world where she thinks all men are Prince Charming.”
Tiffany looked at her sister furiously. “I’m not naïve, and I was never looking for Prince
Charming, just a good, caring partner that I can go through life with.”
Taylor gave the blond-haired man a dubious look. “If he’s as good and caring as you say
he is, then why did he take you to a backwater dump like this place for your honeymoon? For
God’s sake, Tiffany, I’m surprised they even have running water here!”
At that, an angry mutter began to rumble through the crowd of locales in the cantina.
Shit, Austin thought. This conversation had just taken an unexpected turn for the worse. He
turned back to the two women to tell them that this had to stop immediately, but Tiffany had
already reached for Andrew’s hand and was pulling him to his feet.
She glared at Taylor. “This is exactly why I haven’t been able to talk to you about
anything important in years,” she told her sister. “I appreciate the fact that you raised me after
Mom was gone, Taylor, but I stopped needing a mother a long time ago. I needed a friend and a
sister, and you were never either of those things. You’ve might have given up on love, but I
haven’t. Not every man out there is like our father was. I can’t believe I even have to tell you
this, but there are actually some really great guys out there. You’re so bitter and cynical though,
that you wouldn’t know a good man if you fell over him. Well, I’m not going to let you pull me
into that pit of despair you seem to enjoy wallowing in. When we get back to LA, I don’t ever
want to see you again.
Tiffany literally pulled Andrew out of the cantina before her sister could even reply, and
all Taylor could do was watch the couple go, a stunned look on her face. Austin didn’t know
what had surprised Taylor more. What Tiffany had said to her, or that her sister would have the
nerve to walk out in the middle of their argument. Her face determined, Taylor started to follow,
but Austin caught her arm.
“Let her go, Taylor,” he said.
Taylor glared up at him. “Let go of me! I’m not done talking to her.”
Jerking her arm out of his grasp, Taylor turned to storm out of the cantina after her sister,
but pulled up short at the group of angry looking men blocking her path.
“Excuse me,” she said, irritation plain on her face.
The hair on the back of Austin’s neck stood up as he suddenly realized the whole cantina
was regarding them with open hostility. He had better diffuse this quickly or things were going
to go from hostile to violent in a flash.
Austin moved to step in front of Taylor, his hands raised in a placating gesture, but she
seemed to be completely oblivious to the danger they were in. Before Austin could say anything,
Taylor stepped forward and tried to push past the men in front of her.
“Get out of my way!” she ordered. “I have to go after my sister.”
That was the worst possible thing to do, of course. Austin had just enough time to grab
her and pull her back before a glass came hurtling toward them. It flew right through the spot
where Taylor had been standing and would have hit her in the head if he hadn’t snatched her out
of the way.
Snarling obscenities in Spanish, a small group of the angry men charged at him and
Taylor.
Austin didn’t think, but just reacted, punching anyone and everyone that got close to
them. He heard Taylor scream and could only hope that she was smart enough to stay close to
him as the whole cantina erupted into bedlam. The moment a clear space opened around them,
Austin grabbed Taylor’s hand and began to drag her toward the exit. Their escape was slowed at
least half a dozen times as men threw themselves at Austin, trying to pull him down under a
wave of bodies.
Somehow, Austin kept his feet and managed to get both of them through the front door.
Outside, he could already hear the sounds of police sirens coming up the street. Still dragging
Taylor behind him, he took off at a run in the opposite direction. He didn’t slow down until they
were at least four blocks away from the cantina and all sounds of the fighting had receded behind
them.
Taylor tossed her purse onto the bed the minute they walked into her room. “Can you
believe my sister?” she fumed, whirling around to face Austin. “She just walked out on me when
I was talking to her!”
Austin looked at her as if stunned by what she’d just said. “What the hell is the matter
with you?” he demanded. “You started a brawl back there that almost got us killed and all you
can think about is that your sister walked out on you in the middle of an argument?”
She was taken aback by the anger in his voice. “It wasn’t an argument,” she protested. “I
was just trying to make her see what a terrible mistake she’s making. And as far as that fight
goes, I didn’t have anything to do with that. As I tend to remember, you were doing the fighting,
not me.”
“Only because you insulted them by calling their city a backwater dump, and then tried to
shove your way past them as if they didn’t even exist,” Austin said. “I had no choice but to fight
our way out of there.”
Taylor stood for a moment, her hands on her hips as she replayed the argument she’d had
with her sister over in her head again. “I don’t remember saying anything like that, and it doesn’t
really matter anyway,” she said. “I still need to get a few things straight with my sister.”
Tiffany may have walked out on their conversation, Taylor thought, but she was far from
done with having her say. Muttering under her breath, she headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Austin asked as she walked past him.
“To find my sister,” she said.
Austin grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. “No, you’re not,” he said firmly.
Taylor was in no mood for this. “I wasn’t asking for your permission,” she snapped,
trying to jerk her arm free of his grasp. “Let go of me!”
He tightened his hold on her, not enough to hurt her, but enough so that it was impossible
for her to get free. “Not until you come to your senses,” he told her. “The way you’re acting
now, you’ll be lucky if you don’t start another brawl before you get half a dozen blocks. That’s
not counting what will happen if you run across any of those men from the cantina. You’re not
their favorite person right now. And you’re definitely not your sister’s favorite person right now.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you keep trying to talk your sister out of her
marriage, the only thing you’ll end up doing is pushing her away even more than you already
have.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t need you to tell me how to take care of my sister!”
she said hotly. “Now, let go of me!”
Austin clenched his jaw. “I thought we had gotten past this, but I can see that there’s only
one way to get through to you,” he muttered.
Before Taylor even realized what he was doing, Austin had sat down on the straightbacked
chair over by the desk and was dragging her over his knee. Though she supposed she
should have been used to being in that position by now, she found herself struggling just the
same. Putting
her hand on his thigh, she tried to push herself off his lap, to no avail.
“Austin, let me up right now!” she demanded. “I don’t have time for this!”
“You’ll have to make time then,” Austin growled, giving her a hard smack on her the
right cheek, which was quickly followed by another to the left.
“Owwwww!” she squealed. “Let go of me!”
“Not until I get you to see what a fool you’ve been acting like,” he told her, peppering her
bottom with rapid-fire spanks that quickly had her squirming all over his lap.
“Austin, please!” she begged. “That stings!”
But he ignored her protest, delivering another set of sharp smacks to her jean-clad bottom
before finally setting her back on her feet. Taylor immediately reached back to cup her throbbing
bottom. While he might not have given her that many smacks, the ones he’d had administered
had been hard enough to make her ass feel like she’d sat on a red-hot stove.
“Now, you listen to me,” Austin said. “If you continue to fight your sister on this, you’re
going to lose her for good. She’s an adult and she doesn’t need you or anyone else telling her
how to run her life.”
Taylor glared up at him. “And I don’t need you telling me how to deal with my sister! If I
want to go after her, I will!”
Austin said nothing for so long that Taylor thought he might grab her and spank her
again, but instead, he just shook his head.
“Do whatever the hell you want, because I’m done with this whole thing,” he said.
Brushing past Taylor, Austin strode over to the door, only to turn back around once he
had yanked it open.
“I didn’t really want to believe it, but Tiffany is right about you,” he said. “You are bitter
and cynical. And it’s probably going to cost you your sister. And you know, she’s right about
something else, too. You really wouldn’t know a good man if you fell over him.”
With that, he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Taylor stared at the door, unable to believe Austin had just walked out on her, too. And
after saying all those nasty things about her on top of it. She really shouldn’t be surprised, she
supposed. After all, he was nothing more than a private detective she had paid to find her sister.
Sleeping together hadn’t changed any of that.
But just because she knew that, it didn’t make it hurt any less. Taylor felt tears starting in
her eyes. Austin’s harsh words, along with the argument she’d had with Tiffany, were suddenly
just too much for her. It felt like everyone was just ganging up on her, and right now all she
wanted to do was just flop down on the bed and cry.
She frowned suddenly as a noise outside the door caught her attention. Maybe that was
Austin coming back to apologize to her, she thought. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Taylor
started for the door, only to gasp when it burst open.
Two Mexicans stood there, one short and stocky, the other taller and whipcord lean, and
she immediately recognized them as some of the men that Austin had gotten into a fight with
back at the cantina.
What could they possibly want with her? she wondered. Suddenly, Austin’s words came
back to her. You’re not their favorite person right now, he’d told her. Oh no!
Chapter Seven
Austin regretted what he’d said the moment he had stormed out of Taylor’s room. But
he’d just been so damn frustrated with her that he knew if he didn’t get out of there, he might say
something even more hurtful, and he hadn’t wanted to do that. So, he had come down to the
hotel bar to have a drink and clear his head. But the whiskey he’d ordered still sat untouched in
front of him, and as he gazed down at the amber liquid, he asked himself why he cared so much
about a woman who irritated him like she did. Not to mention one with so much baggage. She
was stubborn, controlling, cynical, and just all-around infuriating. But she was also beautiful and
sexy, and underneath all those layers of protection that she’d wrapped herself in, there was a
woman who just really needed to be loved.
Taylor had built her entire adult life around taking care of her sister, and now she was
probably starting to realize that her sister didn’t need her in that way anymore. That had to be
tough for Taylor to take, and it was likely that she wasn’t ready to accept it yet. He wouldn’t be
surprised if she tried to talk to her sister again as soon as she could. That thought suddenly made
alarm bells go off in his head. What if Taylor had gone after her sister on her own? San Luis
wasn’t necessarily a bad town, but there were plenty of places a person wouldn’t want to stumble
into this late at night. And he hadn’t been kidding when he’d said the locals back at that cantina
didn’t think too much of her right now. If she ran across any of them in the wrong situation, she
could be in for a lot of trouble.
Swearing under his breath, Austin left the bar and quickly made his way back upstairs to
Taylor’s room. When he reached it however, he found the door ajar. Frowning, he slowly pushed
the door open.
“Taylor?” he called, and then froze.
Taylor’s small, neatly-furnished hotel room looked nothing like it had when he’d last
been inside it. The blanket was half off the bed, the lamp was on the floor, and the straightbacked
chair he’d sat on when he had spanked her before was lying on its side.
His gut clenched. What the hell had happened in here? His first thought was that Taylor
had thrown a tantrum and trashed the room, but that didn’t fit with her personality. She might
yell and scream, but she wasn’t the type to do this. Which meant someone else must have. Had
that someone grabbed Taylor? Dammit, he should never have left her alone!
Cursing his own stupidity, Austin turned on his heel to head down the hallway only to
jerk to a halt when he realized there was a little boy standing across from Taylor’s room.
“Are you looking for the woman?” the boy asked in Spanish.
“Si,” Austin said. “Do you know where she is?”
The boy shook his head. “No, but a man told me to give this to you when you came
back.”
As he spoke, the boy held out a folded piece of paper. Austin eyed it for a moment before
reaching out to take it. As soon as he did, the boy bolted, running down the hallway as fast as his
legs would take him. Austin waited until the boy had disappeared around the corner before he
unfolded the piece of paper.
We have your mujer, the note read. If you want her back, you will come to the old,
abandoned building two streets down from the cantina you were in tonight. Bring money.
Austin balled the paper in his fist. Shit! he thought. He had known those guys at the
cantina were trouble, but the thought that they might retaliate in some way hadn’t even crossed
his mind. Because he’d been too preoccupied with Taylor, he thought. And now, they had taken
her.
He wondered if he should go to the local police, but then quickly decided against it. They
would probably tell him that he was overreacting and that his girlfriend was out getting drunk
somewhere. Wait until morning, they would say. Well, he didn’t have time to wait. Which meant
he would have to do this himself.
Of course,
he would have felt a hell of a lot more confident about walking into this if
he’d had a gun, Austin thought as he hurried down the back stairs and out to his Wrangler. But
the border patrol tended to frown on that sort of thing, so he hadn’t brought it. Then again, he
hadn’t thought he’d need it since he was on the trail of a couple of runaway college kids.
He didn’t have a weapon though, which meant he would have to improvise. That was
usually something he was good at, but all he could seem to focus on at the moment was Taylor
and what those bastards might be doing to her. If they had hurt her, he would kill them.
It wasn’t hard to figure out which abandoned building the note had been referring to since
two men were standing guard outside the front entrance. Austin shook his head. Despite what the
note had said, he was starting to doubt these guys were really after money. It seemed more likely
they just wanted to get their hands on the guy who had embarrassed them back at the cantina.
With that thought in mind, there was no way he was just going to walk in the front door. Turning
down a side street, he parked alongside the curb.
Getting out of the SUV, Austin cautiously made his way down the street and around to
the back of the building. To his relief, there weren’t any guards posted there. Careful to stay to
the shadows, he cautiously made his way over to the row of windows along the back wall.
Trying to look through the window was risky and it meant that someone might see him, but he
wanted to make sure that Taylor was inside.
The windows were dirty and he had to wipe one of the panes clean before he could see
anything at all. What he did see when he finally managed to get the glass clean made him go
cold. Taylor was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, her wrists bound behind her back, a
cloth gag stuffed into her mouth. A man stood in front of her, and in the half light, Austin
recognized him as one of the men he had gotten into the scuffle with back at the cantina.
Two more men came into view behind the first just then, and Austin swore under his
breath. With the guards out front that made it five to one in their favor, he thought. If he had any
hope of getting Taylor out of there, then he was going to have to come up with a plan, and a
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