Vanished (The Saved Series, A Military Romance)

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “Like a child,” Abby added.

  Mary-Margaret rolled her eyes. “Okay, we did notice that, too, but maybe it’s time you show him you’re made of stronger stuff. That, well, come on, Abby, you know…”

  Abby blinked, because she couldn’t believe what her friend was suggesting, “I am not talking about S-E-X with you,” she whispered, spelling it out, as Rachel had raced into the living room with her dolly. Abby looked up when she heard the door open.

  Eric stood there in his tan uniform, a black coat over top, and stepped inside. His eyes went right to Abby, still rocking Charlie, and then over to Mary-Margaret as he raised his eyebrows. “Everything okay?” he asked.

  Abby knew that was Eric’s way of making sure Abby hadn’t snapped while he was gone, so she smiled and said, “I’m fine, Eric.”

  He looked at the bottle she was feeding Charlie with and then to her unbuttoned shirt, and he gestured toward her. “Nothing yet?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not ready to give up yet. I’m still trying.”

  Eric slipped off his coat and set it on the coat rack. He picked up Rachel when she raced to him, shouting, “Daddy, Daddy!”

  He kissed her. “How’s my girl today? Were you good for Mommy and Mary-Margaret?”

  “We had party, and swing at park,” she said, patting his face as he kissed her.

  “Oh, that sounds like fun.” He glanced over at Abby and then Mary-Margaret, who raised her hands.

  “She was fine, Eric,” she said. With a sigh, she got up and patted Abby’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow, Abby.” She started to the door, lifting her coat from the hook before facing Abby and winking. “Remember what I said,” she whispered. Then she raised her eyebrows, gesturing toward Eric as she pulled open the door and waved. “Bye!”

  “What was that about?” Eric asked as he held Rachel.

  Abby opened her mouth to say, “Nothing, never mind,” but she’d promised Eric she wouldn’t hide anything from him again, so she said as she glanced at Rachel, who was taking in everything they were talking about, “I’ll tell you later, when the kids are in bed.”

  “Something I should be worried about?”

  “No,” she offered as she gave him an easy smile. “So, I put a chicken casserole in the oven, and it should be almost ready. Are you hungry?”

  “Starving,” he said.

  He tickled Rachel as she giggled and repeated, “Starving!”

  “Listen, I want to talk to you about my next assignment,” he continued.

  Charlie pushed the empty bottle away and then started patting Abby’s breast, so she slid open her shirt and let him latch on again. When she glanced up, she didn’t miss the way Eric’s eyes had widened and his nostrils flared. Good, he was interested.

  Eric cleared his throat and glanced away. “I want to talk to you about my posting,” he said. She glanced up, and he set Rachel down. “Go get your dolly,” he suggested. She raced into the corner to her toy box.

  “Okay. I know you’re deploying soon, and you’re worried―”

  “I’m not deploying,” he said, cutting her off before she could finish. Abby watched him as he stepped toward her, pulling a stool in front of her and sitting down. His knees bumped hers, and he moved them. “Sorry,” he said.

  She uncrossed her leg and touched him. “I’m not. So, tell me why you’re not deploying.”

  He gave her a look. “I’m taking over as captain of the shore station. I won’t be deploying, so I’ll be here on base.”

  Abby watched him and could see something she was sure had to be sadness. “I’m sorry, Eric. I know how much you love being at sea. I’m sorry I caused this,” she said, and she was. She was sorry for anything that would hurt him or her children, although, deep down, selfishly, she was very happy he wasn’t leaving.

  He reached out and took her hand, which was resting on Charlie’s bottom. “Don’t you dare apologize. I can’t leave. I blame myself for what happened, because if I hadn’t taken that posting on the aircraft carrier, none of this would have happened. My family is more important.”

  “Don’t say that, Eric. You don’t know that, and neither do I. If you hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have been forced to deal with this. I couldn’t have gone on pretending it didn’t happen. We need to move on, Eric. I want my husband back,” she said, watching him for his reaction.

  “Abby, I’m here.” He frowned at her as if he couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

  “Eric, in bed, when I move closer and touch you, you move away. You make a point of not touching me like you used to, intimately. I want you back,” she said. Charlie let go of her nipple and started patting her breast, and Abby leaned forward and touched Eric’s leg.

  His eyes shot right to her, and she could feel the way he tightened at her touch. “I don’t think you’re ready. The last thing I want to do is start pawing at you after what you’ve been through.”

  “Eric, it hurts me more when you don’t touch me. It makes me feel as if you’re disgusted with me. You’re the only man I want touching me.” She watched him, her husband, as he seemed to be waging some war with himself. The fact was that she knew he wanted her. Rachel raced back in.

  “Let’s have dinner and then put the kids to bed,” he said. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  Abby smiled. Oh, she planned on doing more than talking later.

  ****

  Eric was terrified in a way he’d never been before. He’d been walking on eggshells around Abby, worried that she might be a ticking time bomb that could go off on a moment’s notice, but he’d been wrong so far. He’d watched her for a week. Every night, she had bathed and cuddled and played with the kids. She had taken care of the house, cooked, and looked after everything. He always asked her how her day was before bed every night, even though he’d made sure Mary-Margaret was there every day, watching her. He pried a detailed report of Abby from his friend’s wife, asking about anything unusual, which there wasn’t.

  Eric was sitting on the bed, resting against two pillows, barefoot in his blue jeans and T-shirt, holding a book open as if he were reading.

  Abby strode in, and he took in what she was wearing: blue jeans and a simple blue shirt, classy and low cut, which showed off her generous cleavage. She offered him an easy smile as she came in and stopped at the foot of the bed, touching his bare foot.

  “You okay?” she asked him.

  “Yeah, fine. I should be asking you that,” he said.

  She strode around his side and stared at the spine of his book. “Birds of the Northwest, sounds interesting.”

  He didn’t have a clue what he had been reading, as he had just grabbed it, opened it, and watched and listened to Abby and her easy laugh, the joy she seemed to have with the kids.

  “You really want to read this?” she asked him as she perched beside him on the bed, touching him. For a minute, he thought he’d go blind with need. For the past week, every time she touched him, he had moved. In bed, it was hell, and he’d woken frustrated every morning, starting each day with a cold shower.

  Abby gripped the book when he didn’t answer, and she tugged until he let go. She closed it and set it on the nightstand. Okay, this wasn’t good. He could smell her sweetness, and she rested her arm on the other side of his hip and smiled at him. Her light blue eyes reminded him of the ocean he’d left behind.

  He reached up and swept back a strand of hair from her forehead, and she smiled at him again.

  “Are the kids asleep? Maybe I should check on them,” he said. He started to get up, and Abby set her hands on his chest and straddled him. “Oh, I know that’s not a good idea,” he said as he gripped her waist.

  “The kids are fine, sound asleep.” She leaned forward, teasing him as she brushed her breasts against his chest, moving closer to his lips with hers. “Are you sure you want to get up?” she said. Then she touched her lips to his so lightly and pulled away a fraction of an inch.

  Her breath was so fre
sh and her lips so soft. “Abby, this isn’t a good idea,” he said as he reached up and slid his palms over her cheeks.

  “I want my husband back, Eric,” she said. She pulled her shirt off and tossed it on the floor, flicking off her white bra, and she stayed on top of him and set her hands over his, pulling them up and setting them on her breasts.

  “Abby, you’re killing me.”

  She started moving on him, and he was having a hard time thinking as he ran his hands over her nipples and her breasts. He rolled her over until he was on top of her, her legs around him.

  She set her hands on his face, on both his cheeks, and rubbed her nose with his, touched her lips with his. He couldn’t hold back as he took the lips she offered in a kiss that was deep and possessive, saying she was his. He tasted and touched. In a rushed flurry, their clothes fell away.

  She matched his need, her hands tracing his, the skin of his back, kneading and pulling at him. “Eric, please, I need you,” she cried.

  “Abby,” he said. He pushed her legs up and entered her hard and fast. He couldn’t hold back, but he held himself still above her.

  “I love you so much,” she whispered to him. “Oh, Eric, please move, please.” She kissed him again as he ran his hands over her legs and bottom, moving with her, kissing and touching her. He moved so slowly and watched her as she said over and over, “I love you.” He couldn’t hold back.

  ****

  Abby listened to Eric’s breathing even out. He was sound asleep as he rested his head on her breast and slept. It was dark, and she smiled, feeling as if she had climbed a mountain. She and Eric had a ways to go, but as he lay snoring softly, she wrapped her arms around him, absorbing how he’d made love to her not once but twice. She’d climbed on top and ridden him, watching as his eyes flared and, for the first time, he let her set the pace, to have some control and connect with her husband so intimately, so closely, as one.

  She loved him so much, and to be this close to him again, she felt some part of her, which had been without peace for so long, healing.

  Chapter 30

  It had been thirty-three days since Abby had come home, eighty-two days since she’d vanished out her front door, caught in the grip of a living nightmare that had torn her family apart. Eric had been wonderful, attentive, worried, and watchful ever since she’d come home. Every night, when she woke up drenched in sweat, choking and gasping for air, he held her. He told her over and over again that she was safe, she was okay, he wasn’t going anywhere, and she relaxed. The nightmare, too, eased, and it crept up on her now less frequently.

  “Whose turn is it to speak next?” Dr. Rick Blaney said to everyone in the circle of the women’s support group. He wore the striped sweater and expensive gold watch he always wore. A prominent psychiatrist for the wealthy, he still volunteered his time at the women’s shelter and provided a weekly support group for women of domestic violence.

  Abby felt the supportive squeeze on her hand and glanced over to her husband, sitting in the plastic chair beside her with twenty others in a circle in the basement of a South Norfolk church. Abby stood and tucked her freshly cut shoulder-length hair behind her ears, smoothed her knee-length blue skirt, and took a deep breath. “My name is Abby,” she said, “and I was taken.”

  ###

  Afterword

  If you enjoyed Vanished, then I’d love to ask you a favor and have you go back to Amazon and leave a review. All authors depend on reviews, and the few extra minutes it takes you to leave one really helps us out. Thank you so much.

  Although this book and all my books have been edited and proofed, editors, proofreaders, and I are all human. If you spot a typo, please email me at lorhainne@lorhainneeckhart.com and let me know. Also, I would like to thank everyone who has emailed and told all their family and friends about my books. If you’d like to know more about my other books, please scroll to the next section or visit my website at www.LorhainneEckhart.com.

  If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, I promise not to flood you with emails, but I will notify you of all new releases and special promotions.

  Would you like to know the exact moment a new book or collection of mine goes live on Amazon?

  Well it’s easy, just sign up for updates on my amazon author’s page and click on the stay up to date button. And if you just happen to click the like button too, I’ll be really happy.

  All the best,

  Lorhainne Eckhart

  Other Works by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Just in time for Christmas, The Outsider Series The Complete Omnibus Collection is the ultimate sexy and emotionally charged western romance series. Over 350,000 words of love, passion, and deep family ties. Get it for yourself or for the western romance lover in your life.

  **Warning: Although this series is filled with ideals of family, love and loyalty, the Friessen men are strong sexy alpha males. Each book and short story in this series is filled with sexual tension, steamy romance, rough language, and passion. It is for those who enjoy adult contemporary romance, women’s fiction, western romance.

  Praise for Finding Love ~ The Outsider Series...

  “Loved this book series! I just couldn't get enough of the characters, and ended up reading the whole set in a day.” Amazon Reviewer – Jen

  “I loved all these books. All about the cowboys and their lives. Love at first sight and the things they will do for love. I couldn't put them down.” Amazon Reviewer – Suzanne

  “Wish there were truly men in the world like the Friessen Men” ~ Amazon Reviewer ~ Sara

  Overview:

  This collection includes all the books and short stories of the hot and sexy Friessen men and the strong and vulnerable women they love.

  THE FORGOTTEN CHILD: - #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER in Romance Series & Westerns. How do you tell a man there is something wrong with his child?

  A BABY AND A WEDDING (The Forgotten Child to Fallen Hero bridge short story of Brad & Emily)

  FALLEN HERO: A cowboy who walked away from his family's fortune. A woman who returned for justice. What they didn't expect was to find love.

  THE SEARCH (Fallen Hero to The Awakening bridge short story of Andy, Jed and Diana): When her husband goes missing she's forced to call the one man she shouldn't.

  THE AWAKENING: A young woman who's lost everything, and the wealthy rancher who saves her.

  SECRETS: “Jed always told me he'd take care of everything. And I believed him, I trusted him, I loved him.”

  RUNAWAY: Andy sets out to bring his runaway bride home. But when he finds her, he's in for a big surprise.

  OVERDUE: (Runaway to The Unexpected Storm bridge short story of Jed and Diana)

  THE UNEXPECTED STORM: He can have any woman, except the one he wants.

  THE WEDDING: A man who’s always planned everything, and a woman who’s struggled alone—The Wedding will change their lives forever.

  To download a sample or purchase this collection simply click here

  Walk the Right Road Series

  *Warning – This series is not for those looking for a light easy read. It is filled with rough language, sexual tension, and steamy hot romantic suspense!

  LOST AND FOUND ‘A 2013 Readers Favorite Award Winner’

  "Genius at weaving a story of love and redemption"--Amazon Reviewer –Kyblondern

  "There was not a human emotion, I did not go through while reading this book. I will forewarn you, you will need a box of tissues and a punching bag while reading this dynamic tale."-Romance Junkies

  One Woman. Two Men. And a choice that could kill her.

  To download a sample or purchase The Choice, simply click here.

  A Hit and Run—A Deserted Country Road—A Parent’s Worst Nightmare.

  To download a sample or purchase Lost and Found, simply click here.

  Everyone thinks he’s dead, and that’s exactly how he needs it to stay. But the mysterious dark-haired beauty has secrets of her own and could ultimately be his undoing.

>   To download a sample or purchase Merkaba, simply click here.

  MOST COPS HAVE A PAST, A PAST THEY CAN SPEAK OF, A PAST THEY CAN SHARE … But not Diane

  To download a sample or purchase Bounty, simply click here.

  Coming Soon

  The One

  Book 1 of The Wilde Brothers

  Margaret Gordon was once a prominent Seattle surgeon, until a slip of the knife leaves a young boy without a future. Margaret is fired and returns to her hometown, the perfect spot to hide out from everyone and to lick her wounds, with no one around but her horse.

  Margaret never considered herself a horse person. In truth, she understands horses better than people. And when the now-widowed Joe Wilde drives in one morning with a teenage boy and a horse with a problem, Margaret turns into that klutzy teenage misfit that silently carried a torch for Joe all through school. But when smooth-talking Joe convinces Margaret into working with the temperamental horse, she grows closer to his son Ryan, and soon learns the horse’s issues have more to do with father and son, and Ryan’s anxiety over the fact his father is now dating a woman who is only interested in the sexy Joe Wilde, and not his misfit of a son.

  The only problem is Ryan wants Margaret to be his mother, so he takes matters into his own hands setting Margaret in his father’s path, every chance he gets. Even though sparks fly and sizzle between them Joe believes Margaret has despised him all his life, and decides all his rebellious son needs is a mother. But when Joe proposes marriage to the wrong woman, his son takes off with a backpack and a feisty horse, into the Backcountry.

  Except to Joe’s surprise, it’s Margaret who saddles up her horse, and heads off alone with him in over a hundred of miles of wilderness in a race against time and the elements to find his son. And with his son's life in jeopardy will that be enough for Joe and Margaret to put aside their differences and realize that the other is, The One?