Stolen Kisses (Leap of Love Book 2) (6 page)

Lily's father simply nodded. His expression read frustration, confusion, and fear.

"When is the last time that you saw Lily, Mr. Sanchez?"

The man began to speak, his hands flying in the air to accent his speech. His English was broken at best, and with him being emotional, it was even harder to understand him, but Brent did the best that he could.

"I see her last day before. She go to the market and come home. Like everyday. Yesterday, she no come home after leaving. I go to market and find that she no show up there either."

Brent closed his eyes. Lily had not shown up to the market. That was the same day that he had gone to see her. Now he knew that she had never shown up.

"Mr. Sanchez, do you have any idea where she could be? Did she say anything about wanting to leave or anything like that?"

Brent found himself speaking slowly and in a louder tone as if that would clear the communication barrier that existed. Sheriff Dyer told him that he would have no choice but to learn Spanish living here.

"No. And my wife and I think that maybe you can help us. You Ranger and you can help."

"I will definitely help. Of course." Brent rested a reassuring hand on Mr. Sanchez's shoulder. The man nodded and his posture relaxed.

"In the meanwhile, you go home. If she comes home, we want someone to be there to greet her. I will do everything in my power to make sure she comes home."

"Thank you." Mr. Sanchez squeezed Brent's hand, and with a sigh and slumped shoulders, he walked away.

Brent fell into the rocking chair on the porch. He had to replay the conversation that he just had over again. If it had not been for watching Mr. Sanchez walking away, he would not have believed it for himself.

Lily was missing. Where could she have gone? Maybe she decided to take a sabbatical. But that would be unlike Lily to not let her parents know where she would be. They meant the world to her and he could not think of anywhere in Owen's Bluff where she would be hiding.

She was, if nothing, a creature of habit. The only possible explanation Lily could think of was that Lily needed a break from reality. He was not sure why though. It seemed like her life was ideal as far as he was concerned. Her parents were wonderful and she seemed to have all the creature comforts that she needed. The more he thought about it, the more it did not seem feasible that she would just disappear and runaway.

There was definitely something wrong and it was up to Brent to figure it out. He had given Mr. Sanchez his word and he would stand by it at all costs.

*

As soon as he dropped Adam off at school, Brent made it quickly to the Rangers office. He had to brief the sheriff immediately.

"Sheriff, it seems we have a missing person case."

"Tell me more." Sheriff leaned back in his chair and focused his attention on Brent as he chewed his tobacco.

Brent briefed him on all that was going on with Lily. Sheriff listened intently.

"Do you have any idea where she could be, Abbott?"

"None, Sir."

"Well now, she could have gone off by herself somewhere."

"Her father is not sure where that could be."

"A grown woman like that may have some personal business to take care of that she does not want to make others privy of."

Through clenched teeth, Brent replied. "I'm not sure where that would be or why she would do something like that."

"Now the other option is that the Indians got her."

Sheriff's response seemed so generic and lacked the empathy that Brent had expected.

Brent opened his mouth to speak, but he did not want to seem like it was the right time to answer. He could tell that Sheriff was trying to pull some information out of him. Truth was, there was nothing to get out of him. He did not know anything, but wished he knew everything.

He could not imagine what she was going through. What if she had been captured?

"Where do we start?"

"Sheriff, you have a message from the wire office."

The sheriff and Brent turned to see one of the messengers from the wire office. Sheriff held his large hands out for the envelope.

He used a letter opener to slide it open. His eyes scanned the sheet.

"Looks like this message is for you." He held the note in his fingertips.

"What are you talking about?" Brent came over and took the note. He could not believe the words he read.

Welcome to town, Ranger Abbott. You will find that Owen's Bluff is my territory. I always get what I want and no one should stand in my way.

-Lawrence Jones

"I see that you have made some friends here in Owen's Bluff."

The comment was facetious and Brent did not feel the need to make a response. It was apparent that he was being challenged.

"What could he possibly be talking about? Why would he feel the need to come at me like this?"

By now, Brent was pacing, his anxiety building.

"Son, you already know what this is all about don't you?" Sheriff spoke calmly, eyebrow raised.

All of a sudden everything made sense.

"Now you get it?" Sheriff asked.

"Now I get it." Brent massaged his temples, hoping the throbbing sensation would stop.

"We need to figure out exactly where he has Lily. This is insane."

"Time is of the essence, Abbott. We had better get going."

Sheriff hoisted on his holster and sat his large brimmed hat and beckoned for Brent to follow.

They had to get to Lily to save her. There was no way that Brent could let things stay like this. He had to help. And fortunate for Lily, a Texas Ranger had fallen for her, so he would make sure very soon, she would be in good hands.

Lily could barely see outside of the window. She pushed a box up to the wall and attempted to step on top of it to create enough height for her to see.

The room was way too dark, but she knew that it was day time because she could see the sliver of light coming through the window.

Her head was swirling and she felt disoriented. She had no clue what day it was or where she could possibly be. Her foot slipped and she came crashing to the floor. Her hands felt the dirt beneath her and when she paid attention, the surroundings smelled like planting soil.

She rubbed her head and tried to stay calm. The last thing she needed to do was panic. It would serve her no purpose to panic. The window was so high up, she would need something to stand on in order to get a look outside.

There had to be some way that she could tell where she was. The vacuum of silence was not helping. And for the life of her, she could not remember how she had gotten here. She tried to think back to the last thing she could remember.

Everything was cloudy. Her last thought was of her going to the market. As she did every morning, she rose, dressed, and set up the wagon with her wares. On the road to the market, her horse spooked and she had to stop and do what she could to calm him.

The memory started to get foggy again. Lily closed her eyes and tried her hardest to remember. There was a man. Someone helping her.

Then she remembered. Lawrence Jones had ridden in on his white horse. He offered to help her. She declined. He insisted and hopped off of his horse. Then things went blank from there. The only thing Lily remembered was a feeling of frustration and fear.

What had happened?

Her head hurt and she felt dizzy, like she would faint. A dry mouth, sweating, and dizzy, fear was starting to creep in. Lily knew that there was no way that she could let this situation defeat her, but she had to keep trying to get out of here, wherever here was.

She scrambled on the floor to pull herself up. What in the world was going on? She held her breath as she heard the sound of horses approaching. Muffled voices, and then the sound of a creaking door opening.

Lily struggled to find something to hold in her hands to protect herself from the unknown.

"Where is she?" asked a gruff voice that she did not recognize.

"She should be in here where I left her."

The sound of boots crunching the soil beneath and when Lily looked up, there were two men standing before her. Light streamed in behind them, dust and dirt filled the air.

She sat prepared for anything, although she had not found anything with which to protect herself.

"Come on here. You will be going to the main house."

The tallest man beckoned her like she was an animal. She chose not to respond, being as though she was not sure where retaliation would get her.

The other man approached. Looking down at her, he stood directly in her space.

"It don't look like she gonna get up on her own. Let's help her." His speech was a syrupy drawl.

Hands grabbed her and in an instant, she was thrown over the second man's shoulder.

Screaming did not seem like it was worth it. She pounded her fists on his back, but then realized that it would be more worth her while to take a quick look at her surroundings.

Once outside of the structure where she awoke, her eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright light. She figured it to be mid afternoon by the intensity of the heat.

The two men walked and conversed as if she was not even present.

"Jones is nuts."

"Truth," replied the one with the syrupy voice. "But he pays well and that's all I need to like about him."

"Hmm," replied the first one.

All Lily saw was an expanse of land. The scent of manure wafted past her. She had to be on a ranch and with the men talking about Lawrence Jones, she surmised she was on one of Jones' ranches.

The man carrying her lowered his shoulder and let her down to the ground.

Lily's first thought was to run, but looking around, it was obvious that there would be no destination that would be safe. Besides the barn where she had just awakened and the expansive house that she was standing in front of, there was nowhere else to go.

"Mr. Jones is expecting you," the man with the drawl spoke.

Both men stood there, at the bottom of the grand staircase that led to the entrance of the house. Lily gave them a look of fury before walking up to the door. She had no clue what she was walking in to or why she even walked so easily in to it. All she knew was that she needed to tread lightly and do her best to get home.

*

Lily entered the house and stood in the large foyer. The house was more luxurious than anything she had ever seen in her life. Everything was trimmed in gold and adorned with crisp white upholstery. She had to get to the bottom of why Lawrence Jones called her to be there.

"Right this way."

Lily looked up to see a thin framed copper colored girl with a maid's uniform on.

"I'm not sure why I'm here."

The girl looked at Lily with a look of compassion. "Right this way."

Lily followed her into a parlor. She went to take a seat and the girl jumped to protect the chair.

"Oh, uh… Please stand over here, Senorita."

"I would really like to take a seat and wait," Lily replied.

The girl looked at her kindly as if she was trying to find the right words. "That would be for guests."

Lily opened her mouth to speak and closed it just as quickly. She was beginning to understand what was going on here. She stood where the girl told her to.

"My name is Maria. I will help you to get acquainted with, with-," she paused. "I will help you with whatever you need. Please wait. Senor Jones will be in momentarily."

 Maria excused herself and Lily surveyed her surroundings. This had to be some sort of joke. She looked out the window to see nothing but the ranch, cattle grazing and wire fences.

"Well, well. You finally made it in."

Lily turned around to see Lawrence Jones standing in the doorway. He was dressed in dungarees and a shirt buttoned up to his neck. As he entered the room, he took off his hat. His greeting was pleasant as if Lily was simply making a friendly house call.

"I guess you would like to know what is going on here."

She nodded and waited for his response. Jones paced around the room as he spoke.

"I am a man that is used to getting what he wants. Very simple. I have given you a chance time and again to come to me. I've tried to be nice about it. Most women would not have shunned my advances as much as you have. So since we do not seem to be on the same page about any of this, I thought that it would be best if I made a major move."

"And you consider this a major move? What happened? How did I end up here?" Lily was beginning to get upset by the man's sheer arrogance.

"You don't remember? Yesterday, you were on your way to the market. We met in the road when your horse was spooked. I stopped to help you."

"It does not seem that our interaction was as simple as that, if you don't mind me saying so. I woke up on the dirt floor of a barn, disoriented and dizzy."

"A woman like you has a little fight in her. And that's okay. I like my women a bit feisty. So I had to do what I had to in order to get you here."

The look in his eyes was blank, void of expression. It made Lily uncomfortable.

"My father will come looking for me."

Jones laughed. "Sanchez? He is no match for my security. I always keep a few outlaws on the payroll. Your father would never come up here alone to fetch you."

Lily wanted to laugh at Jones' attempt to discourage her. "And I'm pretty sure Brent will come looking for me." She smirked as if she had pulled out the trump card on him.

"Ah, Texas Ranger. Brent Abbott. You think he's going to come for you? Maybe. Maybe not. He will most likely lose interest in you once you are out of sight, out of mind."

A pang hit Lily in the chest. What if that was true? She had been so intent on keeping Brent at arm's length, he may just think that she was not interested in a relationship with him and just leave well enough alone.

"I don't think so. It's just a matter of time before Brent and the sheriff come looking for me."