Rudolph's Runaway Bride (Holliday Islands Resort Book 9) Read online

  “Don’t you remember our talk last night?”

  “The last thing I really remember last night was listening to your brother Dancer make fun of your sales technique for that survival tool kit you made and used. Then we ate some chicken wings and pinwheel sandwiches and then everything gets fuzzy.” Claire looked at Rudy. “I have flashes of a jewelry store and saying I do to the Elvis officiant but that’s it.”

  Clarice stood and left the bathroom heading for her clothes. While she dressed Rudy tried to fill her in on the rest of the night. “You mean you don’t remember telling me that you went out with Chester because you thought a matchmaker should be in a committed relationship and I suggested a really successful matchmaker would be married?”

  She looked at him. “No. I don’t remember that at all. If I said that it was a mistake. I think maybe that Chester guy put something in my drink. I can’t remember anything.”

  Rudy wrapped his strong arms around her, and she started to melt into his embrace as the smell that was uniquely him filled her senses. Then she tensed as she remembered that marriage certificate and instead of calming her his touch caused her to panic. “Look, this was all a mistake. I need to go. My life is in New York and yours is in whatever crazy survival area you go to next.”

  Rudy frowned. “But we’re married. I really thought we connected. I made vows to honor love and cherish you until death do us part and last night was the best night of my life after we went to bed.”

  Clarice was shaking her head. “No that was a mistake. I can’t be married to a guy I’ve known less than twenty-four hours. That would destroy TLC.Net if it got out. No one would go to a matchmaker who got married to a stranger in a drunk or drugged Vegas wedding.”

  Clarice grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “I’ll take care of the annulment.”

  “We can’t get an annulment, we consummated our marriage several times last night, Clarice.”

  “Fine then, I’ll file for the divorce. Give me your address and I’ll make sure you get a copy of the decree.”

  Rudy handed her a business card out of his wallet and then she ran as fast and as far as she could away from her temporary insanity.

  Chapter One

  Present day

  As Rudy rolled out of his light sleeping bag he smelled the wet heavy air of the Costa Rican Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Nature Reserve. It had taken him a whole year and more money than most people could spend in a lifetime but he’d gotten permission to camp and film for a week in the actual rainforest. This would be the best end to his hit Adventure Network show, “Surviving with Rudy”. Yes, he’d won the show by surviving in the Nevada desert for six months but that had been a cake walk to the three weeks after he got back. The three weeks where he found the love of his life, rescued her from a bad date, married her and lost her all in a single day then spent twenty days holed up in the suite he’d had his wedding night in mired in depression. If not for his brother Dancer and the contract to shoot this show he would probably be doing what the tabloids accused him of and becoming the quintessential Hollywood playboy. Yes he was seen with lots of celebrities on his arm but only because his network expected him to have dates to the events he was supposed to attend. Not one of those women even came close to touching his heart. He was just getting ready to start shooting the final segment for this last show on how to leave a small footprint when your trip was done when his satellite phone rang. Since only his family and production team had the number he figured it was someone from the team asking him about another action shot they wanted him to do. He was surprised when he answered to hear the one voice he didn’t expect. His father.

  “Rudolph, where are you this week again?”

  “Costa Rica shooting in the rainforest, Dad. I was just about to start my last segment, what’s up?”

  “That’s a very good question, Rudy. I’ll tell you what’s up, my patience is up with your brothers and you. I mean nine sons and not one of you has settled down or even offered to help run the resort that is your birthrights.”

  “That’s not true Dad, I teach several survival classes a year from my island and I talk with Judy about the other instructors and glamping concierges every week. Plus my line of camping and survival gear is the top seller at the outfitters on Rudolph’s Adventure Island.”

  “While all that is true, you aren’t here. There’s nothing like a hands-on approach for making a business work best. I’ll tell you exactly what I’ve told your brothers. "I'm 57 and ready to retire and spoil my grandchildren; but wait, that's right I have no grandchildren. Because my sons are all too busy running around playing instead of settling down and having families."

  Rudy sighed. “Dad come on, I’m only twenty-two, there’s plenty of time to settle down after my show is over.”

  “I thought your contract was up after this episode?”

  “It is but they offered me a contract for three more seasons.”

  There was a moment of silence, then a deep breath in followed by his dad saying, “Randall Rudolph Holliday, by the time I was twenty-two I already had your brother Dash and was opening my resort. You have no excuse for running around with a different Hollywood bimbo every week. It’s time to come home and settle down.”

  Rudy shook his head even though his dad couldn’t see it. “I disagree, Dad. I’m building my own business and becoming a household name. Pretty soon my camping and survival gear will be the top selling brand in the world.”

  His father sighed and then cleared his throat. “Let me make this perfectly clear. If you aren’t home in a month, I’ll freeze your trust fund and cut off access to all Holliday Island Resort resources and that includes those I personally own. No private jet, no more black card. Nothing. I expect you home and running your part of the resort in thirty days and I expect you to be in a committed relationship heading toward marriage by January first of next year. No more excuses.”

  Before Rudy could say anything in response to his dad’s ultimatum, Gordon Holliday had hung up. Rudy sighed, He knew his dad and that tone was the one that came with “the Look”. Rudy and his brothers had always called it “the Look”, it was the look his father got when he was not going to compromise. It was his Road House “My way or the highway” look. Nothing he said or did was going to change his dad’s mind. Unless maybe, if he took his dad a copy of his divorce decree and explained his heart still belonged to Clarice. Dad had sworn that he’d never marry again after Rudy’s mom divorced him. Surely he would understand where Rudy was coming from. How could he pursue another when his heart still belonged to Clarice? He often wondered about her. He wished he could remember the name of her company so he could look her up. She’d taken their marriage license with her so he didn’t even know her last name. Maybe he’d look her up after he got the divorce decree and see if she was even willing to get to know him better.

  Rudy stood in front of the pretty clerk at the Clark County Courthouse in Las Vegas Nevada. “I’m sorry, what do you mean you can’t find it?”

  The blonde flipped her hair over her shoulder slightly agitated. “Just what I said Mister Holliday; there is no record of a divorce decree being issued to you and your wife. All I can find is the official copy of your marriage license.”

  Rudy rubbed the two-day growth on his jaw. “What does that mean?”

  The girl shrugged. “I would assume it means that no divorce was ever filed. Do you know which lawyer handled your divorce? Or which Judge gave the ruling?”

  Shaking his head in the negative Rudy sighed. “No, my wife said she was handling all of that. We had nothing to divide, we’d only been married the night before she decided she’d made a mistake and would file for divorce.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you sir, but according to the official records of Clark County Nevada you are still married. I have the marriage certificate, but no divorce decree. Without that decree you’re still legally married.”

  “Can I get a copy of that marriage license then?”
>
  “Yes sir, that’s six-fifty for the certified copy.”

  Rudy handed the woman a fifty. “Sorry, that’s the smallest bill I have on me.”

  She sighed. “That’s fine, at least you didn’t try to pay me with a casino chip.”

  Rudy laughed. “Seriously? That happens?”

  She looked at him like he was crazy. “This is Vegas, Mister Holliday.”

  The woman handed him the official copy of his marriage license complete with an embossed seal. Dancer was sitting in the casino of the hotel their father owned part of. “You just missed Comet.”

  “He’s here?”

  “Of course, where else would he be? Dad’s calling him home too. He said he needed one last night to play first. So, are we ready to head home before Dad cuts us off?”

  “Not yet, I have to get online and find my wife first.”

  “You mean your ex-wife?”

  Rudy held out the folded marriage certificate. “No, according to the county clerk I’m still married.”

  Dancer laughed. “Well aren’t you lucky. Now Dad can’t say you aren’t settled down.”

  “Sure he will, especially if I show up with a marriage certificate and no wife. I have to find out where Clarice Reese lives and go convince her to come home with us.”

  “And if she says no?”

  “Then I’ll refuse to divorce her until she does.”

  Dan frowned. “What are you thinking, Rudy?”

  He smiled. “I’m thinking fate is giving me another chance to convince Clarice she made the right choice last year.”

  “And if she doesn’t agree?”

  Rudy shrugged. “Then she gets a trip to a fabulous resort for the holidays and I’ll give her the divorce after the first of the year. Then maybe Dad will leave me alone for a while.”

  “Or he may force you to find someone else.”

  “Then he’ll have to disown me, Dancer. I’ve never been able to get her out of my head and I don’t think I ever will.”

  “It was just one night, Rudolph. I still don’t understand how you can know this girl is the only one for you.”

  “I don’t know how to explain it to you, Bro. I just know it’s her or no-one. Even if that means I have to live off what my company makes instead of my trust fund. Millions instead of Billions is still more than I could spend in a lifetime.”

  “Well I’m gonna play some; after all I’m not married and this is Vegas. Sin City as they say. Maybe lightening will strike twice and I’ll find a wife while I’m here too.”

  “I’m going up to the suite and getting the investigators looking for my wife.”

  “Why don’t you just try google first? Put in her name and matchmaker; how many of those can there be?”

  “Yeah good idea. No reason to get Dad’s hopes up by having his detectives letting him know what they are investigating for me.”

  “Plus if you’re going to end up disowned you’d better get used to saving money now.”

  “I’m not going to end up disowned. I’m going to find my wife and convince her to love honor and cherish me all the days of our life.”

  “Good luck with that bro. I bet you get her running again. After all she’s already proven she’s a run-away bride.”

  It didn’t take long, just a couple of simple google searches and Rudy knew where his wife was and even had the address for her office in New York City. He smiled as he texted his brother letting him know they’d be heading for New York in the morning.

  Chapter Two

  Clarice Reese sat in her office looking over the latest algorithms for her part of True Love Connections. Her mother who had been suspiciously absent for several weeks did the in-person matchmaking by meeting her clients and then using that keen people sense of hers to match two together. She never seemed to fail but it wasn’t based on anything they could replicate and it was why a session with Evelyn cost more than most people could afford to find their True Love Connection.

  Clarice on the other hand worked with a psychiatrist and psychologist and put together a set of questions that, when answered honestly, would match people scientifically and they’d tweaked the algorithms over the last few years that the lowest match they got nowadays was 90% compatible. Add that to the six month old Chester Rollings Express Protocol which was run by on staff investigators and they were doing really well at weeding out the liars. She was just about to draft an email to the computer people to run the standard beta test on the new algorithms before they released it when her intercom buzzed.

  “Yeah Star, what’s up?”

  “Um Clarice, you need to come out to the desk. We have a situation going on.”

  Clarice frowned, her friend and PA sound unusually tense. “What kind of situation?”

  “Well Mister Rothschild is here to take you to lunch, and um, apparently your husband is here.”

  Clarice sucked in a breath. NO, it couldn’t be. “My husband? What did he say his name was?”

  “Um, Randall Rudolph Holliday? Mister Rothschild is threatening to have security haul him to jail.”

  “Don’t do anything. I’ll be right there.”

  “Hey Clarice, is this the guy from Vegas, the TV guy?”

  “Yeah, but he’s my ex-husband. Why?”

  “You never said he was hotter in person than on TV.”

  Clarice laughed before she hung up the phone and hurried out to where the two men were squaring off like they were about to start beating each other. “Rudy, what are you doing here?”

  Clarice’s fiancé stepped between her and her worst mistake. “Clare? Do you know this lunatic?”

  “Yes Winthrop, this is Rudy Holliday. Star of the show Surviving with Rudy, and my ex-husband.”

  “Ex-husband? You were married before? How did I not know this? Why is he here if he’s your ex? And more importantly why is he saying he’s your husband? How can you have a husband when I’m supposed to be marrying you?”

  When Winthrop got like this Clarice wondered if they were such a great match. Her mother kept telling her they weren’t but the algorithms said that they were. When he wasn’t frantic she thought he was charming but lately as their wedding date got closer he seemed more tightly strung than ever. Like his life was over if things didn’t go perfectly. “I don’t know Winthrop, because you haven’t let me talk to him yet.”

  “Well I don’t like it. I don’t appreciate coming to take you to lunch only to be surprised by a secret husband, Clare!”

  “Well I don’t appreciate you accusing me of keeping something from you that wasn’t relevant to our lives. We were divorced before I ever met you and our marriage was so short as to not even matter.”

  That’s when Rudy cleared his throat. “Hello Clarice. That’s what I needed to talk to you about; according to the state of Nevada we aren’t divorced.”

  “WHAAT?? Clare, what is he talking about?”

  Clarice pinched her nose as she felt a headache coming on. “Winthrop, go back to your club. I’ll find out what Mister Holliday is talking about and we can talk about it at dinner.”

  “This is unacceptable, Clare. I don’t think you should be alone with this guy, he might be dangerous.”

  “Buddy, what is your problem? First, if you’re as close to Clarice as you indicate how can you not know she hates being called Clare? It’s not her name. Secondly, I’m seen by hundreds of thousands of people every week on TV. I can’t afford to be dangerous. As much as I’d like to tear that sniveling whine out of your throat right now I can’t because it would cost me almost everything that I’ve worked for. If you knew anything about our history you’d know I’m the man who saves Clarice not the one who threatens her.”

  Winthrop gasped then turned to Star. “Misz Ling, call 911 this man just threatened me. I want him arrested.”

  Clarice couldn’t help it and she laughed. “Really Winthrop? He didn’t threaten you, he told you what he would like to do and told you why he wouldn’t. Go home or somewhere. I’ll talk t
o you later. I need to handle this and get back to work myself.”

  Winthrop shook his head as he stared at her. “You’re taking his side in this. I deserve to be treated better than that, Clare. You’re my fiancée, you should be on my side here.”

  “I’m not on any side because there are no sides, Winthrop. This man is from my past. Obviously I need to find out why he’s here and until you allow us to meet I can’t do that, can I?”

  “Fine. Call me when he’s gone. I want to know you’re okay.”

  With that one of the causes of the interruption of her day was gone in a huff she knew she’d be paying for weeks from now. She turned to the man she had hoped to never see again and sighed and pinched her nose again. Rudy moved forward and started massaging the back of her neck. “Headache?”

  She shrugged his hands off of her. “Yes, thanks to you.”

  He looked at Star. “Could you find me a bowl and put some ice and water in it and a heat pack if you have one?”

  Star frowned at him before looking at Clarice, who just nodded. “We’ll be in my office.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.”

  Clarice looked at the man who had too often frequented her dreams. Shortly after leaving Vegas she started dreaming about the handsome man she’d married. More like dreamed memories of their wedding night. Ones that left her frustrated and sweat soaked. Here he was in real life looking even more dashing and hotter than he had a year ago. Living in rough conditions and hiking all over the globe seemed to do nothing but make the already devastatingly sexy man even Hawter as Star would say. “Why are you really here, Rudy?”

  Rudy pulled out her desk chair and guided her into it then he lowered the blinds and turned out the lights. “Long and short of it, Clarice, is my father has demanded I return to Alaska and find a wife. I went to get a copy of our divorce to show him why I wasn’t fit to get married only to find that we are still married.”