Free Lisa Jackson's the Abandoned Box Set by Lisa Jackson Page A

accident!”
    â€œMarnie’s fine,” Victor assured the younger man, though Kent didn’t seem relieved. In fact he appeared more agitated than ever. Well, he’d just had a helluva shock. Hadn’t they all? Victor poured Kent a stiff shot and handed him the glass. The drink shook in the boy’s hands.
    â€œWhat happened?” Kent asked, tossing back most of the bourbon.
    â€œAs I said, Marnie took off in the Marnie Lee. She thinks she owns half of it, you know. And really she does. I did give it to the both of you as an engagement present.”
    â€œSo that gives her the right to take off and leave me stranded?” Kent asked, dumbfounded. “God, what’s gotten into her?”
    â€œShe wants to be independent.”
    â€œBut it’s like a damned hurricane out there.” Kent strode to the windows and stared out at the gloomy night.
    â€œWell, it’s not quite that bad,” Victor said, though he halfheartedly agreed with the man he’d hoped would become his son-in-law. “But Marnie has this…thing—ambition, if you will…to be her own woman. She tried to resign, but I talked her into taking a leave of absence instead, and she’s off to, quote, ‘find herself.’ Whatever the devil that means.”
    â€œIn the Marnie Lee. ” Kent yanked hard on his tie, and his face became a mask.
    â€œThe boat’s in a little trouble,” Victor admitted. “At least that’s what the man said.”
    â€œTrouble?” Kent said, alarm flashing in his eyes.
    Victor was touched. Despite anything Marnie said to the contrary, Kent Simms loved her. “Nothing serious, but it could have been.”
    â€œWait a minute,” Kent said, his eyes narrowing. “What man are you talking about—someone from the Coast Guard?”
    Victor sighed. “Well, no. I heard it from the Guard, of course, a Captain Spencer, but he was radioed by some man, a passenger Marnie had on board.”
    â€œ Passenger? This just gets better and better, doesn’t it? So now she’s with some man! Good God, Victor, what’s going on?” Kent finished his drink and wiped the back of his hand over his lips.
    â€œI don’t know.” Victor tugged thoughtfully on his lower lip. Kent’s worries infected him again. He’d half calmed himself down, but now he felt a rush of concern as Kent poured himself another drink and paced from the windows to the door.
    â€œI don’t like this, Victor. I don’t like it at all.” He tossed back his second bourbon in two swallows.
    â€œNeither do I.”
    â€œShe’s been acting crazy lately.” Kent jammed his handthrough his hair in frustration. “I wonder who the devil is with her.”
    â€œI wish I knew.” Swirling his own drink, Victor asked, “Maybe this new independent streak has something to do with why you two broke up.”
    Kent shook his head. “It’s been coming for a long time,” he said, effectively closing the subject. “Do you have any idea where she put into port?”
    â€œThat’s a problem. The boat is anchored off Orcas Island, the westerly side. My guess is that she plans to spend the night camping on the beach or…”
    â€œOr what?” Then Kent appeared to understand. “You think she may be holed up in Deception Lodge.”
    â€œQuite possibly.”
    â€œThen let’s go get her.” Kent strode to the door, eager to charge off and retrieve his lost maiden.
    Victor admired the boy’s spunk, but he motioned him back into the room. “It’s just not that easy. I promised Marnie I wouldn’t interfere.”
    Kent’s mouth went slack with disbelief. “So you’re letting her—and this man —hang out alone in the lodge?”
    â€œYes.” Victor drained his glass as he remembered the determination in his daughter’s fine chin. And the man,