Chapter 3
Dread washed over Eden at the horrifying realization that she’d been discovered.
But how was that possible when she hadn’t made a sound?
The man who had loudly awakened her was now frowning, staring at her like he’d never seen a woman before.
Still, she felt she should say something, so she did. “I can explain.”
He lifted a brow, and that gesture made her zoom in on all his features, not just his frown.
His chestnut-colored skin looked like velvet, but in a tough sort of way.
His eyes, which seemed focused on hers, were dark brown, and the shape of his mouth looked way too sinful.
Even though he was standing over her, frowning down at her, she thought he had to be the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.
And he looked pretty darn good in those jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket.
“There’s nothing to explain. You are a stowaway. I want to know if you’re a lot-lizard or a runaway.”
Her breath nearly caught at the sound of his voice, now that he was speaking in a normal tone and not yelling. How could his voice be raspy and throaty at the same time? All she knew was that it was, and she found it as sexy as the rest of him.
When she didn’t say anything, he said, “I’m going to ask you again. Are you a lot-lizard or a runaway?”
Eden had been so focused on him that she had missed what he’d asked. Pulling up in a sitting position, she pushed her hair back from her face and asked, “What’s a lot-lizard?”
“Since you have to ask, I guess you aren’t one. That means you’re a runaway.”
She could classify herself as one of those. “Yes, I’m a runaway.”
“Figures. Being a cargo stowaway is thoughtless as well as dangerous.”
She wasn’t sure she appreciated being considered thoughtless. She glared at him. “At the time, I felt it was the right thing to do.”
He glared back. “Well, you were wrong. It was not the right thing to do, and definitely not in my rig. How old are you anyway?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Look, miss, I don’t take kindly to liars.”
First, he had all but called her thoughtless, and now, he was assuming she was a liar, too.
It was too much. The Tysons might stretch the truth a little bit, but they didn’t lie.
At least not outright, anyway. Easing to her feet, she squared her shoulders and all but got in his face. “I know how old I am, mister.”
“Prove it. And I want to see a real ID. Nothing fake.”
She pulled her wallet from the back pocket of her jeans, took out her driver’s license, and handed it to him.
She tapped her foot while she waited. She saw the frown settle in his features again.
He looked at her and then back at the photo ID, as if to make sure it was the same person. Then he handed it back to her.
“Eden Tyson, you don’t look a day over seventeen. But what I want to know is why a twenty-one-year-old woman would be running from anyone.”
Eden nibbled nervously on her bottom lip.
She could stretch the truth a little and say she was fleeing an overly jealous boyfriend or, like Beth, a crazy husband.
However, for some reason, even without fully knowing this guy, she believed that she might be able to talk him into at least letting her ride the rest of the way to California.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I’m already missing time on the road because of you, so I would appreciate an answer. I think I deserve one since you uninvitedly occupied space in my truck for a good ten miles or more.”
She nodded, then took a deep breath. “I’m running away from my parents. Well, actually, just my father.”
**
Drew didn’t want to think he had heard her correctly, but knew that he had.
Uncrossing his arms, he stared at her for a minute.
Her driver’s license listed her as being twenty-one, but she still appeared no older than seventeen.
And while she’d been asleep on the floor, he had wrongly guessed her size.
She was still a tiny thing, but damn, she was shapely.
He figured her size was a five. Her waist size couldn’t be any bigger than a twenty-four, her breasts–possibly a 34B, and her height he would guess to be five-eight.
Those measurements came easy to him, considering how well he knew a woman’s body.
In his lifetime, he had bedded all shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, and national origins.
When she cleared her throat, he knew she had caught him checking her out. Although he now knew that she wasn’t a kid, there was still a nine-year difference in their ages. That made her off-limits.
“Why would you be running from your father?” he asked.
“Because he is controlling. He ordered me to marry Mark after I graduated from college and ─”
“You’ve been to college?”
“Yes. I graduated with a master’s degree a few weeks ago from NYU.”
“At twenty-one?”
“I finished high school at sixteen.” She pointed at the door. “If you don’t mind, could you close the door? It’s getting rather cold in here.”
He hated to tell her, but by the time they reached Escondido, she would have been a lot colder. Over the next couple of days, the temperature was expected to dip to the low forties. “Fine, we can talk outside.”
“No! I can’t be seen out in the open.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“My father has men looking for me. If they find me, they’ll drag me home. I’ve just learned that they’re tracking my credit cards since I left New York. That means they know I’m in Arizona. I can’t take any chances on being seen.”
He rubbed his hand down his face in frustration. “I honestly don’t know what to tell you, miss. I have a run to make, and I’m already thirty minutes late. You are twenty-one, and I doubt your father can make you do anything you don’t want to do, including marry someone.”
“You don’t know my father. Mark and I have been promised to each other for years, and both our families feel it’s time for us to marry.”
He found all this rather interesting. “How does this Mark guy feel about all of this?”
“He agrees with me. He doesn’t love me and knows that I don’t love him.”
Drew nodded. “There you have it. All you and Mark have to do is sit down and deny your parents what they want.”
“We have tried, trust me. Besides, me not wanting to marry Mark isn’t the only thing we disagree on.”
“Let me guess. You want to travel and see the world, right?”
“Yes, but more than that, I want to be a model. I’ve been doing it on the side for the past year without their knowledge, but this month, I appeared on the cover of Vogue and my parents flipped.”
“Vogue?”
“Yes. That’s when Dad ordered me home to plan my wedding to Mark. He said that no daughter of his would be a model.”
“Where is your father?”
“My parents live in Boston.”
He nodded, then looked at his watch. “Sorry, miss, I sympathize with your family issues, but you need to get out of my truck.”
She actually looked stricken. “And go where?”
“Anywhere but my truck. I’ll even take you back to Fred’s Truck Stop. It’s against company regulations for anyone to ride in any part of this truck during company hours. And any time I’m on the road hauling cargo, it’s considered company hours.”
There was no way he would tell her that he was the owner of the company and could make or break the rules. “You are a long way from Boston, so as long as you remain out of public view as much as possible, you should be fine.”
“I won’t be fine. My father’s men will find me and force me to go with them.”
He shook his head. “You make your father sound like some mafia kingpin or something.”
“Dad acts like one, trust me. He has men on his payroll who will do whatever he orders them to do. Now they are just about everywhere, looking for me.”
She actually believed that? Well, he didn’t. He couldn’t see any person, including a father, being that controlling. “Sorry, but rules are rules, and I can’t afford to lose my job. You need to go.”
He watched her put her hair in a ponytail before grabbing her backpack off the floor. She looked up at him with those gorgeous green eyes and then said, in what he thought was a pitiful-sounding voice, “I hate to be any more of a bother, Drew, but ─”
“How did you know my name? I didn’t give it to you,” he asked, interrupting her.
“I was already hiding behind the boxes when you and a guy named Fred were talking. I heard him call you Drew.”
He nodded. “Okay, you were saying?”
“I hate to be any more of a bother than I already have, but I am down to a granola bar and one last bottle of water. Could I impose on you to get me a few more of both?”
“Am I to assume you don’t have the money to pay for any of it?”
“I truly don’t. I gave the last of my cash to Beth.”
“Beth?”
“Yes, I caught a ride with her and her two-year-old twin girls. I gave her the money as a thank you for letting me catch a ride all the way from Trenton. And I can’t use my credit cards since Dad is using them to track my location.”
He shook his head, certain she had watched too many detective shows on television. “Fine, I’ll get them.”
“I’ll gladly pay you back after I get to Paris if you give me your address.”
“Paris? You’re going to Paris?” he asked.
“Yes. My agent is sending me a ticket after the holidays. That’s where I will be working as a model, Drew.”
Why did he like the way she said his name in her New England accent? “Just wait in here until I return with the stuff.”
“Alright.”
Drew closed the door to the back of the trailer and crossed the lot to the convenience store.
The runaway had definitely spun a wild tale.
First, about a controlling father, but then claiming she was actually on the cover of Vogue?
Honestly? He figured it was every young girl’s dream to be the next Iman, but still, she was definitely stretching it a bit.