaving her with an astonishing certainty that this was the start of something very important.

  The police car stopped outside a nondescript grey weatherboard building on the edge of the highway and Bella was brought to the present with a sickening jolt. The station was surrounded by a surprisingly neat garden, enclosed by a chain-wire fence. Beyond the building on either side stretched bushland.

  They were in the middle of nowhere.

  Her stomach hollowed as she stepped out of the car. She swayed dizzily, and Damon put his arm around her shoulders, supporting her. His lips brushed her ear.

  ‘Trust me,’ he murmured softly. ‘We’ll be okay.’

  She wanted to believe him. She had to believe him. Of course he hadn’t stolen a car. Trusting him, she felt a little stronger.

  The policeman led them up a narrow concrete path and unlocked the station door. Inside, there was a stark, utilitarian office with phones and two computers, a desk with two chairs.

  ‘Sit here, please,’ they were told sternly. Silently, they sat, and Bella tried to draw steady breaths, in and out, to stop herself from panicking.

  The policeman removed his cap to reveal a spiky ginger crew cut that made him look younger than ever. After hanging the cap on a peg, he pulled out a sheaf of official-looking paperwork and began to fill in details of their names and addresses, their dates of birth, today’s date and the time. He consulted his computer.

  The process was tedious and endless, and Bella had never felt so impatient, so desperate to be out of there.

  At last the policeman looked up from his work. ‘The car you were driving shows up as stolen from the Gold Coast.’

  No way. Bella wanted to shout their innocence.

  Beside her, Damon spoke calmly. ‘I have no idea what happened at the Gold Coast, but I hired the car in good faith. It was a legitimate deal. Ring the agency in Willara and ask them.’

  The young constable narrowed his eyes, clearly displeased that he’d been told what to do. ‘Wait here,’ he snapped and he disappeared into the next room.

  As soon as he was gone, Damon reached over and tweaked a stray strand of Bella’s hair. ‘We’ll be okay,’ he said softly. ‘We’ll be out of here in no time.’

  ‘Maybe we should explain that we’re worried about our grandparents?’

  His lip curled and he shook his head. ‘This guy wouldn’t give a toss about our grandparents.’

  ‘I don’t like him,’ Bella whispered.

  ‘I’m afraid he doesn’t care if you like him or not. He’s a cop.’

  Before they could say any more, the constable was back. ‘I have no choice,’ he said and the glimmer of a self-satisfied smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. ‘I’m going to have to arrest you both.’

  A choked cry broke from Bella. Her head spun and she was only dimly aware of the rest of the policeman’s speech …

  Anything you say can be used as evidence … You may call a solicitor …

  ‘But why?’ she pleaded, her voice shaking with fear and indignation. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong.’

  ‘Bella.’

  She heard Damon’s quiet, firm warning, but she was too distressed to heed him. ‘Damon hasn’t stolen anything,’ she shouted. ‘We haven’t stolen anything.’ She rounded on the policeman. ‘Surely the car agency at Willara told you we’re innocent?’

  ‘They’re closed today,’ the policeman said dismissively. ‘Apparently, most of Willara township is at a big race meeting.’

  Bella groaned, knowing this was true. Almost the entire Willara district came to a halt for their annual race day. Today of all days! Of all the rotten luck.

  ‘I have sufficient reason to suspect that an offence has been committed.’ The policeman cleared his throat and he shot a particularly vicious glance at Damon. ‘You have a prior conviction for car theft.’

  Oh, God. Bella saw the colour leave Damon’s face, saw the muscles in his throat work overtime as he swallowed. Now she knew for certain that they had no chance of escaping this arrest.

  Damon had assured her they’d be okay.

  He was wrong.

  His eyes blazed with anger. ‘I was eighteen, for God’s sake, and it was a suspended sentence.’

  Bella jumped to his defence. ‘The charge was unfair back then, and I can’t believe you’d try to use a silly schoolboy prank as a reason to hold us now.’

  Ignoring her, the policeman kept his eyes fixed on Damon. ‘Do you admit you’ve committed a prior offence?’

  ‘Yes.’ Damon swallowed again. ‘But Bella isn’t involved. She didn’t hire the car. I did.’ His jaw tightened. ‘And if you try to pin
this on us, it’ll backfire big time. Believe me.’

  The policeman wasn’t fazed. ‘You want to call a lawyer?’

  Damon turned to Bella. ‘It’s more important to call the hire-car people at Willara, but I doubt they’ll be open before tomorrow.’

  She nodded, too scared and too horrified to speak. She was thinking about her father and how shocked and devastated he would be if he knew she’d been arrested. She thought of Kent, her strong, reliable, protective fiancé until just a short day ago. Almost as soon as their engagement had ended, she’d thrown the security he’d represented to the four winds.

  She’d convinced herself that the only reason she’d come on this journey was to rescue her grandfather, that the attraction of an old boyfriend played no part in her decision. But what use was she to Paddy now? She’d landed in deeper trouble than he’d probably encountered in his entire long life—apart, perhaps, from when he was a soldier on active service.

  Damon Cavello’s second name was Trouble. Why hadn’t she remembered that? More importantly, why hadn’t she been completely honest with herself? She should have admitted that her feelings for Damon had never died. If she’d accepted that painful truth at the start, she would never have risked coming away with him.

  Watching Bella walk into her cell was the worst, the very worst moment of Damon’s life. He wanted to roar with rage, wanted to scoop her up in his arms and race her out of there.

  A crazy idea, of course. Impossible. And to launch a verbal battle with the stubborn young constable would only make matters worse.

  If their situation could be any worse.

  For now, he and Bella were locked up in the tiny watch-house attached to the police station, one in each of the two cells. They were separated by a wall of bars, so that any policeman on duty could observe the two of them from his post.

  Each cell had a bunk, a stainless-steel wash basin and a stainless-steel toilet bolted to the floor. A vent covered by security mesh was the only means of cooling. The midsummer’s day was stifling hot.