Chapter 4
Eden glanced over at the man driving the truck.
He had gone silent since leaving that gas station, and she knew why.
He was risking his employment for her, and she felt bad about it.
Was she being selfish about wanting to escape her father, knowing his propensity for retribution against anyone who helped her defy him?
It was only fair that she warned Drew, and if he dropped her off at the next truck stop, she would understand.
“Drew?”
He glanced at her. “What?”
He was upset. She could see the agitation in the depths of his dark brown eyes. Was he already regretting his decision to take her to California? “I need to warn you about my dad.”
“You already have,” he said before looking back at the road.
“Yes, but I didn’t tell you that he isn’t used to anyone defying him. Especially me. And if he discovers someone is helping me do it, he will go after them.”
He shrugged. “I’m taking you as far as Escondido, Eden, and if your old man has a problem with that, too bad. What about your mom? I would think she would be in your corner.”
“Mom’s not. She doesn’t see my father’s actions as controlling. She thinks he’s protecting me.”
She shook her head. “My parents love each other very much. They married when interracial marriages were frowned upon. He’s white and she’s black.
Dad defied his parents to marry Mom. She wasn’t the type of woman the wealthy Tysons of Boston had wanted for him.
I understand that his decision caused quite a stir at the time, and his family nearly disowned him.
But when they met Mom, and saw how sophisticated she was—not to mention, she was the daughter of a prominent United States senator—they learned to ignore her skin color. ”
She twisted around in her seat to face him. “Yet Dad doesn’t seem to realize that he’s forcing me to do what he refused to do ─let his parents select his spouse.”
“Are your grandparents on either side still alive?”
“No. However, I do remember them while growing up. I didn’t have a chance at having a normal childhood because both of my grandmothers considered themselves etiquette queens, and when I was born, they believed it was their job to make me into one, too.”
When he didn’t say anything, she figured she must be boring him. At least he had been warned about her father. They’d driven a few more miles when he surprised her by asking, “How did you become a model while still in college? Especially one who ended up on the cover of Vogue?”
She smiled. That was the one thing she enjoyed talking about ─her budding future as a model and how it got started.
“I saw a notice on campus that Vogue was looking for the next superstar-model, and I figured, why not try out? It had been a dream of mine for years. A month or so later, I received a letter from them saying I’d been one of five women selected.
They suggested that if I was interested in pursuing this further, I should get an agent.
And so I did. The next thing I knew, I was doing photo shoots for them between classes.
They didn’t see it as a problem since it was less than a year before I graduated. ”
“I gather you didn’t tell your parents.”
“I saw no reason to. Although they were pushing marriage down my throat, I knew that wouldn’t happen. I figured that once I turned twenty-one, I could do as I pleased. I was wrong on that account.”
She paused a moment and then added, “Everything was going fine. Mark and I had talked and agreed that no matter what our parents said, we wouldn’t be forced into marrying.”
“When was the last time you saw Mark?”
“He and his parents joined mine at my graduation earlier this month. Three days later, I received a call from my agent, informing me that Vogue had selected me from out of the five superstar-models as the one whose face would appear on the cover of their January issue. I hadn’t counted on that.
Nor did I know that the January issue would be released in the US and Europe right before the holidays.
My parents saw it and went bonkers. They demanded I come home immediately to start planning a June wedding.
I refused. That’s when Dad went on the warpath. ”
Drew shook his head. Some people with money acted downright weird. As if they owned the world and everybody else in it. “Has your father always been controlling?”
“Yes, but it never bothered me before, because I never had reason to defy him. I enjoyed a good life, with access to funds whenever I needed them, a new car every year, and credit cards with unlimited available credit. I don’t have any of that now.
Dad told me not to drive my car, so I left it in New York and caught a train to Philly and then a bus to Trenton.
I had never caught a train in my life, but a nice lady told me everything I needed to do.
I checked my bank account earlier today, and it’s closed.
If I had known Dad would do that, I wouldn’t have given Beth all the cash I had. ”
Still, a part of her didn’t regret it. Beth had told her that she and her daughters had left in the dead of night while her crazy husband had been in a drunken stupor.
The woman had been determined to drive the thirty-five hours from Trenton to Phoenix.
Eden was glad she could make the trip less financially worrying for Beth by ensuring they ate well and had beds to sleep in at good hotels each night.
She had been aghast that Beth’s plans had been for her and the girls to sleep overnight at rest stops.
“Earlier I told you that when I got into the back of your truck, it felt like the right thing to do. But I didn’t tell you why. A stranger, not someone sent by my father, but a big man in jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed me when I stepped out of a phone booth.”
Drew’s head snapped around and his eyes met hers.
She swallowed and continued, “He seemingly came out of nowhere and grabbed my arm. He told me that if I screamed, he would break it. People were standing around, but nobody paid us any attention. They were busy shopping. Even when he tried pulling me over to a beat-up pickup truck, nobody looked our way. Until…”
“Until what?” Drew asked her.
“Until I used one of the techniques I’d learned in a self-defense class my parents made me take.
I went straight for his jewels and kicked him hard with my pointed-toe boots.
When he doubled over, howling in pain, I took off running.
I ran for what seemed like a couple of blocks, then I saw your tractor-trailer.
The back was open, so I climbed inside.”
She glanced out the window. The weight of what could have happened had she not known how to defend herself began pressing down on her.
“Eden?”
She glanced back over at Drew. “Yes?”
“I’m glad your parents made you take self-defense classes.”
Eden nodded, releasing a deep breath. “Me, too.”
She then turned to gaze out the window again.
They were traveling west on Interstate 10, and she was enjoying the desert landscape along the way.
This was her first time in Phoenix, and other than the facts that she’d almost been abducted, and her father’s men were looking for her, she did her best to enjoy the view.
Phoenix was a beautiful city. Hopefully, if and when she came again, it would be under more favorable circumstances.
Eden considered keeping the conversation going by asking Drew a few questions about him and his family.
Like…was he married? She assumed he wasn’t, since he wasn’t wearing a ring.
And he had mentioned to Fred that he’d be alone for Christmas and New Year’s at some lodge. Still, it was always better to ask.
“Are you married, Drew?”
“Nope, and I don’t plan on it.”
“Why not?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“I like women too much to ever settle on just one.”
“Are you saying that if you got married, you might cheat on your wife?”
“What I’m saying is that there isn’t a woman out there who would be enough for me to just want only her. So why would I get married?”
For some reason, his attitude annoyed her. “You must think a lot of yourself.”
“Not really. I know my wants and desires, and I can’t see myself tied down to just one woman who won’t be able to satisfy all my needs.”
She wasn’t an expert on men and women’s relationships by any means, but she found it ridiculous that he would think there wasn’t a woman out there who’d be compatible with him. But if he felt that way, it wasn’t any of her business.
**
Drew kept his eyes steadily on the road.
From the sound of Eden’s breathing, he knew she had drifted off to sleep.
Good. Inhaling her scent was bad enough without having to put up with the sound of her voice as well.
That New England accent was smooth as silk and had a breathy catch to it that went to his groin.
Because she seemed a bit na?ve and overprotected, he guessed that she had no idea what that voice could do to a man.
Every time she opened her mouth to speak, his libido went into overdrive.
At any other time, he would have enjoyed becoming aroused by a desirable woman.
But not today, and definitely not by her.
He couldn’t seem to let go of what she’d told him about almost being abducted.
And he could tell she hadn’t lied about it.
He had heard the panic in her voice as she told him.
And the couple of times he had taken his eyes off the road for a brief second to glance at her, he had seen the look of fear in her eyes, too.
She was right, finding safety in the back of his truck had been the right thing to do.
He might have had many women in his time, but he knew better than to mistreat one.
After all, he’d had a good role model. If Galen Steele hadn’t laid a hand on his mouthy, forever-complaining, never-grateful wife all those years, then Drew knew that a man could control his actions.
And for a man to simply assume he could snatch a woman off the street for his pleasure?
Well, he got just what he deserved and Drew was glad Eden had delivered it to him.
He smiled. He’d bet that the prick had taken one look at her—and at her size—and figured that Eden would be easy to grab.
He’d discovered the hard way that he had been wrong.
He was surprised Eden hadn’t commented when he’d told her how he felt about marriage. Most women would have tried luring him into a debate. Of course, in the end, they would discover there was nothing to debate about. His thoughts and beliefs were his own, and he wasn’t about to change them.
He glanced over at her and confirmed she was still sleeping.
She was wearing that knitted cap, and he thought she looked rather cute in it.
Damn, but he thought she looked cute asleep as well.
Returning his eyes to the road, he was glad they had discussed her father.
Now he knew the type of person he was dealing with… at least until they reached Escondido.
Her parents were her parents, and it was time she learned how to deal with them. But then, hadn’t she said that she had told her father she would not be returning home, yet he had sent men after her anyway? Did these men assume they could just snatch her if she refused to go? Obviously, they did.
He thought about turning on the radio to listen to music but didn’t want to wake her.
Glancing at the clock on his dashboard, he saw that he was running thirty minutes behind but would get to Escondido in good time.
It would be best to drop Eden off somewhere before dark.
After doing so, he would connect with Fred’s sister, Delores, and deliver those two bikes.
Then he would make it to the warehouse for them to unload his rig and reload it with the new cargo, which would take a couple of hours.
Drew intended to grab something to eat and be ready to get back on the interstate before seven.
He didn’t have a problem with night driving and figured he could do at least another five hours before parking his rig and taking a room at a nearby hotel for a good night’s sleep.
But would he be able to sleep peacefully wondering if those men had doubled back, headed toward California looking for her.
He didn’t want to think of that possibility.
So why was he when she wasn’t his problem?
Hadn’t he told her that Escondido would be as far as he took her?
Since he knew she didn’t have any funds, he would be a good guy and give her some money.
However, would it be enough to tide her over through the holidays and before she left for Paris?
He could give her one of his charge cards to use and…
What the hell was he thinking? He’d never given a woman his charge card to use. No way and no how. But could he honestly leave her alone in Escondido, broke and defenseless, while being hunted like a criminal? Now that he knew the danger she faced, how could he just drop her off and keep going?
Even if her father’s men didn’t come looking for her in California, what if someone tried to abduct her again?
Granted, she had defended herself the last time, but what if there were more than one?
What if she found herself facing down a gang?
She would be an easy target for human traffickers.
He knew he couldn’t risk such a thing happening to her, so he needed to devise a plan.
Less than an hour later, he had met Delores at the prearranged location and had loaded the bikes into the back of her pickup truck. Eden had slept through it all. He would need to wake her before they reached the warehouse so she could be told of the change in plans.
Pulling into a Seven-Eleven convenience store less than a mile from the warehouse, he woke her. Drew doubted he would ever get used to looking into the depths of her green eyes. They did something to him every single time.
She stared at him for a second, as if trying to recall who he was and where she was. Then she jerked upright in her seat while wiping a hand down her face to stifle a yawn. After glancing through the truck windows at her surroundings, she asked, “We made it to Escondido?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s time for us to part ways, Drew.”
“No, it’s not. There has been a slight change in plans.”
She looked at him, questioningly. “What change?”
“I decided to keep you with me until right before I reach Dollywood. That means I will take you as far as Memphis.”