She glared at him. “You are insane. What is the point of all this?”
An angry muscle jerked in his jaw before he smiled. “I wish you wouldn’t insult me like that. I’ve never insulted you, have I?”
She gritted her teeth and glanced toward the forest where no sign of Lawson remained before turning back to him. “What do you want?”
“You,” he said calmly. “I want you. You’re coming with me.”
* * *
Lawson only made it a short distance before he had to get off his horse and lean against a tree to gather himself. Ellie had rejected him—outright rejected him without even providing a reason. He’d thought she was different. He’d thought if any woman in the world could love him, it was her. He shook his head. She didn’t want him. She’d shooed him away like a pesky fly. So everything she’d said before and everything she’d done...did that mean nothing to her? Did he mean nothing to her? She said she didn’t love him but he’d been so sure that she did. Her kiss had told him so last night. What could have changed between then and now?
“It’s just so strange.” He took the Claddagh ring out of his pocket and held it tightly. That was the right word for that episode—strange.
He’d ridden in and she hadn’t seemed to care a whit that he was there. She just kept reading her book...upside down. He’d realized that, which was why he’d had the courage to kiss her. She’d responded almost desperately yet she’d pushed him away, and had seemed distracted. She kept looking off into the woods as if something out there was more important than his profession of love. Even when she’d rejected him, she’d done it while holding his hand the entire time.
He stared unseeingly into the woods. Something must have happened between last night and this morning. Perhaps it had something to do with her parents?
He took a step on the path back toward the creek then hesitated. She’d rejected him once already. Why should he risk that again? Maybe he just wasn’t good enough. Maybe there really was something wrong with him—something that others could only sense when they got close to him. He shook his head. That didn’t explain his relationship with his adoptive parents and the rest of Ellie’s family.
He pulled in a deep breath. “Well, Lord, what is it? Do I let her go and just assume something really is wrong with me? Or do I go after her and prove...what, exactly?”
That even though I’ve been abandoned I can still find the courage to seek out those I love. That my past doesn’t determine my future. That Ellie loves me...and something must be wrong.
He stopped walking to peer down the path before him as the training he’d received as a Ranger kicked in along with his common sense. A woman alone in a secluded area, distracted enough not to notice her book is upside down, nervously watching the woods, behaving in completely uncharacteristic ways, clinging to his hand yet pleading with him to leave. Something really was wrong. Even if that wasn’t the case, even if he was only seeing what he wanted to see, he wouldn’t let Ellie go without a fight.
He rushed down the path back to the creek. The sound of the waterfall grew louder and he slowed his steps to a stealthy pace. He veered off the main path to shield himself in the trees. He spotted the blanket, the book and the picnic basket but Ellie was gone. Had she run off or had someone taken her? He studied the ground around the blanket and found her boot marks along with his...and another set—too large to be hers and slightly too small to be his.
He followed the prints away from the blanket into the woods, where they circled around to a large bush. A slight indention in the soft ground told him someone had recently been kneeling here. The prints then traveled back toward the blanket. They stopped about four feet away from it then veered off to the left. Ellie’s soon joined them. Someone was with her. Lawson couldn’t be far behind them if they were on foot. His relief came too soon for he discovered the distinctive marks left behind by horseshoes.
He could go back for help or he could continue on by himself and stand a chance of actually catching them. He was used to working alone as a Ranger so he let out a low whistle and Samson cantered toward him. He mounted the horse, then urged him on as they followed the tracks that would guide him to Ellie.
* * *
The smooth canter of Donovan’s horse ate up the ground as the familiar hills around her family’s farm faded into dense, unfamiliar woods. Dense except for the well-worn path they traveled on. A shortcut between their horse ranch and his pig farm, Donovan explained. It chilled her to realize how often he must have used it. It was unfortunate that no one had noticed it, but then her family tended to stay close to the farmhouse and barn. Interminable minutes passed by or at least it seemed that way since they were riding double and Donovan’s arm stayed around her waist the entire time. She smelled the pig farm before she saw it.
They burst into a small clearing where a barn nestled close to a cabin. The pigs hardly seemed to notice their arrival. Donovan dismounted first then carefully helped her down. “I’m afraid I’ll have to hold the gun on you while you stable the horse. I don’t want to take any chance that you’ll run off.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
“I’ll tell you once we get inside,” he promised.
Minutes later she entered the cabin, taking stock of it while he barred the door behind them. It consisted of one room much like Lawson’s, and it had probably been built around the same time. The first thing she noticed was that it was clean. Almost too clean. The bed stood against the back wall. The stove was in the corner while a table sat in the middle of the room. A warm bear rug covered much of the floor. Dozens of thin soft-cover books were stacked neatly next to the bed. Plays, she realized.
“Make yourself comfortable.”
She glanced at her captor, then took the only chair at the table. She rubbed her arms against the slight chill that filled the room. He took that as his cue to warm a pot of coffee on the stove. Once done with that, he sat down on the bed and just looked at her with a contented smile on his face. He really is unstable. “Well, what do you want with me?”
“I want to marry you.”
She sighed and crossed her legs and arms. “I guess it doesn’t matter to you what I think about that.”
“Of course it does,” he chided. “I want you to be happy. I just know that you’ll be happiest with me.”
She bit her cheek to keep from laughing at that ridiculous statement. He really seemed to care for her in that strange, demented way of his. Other than poking a gun at her and threatening to shoot Lawson, he’d been very careful with her. She lifted her chin, daring to ask, “Are you going to hurt me?”
He shook his head and actually appeared offended. “I would never hurt you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
His jaw tightened. “Unless you try to leave, of course, but it would be for your own good.”
“Of course,” she said with a mirthless smile. “So how exactly do you plan to marry me? I have to give my consent to that, you know. Even if I did, someone else would probably object, like my brothers.”
No doubt Lawson would, too, despite the way she’d been forced to treat him. However, she didn’t think it would be wise to mention that to Donovan at the moment. He didn’t look fazed by the prospect of anyone objecting.
“It won’t matter if you want to or not. You’ll have to do it.” He rose to pour her a cup of coffee. “I’m going to keep you here all night. Come morning, your reputation will be ruined and we’ll have to get married.”
“Morning?” she asked skeptically. “As soon as my brothers figure out I’m missing, they’ll start looking for me. What makes you think you’ll have until morning?”
“They won’t know where to look.” He set the coffee in front of her, then produced a stale-looking cookie she recognized as being from Lawson’s party a week ago.
She na
rrowed her eyes as she stared at the man. She hated to admit it but his idea was actually sort of clever...and sneaky, deplorable, heavy-handed and implausible. Her brothers would never force her into a marriage with Donovan. As long as he kept his promise not to hurt her, she would be fine. She just had to wait until someone found her. It was probably best to play along with Donovan and let him think she was cooperating, just to keep him happy.
She cleared her throat. “That’s quite a plan, but if we’re going to have to wait a while, I wish you would have let me bring my book so I’d have something to do.”
“We can read one of these plays together.” He smiled as he poured himself a cup of coffee, then placed it on the table to sort through his stack. “Romeo and Juliet. I’ll play Romeo. I know the lines by heart. You will be my Juliet.”
She took a sip of the coffee to cover her incredulous smile. She shouldn’t look at him as if he was crazy. It wouldn’t help in the long run. Too many looks like that and he was bound to get insulted. That would make him angry, which wasn’t good because he got even crazier when he was angry. “That’s perfect.”
He opened one of the thin booklets and flipped through the pages before handing it to her. He stood before her and placed a hand over his heart while he dramatically quoted the lines of the play in a strange sort of accent. She stared at him in confusion. All she caught was something about pilgrims, lips and a kiss. He stopped speaking and waited expectantly. She glanced down at the book. Pilgrims...lips...kiss... Oh!
“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this...”
The rhythmic prose seemed to calm his nerves, which in turn made her less jittery. The satisfied look on Donovan’s face told her that she was safe for now. Please, Lord, send help and quickly.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lawson could barely believe his ears as he listened to Ellie’s lyrical Texas drawl launch into a Shakespearean verse in response to Donovan’s cockeyed accent. He wanted to glance into the half-open window he crouched under, but resisted the action that would have given away his presence prematurely.
It sounded as if she was safe for the time being. That was a relief—as was the fact that her rejection hadn’t been of her own hand but rather Donovan’s. He could tell that much from the man’s ridiculous plan to both ruin and save Ellie’s reputation, thus binding her to him forever.
Yeah, that’s not going to happen—not on my watch. He frowned when a giggle sounded through the window. What was going on in there? He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Ellie’s voice was filled with disbelief. “Did people really talk like this?”
Despite the danger of the situation, a smile curved Lawson’s lips. She was outright adorable. That’s all there was to it. Apparently, Donovan didn’t agree because disapproval filled his voice. “I thought you knew Shakespeare and liked it.”
“I knew of it.” Her tone was more carefully modulated this time. Obviously, she remembered that it would not be wise to displease Donovan at a time like this. “I like it fine. I’m just not used to it.”
“Keep going. Don’t break character again.”
“All right.” She continued on with the play.
Lawson shook his head as he listened. This was a fine situation, wasn’t it? He had to get Ellie out of that man’s clutches. He just wasn’t sure how. He could go in with both barrels blazing but Ellie could easily get caught in the cross fire of any violence in such a confined space. He needed to go for backup and he knew exactly where to find it.
He said a silent prayer for Ellie’s safety, then crept away from his window to where he’d left reliable Samson. The stallion’s ears perked up at Lawson’s approach as if he was reporting for duty. Lawson mounted up and rode back along the path that had made it easy for him to track them down, until he reached the ranch. He rode into the barnyard just as Nathan exited the farmhouse with Kate. They must have been waiting for him to return with Ellie. His guess was right because when he dismounted, Nathan’s first question was “Where’s Ellie?”
“Did she say yes?” Kate asked.
“I didn’t ask because she said she didn’t love me, but I think Donovan forced her to.”
Nathan narrowed his eyes. “Donovan?”
“He was hiding in the woods. I figured something was wrong after she rejected me so I went back to find out. He’s taken her to his pig farm. He plans to keep her there until morning so she’ll have to marry him to save her reputation.”
“That isn’t going to happen.” Nathan’s voice was laced with steel. “I reckon you already have a plan.”
He nodded. “Donovan doesn’t seem like he’ll hurt Ellie unless she tries to run off or makes him angry. She’s been smart and playing it safe by humoring him. I think that will give you enough time to ride into town and get Sean.”
Nathan nodded. “That’s probably the best thing to do since he’s the sheriff.”
“In the meantime, I’m going to ride back and keep an eye on things. There is a hedge of bushes near the smokehouse that will make a good lookout place. Y’all can meet me there.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s ride out.”
* * *
How long have I been here? Ellie wondered. She wasn’t sure but it was long enough for them to have lunch and make their way to the end of the play with her playing all the women’s parts and Donovan playing the men’s...by heart...using different voices. He’d skipped a few scenes here and there but seemed to relish being the Romeo to her Juliet. Thankfully, he’d been too caught up in hearing her speak the dialogue to try to act out stage directions. She didn’t bother to read them out loud, either. No need to remind him that Juliet was supposed to kiss Romeo at certain points, like now. She just skipped to... “Thy lips are warm.”
“Lead, boy: which way?” He perched on the edge of the bed in anticipation of the death scene.
She ignored the chills of foreboding that rose on her arms by lifting the fork from the ham she had barely touched. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger!” She lifted the fork into the air. “This is thy sheath.” She glanced down for her next line then plunged the fork toward her heart. “There rust and let me die.”
The fork fell to the ground as she slumped against the chair and closed her eyes. She could feel him staring at her so rather than face that odd intensity, she kept them closed. Perhaps she could get away with this for the rest of the play. There didn’t seem to be much left of it. What would they do after that? Perhaps they’d start another play. She wouldn’t mind it as long as her own ending didn’t turn out as tragic as Juliet’s.
She started listening to Donovan again when his voice changed to reflect a different character. “The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard...”
Are You still there, Lord? You are, aren’t You? I can feel You with me even though I’m scared. I’m trying hard not to be. You’ll save me. Please, hurry. I’m waiting for You.
Suddenly she wondered if God might be waiting for her to act. After all, Lawson was safe. Donovan had tucked his gun into his holster, so it wasn’t exactly an immediate threat anymore. Maybe she could hit him over the head with something.
She peeked one eye open to survey the clean room. Then she saw it. Right there on the stove was salvation in the form of a frying pan. It was cast iron and looked heavy enough to pack a wallop that would knock Donovan out long enough to ride for help on that mare she’d unsaddled for him. She just needed a distraction.
She had the entire rest of the play to think one up and as soon as they were finished, she reverently closed the play. “You read beautifully, Donovan. I’d love to hear you do another one.”
He beamed. “Would you, really?”
“Oh, yes.” She handed him the play. “I’ll make us some more coffee while you find the next one.”
“
What shall I do?” He knelt beside the stack of plays as she walked to the stove and filled the coffeepot with water from the pitcher. “Macbeth?”
“No.” She grasped the handle of the frying pan.
“Othello?” His back was to her.
“No.” She took a deep breath. She had to do this right the first time because there wouldn’t be a second chance. She needed to swing hard and swing true like she had when she’d played baseball with the boys at school. She trained her gaze on the back of his head.
“Taming of the Shrew?”
She swung and hit him right on the perfect spot to make him slump forward soundlessly. “That’s the one.”
She took his gun then put the pan on the table before unbolting the door. She stepped out into the sunlight and glanced around to get her bearings. The barn was in front of her. That was all she needed to know. She was only a few feet from the cabin when she heard a roar erupt from inside. Her eyes widened but she didn’t look behind her. Her only hope was to get on his horse and gallop away. She took off running, begging the Lord for help.
* * *
Lawson tensed when the cabin door opened. Nathan and Sean hadn’t arrived yet but if Donovan was planning to take Ellie somewhere else, Lawson would have to stop him here and now. He watched in amazement as Ellie walked out alone toward the barn with her arms swinging as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Then he saw the gleam of black metal in her hand and realized she probably didn’t.
He rose from his hiding place just as a roar sounded from inside the house. Ellie dashed toward the barn. He ran toward the house. Drawing his gun, he slid his back along the side of the house until he could peer inside the front door. Donovan was stumbling around inside, no doubt gathering weapons. Lawson cocked his gun. “Get your hands up where I can see them. Now!”
The man froze. Donovan turned slowly, then lifted fury-filled eyes to Lawson before he lifted his hand and threw a steak knife right at Lawson’s chest. He dodged the worst of it as the blade whizzed past his shooting arm. Donovan used that distraction to rush past him. Lawson momentarily holstered his gun to tackle the man before he could escape more than a few yards.
A Texas-Made Match Page 22
