by Sue Lyndon
“You’re full surprises,” he commented, patting her bottom before taking a seat in the breakfast nook.
The meal was as pleasant as the conversation. Ella told Ed a few crazy stories about the same college roommate, and Ed insisted he wanted to meet her friend. A hint of a shadow crossed Ella’s face at his mention of meeting her friends, but Ed ignored it.
Today, today.
“Let’s take a walk around the lake,” Ed said once the kitchen was cleaned up. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.” Today.
Ella bit her lip and looked worried. “Have I done something wrong?” she asked, fidgeting in place the way she always did before a punishment.
“I don’t know,” he teased. “Do you have a guilty conscience about something?” But the words escaped Ed’s lips before he’d thought them over. What a stupid thing to say.
“No, nothing at all!” she said, storming toward the guestroom. Her family and friends were probably worried sick over her mysterious absence. Of course she had a guilty conscience.
Damn me for reminding her. “Ella!” he called, and marched after her. To his surprise, the bedroom door wouldn’t open. There was no lock on the inside, and Ed knew she’d blocked the door with the dresser.
“Ella, open this door right now!”
To his surprise, she obeyed a few seconds later.
The faint sound of wood scratching against wood came through the walls. The door opened, and Ella stood with tears streaming down her face, wearing the same clothing and hiking boots she’d been wearing three days ago on the mountain. She held her backpack between her hands.
“I have to go home now,” she said. “I know it hasn’t been seven days yet, and I don’t know if the reward has increased, but I can’t let my family suffer for my selfishness.” She looked at her feet.
Ed’s heart broke. She didn’t want to stay. If she had wanted to stay, despite her guilt, she would’ve said so.
“All right,” Ed finally said. “We can leave as soon as you’re ready.”
Five minutes later, Ed was speeding down the long gravel driveway. Ella sat in the passenger seat, staring sullenly out the window. There was no need to blindfold her this time. So what if she knew where he lived? Obviously, her mind to leave was made up.
Pride kept Ed silent, kept him from confessing his true feelings. Confessing such feelings would only paint him a fool when Ella evidently didn’t share them.
And Ed Peters was no one’s fool. So he pressed the gas pedal to the floor, and his heart hardened and hardened as Ella’s house drew nearer. By the time they pulled into her driveway a few hours later, he felt cold and numb. A hardened heart cannot break.
“Good-bye, Ella,” he said, staring straight ahead.
She paused with her hand on the door. “Aren’t you coming in?” she asked. “The reward…”
“…doesn’t appeal to me,” he finished, still staring straight ahead. “Go back to your family, Ella. Just tell them you got lost in the woods. Or you know what, I don’t care what you tell them.”
“Fine,” she muttered, and slammed the door so hard the SUV shuddered.
Ed backed out of the driveway before Ella reached the front door of the brick mansion. He had no desire to watch her family pull her inside with tears and kisses. Solitude was his only desire, so he drove back the way he’d come, cursing the name Ella Emerson all the way.
If only they’d met under different circumstances.
If only…
* * *
Ella couldn’t remember having ever cried so much in her life. Her mother wouldn’t let her out of eyesight. Relatives and friends called every five minutes to welcome her home. Each conversation left her an emotional wreck.
There was so much guilt—guilt upon guilt stacked up heavy on her chest.
Not only had she run away to avoid marrying Brandon Andrews, but she’d lied about it as well.
She’d done just as Ed had suggested in anger—
declaring she had gotten lost in the woods during an early morning hike on the morning of her wedding.
Lying hadn’t been her first intention, but the words had come rushing out before she’d found courage to speak the truth.
So as far as Brandon and everyone else knew, getting lost on her wedding day was pure accident.
And staying lost was pure accident as well. Ella claimed she’d survived on granola bars and bottled water, and that a fellow hiker gave her a lift home.
Just as she hung up on her aunt, Ella’s father burst into the living room. “Ella, sweetheart, I need the name and number of that hiker.” She panicked. Ed Peters was a name she soon hoped to forget. “Why?” she asked, fearing the worst.
“Your mother and I wish to pay the reward out to him, even if he didn’t know about it.” Ella’s stomach twisted. The last time Ed had mentioned the reward, it had been $10,000. Why he’d refused the money, she wasn’t sure. Obviously, she’d angered him enough to not want the money. Men and their stupid pride.
“I told him to come in, but he refused.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. Admitting her knowledge of the reward would be stupid. It would only get her caught in the midst of a great lie.
Her father sunk into his favorite chair. “It’s a $50,000 reward, Ella. It’s been all over the news. And when the news of your return breaks, reporters will be clamoring to find out who your rescuer was.” Rescuer. Ella cringed. Ed Peters had been no rescuer. If her father found out about their deal, she would be shamed beyond imagination. And if anyone found out about the five passionate days she’d spent with Ed Peters, she would be shamed beyond imagination. He was a virtual stranger, yet she’d fallen hard and fast for the handsome older man.
The last thing Ella needed, besides a fiancé she despised, was a bounty hunter who was twice her age. Ed was mysterious, stern, quick to anger, and…
…the one person she couldn’t stop thinking about.
And he’d walked away from a $50,000 reward but why?
She did not love. Not at all .
But the guilt from such a lie reverberated in her chest, right beside her many sins. Lying to herself seemed less dangerous than lying to other people, but it hurt equally as bad. The days would pass, she knew, and maybe the severity of her sins would fade as they grew older.
Ella’s mother emerged from the hallway, all smiles and red lipstick. “Brandon’s here,” she said, beaming and pulling her father from the room.
Sure enough, Brandon Andrews strode in with a dozen red roses. Ella accepted them, smiling. “Thank you,” she said as he pulled her close. He smelled strange. He felt strange. He looked strange.
He wasn’t Ed Peters.
“I heard my little tree hugger got lost in the woods,” he said, not unkindly. But the veiled insult wasn’t lost on her. Brandon always tore her down with secret words and a smile, and no one else ever noticed.
“I’m sorry,” she said as they sunk into the couch.
She placed the roses on a side table. “I guess I missed our wedding.”
“Well,” he said, squeezing her leg, “I hope you won’t miss it two days from now.”
“What?” Ella was shocked. It couldn’t possibly be so soon. Not so soon after Ed Peters.
He kissed her cheek. “Our families have been anticipating our marriage for years, Ella. I don’t think we could hold them off for another week even if we wanted to.”
“I didn’t really get lost in the woods,” she blurted, feeling more desperate than ever.
Brandon pulled away, his thick brows narrowing together. “What?”
“I got cold feet. I’m sorry. It was so selfish of me, especially making everyone worry. I should’ve left a note.” She would confess this much, but she didn’t dare speak of the days spent at Ed Peters’s house. The deal, the arguments, the spankings, the sex…
Brandon dug his fingers into her thigh. “Who else knows about this?” he hissed.
“No one. I was too scared to tell my parents
the truth.”
He dug his fingers deeper, and Ella tried to squirm away. “Both our families have flown important clients, business partners, and friends into town for this wedding. Most of them are still here. I will not have you make a fool of me, Ella.”
“I…I…” But the right words were hard to find.
Marriage to Brandon Andrews seemed inevitable.
Maybe after all the pain she’d put her family through, she deserved to marry a man she didn’t love.
“We will be married in two days, Ella. We have good jobs waiting for us, along with a nice house.
Don’t be stupid.”
“All right,” she finally whispered, tired and defeated. Brandon relaxed his grip on her thigh, but the pain lingered…on her leg, in her chest, and in her burning throat.
Around 11:00 p.m., Brandon finally went home, and Ella bid good night to her parents and crawled into bed. Things were bad. Brandon had lingered long after dinner, dazzling her parents with the details of their honeymoon plans to Spain. Ella’s father had regarded her with suspicion for most of the night, especially after she’d insisted she didn’t know the full name of her rescuer. “His first name was Steve, but he never told me his last name,” she’d said.
Calling off the wedding now would only expose her lies. And the only job she had lined up would put her in contact with Brandon and his family on a daily basis. Marrying Brandon seemed like the only option, short of running away again.
As she drifted to sleep, Ella thought of Ed Peters.
Besides missing him terribly, her heart was broken beyond repair at his hands.
His hands…
She thought of his hands and the conflicting emotions that each spanking had conjured. Though she’d been initially outraged that a stranger would do such a thing, the idea was no longer angering. If Ed was here right now, he would punish her for each lie, absolving her sins and giving her the forgiveness she longed to feel.
Dreading Saturday and each day to come after that, Ella tossed and turned through the long night.
The next morning, Brandon was waiting downstairs, looking as smug as ever.
“Your parents went into the office for a few hours,” he said, pouring her a cup of coffee.
Ella nodded and buried her face behind the large cup, wishing she could just disappear. If only she’d never accepted Brandon Andrews’s marriage proposal in the first place. Why hadn’t she been strong enough to say no?
“I was thinking we could head up to Deep Creek today,” he said, crossing his legs.
“OK, sounds good.” Their parents owned cabins on the lake there, built side by side ten years ago after a particularly lucrative business deal.
“We can take the boat out all day,” he said, standing to reach the newspaper. Ella noticed her face on the front page under the title, “Emerson-Andrews Wedding Rescheduled.” She cringed and felt like throwing up.
“I’ll go get ready,” she said, her heart pounding.
Ed Peters didn’t live far from the Deep Creek area.
Ella had been blindfolded on the way there, but not on the way back. They’d passed the exit to the cabins on the way to Catoctin. Being even thirty minutes away from Ed Peters was too close, but Ella couldn’t let Brandon know that.
The next few days would pass slowly and painfully, and Ed Peters would fade in the memory of Mrs. Andrews. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe the memory of him would remain a raw wound in her heart forever. Ella took another sip of coffee, and wished she was someone else.
* * *
“Boss, I heard you didn’t take the reward. The newspaper was pretty vague and said the man who found Ella Emerson was named Steve,” said Randy.
Ed’s hand tightened over the phone. “No, I didn’t take the reward. But I do appreciate all the help you gave me this weekend, Randy.”
“Something wrong, boss?”
“No, things are fine, Randy,” Ed lied. “I’ll call you in a few days. I’m sure there will be something I need your help with by then.”
Ed hung up, but beat the phone against the wall repeatedly before tossing the receiver across the room. Just minutes ago, he’d read the newspaper article. Emerson-Andrews Wedding Rescheduled. Ella had lied about running away and now she was going to marry Brandon Andrews anyway.
The dossier about her fiancé was still on Ed’s desk. Brandon had a record with serious charges, all of them dropped or expunged. Ed hadn’t spoken of the dossier to Ella, so whether she knew about his crimes was an unknown.
She had to know and he had to tell her. Even if she wasn’t with him, she couldn’t marry Brandon Andrews. Her life would be ruined.
Retrieving the phone, Ed dialed the Emerson home, picturing Ella inside the beautiful brick mansion. He hung up immediately after a man answered. Then Ed dialed Ella’s cell phone number, as found in Randy’s dossier. To his surprise, she answered.
“Hello?” Ella’s voice was a breath of fresh air, despite her sad tone.
“Ella, this is Ed.”
“What do you want?” she asked angrily. “Oh, let me guess—the reward money.”
“No, that’s not why I’m calling,” he said quickly.
“It’s Brandon.”
“What about him?”
“You can’t marry him. He has a record—sort of.
All of his charges have been dropped or expunged, but—”
Ella cut him off. “What kind of charges?” she asked, her tone transforming from angry to suspicious.
“DUI, assault, and…rape.” Ed listened to Ella’s short intake of breath. He silently hoped that should would believe him. She couldn’t marry Brandon Andrews! Her life would be ruined!
“You’re unbelievable,” she said. “I’ve known Brandon since we were kids. If any of this was true, I would know about it.”
“Ella—” he pleaded, only to be cut off again.
“Don’t contact me again. Ever.”
The dial tone was like an icy blanket over Ed’s heart. But a few minutes later, he snapped out of his despair and grabbed his car keys along with Brandon’s dossier. Ella Emerson wasn’t going to marry Brandon Andrews, not if Ed had anything to say about it.
Halfway down the gravel driveway, Ed called Randy and gave him Ella’s cell phone number. “I need you to track this number on GPS.”
“She’s traveling west on I-70,” he said after a long minute.
“I’ll need updates every five minutes,” Ed said, turning out of his driveway.
“Will do, boss.” The kid sounded eager to help, just as always.
By the time Ed reached I-68 traveling east, Ella was almost nearing the end of I-70 west. He silently willed her to merge onto I-68. Even if she wasn’t intentionally driving toward his house, he would more quickly intercept her if she merged onto I-68.
The speedometer needle wavered around ninety miles an hour, but Ed didn’t slow a bit, not even as the SUV curved dangerously around the mountains.
Randy’s next update confirmed Ed’s hopes: Ella was traveling on I-68, heading directly toward him on the opposite side of the highway. Though he had no idea what type of vehicle she was traveling in, or even if she traveled alone, he planned to loop around and peer into each vehicle he passed.
One way or another, Ed Peters was going to find Ella Emerson. Even if he had to kidnap her, and even if he had to spank her until she agreed to listen. And after she was done listening, Ed planned to do something he’d never done before: confess his true feelings to a woman.
I love her, he thought. I love Ella Emerson, and I’m going to make her mine.
Mine.
Chapter Six
“Stop scowling,” Brandon hissed. “People are staring at you.” He took a bite of his sandwich inside the diner they frequented near Deep Creek, chewing vigorously.
“I’m not scowling,” she insisted, and glared around the diner. “People are just staring because I was missing, that’s all.” How was she going to survive a day on the lake with Brando
n? How was she going to survive marriage to Brandon? Her thoughts were racing and buzzing, and the sickness that had formed in her stomach the moment she’d left Ed Peters lingered like a bad dream.
“Where’s your ring?” he demanded with a soft hiss, gesturing at her naked hand. The engagement ring she usually wore was missing. Ella had taken it off while she slept the night before, leaving it under her pillow because she couldn’t bear the sight of it.
“I forgot to put it on after showering,” she lied, glancing at the ceiling fan spinning above their table.
“I sure as hell hope that’s the truth,” he sneered, taking another bite of his sandwich.
“It is!” Ella hissed, a lot more loudly than she’d intended.
Enraged, Brandon reached under her dress, digging his fingers into her thigh. “Smile,” he whispered through clenched teeth.
But she pushed him away and stormed toward the exit, feeling the scorching stares hot on her back.
Brandon would be angry, but she didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Tomorrow she would become his wife, no matter how angry they were with each other.
As Ella rounded the corner for the door, she collided with a large body.
“Oh.” She gasped. “I’m so sorry.” But when she looked up into familiar blue eyes, her stomach flipped.
It was Ed Peters. The man she hated and loved.
The man she never wished to see again and never wished to be without.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, tugging at her wrist.
Ella glanced back to see Brandon waving for the waitress. But before she could make any decision, Ed was dragging her outside toward his SUV.
“Let go of me!” she said, pushing away.
Ed’s response was to throw Ella over his shoulders, caveman-style. “We need to talk,” he announced. “Alone.”
As the blood rushed to her head, Ella’s anger grew. Ed Peters had broken her heart, and now he was back to stamp on it some more. “No!” she yelled.
“Put me the fuck down!” Curling her hands into fists, she pounded at his back and wiggled, but Ed’s hold was firm.
Ella found herself being shoved into the backseat, handcuffed, and buckled in. “I believe I’ve warned you about your bad language before, young lady,” he said into her ear.