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

hotel, Kent turned the interview withthe reporter around and now, with his arm wrapped securely around Marnie’s waist, he was confiding in the woman that Marnie and he were making plans to marry in mid-September.
    â€œCongratulations!” Judith said, snapping her small tape recorder on. “What day is that, the sixteenth—seventeenth?”
    â€œNo!” Marnie cried, aghast. What had gotten into Kent? In all the years she’d known him he’d never been so bullheaded or downright stupid.
    Kent’s fingers tightened around her. “What she means is that we’re not completely certain on the date. We’ve still got to accommodate everyone in the family—”
    â€œWhat I mean is that there isn’t going to be a wedding!” Marnie declared firmly, plucking Kent’s fingers off her and stepping away from him. “Kent and I aren’t getting married, not in September. Not ever.”
    â€œBut—” Judith looked from one to the other.
    Kent lifted his hands and shrugged, as if Marnie’s announcement came as a complete surprise to him. He acted as if she were just some fickle female who couldn’t decide what she wanted, for God’s sake!
    â€œYou explain this!” Marnie commanded, her voice as cold as a winter day. Shaking with rage, she turned on the reporter. “I’d better not read about any wedding in your paper. Not one word!” Spine stiff, she marched straight through the banquet-room doors and to the elevator in the lobby.
    Pounding on the button for the fourth floor, she bit her tongue so that the invectives forming in her throat would be kept inside. The elevator doors shut softly, cutting off the sounds of the party, and the car ascended. Furious, her insides shaking with anger, Marnie leaned her forehead against the cool glass. “Calm down,” she ordered to herself. “Don’t let that bastard get to you!”
    The elevator stopped and she stepped through the opening doors, storming into her father’s suite. What was Kent trying to do? He’d been acting strangely all night! How had she ever been foolish enough to think she wanted to marry him?
    She stalked into the smaller bedroom. Her suitcase, packed and waiting, was where she’d left it near the foot of the bed. Good. She peeled off her gown, threw her jewelry into a case and stuffed the velvet box back into her father’s safe.
    By the time Victor knocked softly on the door to her room, she had changed into faded jeans, a sweatshirt and a down-lined jacket. “Marnie? You in here?”
    â€œFor the moment.”
    He opened the door and shook his head at the sight of her. “And where do you think you’re going?”
    She sent him a chilling glance. “I’m leaving. Remember?”
    â€œOf course I remember,” he said, holding out his palms as if to forestall an argument, “but I thought you might change your mind and wait a bit. Kent just told me he had Adam Drake thrown out of the party while I was wrapped up with Senator Mann. God only knows what’s going to be in the papers tomorrow! I need you to talk to the press—”
    â€œI just did.” Marnie wasn’t about to be sidetracked by her father’s ploy. “ That was a dirty trick, Dad,” she said, yanking her suitcase onto the bed and snapping it open to double-check the contents.
    â€œWhat?”
    Satisfied that she’d packed everything she needed, she clicked the case shut. “You told Kent to give the press a wedding date, didn’t you?”
    â€œOf course not—”
    â€œHe never would have done it without getting the okay from you,” she insisted. “He wouldn’t do anything thatmight threaten his precious career with Montgomery Inns.”
    â€œI didn’t—”
    â€œDon’t lie to me, Dad! It’s belittling to both of us.”
    Her father seemed about to protest, then let out