by Becca Van
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Leah said, covering Debbie’s hand with her own. “I know what it’s like to lose a loved one.”
“Thank you. I can see why they love you, Leah,” Debbie replied with a hitch in her voice. “Thanks for the coffee, too. I really should get going.”
Leah followed Debbie out to the front door and watched as the woman hesitated on the doorstep.
“I’d really like for us to be friends if that is at all possible, Leah. I don’t know anyone else besides you, Seamus, and Connell.”
“I think I can do that. What sort of business are you planning on?” Leah asked.
Leah watched as Debbie’s cheeks turned red. She had never thought to see that reaction from such a sophisticated woman.
“I was thinking of opening a ladies’ lingerie and toy store,” Debbie replied.
“Really? That’s the last thing I would have thought of but I can see that would suit you to a T,” Leah replied with a laugh. “You go, girl. I’d love to help you set up your store. Give me a call when you’re ready to start.”
“Thank you, Leah. I really like you,” Debbie said then walked down the steps toward her car. She turned to Leah and waved then got in her car and drove away.
Who’d have thought that she would wind up friends with her men’s ex? Usually it wasn’t heard of, but Leah decided she liked the sophisticated, vulnerable woman. She could see that Debbie’s polish was a front and wondered what had made her into the woman she was. Maybe one day Debbie would confide in her. Leah closed the door and went to hang out the laundry.
* * * *
Leah had everything prepared for dinner and put the large tray of lasagna in the oven on low. She reached for the bag of ground coffee and saw there wasn’t enough left for another pot. She searched through the pantry but couldn’t find another bag. She was going to have to borrow one of her men’s trucks and head into town. She set the timer on the oven to turn off automatically so the lasagna wouldn’t burn, grabbed her purse and keys, and stepped outside. She knew she’d have plenty of time to get to town and back before her men got home.
Leah drove to town, bought the coffee, and had just unlocked the truck, when a man’s voice came from behind her. She turned to see who was talking to her.
“Excuse me, ma’am, I was wondering if you’d be kind enough to give me some of your time.”
“I beg your pardon?” Leah replied as she looked the stranger up and down. He was dressed in suave designer slacks, black Italian leather moccasin-type shoes, and he had on a shirt which could have come off the cover of a GQ magazine. He gave her the creeps. She looked around, but there were no cars or people on the street. He was so close to her now that if she so much as breathed she would be touching him. Leah was about to step around the man, but a firm object poking into her stomach made her freeze. She looked down to see the barrel of a gun pressed against her belly.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Leah asked, hearing the quaver in her own voice.
“You and I are going for a little drive, Leah. Get in the truck and don’t try and scream or I’ll shoot you right here, right now.”
Leah was shaking so much she could barely get her body to obey her brain’s command. She turned toward the truck, opened the door, and got in. The stranger got in beside her and pushed her over to the passenger side of the vehicle.
“Give me the keys,” the stranger demanded. “Now, you slut.”
Leah handed the keys over and reached for the door handle. She had to get out of here. She didn’t know what she’d done to piss the man off, but she could see the fury in his eyes. She’d never even met him.
“Don’t even think about it. I’ll pull the trigger and put a bullet between your eyes before you even have the door open.” The stranger growled at her.
The stranger turned the key, and then he backed out of the parking lot. Leah was so scared she couldn’t think properly. She knew she had to do something to get away from him, but had no idea what. She took some deep, calming breaths and clenched her hands around her purse. That’s it. She needed to find her cell phone and call Seamus or Connell. They had programmed their cell numbers into her phone on speed dial. All she needed to do was push a button and pray to God the man wouldn’t hear her phone beeping. Maybe if she could get him talking she could cover up what she was doing?
“Why are you doing this? I don’t even know you. So I can’t have done anything to piss you off.”
“It’s not you I’m pissed at. It’s those fucking O’Hara assholes.”
“What did they do?” Leah asked and slowly slid her hand into her purse.
“They took my woman away from me and then dumped her. If they hadn’t come on the scene Debbie and I would be married by now.”
“Did you ever stop to think that they wouldn’t have been able to take Debbie away from you if she had really loved you?” Leah asked without thinking.
The hand the stranger held the gun in rose and smashed into her cheek.
“Shut the fuck up. Just shut up or I’ll kill you now,” the stranger screamed.
Leah’s cheek throbbed where he had just belted her one. She wanted to reach over and claw at his face and eyes, but knew she would be dead before she could even try.
“You know they will come for me, don’t you? They’re going to find you and hunt you down. You don’t stand a chance,” Leah said loudly as she felt her cell phone, ran her fingers over the number pad, and pushed the button. She hoped she had pushed the right one, but without being able to look she couldn’t be sure.
“That’s what you think. I’ve been planning this for years. You coming on the scene only made it easier. I want them to come for me. That’s what I planned all along. You and me are going to have a little party. They are going to find your dead body and be so consumed with guilt they’ll just walk right on into my trap.”
Shit. Leah wondered what he had planned. The last thing she wanted was for her men to walk into a trap because of her. She wondered if her cell phone had connected and was about to disconnect the line, but then she remembered her men talking about being in the service. They were both trained lethal weapons. Her men were ex-Marines, and she knew they would take into account all possible scenarios. She took her finger off her phone and prayed to God they could hear her.
“You can’t make someone love you,” Leah said louder than usual. “If Debbie left you then it wasn’t right.”
“I told you to keep your fucking mouth shut, slut. I’ll just have to shut it for you,” the stranger snarled.
Leah saw the fist coming, but she wasn’t fast enough. He slammed his knuckles into her cheek, temple, and the side of her eye socket. Pain exploded through her head, and she knew she was going to pass out. She fought against the darkness. She breathed deeply and finally the black spots before her eyes left, but she closed her eyes and slumped against the door. She was playing possum until she got her chance to escape.
Chapter Thirteen
Connell removed his cell phone from his belt and looked at the name displayed on the screen. He smiled and answered then placed the phone to his ear. At first he couldn’t hear anything and wondered if Leah had accidentally activated her phone. The smile left his face when he heard Leah yelling and then a man’s voice yelling back. Fuck. Leah was in trouble. Connell covered the mouthpiece on his phone and whistled for Seamus. He only ever whistled when there was danger, and he knew his brother would be at his side in moments.
“Leah’s in trouble,” Connell stated. “Call Luke and Damon to meet us back at the house. She’s such a smart little thing. She called me on her cell. I need to keep the phone glued to my ear, but we need to get back to the house.”
Connell urged his mount into a gallop. His brother was behind him the whole way. By the time he reached the yard, Luke and Damon, as well as Damon’s two brothers, Sam and Tyson, were pulling up into the yard. They were all ex-Marines, except for Sheriff Luke Sun-Walker, but he was just as tough as the rest of them.
“I have Leah on my cell. She was yelling and I heard a man yelling back, but I couldn’t work out what they were saying,” Connell said as he swung down from his horse and handed his mount over to a ranch hand.
“Connell, your truck’s gone,” Seamus said, pointing in the direction of the carport.
“Shit. Wait, I have a GPS tracker in the truck. Luke, can you get onto that and find out where they’re headed? I can’t hear anything at the moment. It’s gone quiet. Fuck it. Who could have taken her? Let’s go inside and see what we can find out,” Connell said and led the way into the house. He placed his cell on speaker but made sure to mute the microphone. He listened intently but could only hear a faint droning sound.
“It sounds like road noise, but muffled,” Damon said.
“She must have her cell in her purse. Goddamn it,” Connell roared and slammed his fist on the table. “I knew we shouldn’t have left her alone. We have no idea who even has her.”
“Keep it together, man,” Damon said, placing a hand on Connell’s shoulder. “You’re trained to deal with this shit. Calm down and think.”
“I put an APB out on your truck and it was spotted heading west out of town. I’ve just called Clay and Johnny Morten from the Double M ranch, as well as Billy and Tom on the Double E, to be on the lookout since their ranches are west. Billy told me he saw your truck driving past in the distance. So let’s head on out,” Luke commanded.
Connell and Seamus jumped into Luke’s four-by-four. Connell had never felt so scared in his life. The fact that someone had taken his woman had a knot bigger than a fist sitting in his gut. He wanted to rage and yell and lose control of his emotions, but his friend Damon was right. He was trained to deal with this sort of trouble, and emotion had no place in this situation. He breathed deeply and evenly, pushed his emotions to the back of his mind, and became the cold, calculating killing machine he had been trained to be. He looked at Seamus and saw his brother going through the same struggle he was. Then his brother’s eyes got real cold, and he knew Seamus was back in control. He was determined to have Leah back in his arms, and if he had to die trying to free her, then so be it.
* * * *
Leah kept her head turned away from the man in the driver’s seat of the truck. She just hoped he wouldn’t notice she had one eye open and was watching where he was taking her. She had nearly given away her advantage when they had driven past a cowboy tending a fence in the distance, but had stopped herself from moving at the last minute. The cowboy had been too far away, and there was nothing he could have done to help her. Leah prayed to God her men had realized she was missing by now and had called the sheriff. She was scared of the man, could see he wasn’t right in the mind, but she wasn’t about to let fear consume her. She thought of Seamus and Connell, which seemed to fill her with hope and strength. She pushed the fear and panic away and began to get angry.
How dare this bastard use her as a pawn in his sick game! She hadn’t done anything wrong, and neither had Debbie. This sick fuck was obviously obsessed with the woman who had spurned him, and he couldn’t deal with reality. She’d had enough. Leah moaned and moved her head to the seat headrest, then let her muscles go lax again, making sure to breathe evenly and deeply, hoping the bastard would think she was still out cold. After a few minutes she opened her eyes to slits, using her lashes to shield the fact her eyes weren’t closed anymore. She saw the gun resting on the seat between them. He had both hands on the steering wheel as he drove around a tight bend. Leah didn’t stop to think. She just reacted. She picked up the gun and had the barrel against the man’s temple before he could react.
“Stop the car now,” Leah demanded in a cold voice.
He surprised her by giving her a smile, and then his words washed over her.
“Go ahead and shoot. You’ll likely end up dead when the car crashes.”
Leah didn’t hesitate. She pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The car slowed and stopped in the middle of the road. He whipped the gun out of her hand and tilted the gun to the side. His cold smile had chills running up and down her spine.
“You forgot about the safety. This little button here takes it off,” he said, and Leah watched as he depressed the button. “Get out of the car and don’t try anything or I’ll kill you here.”
Leah was shaking so much it took her three tries to get the door handle to open. She slid from the truck, about to take off, but a large hand clamped around her wrist. She hadn’t even heard him get out behind her. He shoved her off the road toward the open field before her and the hill in the distance. He pushed and shoved, knocking her down at every opportunity. At one stage Leah had been so angry she’d turned around to hit the bastard, but she had ended up staring down the barrel of his gun. The sight of that hollowed-out steel had her knees going weak and her body shaking with fear. He slapped her across the face again, and Leah ended up on her back in the grass. Her face and head were throbbing so much she was in danger of becoming sick. She knew if she was ill she was going to try and aim for him.
It seemed to take forever before they reached the slight hill with large rocks strewn about. His voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Get up on that flat rock and lie down.”
Leah didn’t have much choice since he was holding a gun on her, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. She kept her eyes on the ground and stumbled when she saw a small, sharp piece of rock. She picked it up and held it in her hand as he hauled her to her feet by her hair. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of crying out when he hurt her. He pushed her to the large, flat rock, and as she turned around, she saw the rope and metal pegs in his other hand. She hadn’t seen them before and wondered how she had missed them. “Get on that rock, you slut.”
Leah crawled onto the rock, still clutching the sharp shard of stone in her hand. He pushed her onto her back, placed the gun in the waistband of his pants, and moved around to her head. Leah gripped the piece of sharp stone so tightly she felt it cut into her hand. She ignored the pain and swung with all her might. She put everything she had into the swing and yelled as her fist connected with the bastard’s nose. Blood spurted from his nostrils, and the sound of his pained yell gave her a cold satisfaction as she scrambled from the rock. She ran and didn’t look back. She ducked into the line of trees ten yards from the rocks and kept right on running. She felt a fierce, stinging pain in the back of her upper thigh but ignored it. Adrenaline was pumping through her body, and she used it to get as far away from him as she could.
Leah cried out as she tripped over a tree root and tumbled to the ground. She pushed up to her feet, only to fall back down again. Her right leg was hurting like a bitch, the burning pain so intense she felt sick to her stomach. She heaved and sobbed as pain tore through her thigh. She tried to see what was wrong, but she couldn’t turn her head around far enough. She heard the crackling of feet amongst the dead leaves and grass on the ground and knew she was in danger again. He’d found her.
She cried out when he grabbed a handful of her hair and began to drag her back to the clearing where the large, flat rock was. He had her bound and gagged on the rock before she could blink.
She was so cold and tired. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep. She knew she had to stay awake, but couldn’t remember why. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times as bright sunlight hurt her pupils. Leah couldn’t remember where she was, but knew she was in danger. She curled her hands into fists and felt something sharp cut into the soft skin of her palm. Memory slammed into her mind. She had been kidnapped and she was laid out on a large, flat rock like a lamb on an altar. She looked around but couldn’t see anyone. She knew he was still there, somewhere. Watching and waiting for her men to show up. She could see he had the advantage. Her men would be coming from the road, and he was hidden amongst the trees just waiting to take them out. She couldn’t let that happen. Not now. She’d only just found the loves of her life, and there was no way in hell he was going to hurt them.
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Leah used her fingers to get the bit of sharp stone to her fingertips and began to work on the rope around her wrist. She was getting out of here and saving her men if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter Fourteen
Connell was the first out of Luke’s truck when he found his abandoned in the middle of the road. He checked his truck out and was relieved to find no signs of struggle or any blood in the vehicle. He searched around and found what he was looking for, two sets of footprints leading to the open field. He was about to take off across the open plain, but Seamus’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“Tom Eagle just called Luke. It’s a trap, Connell. Billy was the one who saw your truck pass by earlier, and when he got the call from the sheriff he followed the vehicle through the paddocks on horseback, keeping amongst the trees for camouflage. Luke got a call from Tom, just as you got out of the truck. Billy called his brother and told him what’s going on. He heard a gunshot and then he saw that fucker dragging Leah onto a large rock. He wanted to go in and take him down, but Billy is unarmed and he didn’t want to put Leah in jeopardy. That sick fuck is using Leah as bait to draw us out.
“Whoever took Leah has her tied down on a rock on that hill. They are looking for the bastard, but he’s hiding in the trees waiting for us. No doubt he’s got a high-powered rifle ready and waiting for us to show up,” Seamus explained.
“You think I don’t know that. I can’t leave her out there alone, Seamus. She has to be so scared. God, I just want to hold her in my arms,” Connell said and knew he’d let the anguish he felt show in his voice.
“Hey, I do, too, man. But we have to keep our heads clear if we’re going to get her out of this,” Seamus replied.
