The Bride He Replaced novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Offer

"Dropped it for you," I repeated. "Why?"

Duncan Westergaard glanced back at the hotel doors.

"Not here. Miles has a doorman who talks to security, and security talks to his mother."

He nodded toward a grey sedan at the curb.

"Get in. Both of you. I'll drive wherever you say."

Bea put herself between us.

"Young man, I have never met you in my life," she said. "She is not getting into a stranger's car."

For the first time, something almost like a smile crossed his face.

"Then follow me in your car," he said. "I'll talk to her through the window at a red light. That's as safe as I can make it."

It was an odd offer, and an oddly fair one.

I took it.

At the first red light on the river road, I rolled my window down and he rolled his down beside it.

He kept both hands on the wheel.

"Camilla Lowell took something from me two years ago," he said. "Money, mostly. I've been looking for her ever since."

"Money."

"A good deal of it."

"She runs a flower shop."

"She runs one now," he said.

The light turned green.

I did not move, and the car behind us honked.

"That's all you're telling me?"

"It's all I can tell you tonight."

"Why were you at her wedding?"

"To see her face," he said. "I wanted her to see mine."

I looked at his profile.

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