The Bride Read online

  The ambulance had just turned around to go in the direction the boys were pointing, but when the gunshots were fired, it changed course. Sirens on, the ambulance crossed over the curb and swerved to miss the hospital emergency entrance sign. It bounded across the park toward the gunshot victim, weaving in and out of the crowd that was scrambling toward the boulevard.

  Ellie jumped to her feet and ran after it. Her mind was racing. Who were the surgeons on call tonight? Edmonds and Walmer, she remembered, and she’d seen both of them in the hospital. Good.

  The target had been a good distance away from the shooter, but he’d taken a direct hit to the torso. Ellie had no idea how bad the wound was, but she thought, if she could stabilize him, he’d make it to the OR.

  The ambulance crossed the grassy area of the park in no time and stopped a few feet away from the downed man. Two paramedics leapt to the ground. Ellie recognized them: Mary Lynn Scott and Russell Probst. Russell opened the back doors and pulled out the gurney while Mary Lynn reached for the large, orange trauma bag and rushed forward, sliding to her knees beside the victim. By the time Ellie reached the scene, armed agents had surrounded him. One knelt on the ground talking to the man, trying to keep him calm, while two others stood over him.

  An agent, taller than the other two and much more muscular through the shoulders, blocked her view. He barely glanced at her as he brusquely ordered, “You don’t need to see this. Go back to your soccer game.”

  Go back to your game? Was he serious? Ellie was about to protest when one of the paramedics looked up, spotted her, and shouted, “Oh, thank God. Dr. Sullivan.”

  All three agents looked at her skeptically and then slowly stepped aside so that she could get past. Mary Lynn tossed her a pair of gloves, and Ellie pulled them on as she knelt down beside the man to assess the injury. Blood saturated the man’s shirt. She gently lifted the compress Mary Lynn had pressed to his shoulder, saw the damage, and immediately sought to stem the bleeding. While she gave orders to Russell and Mary Lynn, she kept her voice steady. The patient was conscious, and she didn’t want him to panic.

  “How bad is it?” he asked.

  She made it a point never to lie to a patient. That didn’t mean she had to be brutally honest, however. “It’s bad, but I’ve seen much worse, much worse.”

  Russell handed her a clamp, and she found the source of the bleeding. The bullet hadn’t gone through but had made quite an entrance.

  Once Mary Lynn had gotten the IV line in, Ellie nodded to her to begin the drip.

  “What’s your name?” she asked as she began packing the wound.

  “Sean . . . Sean . . . ah, hell, I can’t remember my last name.” His eyelids began to flutter as he struggled to stay conscious.

  The agent kneeling behind him said, “Goodman.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Sean said, his voice growing weaker.

  “Can you remember if you’re allergic to anything?” Mary Lynn asked.

  “Just bullets.” Sean stared at Ellie through half-closed eyes. “Are you a doctor?”

  “Yes,” she said, flashing a smile. She finished packing the wound and leaned back on her heels.

  “Dr. Sullivan’s a trauma surgeon,” Russell explained. “If you had to get shot, she’s the one you want operating on you. She’s the best there is.”

  “Okay, he’s stable. You can take him,” Ellie said as she peeled off her gloves and dropped them in the plastic container Mary Lynn opened for her.

  Sean suddenly grabbed her arm, his grip surprisingly strong. “Wait . . .”

  “Yes?”

  “I want to marry Sara. Am I going to see her again?”

  She leaned over him. “Yes, you will,” she said. “But first you’re going into the OR to get that bullet out. Now sleep. It’s all good. The surgeon will take care of you.”

  “Who’s on tonight?” Russell asked.

  “Edmonds and Walmer,” Mary Lynn answered.

  Sean tightened his hold on Ellie’s arm. “I want you.” He didn’t give her time to respond but held tight and forced himself to stay awake as he repeated, “He said you’re the best. I want you to operate.”

  She put her hand on top of his and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  She stood and stepped back to get out of the way so that the paramedics could put Sean into the ambulance but was stopped by something solid. It felt as though she’d just backed into a slab of granite. The agent who had told her to go back to her soccer game was blocking her exit with his warm, hard chest. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, then let go. When he still didn’t get out of her way, she stood her ground pressed against him.

  “Dr. Sullivan, do you want to ride with us?” Russell called out.

  “No, go ahead. He’s stable now.”

  Russell swung the doors shut, jumped into the driver’s seat, and the ambulance was on its way.

  Ellie turned to the agent who had been kneeling with Sean. “Was anyone else hurt?”

  The granite wall behind her answered. “Not hurt, dead.” He was very matter-of-fact.

  “They weren’t ours,” another agent explained. “They were wanted men.”

  She turned around and came face to shoulders with the most intimidating man she’d ever seen, and that was saying something considering the monster chief of surgery she worked under. This man didn’t look anything like him, though. The agent was tall, dark, and scary, with thick black hair and penetrating, steely gray eyes. His firm square jaw was covered with at least one day’s growth of beard, maybe two. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in at least twenty-four hours, a look she knew all too well.

  Ellie’s heart skipped a beat. The man could scare the quills off a porcupine. But, oh God, was he sexy! Ellie gave herself a mental slap. An intimidating man who was built like a monument and could melt iron with his menacing glare—this was what she was attracted to?

  The agent who had been kneeling stepped forward and put out his hand. “I’m Agent Tom Bradley. Sean Goodman’s my partner.” He introduced her to the agent on his left and then to the man in front of her. “Agent Max Daniels.”

  She nodded. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get to the OR.” She didn’t wait for permission, but turned and ran back to the hospital.

  Thirty minutes later she was dropping the bullet she’d retrieved from Sean’s shoulder into a small metal pan. “Bag it and get it to one of the agents waiting outside. You know the drill.”

  Then the real work of repairing the damage began. Ellie had learned over the years that there was no such thing as a simple bullet wound. Bullets had a way of doing considerable damage before settling, but Agent Goodman was lucky. His bullet hadn’t penetrated any major organs or nerves.

  Once she’d closed, she followed the patient to recovery, wrote orders, and went to talk to the crowd gathered in the surgical waiting room. A dozen people with worried faces sat waiting for the news. Agent Daniels was standing, leaning against the wall with his arms across his chest. His gaze followed her as she entered the room, and her heart began to race. She knew she looked a mess. She pulled off her cap and threaded her fingers through her hair. Why in heaven’s name she wanted to look good for him was beyond her comprehension, and yet she did.

  “The surgeon’s here,” Daniels announced.

  A petite young woman jumped up and rushed forward, followed by Agent Bradley and a crowd of worried relatives.

  “The surgery went well,” she began and then explained some of what she had repaired, trying not to be too technical. “I expect him to make a full recovery.”

  Sara, his fiancée, was crying as she stammered her thank-you. She shook Ellie’s hand and held on to it.

  “You can see him in about an hour,” Ellie told her. “He’s heavily sedated and he’s not going to know you’re there,” she warned. “He’ll be in recovery for a while, then they’ll take him to ICU. Once the nurses in ICU have him settled, they’ll send someone to get you. Any
questions?”

  A frazzled-looking nurse appeared in the doorway. “Dr. Sullivan?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you mind looking at Mrs. Klein for us? She’s Edmond’s patient, but he’s in surgery.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  She patted Sara’s hand and pulled free. “All right then. It’s all good.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Agent Daniels smile as she turned to leave. She walked down the corridor and had just turned the corner when he caught up with her.

  “Hey, Doctor.”

  She turned around. Her stupid heart went into overdrive again. “Yes?”

  “We’re going to need to talk to you about the shooting. You’ll have to give a statement.”

  “When?”

  “How about after you check on that patient?”

  She couldn’t resist. “Gee, I don’t know. I hate to miss soccer practice.”

  She was laughing as she pushed the doors aside and disappeared into ICU.

  Max Daniels stood there staring after her, a slight grin crossing his face.

  “Damn,” he whispered. “Damn.”

  Table of Contents

  Teaser chapter

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Foreword

  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

  DUTTON

  Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.); Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England; Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd); Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd); Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India; Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd); Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Copyright © 1989 by Julie Garwood

  All rights reserved

  eISBN : 978-1-101-53311-6

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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  Foreword

  The other day an interviewer asked a question I’ve never had posed to me before. “If you could suspend reality,” she said, “and go back and live in any of your stories for one day, which would you choose?”

  That was tough. For various reasons, I’ve loved them all. My immediate inclination was to tell her I couldn’t pick one. but I decided to give it some thought. As I mentally listed my stories, one did stand out. It was The Bride. I have such fond memories of the time I spent with Jamie and Alec.

  I came up with the idea for their story, as I do with many of my stories, daydreaming in public. I was attending the fiftieth wedding anniversary party of some family friends. As I watched the couple dancing, I thought about the words the bride had said to me just moments before. I had asked her about the first time she had met her husband, and her answer was, “Oh, I couldn’t stand him. He was so arrogant and opinionated.” Two people couldn’t have been more different, she told me. She loved music and theater. He loved football and baseball. She enjoyed going out. He liked staying home. She had grown up in society and was used to fine things. He came from a blue-collar upbringing and still had some rough edges. Nevertheless, the fates kept throwing them together. Gradually, with time, she began to see beneath his rough exterior and he began to see that she was no spoiled debutante. The relatives had all warned them that a relationship between two people who were such opposites would never work, but they ignored them. And here they were, fifty years later, holding on to each other like newlyweds. I thought, what a wonderful love story.

  I happened to be taking a class in medieval history at the time, and so I began to fantasize about such a mismatched pair in the Middle Ages. How would they manage? In that era, a man and woman might not even meet before the day they were to marry. I imagined how nervous and anxious a bride would be stepping into an arranged marriage, especially one with a complete stranger, one who came from a world that collided with her own. What would such a marriage be like?

  And then Jamie and Alec appeared. I could see them standing in front of a priest reciting their vows. While she’s tenaciously thinking, “I will make this work,” he’s obstinately thinking, “She will fit in.” I immediately loved the strength of this young, inexperienced woman, and I also loved him, because, underneath the bravado. I could see the vulnerability of this powerful, larger-than-life warrior.

  The next day I sat down to write about the lives of Jamie and Alec. It was so much fun watching them butt heads as they slowly but surely fell in love.

  I had the best time with it, but there’s another reason The Bride is dear to me. When I was first beginning to write historical romance, I was told by experts to downplay the humor, because readers had certain expectations and wouldn’t respond to it. I had tried my best to follow their advice for a couple of books, but with The Bride, I simply couldn’t help myself. I kept coming up with scenes that made me laugh. I finally gave in to the urge and wrote the story as I saw it.

  I guess my instincts were right. The Bride was the first of my books to appear on the New York Times bestseller list, and it validated for me the direction I wanted to take. I guess it also proved that there are millions of readers out there who share my somewhat twisted sense of humor.

  I am so thrilled that readers have asked that The Bride be released in hardcover. My editor recently called it the “quintessential Garwood.” I call it the lesson I learned from the heart.

  Prologue

  Scotland, 1100

  The deathwatch was over.

  Alec Kincaid’s woman was finally being laid to rest. The weather was foul, as foul as the expressions on the faces of those few clan members gathered around the burial sight atop the stark ridge.

  It was unholy ground Helena Louise Kincaid was being placed in, for the new bride of the mighty chieftain had taken her own life and was therefore doomed to a resting place outside the true Christian cemetery. The church wouldn’t allow a body with a sure mortal sin to reside inside the blessed ground. A black soul was like a bad apple, the church leaders supposed, and the thought of one rotten soul
staining the pure ones was too grave a possibility to ignore.

  Hard rain spit down on the clansmen. The body, wrapped in the Kincaid red, black, and heather-colored plaid, was dripping wet and awkwardly weighty when settled inside the fresh pine box. Alec Kincaid saw to the task alone, allowing no other to touch his dead wife.

  The old priest, Father Murdock, stood a respectable distance away from the others. He didn’t look at all comfortable with the lack of proper ceremony. There weren’t any prayers to cover death by suicide. And what solace could he possibly offer the mourners when one and all knew Helena was already on her way to hell? The church had decreed her sorry fate. Eternity by fire was the only penalty for suicide.

  It hasn’t been easy for me. I stand beside the priest, my expression as solemn as those of the other clan members. I also offer a prayer, though not for Helena’s benefit. No, I give the Lord my thanks because the chore is finally finished.

  Helena took the longest time dying. Three whole days of agony and suspense I had to endure, and all the while praying she wouldn’t open her eyes or speak the damning truth.

  Kincaid’s bride put me through an ordeal, dragging out the dying time. She did it just to keep me churning inside, of course. I stopped the torment when I was finally given a chance, easily snuffing the breath out of her by holding the Kincaid plaid over her face. It didn’t take me long at all, and Helena, in her weakened state, didn’t put up much of a fuss.

  God, it was a satisfying moment. The fear of being found out made my hands sweat, yet the thrill of it sent a burst of strength down my spine at the same time.

  I got away with murder! Oh, how I wish I could boast of my cunning. I cannot say a word, of course, and I dare not let my joy show in my gaze.