“Mia is so lucky that Brice Carrington chose her—and that Samuel approved,” one of the other women declared.
And still another agreed, saying, “Brice is quite a catch, you know.” She turned her brown eyes to look at Carly. “Any one of the unattached ladies would have been more than thrilled if they had caught his eye. But Samuel thinks that your sister is best suited for him. Samuel says that she is at a perfect age as well as being physically perfect,” the woman confided, leaning in toward Carly to “share” her information.
A third woman chimed in, “Samuel believes your sister will make beautiful, healthy devotees.”
“Perhaps six, if not more,” Janice spouted as if she was repeating the gospel of her lord. Her eyes swept over the others and, for a moment, lingered on Carly as if she was waiting to be contradicted or challenged.
A baby machine, Carly thought with contempt. Grayson doesn’t see Mia as a person, he sees her as some kind of a soulless baby machine for him to operate. I was right all along, she thought angrily, finding no solace in having guessed correctly.
With all her heart, she wished that Mia could hear this. Maybe then she would finally snap out of her trance, see things for what they really were. But this seemed a hopeless venture. Her sister clearly bought into Grayson’s vision of the world and was perfectly comfortable with the man’s plans for her future.
That only left kidnapping her sister as an option.
Since Mia remained in town each night, she would have to keep her eyes open for an available opportunity to abduct Mia without being noticed or arousing suspicion.
She hated thinking about it, but there was obviously no other way.
In addition to finding the right opportunity to get this all to snap into gear, Carly would probably have to bound and gag Mia in order to get her out of here. Otherwise, her sister was liable to scream her head off and get them both killed.
Or at least her, Carly thought cynically.
Sometime during working on this forced “labor of love,” it occurred to Carly that one of the faces she’d become accustomed to seeing around town, and especially around the community center, was missing today.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen the young woman in at least a couple of days. Maybe even longer. With her relationship with Hawk heating up so unexpectedly and so quickly, she’d wound up overlooking everything that wasn’t directly connected to Mia.
“Where’s Susannah?” she asked the women now, hoping one of them could fill her in. What she hadn’t expected was sarcasm.
“Ah, she speaks. I thought maybe you’d gone mute,” Janice told her coolly as she worked.
Carly deliberately kept her tone amiable. “I didn’t want to interrupt any of you ladies while you were talking,” Carly replied, hiding her resentment at the comment.
Besides, she’d found that listening to the people around her talk—if they were Grayson’s followers—was far more informative than talking herself.
The woman she was asking about wasn’t like any of these women she was working with. Or for that matter, she wasn’t like most of the women in town. Susannah Paul was a sweet, young woman with a rather lost, haunted look in her eyes. It was that look that had first drawn her to Susannah. Once they spoke, there was almost an instant bond. Carly had found herself befriending the brand-new mother who had confided to her just the other day that she was having second thoughts about living here under what felt like “Samuel’s watchful eye.” She’d whispered that it made her feel uneasy.
Carly had tried to be sympathetic without tipping her own hand. She remembered urging Susannah not to do anything hasty without letting her know first.
“I don’t want you feeling alone,” she had explained. “Or going off by yourself with your baby.” Squeezing the young woman’s hand, she’d said with all sincerity, “I want to help you if I can. I know it can’t be easy, being a single mother with a brand-new baby.”
She’d seen a little of herself in that scenario, because after their mother had died, she had all but raised Mia on her own, too. Certainly her drunken father hadn’t been of any actual help when it came to that. The only thing the man knew how to do was how to drink, not how to raise a very young girl.
In response to her words, Susannah had given her a quick, grateful smile and had promised to keep her apprised of any decisions she would make.
“You’ll be the first one I’ll tell,” she’d said. “And probably the only one, too.”
So where was she?
Carly looked at Janice, waiting for the woman’s answer since she seemed to be into everyone’s business. But instead of responding, the woman looked up uneasily, making eye contact with someone behind her.
The next moment, Carly heard Samuel’s deep voice saying, “Please don’t trouble yourself about Susannah.” She turned around to face the man just as he said, “She is where she is supposed to be.”
That didn’t sound good, Carly couldn’t help thinking. “And that is—?” she pressed.
Grayson gave her a beatific smile. “—none of your concern,” the man concluded serenely.
Suppressing a sense of horror, Carly still couldn’t make herself let it go. “And the baby?” she whispered, almost afraid of the answer.
“Why, with her, of course,” Samuel replied. “Where else would a young child be, but with the woman who had given her life?”
Carly’s blood ran cold, all but draining from her face. Could Grayson possibly be saying that Susannah and her precious baby were dead? That maybe he had learned that she was vacillating about continuing under his so-called guidance.
Considering his low opinion of people, Susannah’s doubts about remaining in Cold Plains and involved in the center made her imperfect in Grayson’s eyes, and Carly was beginning to see what the man did with anyone who he deemed imperfect.
Samuel’s eyes narrowed, and he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was scrutinizing her as if trying to delve into her thoughts. “Why are you so interested in where Susannah is, Carly?”
“I just thought I could help her take care of the baby,” Carly explained innocently. “She seemed a little overwhelmed.”
“My perception of her exactly,” Samuel agreed with a vigorous nod of his head. The smile he gave her made Carly feel really uneasy. “We seem to think alike, Carly, you and I.” His eyes were all but holding her prisoner. “I find that very gratifying.”
Carly knew enough to pretend to look down demurely. It was either that or have him see how much she truly hated him for having brought so much evil to her home.
He looked as if he was about to suggest that they continue their “talk” and comparison of thoughts in his office.
She was saved at the last minute. Because just then, someone called to Grayson about needing his final input on several pressing matters involving the construction of yet another new building along Cold Plains’s Main street.
“Duty calls,” Grayson told her with a heavy, dramatic sigh as he excused himself from her company. Then just before he left, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. “This conversation is far from over, Carly,” he promised.
As he left the room, the women all looked at her with unabashed envy.
Feeling as if she had just dodged a bullet, Carly made herself scarce as quickly as possible. She needed to get away from town, away from Grayson, at least until she figured out how to handle all this unwanted attention. The man clearly wanted to brand her with more than just the letter D that he had tattooed onto her thigh.
* * *
“She’s missing,” Carly announced to Hawk when she let him into her house later that evening.
She had given him a spare key, but Hawk thought it more prudent if he knocked and waited for her to open the door. That way, she would see that it was him, and she co
uldn’t be caught by surprise by anyone else if they attempted to break in on her.
“Mia?” he guessed, since she hadn’t mentioned the missing woman’s name.
“No, Susannah Paul.” Carly could see that the name meant nothing to him. Why should it? As far as she knew, Susannah hadn’t spoke to him. Susannah knew nothing about nothing, so there would have been no reason for her to speak with the FBI special agent. “She told me she was thinking about leaving the community.”
Well, maybe that was her answer, Hawk thought, following her to the kitchen. Every night since he’d made that first stop to “check” on her, he’d stop to have a little dinner with her and then stay to talk. Except that they hardly ever did. They let their passion do the talking for them.
“Maybe she did,” he speculated, but he could see why she was concerned. People didn’t just up and leave Cold Plains, not unless Grayson wanted them to. And then it was as if the atmosphere had just swallowed them up.
Carly shook her head. “Susannah wouldn’t go without telling me. I made her promise she’d let me know first. And there’s something else.”
Hawk looked at her, waiting.
“She’s just had a baby recently. She wouldn’t really be up for a lot of traveling.” She glanced at Hawk, but long enough so that he could see the distress in her eyes. God knew, it wasn’t without merit.
Carly hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Do you think that Grayson could have—”
“He very well could have, yes, but don’t let your imagination go there yet. There could still be a lot of other plausible explanations,” he told her soothingly.
But even as he said it, he wasn’t nearly as convinced as he sounded for Carly’s benefit.
And he suspected that Carly knew it, too.
CHAPTER 13
Carly was running out of time and she knew it.
Mia’s wedding ceremony was less than three days away. For the past two days, she hadn’t even been able to get near her sister.
Each time she tried, Mia was either already busy working under Grayson’s watchful guidance, or if her sister appeared to be momentarily alone and she started to approach her, Grayson would somehow suddenly come swooping down out of nowhere, requesting that Mia join him or come see something, or he’d use a dozen and one other diversion tactics to separate Mia from everyone else.
Mainly her.
Not that she had much hope of miraculously persuading her sister to give up this absurd idea of marrying a man who was more than twice her age. The last time she had gotten to talk to her alone, she had used every argument she could think of to persuade Mia not to make what she considered in her heart to be a “terrible mistake.”
Mia hadn’t even let her finish. Her sister had looked at her with open hostility and said, “I don’t care if you like what Cold Plains has become or not, but I do. I like it here, do you understand? For the first time in my life, I have order, I have peace—and I have a place that makes me feel as if I’m important.” She’d raised her chin pugnaciously and declared, “For the first time in my life, I feel happy.”
For the first time in my life.
That had stung. Badly.
Carly tried hard not to make it about hurt feelings, but it was difficult not to. She had sacrificed everything for her sister, especially her own happiness. She had stayed on here in Cold Plains when she would have much rather just taken off and started a brand-new life with Hawk.
“And you didn’t before?” she had challenged Mia with suppressed anger.
Mia had tossed her head, her eyes narrowing as she had looked at her defiantly. “No.”
“And life with me was so terrible?” Carly asked.
“What ‘with’ you?” Mia demanded, throwing up her hands. She upset one of the decorations that had just been hung up that morning. Angry, she picked it up and lovingly dusted it off before carefully reattaching it. “I never saw you,” she pointed out accusingly.
How could Mia stand there, throwing that into her face? There was a reason she hadn’t been around and it wasn’t because she was out having a good time, enjoying herself. She had run herself ragged, trying to make ends meet.
Didn’t her sister understand that?
Apparently not, she concluded. Sighing, Carly gave it her all, trying one more time to reason with Mia.
“That’s because I was trying to run the farm and earn some money on the side as a waitress so you could have the little luxuries, you know, like food.” She realized that came out sounding rather sarcastic. She hadn’t meant for it to, but she was still stunned that, given all those years she’d worked so hard so that her sister could have at least a few things that she hadn’t had, Mia wasn’t grateful for any of it.
“I would have rather had you,” Mia spat out. “I never got to talk to anyone. You were never there for me.” Her eyes became angry blue flames. “All I ever did was clean up after Dad. And I mean that literally.”
“So did I,” Carly informed her. They stood facing one another, officially at a standoff. “I worked so that you could have regular meals, clothes on your back, a roof over your head. If I hadn’t done what I did, we would have lost the family farm.”
Mia drew herself up and went back to working on the decorations for her wedding. “So now I hope you and the farm will be very happy together. And if you can’t be happy for me at my wedding,” she added curtly, “then don’t bother coming. The choice is yours.”
Carly stared at the back of her sister’s head. How could Mia talk to her this way? How could she be so insensitive as not to see everything she’d given up for her?
“Mia, I—”
“There you are!” a cheerful voice addressing Mia declared.
Charlie Rhodes, one of Grayson’s inner circle of handpicked men, who was also going to be best man at the wedding, came up behind them and then took Mia gently by the arm.
At first glance, Charlie had the features of a sweet-faced angel.
He probably would have been one of the fallen ones, Carly couldn’t help thinking. In the few, brief exchanges they’d had, Charlie had been nothing but polite to her, but she still couldn’t get over the uneasy feeling she would always get in the pit of her stomach whenever she was around the young man. For one thing, his eyes were flat, as if there was no soul, no conscience, behind them.
“Samuel’s been looking for you,” Charlie told Mia. “He has something to ask you about those children’s seminars you’ve been giving for him. He seemed pretty busy, so I offered to fetch you for him.”
Fetch. Just like she was some inanimate object, Carly thought. Mia, wise up! Please!
“Well, you found me,” Mia declared cheerfully. “Now take me to him.”
Said the lamb to the wolf as she was led off to the slaughter. Damn it, Mia, don’t you hear yourself? Carly wondered angrily.
For a moment, she thought about just grabbing Mia’s hand and running, but she knew how irrational that would seem. For one thing, Mia wouldn’t run with her, certainly not willingly. She’d probably just dig in her heels and refuse to go.
That had been her last one-on-one contact with her sister, almost five days ago. Since then, every attempt she’d made had been thwarted one way or another. She may actually have to kidnap Mia and get her out of the community. There appeared to be no other way to save her.
* * *
That evening when she came home, she was still contemplating the exact logistics of pulling off her sister’s kidnapping. Everything she came up with depended heavily on luck. The only easy part was getting into the compound, and that was because Samuel believed her to be just as brainwashed as the others.
When she’d resisted moving into town, he’d been a little suspicious at first, his hypnotic eyes all but burrowing into her. But she had po
inted out that she needed to keep the farm in business. After all, her chickens did provide breakfast for the masses and her dairy cows kept the children in milk.
Using that as her foundation, Carly managed to convince Samuel that she could better serve the community by returning to the farm each evening and working it the hours she was not teaching the children.
So with Grayson thinking she was one of the true believers, she had the element of surprise on her side. That would win her about sixty seconds. After that, she would have to run like crazy, dragging her sister behind her. Either that or get to her just before the ceremony. Ultimately, the plans were the same. One way or another, she intended to abduct Mia before her little sister had a chance to say those fatal words that would seal her doom.
Carly pulled her car up near the house and looked around. Disappointment nudged its way to the surface and hung there. She worked her lower lip uneasily. There was no trace of Hawk.
Funny how quickly that man got to be a habit with her. All it took was looking at him, and she was a goner. He’d been her first love and, as it had turned out, her only love. She had never felt anything for any other man. Not that she had actively tried to find someone, but once or twice, she’d gone out with one of the other men in town. Her ultimate goal had been to find some sort of companionship. Maybe even settle down.
But for her, there was no repeat performance of a magic moment, no chemistry suddenly pulsating through her. Not even the desire to be held and kissed by whoever was taking her out that night.
And so she eventually came to the inevitable conclusion that Hawk would forever be the one and only man she would ever care about, ever love.
And he was out of her life by her own doing.
She had to resign herself to that. So she did.
Until he’d shown up, Carly thought now, letting herself into the darkened house. He had instantly turned her whole world upside down by coming back into town, looking better than any man had a right to after ten years had gone by.
This time, she didn’t know how she would survive having him walk away. Because he would. He’d carved out that life for himself that she’d pushed him toward.
Perfect Wyoming Complete Collection: Special Agent's Perfect Cover ; Rancher's Perfect Baby Rescue ; A Daughter's Perfect Secret ; Lawman's Perfect Surrender ; The Perfect Outsider ; Mercenary's Perfect Mission Page 13