The Right Bride: Book Three: The Hunted Series Read online

  The Right Bride

  BOOK THREE: THE HUNTED SERIES

  JENNIFER RYAN

  Acknowledgments

  * * *

  I CAN’T TELL you how exciting it is to have the third book in “The Hunted” series published. The stories may be mine, but the road to publication and my dream job includes help from friends.

  Lucia Macro, my amazing editor, there are no words to tell you how much I appreciate everything you do. Your faith in me and my work is always encouraging. I love working with you.

  Meeting my agent, Eric Ruben, was anything but conventional. It isn’t often an editor calls an agent on your behalf and tells him he needs to sign you. Thank you Sue Grimshaw for everything. Most of all, thank you Eric for all your hard work and taking this ride with me.

  Shout out for my writer friends. Whether it’s a critique, plotting the next storyline, flushing out the holes in a story, or sitting around drooling over my next book cover, you guys are always there for me. My Rogue writer’s group, especially Marina Adair, Hannah Jayne, Julie Bardard, and Lea Taddonio, to name a few, and my friend and critique partner, Jaclyn Di Bona. Thank you for sharing your time, your knowledge, and your never-ending encouragement. Marina, thanks for being my cheerleader and screaming on the phone with me. I love you guys.

  Contents

  * * *

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  About the Author

  Also by Jennifer Ryan

  An Excerpt from All or Nothing by Dixie Lee Brown

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter One

  * * *

  SHELLY SWIPED THE lip gloss wand across her lips, rolled them in and out to smooth out the color, and grinned at herself in the mirror, satisfied with the results. She pushed up her boobs, exposing just enough flesh to draw a man’s attention—and keep it—but still not look too obvious.

  “Perfect. He’ll love it.”

  Ah, Cameron Shaw. Rich and powerful, sexy as hell, and kind in a way that made it easy to get what she wanted. Exactly the kind of husband she always dreamed about marrying.

  Shelly grew up in a nice, middle-class family. Ordinary. She desperately wanted to be anything but ordinary.

  She’d grown up a plump youngster and a fat teenager. At fifteen, she resorted to bingeing and purging and starved herself thin. Skinny and beautiful, boys took notice. You can get a guy to do just about anything when you offer them hot sex. By the time she graduated high school, she’d transformed herself into the most popular girl in the class.

  Destined to live a glamorous life in a big house with servants and fancy cars and clothes, meeting Cameron in the restaurant had been a coup. Executives and wealthy businessmen frequented the upscale restaurant. She’d gone fishing and landed her perfect catch. Now she needed to hold on and reel in a marriage proposal.

  Chapter Two

  * * *

  NIGHT FELL OUTSIDE Cameron’s thirty-sixth floor office window. Tired, he’d spent all day in meetings. As president of Merrick International, long hours were the norm and sleepless nights were a frequent occurrence.

  The sky darkened and beckoned the stars to come to life. If he were out on the water and away from the glow of the city lights, he’d see them better, twinkling in all their brilliant glory.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he took out the sailboat. He’d promised Emma he’d take her fishing. Every time he planned to go, something came up at work. More and more often, he put her off in favor of some deal or problem that couldn’t wait. He needed to realign his priorities. His daughter deserved better.

  He stared at the picture of his golden girl. Emma was five now and the image of her mother. Long, wavy, golden hair and deep blue eyes, she always looked at him with such love. He remembered Caroline looking at him the same way.

  They’d been so happy when they discovered Caroline was pregnant. In the beginning, things had been so sweet. They’d lay awake at night talking about whether it would be a boy or a girl, what they’d name their child, and what they thought he or she would grow up to be.

  He never thought he’d watch his daughter grow up without Caroline beside him.

  The pregnancy took a turn in the sixth month when Caroline began having contractions. They gave her medication to stop them and put her on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.

  One night he’d come home to find her pale and hurting. He rushed her to the hospital. Her blood pressure spiked and the contractions started again. No amount of medication could stop them. Two hours later, when the contractions were really bad, the doctor came in to tell him Caroline’s body was failing. Her liver and kidneys were shutting down.

  Caroline was a wreck. He still heard her pleading for him to save the baby. She delivered their daughter six weeks early, and Caroline suffered a massive stroke and died without ever holding their daughter.

  Cameron picked up the photograph and traced his daughter’s face, the past haunting his thoughts. He spent three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit grieving for his wife and begging his daughter to live. Week four had been a turning point. He felt she’d spent three weeks grieving the loss of her mother and decided to live for her father. She began eating on her own and gained weight quickly. Ten days later, Cameron finally took his daughter home. From then on, it had been the two of them.

  Almost a year ago, he decided enough was enough. Emma needed a mother. He’d dated several women since Caroline’s death. More so, he took a few women to bed and felt no emotional connection to any of them. They provided a physical release. Nothing more than empty encounters between two consenting adults. Perhaps that’s what made him feel emptier each time. He didn’t want to examine it too closely. It hurt too much, this loneliness.

  He didn’t know if he was capable of giving anything more than his body to any woman anymore. It hurt too much to have his heart ripped out of his chest when Caroline died. He figured there was literally nothing left of it.

  The women knew it, understood it, and took what they could get from him. No shortage of wo
men who wanted to be seen with him, sleep with him, enjoy the money he had, and casually slip away when the time came. The problem with that was none of them would make a good mother to Emma.

  He hadn’t lost his head over a woman since Caroline until a month ago. He’d had a hard day and ended up right here, sitting in his office looking out at the night and thinking about Caroline and how much he missed her. He’d drowned himself in her memory and what it felt like to be her husband and to love her and be loved.

  He’d gone downstairs to Decadence to have dinner alone at his reserved table. When he’d entered the restaurant, he’d seen a woman at the bar who reminded him so much of Caroline that he almost believed it was her. He struck up a conversation, and they’d ended up going at it on the sofa in his office. It had been the one and only time he’d lost his head that way.

  When it was over and he’d realized what he’d done, he apologized to the woman and offered to drive her home. She’d made things easy and asked him to dinner.

  So began his relationship with the blond beauty, Shelly Ramsey. They’d been seeing each other regularly for a month. He took her to several charity benefits and social functions he attended for business purposes. So far, they enjoyed each other’s company.

  He scheduled dinner with Shelly and Emma downstairs at Decadence and awaited his daughter’s arrival. He stared at the picture of Emma again and wondered if it was too soon to introduce her to a woman he was seeing.

  He thought about Shelly. Nice, well spoken, and beautiful, if not too made up at times. Caroline often made jokes about herself to make others feel comfortable around her. Shelly didn’t have a sense of humor about herself. She took things too personally.

  The more Cameron thought about Shelly, the more he realized his interest in her ran more to her resemblance of Caroline. The longer he spent with her, the more he realized her looks weren’t enough to keep him interested.

  Always nice to him, but not necessarily to others. That was a problem for Cameron. At every business function they attended, Caroline went out of her way to befriend everyone. She was a warm fire on a cold night. Everyone wanted to gather around and feel her warmth. He missed that about her. He’d bask in the praise and compliments about what a wonderful woman he’d snagged. They’d tell him how lucky he was and how they thought she was great. He hadn’t needed anyone to tell him he was lucky. He knew it.

  So far, Shelly hadn’t shown that side of herself. If she even had it in her. He sometimes suspected some sort of hidden agenda.

  Cameron sighed and put the picture of his daughter back on the corner of his desk and considered himself a royal jackass. Yeah, the sex was good, but he spent the whole time pretending Shelly was his wife. After the first time, he hadn’t lost his head quite so completely. In fact, now he could take it or leave it. He chalked Shelly up to supreme stupidity and a deep longing for his dead wife.

  He wished he’d realized Shelly was just a substitute for Caroline before he’d agreed to introduce her to his daughter. Emma would arrive any second, and he couldn’t cancel now.

  He continued to stare out the window at the ocean in the far distance. A row of lights appeared very small on the water. A ship, lights lining the mast. He imagined a sailboat and wished he were aboard right now.

  MARTI STARED OUT across the water and sighed. She loved the ocean, the sound, the smell, the solitude, and most of all, the sheer size of it. You could lose yourself out here on the wide-open sea. She had for the past year, and now it was time to find herself back on land.

  The saltwater spray swept up from the bow and misted her face. Her last day on the ship; tomorrow she arrived in nearby San Francisco.

  She’d seen the world from the ocean and from port to port. She’d explored every wonderful place she’d ever dreamed of visiting: England, Ireland, France, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Fiji, Brazil, Chile, Australia, Japan, China. Everywhere her heart desired, she’d gone and explored.

  Some people dreamed of a trip around the world and never did because they couldn’t afford to, or just didn’t take the time. Three hundred and sixty-five days at sea. On day three hundred and sixty-six, she’d dock in San Francisco, sign the estate papers at the lawyer’s office, and make a life on dry land—alone. Her heart ached over the loss of her grandmother, and soon the sea.

  She’d rather not go back to the city, but the year was up and she’d fulfilled her grandmother’s last wishes. How could she refuse such a wonderful request? But she couldn’t spend the rest of her life sailing from port to port. She wanted to, but needed to get back to her life. Actually, she had to start her life. She was ready to stay in one place for a while and make some friends.

  “Marti, we’ve dropped sail and anchored for the night. The fog’s rolling in and we should get settled. What time do you want to get underway and drop anchor in the bay in the morning?”

  “Let’s not make it early,” she said over her shoulder to her trusted captain. “How about eleven? I can watch the sun come up and spend a quiet morning with you and the crew. It’ll be our last breakfast together for a while.”

  “You look sad. It’s been quite an adventure, wouldn’t you say?”

  Captain Finn understood her reluctance to leave the ship and begin an unfamiliar life.

  “A grand adventure. I’m going to miss it as much as you salty dogs.”

  “I think we can call you a salty dog after a year of sailing. You handle this ship as well as anyone. You make a great mate.”

  “I learned from the best.” She smiled to let him know how much she appreciated him for treating her like a part of the crew and not keeping some sort of boundary between them because she was technically the boss. “How long until dinner?”

  “A few minutes. We’re set up on the back deck.”

  “Perfect. We’ll watch the fog roll in and play our last poker game.”

  “Will the men keep their money for shore leave?”

  “They may just leave with a bonus tonight.” She winked and he laughed.

  An experienced card sharp, she’d make sure all the men left with her money.

  Captain Finn caught her looking longingly at the water. “She’ll still be here come tomorrow night when you’re tucked into some hotel room. Stay aboard.”

  “I have things to do. I need to find a place to live on dry land. If I stay on the ship, I’ll only want to sail away again.”

  “I understand and know just how you feel.” He belonged to the sea and she was cut from the same cloth. “The ocean, she calls to you, but you have to find your way now that Sofia is gone. She gave you a gift, Marti. She would be proud to see you embraced it with your whole heart. I’ve never seen anyone take to the open water like you, or enjoy the adventure of exploring a new land with such enthusiasm. She understood your spirit.”

  “Yes. She did. She left me in good hands too. You and the crew have been wonderful to me. I couldn’t have gotten through the first few weeks without your kindness.”

  “Kindness was easy to give to someone like you. You earned my respect, and that of the crew, when you insisted on becoming a sailor. Your Uncle Anthony doesn’t deserve either kindness or respect from you. Remember that tomorrow and all the days after that. He’ll come after you. He wants what Sofia gave you.”

  “Did he call?”

  “This morning. We told him you went diving and couldn’t be reached.” He gave her one of his lopsided smiles.

  “You tell him that every time he calls.”

  “It’s been true a time or two.” Captain Finn’s mouth tilted up in an unapologetic grin.

  “Thank you, Captain Finn, for everything.”

  “I loved your grandmother. I’ve taken her all over the world and watched her create some of her masterpieces. And now I’ve had the pleasure to take you around the world and watch you do the same in your own way.”

  Marti thought fondly of her grandmother, the world-famous painter. Her paintings hung in galleries and museums all over the world. She’d taugh
t Marti how to paint from the time she was old enough to hold a brush. A smile touched her mouth at the sweet memories. How she’d loved painting with her grandmother.

  Marti was an accomplished artist in her own right, but the public wouldn’t know it. She’d never shown one of her paintings to anyone. To her grandmother’s frustration, Marti painted for herself. Truth be told, she was scared to death to let anyone see her paintings and compare them to her grandmother’s masterpieces.

  Marti kept her talents on an anonymous level, writing and illustrating her own series of children’s books. She wrote the series under a pen name. No one except her publisher knew the author was the granddaughter of one of the greatest painters in the world. Marti hoped she’d get to keep the secret. A hope she knew wouldn’t come true. No secret stayed hidden forever.

  “I only wish she could have made this journey with you,” the captain said.

  “I’ve wished the same since we left. She watched over us. I know she did.” Marti gazed up at the darkening sky, the stars beginning to wink and twinkle to life.

  Captain Finn walked back across the deck behind her.

  Tomorrow would be a new beginning and facing it alone scared her. Instead of looking out at the ocean and the fog about to envelope them, she turned to the land and the city by the bay. San Francisco was lit up in the distance. She stared at those lights and wondered what all those people were doing right then. Working in their offices, going out for a night on the town, spending an evening with someone they loved, their family and friends. Maybe they were lonely like her and wishing to have something more in their lives.

  Tomorrow she’d become a part of that world. Tonight, she belonged to the sea.

  She stared out across the water to one of the tall buildings reaching up to the stars. For the first time, she felt as if something, or someone, was drawing her back.

  CAMERON WAITED FOR his daughter to arrive, dreading the evening ahead. He watched the ship on the water, drawn to it like a beacon.