Free His Stolen Bride (Chicago Sons) by Barbara Dunlop Page B

didn’t even leave a message.”
    Jackson swore as he punched twelve, the top floor.
    “What?”
    “Vern. He’s in the lobby with a couple of guys.”
    “No way.”
    “I just saw him.”
    The elevator rose.
    “How is that possible?”
    “It’s possible because your phone call connected and revealed the hotel number.”
    “I didn’t call Vern.” Wasn’t Jackson listening? “I called Ellie.”
    “And Vern knows Ellie’s number. They were monitoring her phone.”
    “That’s ridiculous.”
    “You have a better explanation for him showing up here?”
    She didn’t. In fact, she was baffled. And she was starting to feel frightened.
    “What do we do on the twelfth floor?” she asked as the numbers pinged higher.
    “My room,” he said.
    It seemed every second threw her for another loop. “You have a room? Why would you need a room?”
    “To sleep in. You can have a drink there.”
    “But why would you sleep here?”
    “So I can drive you back to the city when you’re ready.”
    “I thought I was going to take a bus back to the city.”
    “If we’d gone with that plan, Gerhard would already have you.”
    “Jackson, what is going on?”
    It took him a moment to answer. He seemed to be weighing his words. “Vern Gerhard wants you back, and he has a lot of money to spend accomplishing that.”
    “I was coming back.” She thought about that statement. “I mean, I might go back. I didn’t break up with him. I still have his ring.”
    The doors opened on twelve.
    “You should break up with him.” Jackson gestured for her to exit first. “Take a right.”
    “I don’t know for sure that he’s done anything wrong. Well, except react badly to me wrecking a hundred-thousand-dollar wedding.”
    “You didn’t wreck it.”
    “You did.”
    “True enough,” he said.
    He inserted a key card into a set of double doors at the end of the hallway.
    “You don’t seem to care.”
    “I don’t care about Gerhard’s money, that’s for sure.”
    Crista stepped over the threshold, taken aback by the very well-appointed suite. She gazed around. “Used to traveling in style?”
    “I thought I might need a room for a meeting.”
    “With me?” They needed a meeting?
    “With Mac and some of the other guys. They’ll be here later.”
    She digested that statement. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
    “There are hundreds of things I’m not telling you.”
    The door swung shut behind him and he crossed to a wet bar.
    “Those pictures of Vern are fake, aren’t they? Is this extortion? Am I still kidnapped? Was this about money all along?”
    “We have beer, wine or highballs. And I’m going to order room service. If you’re set on a martini, I can have them bring one.”
    “That’s not an answer.”
    It occurred to her that she might be a whole lot safer with Vern. The suite door was right behind her. She could be out of it before Jackson caught her. Could she make it to the elevator, or would he drag her back kicking and screaming?
    “You’re not kidnapped,” he told her, exasperation clear in his tone. “I left you alone in your room for an hour.”
    She eased a bit closer to the double doors. “You could have been standing guard outside my door.”
    “I wasn’t. I’m a whole lot more interested in food right now that I am in any of Gerhard’s moves. You’re free to leave. You’ve been free to leave since this morning. I took you back to their mansion. You could have stayed there.”
    He was right about that. She could have walked inside the mansion where the Gerhard family, not to mention a few security guards who would have been waiting. There wouldn’t have been a thing Jackson could do to stop her.
    She wasn’t being held against her will.
    “I’ll take a glass of merlot,” she told him. “And I’d kill for a mushroom and sausage pizza.”
    He smiled at that. “Coming up.”
    “We told Vern your name this morning,” she felt compelled to point out. “He can