Compromising Kessen (Vandenbrook #1)(70)

The words should have been his—the comfort from him, not Nick.

He swallowed the giant lump in his throat and excused himself to his chambers.

****

“Ouch!” Nick growled.

“Sorry.” Duncan shifted his weight uncomfortably as he carried the body over his shoulder. “She’s heavier than I thought!”

“I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that your brilliant plan completely backfired,” Nick grumbled.

Duncan swore. “How was I supposed to know Christian would respond that way? All I wanted to do was push him over the edge. Have you seen him lately? He’s like a caged tiger! The man loves her; he’s more stubborn than I gave him credit for. Jenifer was merely doing what we paid her for.”

“And exactly what currency did you use, Duncan?”

“What is it in your country? Oh yes, I plead the Fifth.”

“Only works in America. I will have you know that in the past two days I’ve lied to my best friend, tricked a British lord, and kidnapped someone. If I go to prison after this, I’m throwing you under the bus.”

“Brilliant,” Duncan mused. “Now would you please lift her higher. I don’t want her back to hit a rock or anything. She has to get to the tree house without any damages.”

“Right, because my goal at this point is to cause injury to my best friend, whom I’ve also just helped you drug and kidnap.” Nick had been feeling angry ever since Christian told him what happened in the garden. After talking with Duncan, they decided this was the only way to deal with the situation, especially since it was their fault in the first place. But how were they supposed to know that the little push they thought Christian needed would backfire? It took a lot of careful planning and strategy, but Nick and Duncan had a lot to gain. After all, their friends’ future was in their hands.

Duncan groaned. “The tree house is just past the garden. Do you think it’s far enough to do the trick?”

“It will have to be. I can’t carry her much longer,” Nick grunted.

Duncan and he moved the body carefully into the tree house cottage and lit a lamp. She would be waking up soon. They had only meant to drug her for a few hours, but heartbroken girls had a way of sleeping off the pain just like Kessen was doing.

She probably never wanted to wake up.

“Stupid Christian!” Nick said loudly.

Duncan looked at him and took a shaky breath. “He’s trying to protect her. He loves her, you know.”

“I know that, you know that, and Kessen probably knows that. It’s Christian who doesn’t know, and I’m pretty sure his participation is required, don’t you think?”

Duncan started pulling out the blankets they’d brought. “The news station should be arriving to film the wedding. No contact was made outside that the wedding would be off. We’re going to have to make something up to stall.”

“You think so?” Nick’s voice had grown tired.

“If I know Christian, and I do, he’ll go into panic mode. He won’t stop until he finds her. We get him to confess his love for her on the news, so everyone knows how important she is to him. He wouldn’t dare back out after confessing it in front of the world.

“How much did you give her?” Nick was suddenly curious.

“Jenifer’s hot. We’ve been dating since she and Christian broke up. At this point she would do anything for me. It may or may not have something to do with my ability to charm any woman over the age of eighteen.”

Nick laughed. “When Kessen finds out Christian rescued her from dangerous kidnappers, she’ll be all goo-goo-eyed over how romantic it was. Didn’t you say one of the books had a similar story? She’ll go nuts over it.”

Duncan smiled proudly. “That is where I got my idea. It will be right out of her favorite novels. She’ll swoon at his feet.”

Nick tied her hands. “I sure hope so, because she’ll kill us if she ever finds out.”

“She won’t.”

“But she could,” Nick couldn’t help but say.

“She won’t! Now hurry up!” Duncan snapped.

Within minutes they were gone, leaving Kessen alone — blindfolded, hungry, and scared. It was enough to make Nick want to turn back, but he knew it was for the best. If they were too stubborn to forgive each other and see what everyone else did, then it was up to him and Duncan to take matters into their own hands.

****

Crash! A loud noise woke Christian from his champagne-induced sleep. Naturally last night was easily the worst night of his life. He couldn’t say the three little words Kessen needed to hear, he found out his ex was blackmailing him, and he was now being forced into a marriage for the second time in the past two weeks.

Either God was angry with him or someone was trying to play a cruel joke with his life. He pinched the bridge of his nose and scanned the room.

Nothing had fallen. But he could have sworn he heard something hit the floor. He slowly rose from his bed, careful to take shallow breaths so the sharp aches in his head would feel less painful. He padded across the floor to his door and opened it to see a crazed Duncan staring at him.

“Is there a reason for your noise, Duncan?”

“She’s gone,” he said in panic.

Christian felt his chest tighten. He didn’t even want to ask, but knew he had to. “Who is gone?”