Branding & Saving Lily Box Set: Books 1 & 2 (Jacob and Lily's Duet)

by Gracin Sawyer

  BRANDING & SAVING

  Lily

  BOX SET

  GRACIN SAWYER

  Copyright ©2020 Gracin Sawyer

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  BRANDING Lily

  Copyright ©2019 Gracin Sawyer

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  CONTENTS

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  Jacob

  Lily

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ABOUT BRANDING LILY

  She was mine, and I protect what is mine.

  Lily ~ I escaped my prison only to fall into the arms of a man sworn to kill me. The way my body reacted when he was around was dangerous. His gentle touch sent me over the edge, needing more. Now I'm hoping he'll let me stay, but when he finds out who I am, I'm dead.

  Jacob ~ My family name had a past, but I was far from the man my father was. I knew from the moment I saw her she would be mine. And I protected what was mine. Whoever had hurt her would pay, no one else would touch her again.

  A HUGE thank you to Cassie for your support. You cheered me on, stayed up with me on long nights, read and reread, you were always available to listen to me rant and mumble about ALL THE WORDS, and because of you, Gracin was born. Everyone needs a best friend like you. I love you woman!

  This book is for you.

  Chapter 1

  Lily

  Crouching down behind a tree in the dead of night, I held my breath. The rough, sappy bark of the pine tree scratched my palms as I braced myself against its tall support. Rope burns circled my wrists and smoldered like fire under the faint lighting of the waxing crescent moon. Snapping the restraints hadn’t been easy and my skin had paid the price.

  The forest around me created shadows of people I knew weren’t real, but scared me just the same. I waited for the sounds of imminent footsteps chasing after me. The man I ran from wouldn’t give up easily. He hadn’t yet.

  Thinking of what he would do to me had me inching up to the tree. My body tensed and pain shot through me in waves. Tonight had to be the night. I wasn’t sure I would live long enough to try again tomorrow. Slowly, I released the longest breath I ever held in my twenty years. Even with the slim sliver of a moon, I could see well enough to watch my breath come out in white wafts.

  The crunch of twigs breaking under the pressure of footsteps echoed around me. I was frozen in place, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. Lightheadedness took over, but I couldn’t pass out. He’d find me and then I wouldn’t be able to fight back. Not that I could. Knox was stronger than I was. Always stronger. But I was no longer a fifteen-year-old girl he kidnapped. I was older. Smarter. Determined.

  Another twig snapped and I huddled closer to the tree, hoping to blend in with the trunk. My legs throbbed as I hunched down.

  I desperately wanted to stretch, but I wasn’t in the clear yet. After hours of half-running, half-jogging, I was worn out, yet I couldn’t stop. He inevitably would come after me. This time if he found me, he would kill me, I was sure of it.

  A horse brayed, breaking my resolve to stay hidden. The thought of being bound and dragged behind a horse had me sprinting across the mountain floor.

  My legs threatened to give out. Each step sending sharp pains through my calves and knees. My lungs ached making it harder to breathe. I didn’t care. Everything hurt anyway, so my lungs could just suck it up. I’d be damned if they were the reason I got caught, not if my exhausted legs could carry me this far. My head pounded in protest and pain split my side. Damn. It was as though my body was betraying me.

  Behind me, I could hear the gaining sounds of the horse. Pushing through the pain, I begged my body to keep going, promising to rest soon.

  The world around me spun as I succumbed to the dizziness, slowing my pace to a shuffle. I could hear more than one horse now. And voices. Men’s voices. My heart sank as I realized Knox must have gotten help to find me. Many times, he would get drunk and tell me his “gang” would help him if I ever escaped.

  Running was useless. I dropped to the ground in defeat.

  “Over here,” a man hollered from somewhere in the shadows. His voice held a trace of alarm.

  On my knees, I shook my head. “No.” A small whimper escaped my parched lips. I had to get away. I couldn’t let them take me. I wouldn’t go back. Tears blurred my vision as I scrambled to get up, but continued to fall back to the damp earth.

  “No,” I repeated over. I was running out of options. Frantically, I looked around the forest floor for my way out. There had to be something I could use as a weapon to end my life before Knox could get to me. At least if I were dead I wouldn’t have to endure the torture he had planned for me. It would be a slow painful death under his touch. I shuddered.

  Steeling myself against the possibility, I resolved to kill myself as the man drew closer. I refused to give Knox the satisfaction of ending my life. My hands dug around through the fallen leaves and pine needles until my fingers grazed over something that might work. An old bone, probably from a deer, poked up from under the vegetation. Death was a last-minute decision, but it was the only option I had left.

  Clutching the bone in my shaking hands, I realized it wasn’t sharp enough to do the damage I hoped to create. I pushed away the undergrowth until I found a large rock. Placing the bone back on the ground, I thrust the rock down near the middle of the bone, shattering it in half, creating the sharp points I needed. Trembling, I picked up the shard of dried bone as the man on the horse appeared before me.

  “Whoa,” he told his horse as he jumped from the mare’s back. Or maybe he
talked to me, I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. There was no way I would go back.

  He held his hand out between us as if to stop me. He wore a cowboy hat low across his forehead, shadowing his face, making him appear menacing. With his hand still out, he crouched lower as he took slow steady steps toward me.

  “Get away,” I cautioned, my voice breaking.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” he vowed softly, but I wasn’t buying the guise of safety. “Let me help you.”

  “I won’t let you take me back.” My voice wasn’t as powerful as I wanted, but I meant every word. Taking the bone, I jammed it into my stomach and dug as deep as I could before the brittle shaft broke. I wasn’t sure if I had gotten it deep enough, but there wasn’t much more I could do now.

  Excruciating pain exploded up through my body and I cried out. Hot blood pooled out of the wound onto my shaking hands. Expecting pain and experiencing it became two very different things. Nothing had ever hurt this bad before. I fell all the way to the ground holding my stomach, the bone still embedded in my flesh.

  Breathing hurt. Watching the man panic and run toward me hurt. I wanted to throw up but was sure that would hurt the worst.

  “Shit!” The man grabbed the piece of broken bone I still held in my hand and tossed the splintered fragment away. “Shit, shit, shit.”

  I smiled weakly at him, despite the pain, knowing I’d won. “I told you I won’t go back.”

  His hands moved mine, but I didn’t care anymore. I did it. Knox could go to hell.

  “Diesel, get your ass over here!” The man untucked his flannel shirt and ripped off a strip, pressing the makeshift rag down on my wound, making the pain worse. But who cared, I only had a few more minutes to live. Besides, I’d been through worse.

  He looked down at me, distress etched his strong, ruggedly beautiful face. He was probably worried about what Knox would say when he brought me back dead.

  “Why did you do that? Damn it, we need Doc.” He looked up again. “Diesel! Shit, she’s gonna die. What do we do?”

  My breathing slowed and the pain lessened to a bearable pulsating throb. I had to be going into shock. It was blissful. “Don’t,” I tried to speak, but forming words proved to be difficult. “Don’t take me back.” My weak voice cracked. I could no longer see the man past the tears and hated that I couldn’t stop them from flowing.

  Please don’t take me back to him, I repeated in my mind. I didn’t want to be buried near Knox’s house. The thought had me wanting to laugh, but a tight cough was all that escaped. Knox wouldn’t take the time to bury me. I would be discarded like the carcass of an animal. Just like my mother.

  “Honey, ain’t no one taking you back to wherever you came from. We’re taking you to the boss. He’ll know what to do.” His voice was gentle, but his words scared me. The boss. He had to be talking about Knox. I tried to struggle to break free and run, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have enough strength to even lift my head.

  “Shhh, don’t move. It’s okay. You’re safe,” he cooed, using one of his bloodied hands to stroke my head.

  Safe? I’d never been safe. There was no reason to trust him. But I couldn’t fight him. The forest disappeared as my eyes closed against my will.

  “Holy shit, Jax, what happened?” Another man’s voice sounded far away, but I knew he was close. Too close. It wasn’t hard to mistake another set of hands as they pressed down on my stomach. “We need to get her out of here, fast.”

  Darkness consumed the world and I felt weightless as they carried me away. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks as I wept. Why couldn’t they just let me die here? His strong arms cradled me tightly against his chest as he mounted the horse. He was careful, even in his quick movements, but I couldn’t understand why. Knox wouldn’t care how they handled me. Knox would’ve tossed me over the saddle and complained about how I would be getting blood all over.

  Keeping me close, the man kicked the horse to move faster, but the jostling made everything hurt ten times worse. Why wasn’t I dead already?

  Then, like an answer to a prayer, peaceful unconsciousness took over and I let myself slip into the deep void where I hoped death awaited me.

  Chapter 2

  Jacob

  A rap of knuckles on my bedroom door jolted me awake. “Boss!” Flapjack hollered.

  Immediately, I was up and snatching the Glock I kept on the nightstand beside the bed. No time to grab a shirt, I slipped on a pair of jeans and my boots before running down the stairs.

  No one would dare yell for me like that, especially in the middle of the night, unless it was an emergency. My heart raced, anticipating the worst. I hadn’t heard any gunshots, but the lack of firing didn’t mean there wasn’t any trouble.

  Off in the distance, I could make out the silhouettes of Jax and Diesel riding hard toward the house. I gripped the handle of my Glock tighter and looked for any other signs of danger. Instinct took over in moments like this.

  Flapjack ran up to meet me on the porch of the main house. “They have a girl. She’s hurt pretty bad I guess. They radioed on their way back.”

  What the hell was a girl doing roaming around my property? Shit, it would be odd for anyone to be on my ranch unless they had a death wish.

  “Where’s Doc?” I looked around for the only man I’d let stitch me up if ever needed.

  Flapjack nodded to the ranch house he shared with Doc and Bear. It was the smallest of the four buildings spread out to board my crew. “He’s setting up in the kitchen, grumbling about how he’s not a real doctor.”

  I chuckled. “He’s the closest thing we’ve got.” All humor vanished as Diesel reigned in his mount next to the house, dust billowed as his horse skidded to a halt.

  A willowy figure hung limp in his arms. Stuffing the gun in the back of my waistband, I sprinted over to help, reaching up for Diesel to hand her to me. He lowered her into my arms with ease before dismounting. Blood caked his shirt and jeans, but none of it looked to be his. “You good?” I asked, giving him a once over and a nod.

  Diesel grabbed his reigns and leaned over, bracing his hands on his knees. “Yeah, it’s all hers.”

  The woman in my arms whimpered. The bright red blood on her shirt shined under the floodlights mounted near the barn. The sticky warm liquid pooled against my bare skin. Fuck.

  Tightly drawing her against my chest, I rushed up the diminutive porch and barged through the door where Doc waited. He looked at her and faltered, stumbling as he guided me to the kitchen.

  Holding her in my arms, I had expected more weight, but she was like a feather. Dark hair hung wildly in tangles and mats as her head lulled back. Blood encrusted her hands. Her softly parted, full lips were more feminine than any woman had the right to have. Even in this disarray, a fire ignited inside of me from her beauty.

  Shit. Now was not the time, I chided myself. I had no right to look at her hungrily, not when she was dying in my arms. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Doc lifted her blood-soaked shirt enough to look and cringed. “Place her on the table.” He may have been old enough to be my grandfather, but he still moved as sprightly as someone half his age. In usual fashion, he sported his long white hair in a single plait down his back. Only a few strands of dark brown streaked through in memory of the young man he used to be.

  I wasn’t used to people ordering me around, but let his instructions slide under the circumstances. Lowering her to the table, my arms felt an unexpected longing to scoop her back up and hold her close. I stepped back, making room between the woman and myself.

  “Is she gonna be okay?” Jax questioned, walking up behind me. His shirt was ripped and told a story I knew nothing about yet.

  “Too soon to tell. What the hell happened?” Doc asked the same question I had.

  Jax stepped closer to the table, looking at me before speaking. I nodded at him to go ahead and tell us.

  “The alarm tripped, so Diesel and I saddled up and rode out to investigate. I found her abou
t a mile from the property line. She was on the ground and had a piece of animal bone.” Jax watched the woman for a moment. “I never saw anything like it before, boss. She looked so desperate. She stabbed herself with the bone before I could stop her.”

  I watched the woman. A slow but steady rise and fall of her chest reassured me she hadn’t yet died. Her breasts amply filled out the hideous flannel shirt that belonged to a man, not the kind of shirt a woman like her should be wearing. A ping of jealousy hit me thinking of her wearing some man’s clothing.

  What the hell? She was dying and all I could think of was how some other man already had a claim on her. I didn’t even know her! I unquestionably needed to get my thoughts under control.

  Doc winced and braced himself against the table, shaking his head. “Damn it. She looks so much like her.”

  I didn’t have to ask who. His daughter and granddaughter had been taken a few years ago before he started working for me. That was how he became a part of my family. I’d never met them, but I could imagine how hard this would be for him.

  He stood up straighter and sucked in a long breath. “Well, damn, if it was her I wouldn’t just let her die. Help me, would ya?” Doc peeled her shirt away and I did my best to look away from the old tattered bra barely holding her generous mounds.

  With the shirt gone, I could see a bloody wound the size of a quarter near the middle of her abdomen. I flinched at the brittle piece of bone sticking out from the center. What in the world happened to this woman to make her do this? Bitterness crept up through my skin and boiled under my surface. It was the same anger I felt whenever I saw any woman in anguish. Memories flooded me, igniting the fury, but I remained calm for the men around me.

  I learned a long time ago to mask my feelings outwardly. I didn’t become the head of this empire by showing my emotions. Cattle ranching was merely a ruse, not for profit. The ranch helped with a cover story for the local authorities. They knew who I was and what I did, but left me alone. I knew how to cover any trail, leaving nothing behind for them to prove anything.