Marie, Laura - Miss: Senorita and the Soldado [The Miss Series 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

The Miss Series 2

LAURA MARIE

Copyright © 2011

Chapter 1

Agent Gustavo Montoya spied through the binoculars from a high set of trees near a small building across from the Sintorez estate. This was the closest he could get to the notorious drug lord, his target. He had spent months establishing his false identity and proving his loyalty to the Sintorez cartel. He had witnessed murder, learned the protocol of Sintorez’s drug development and distribution operation here in Mexico, and was building a case against him. But Sintorez was very intelligent and extremely dangerous. He made the rules. He decided who would be close to him and who would stay outside the gates of his personal mansion.

The sight of the beautiful woman Sintorez kept by his side at all times had triggered a curiosity in Gustavo. Sintorez did not seem to treasure or appreciate much. However, he kept the woman at his side even during meetings with other drug traffickers like Miguel Philippe.

Gustavo watched the woman now through the lenses, his curiosity getting the better of him. She had long brown hair and an exceptional figure. He tried to make the binoculars focus closer, but they were at their limit. He cursed the inability to not see her face more clearly. Then, as if his plea was heard, she moved closer to the balcony, staring off in his direction. His heart hammered in his chest and awareness built inside of him. His body hummed with need and he was shocked. He could hardly see her, yet he felt some sort of connection to her.
Who is she? Why is she with a man like Sintorez?
He clicked the button on the left of the device and instantly took several pictures of her. He would send them off later to DEA headquarters and see what they could find out. Some activity was going on a few yards away from where he hid in the trees. He needed to get down and evade being spotted. He took one last look through the binoculars at the woman, and he saw her turn her head as if someone was coming.

The sight of Sintorez making his way toward the woman angered Gustavo. The man was a monster, but the woman looked like an angel, dressed in white as her hair blew in the wind.

Reluctantly, Gustavo turned away and hurried out of the tree.

* * * *

The brilliant, bold rays of sun cast a shadow over the courtyard hidden by glorious elms and evergreens. Many were hundreds of years old, their roots buried deep under the old mansion and against the stone barrier wall that surrounded the compound. The evergreens held witness to crime, passion, murder, and a family heritage fated for wealth and success. If the walls could speak, what would they reveal that Elloisa wasn’t already privy to? She stared at them, relished in the thought of being lost amidst the gentle breeze coming in along with the setting sun. The compound was magnificent and yet stood out of place in a desert surrounded by mountains and shacks, hurtfully called villages. The villages beyond the estate were impoverished and run down. Yet Armando lived in luxury without a care for those less fortunate.

A damn tank is what she needed to get through the walls and out of this living hell. More importantly, Elloisa needed to get away from him.

“El bien conocido Armando Sintorez,” she whispered. He was indeed a notorious man. He was her love at first sight, irresistibly handsome and exquisitely deceitful. His jet-black hair and dark, mesmerizing eyes had immediately drawn her to him. He was a man of maturity, sophistication, and wealth. He stood out among all other men she knew. He had a movie star quality about him, and she had been too young, too innocent to recognize the danger or to follow her gut. He played her like a violinist caresses his instrument’s strings. His accent, his deep, sexy voice, and manipulating moves enticed her body and soul. There was no long, drawn-out wooing or coaxing in the relationship. Instead, Armando had seduced her. He was so good, so believable that until several months ago, she was living in a dream. This was no precious princess story but instead a series of lies and criminal activity based around her as the object of revenge. She was a pawn in some sick game Armando chose to create and play. Her family was dead. Her past was a painful thought, and her future was even worse. Now it seemed it was her turn to be deceitful, to manipulate and conquer if she ever wanted to get out of this prison. Armando never loved her. It was all a game.

Elloisa was lost in thought as she relished in a lungful of evening air. The last few weeks had been difficult, to say the least. She was finding it more and more difficult to act complacent. Looking around the courtyard, she absorbed the beauty and superiority of the Sintorez estate. It was a stone prison to those looking on from the outside, but inside it was paradise. She glanced toward the main entrance that faced the dessert and side streets leading to the villages. The people were poor. Armando did little for them considering he was so wealthy.

His table scraps were brought to the gates for beggars to scrounge and fight over, all at his amusement, of course. Armando, Ramos, and the others who dined with him watched the surveillance video connected to the gates. They laughed and roared as they watched the poor, helpless, starving children fight over his scraps. It was barbaric and inhumane. She never watched but instead found an excuse to leave early before the liquor set in and the men began their little dessert ritual and viewed the actions of starving children.

Her stomach curdled at the thoughts of his actions. Armando was invincible, but it had come down to do or die for Elloisa.

Just then, she heard the solid oak door open. A quick glance behind her, and
speak of the devil.
Armando entered the room. Elloisa continued to stand on the balcony, soaking in the gentle breeze before the sunset. With each inhale, she could taste the freedom.

Just beyond the walls of this prison she had been forced to live in for the past year and a half and over the two rolling hills was her freedom.

Elloisa heard Armando Sintorez close the door behind him. She felt his gaze despite the distance between them. He was a powerful and scary man.

Out of fear of being rude in any way towards her captor, she glanced over her shoulder, nodding her head in a submissive bow. Her stomach churned with disgust.

Her hair swayed in the breeze.

“Mi hermosa Elloisa. Vas a impresionar a todos,” he whispered from a few feet away. His voice sounded deep and seductive. The rich, thick, Spanish accent had once made her body shiver with anticipation of his touch. Now, she loathed it.

“I love the way your long chocolate locks brush against your hips,” he continued to compliment her.

He was always analyzing what she wore and how she looked. She hated this dress and the fact that it was semi-transparent and white. He knew all could see the undergarments below, but he liked teasing others with what he had and what belonged to only him. It made Sintorez feel powerful. She should be grateful that the panties and bra were white and not cherry red like the sick bastard could have left for her to wear.

His eyes roamed over her body, absorbing the effect and testing the potential reaction of his men to the dress.

“You have a luscious body. I can see the thong bikini panties and the lace bra….which means so will others.” His statement, the superior tone combined with his Spanish accent, made her stir with nervousness. It was his idea. He was the one that set the dress out on the bed along with the panties and bra. He wanted her to wear this.

“But you set it out for me—”

“Shhhhh…”

He chuckled at her in his evil condescending tone. He was always playing mind games. Testing those around him and trying to make them confess to betrayal or disloyalty for kicks.

She felt the heat and power of his body as Armando moved closer.

* * * *

Elloisa wrapped her arms around herself. There wasn’t a chill in the air, but his presence alone sent her whole body into a state of panic.

Elloisa knew all too well how horrible and untrustworthy Armando really was, and she felt more like his prisoner now than his lover.

Armando’s true intentions were revealed too late. She had been such a fool, and there was no way her family would ever forgive her or take her back.

Were they even alive? Had he lied about that as well?

Armando swore that her whole family would die if she tried to escape, and the thoughts both saddened and angered her.

Even if they were somehow alive, they probably thought she was dead. Armando planned it that way. He owned her. She was his possession, his trophy, and she wished she were dead. The more she thought about it, to die would not be so terrible. She would embrace it.

After tonight, this life with Armando would all be behind her.

She was determined to persuade her own fate and lend a hand. If she failed, then it wouldn’t matter…she was more than ready to die.

Patience, Elloisa, patience.
The words echoed in her head. She had a plan after all and soon her past would be behind her.

Armando interrupted her thoughts. His hands slid around her waist then across her belly. Strong bronze hands glided against her skin encompassing her waist. She panicked and took in a deep breath. Such an intimate touch had held so much meaning in the past. The feel of the heat of his skin connecting with her own had once caused an eruption of desire inside of her. Now it made her sick to her stomach. He wasn’t the man she thought he was. Being with him for more than a year had shown her the real Armando Sintorez.

His arms moved over her to hold her from behind, pulling her hips and backside against him. Instantly, she could feel his hardness. She inhaled a shaky breath.

He would have her before he had dinner this evening.

Elloisa trembled inside. She closed her eyes, forcing the tears away.

She wasn’t sure what pain hurt worse, that of losing a lover from lies and betrayal or contemplating suicide.

Armando’s other hand slipped under her hair and against her neck. He softly pulled her head back against his chest, whispering in her ear.

“My beautiful Elloisa…I am going to have to keep a close eye on you tonight. You are breathtaking and my guests will take notice immediately.” He spread tiny kisses and licks with his tongue across her earlobe then neck.

Guests?

He spoke of those guests as if they were proper legitimate business friends. Worthy, trusting, and decent—none of those niceties even came remotely close to what he referred to as guests. The men were monsters who committed murder and broke the law on a regular basis.

They were ruthless, heartless killers living in their own obscene, lawless world of drug trafficking, torture, and the unthinkable to anyone with a conscience. They had no respect for human life. They slit men’s throats for insulting them or simply rolling their eyes in disrespect toward them. She was a witness to such crimes.

Elloisa closed her eyes and suppressed the urge to vomit. His hold was firm and possessive.

Armando’s bronze hands glided down her hipbone, across her backside, squeezing then back again across her outer thigh then between her legs. Elloisa jumped and prayed he hadn’t noticed her fear. In an instant, he turned her body toward his. His dark gray eyes pierced through her hazel ones.

His hands firmly held her shoulders.

He was a good eight inches taller, had a perfectly trim body, and was very attractive. There was no denying his looks, but beyond those eyes and that body stood a monster, a rapist, and a murderer full of deceit.

 
Elloisa shuddered at his touch.

“What is it, Elloisa? Why are you not talking to me?” he asked her so gently and full of concern. She absorbed the way a strand of his thick, black hair hung lazily near his eyebrow. There was a time she thought it was sexy and sophisticated. The way his eyes crinkled when he didn’t get his way and then how she would tease him to calm him down and make him smile. She fell for the tricks, the façade he created to claim her.

He was playing with her because his only concern in life was himself.

“I’m fine, Armando. I just feel a chill in the air. Let me grab my sweater before we head downstairs.”

Elloisa pulled away from Armando, attempting to escape the inevitable as she walked back into the bedroom. She was heading toward the wardrobe closet and scanned the many fine-looking garments each shelf contained.

In his eyes, Armando had denied her very little.

She had everything.

Fine clothing, lingerie, of course, shoes to match, perfume, and even privacy to an extent. But, what she really wanted he kept from her, that which was her freedom.

Her attention was instantly drawn back towards Armando when she heard the double French doors to the balcony close then lock.

“Forget the sweater. I know exactly how to warm you up.” The white sweater dropped to the floor as Armando forcefully pulled Elloisa against him.

She couldn’t stop his next move. His hand held both her wrists tight as he pinned Elloisa against the bedroom wall.

Her hip hit the pointed edge of the table. “Ouch!” she yelled, but the sound was lost under his lips then his entire mouth as Armando attempted to devour her.