His Wayward Woman

by Ava Sinclair

  “Save it, Lyle,” Jace growled. “I know what you’re going to say.”

  “Hold up.” Lyle shot his boss an irritated look. “I know I work for you, but I was your best friend before I was your foreman, and unless I’m wrong, I still am. Now, I’ve never seen you happier since Lily Mae came back into your life. But I’ve never seen you more obsessed, either. And I get it; she’s a beautiful woman and you’ve always loved her. But I said it before and I’ll say it again, Jace, there’s a big block of her life you know nothing about, and your being this bent out of shape seems to prove that maybe you don’t trust her as much as you should be trusting a woman you’re about to marry. And maybe deep down, it’s because you know there’s probably a reason. Maybe you ought to trust your instincts instead.”

  It had been just the kind of frank talk that he could count on from Lyle, and just the kind of frank talk Jace realized he needed to hear. He’d let himself fall back into the relationship with Lily Mae as if she’d never left Texas in the first place, let alone for seven long years.

  But he still wasn’t going to think the worst of her, not yet. Still hours away from his ranch, he imagined her down at Smith’s Florist’s, her pretty brow furrowed with the angst of trying to decide between sunflowers or Gerbera daisies for the table centerpieces, or at the local bakery ordering an extra layer on the wedding cake, oblivious to the fact that she’d left her phone in the car.

  He imagined putting her over his knee and lecturing her about how worried he’d been when he couldn’t reach her, imagined her pretty, tearful apologies as he spanked her tight, round buttocks from white to pink to red as she kicked, her pussy growing wetter with each crack of his punishing hand.

  He imagined her offering her own special apology later, as she bent over the bed, her legs spread, her bottom arched toward him. He imagined himself reaching down to place his hand over the imprint of one still visible on her bottom. He imagined her moaning as his fingers found her slick pussy and his fingers pinched her clit just hard enough to remind her of his mastery.

  “Jace?” Lyle’s voice broke into his thoughts.

  “What?”

  “Speed. Need to watch it.”

  Jace looked down; his foreman was right. He eased off the accelerator, counting the hours for home.

  * * *

  Hours later he stood in the kitchen trying not to panic. Lily Mae’s car was gone. Her phone was on the counter, the screen indicating a string of missed calls from his number. Jace knew she’d never leave without it. Beside him, Lyle stood, silent, and Jace avoided looking at his friend’s sympathetic, knowing expression.

  Wordlessly, he walked into the bedroom. Lily Mae was a good housekeeper. She always made the bed, but other than her soft presence, it was as he’d left it, the covers thrown back and disheveled.

  With mounting dread, he walked into the closet. The pink suitcase that usually stood out like a sore thumb was gone. Above it, several hangers stood empty. Her favorite cowboy boots were gone. Jace turned to see Lyle standing outside the closet door.

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you gave her any access to your money, you might want to check your bank account,” Lyle said.

  Ordinarily, Jace would have been offended, but he knew that his friend was only looking out for his best interest. Reluctantly, he opened the banking app on his phone. He wasn’t surprised to see she’d withdrawn a thousand dollars from their joint account; what did surprise him was that she’d not taken more. Why that amount? The obvious answer was a plane ticket, but to where? And why?

  “What time is it, Lyle?”

  His friend looked at his watch. “A little after nine. Why?”

  “I’m going into town.” He brushed past his foreman.

  “At this time of night?” Lyle asked, turning to follow. “Just what do you think you’ll find?”

  “I don’t know,” Jace said, turning. “But I sure can’t stay here twiddling my thumbs.”

  He didn’t give Lyle a chance to respond as he headed for his truck. A few moments later, he was heading toward town. On the way, he made a few phone calls. He was good friends with all the local shop owners, having grown up in a town where almost everyone was on a first-name basis. He apologized for the lateness of the call as he asked the baker and florist if Lily Mae been in that day. They’d not seen her. Neither had the banker, not that it surprised Jace; he figured she’d withdrawn the money at an out-of-town branch on her way to the airport.

  When he noticed he was all but driving on fumes, he pulled into the local convenience store to gas up. Jace swiped his card to pay and was leaning against the side of his truck, waiting to fill up when he heard someone call to him.

  “Jace?”

  He looked up to see local postmistress exiting her car. “Oh, hey, Miss Edmunds.”

  “You’re looking glum,” she observed, punching her numbers in the automated keypad of her pump before inserting the nozzle into her car. “You okay?”

  At first Jace started to lie and say that everything was fine, that he was just tired. But he decided it may not hurt to ask everyone he could about his missing fiancée. “You saw Lily Mae yesterday, right?”

  The postmistress glanced from the rapidly ticking numbers of her pump back to him. “Yeah,” she said hesitantly. “Why?”

  Jace tented his fingers and rubbed his brow. “I came home today and found her missing. I’m worried sick.”

  The usually chatty postmistress didn’t immediately reply, which surprised Jace. Instead, her face took on a concerned expression as she removed the nozzle from her car, closed the gas cap, and turned back to Jace.

  “I need to tell you something,” she said. “It may be nothing, but it may be something.”

  Jace straightened up. “What?”

  “Something happened yesterday when Lily Mae came in to mail her letters. She had some mail waiting. One of them was a certified letter. She didn’t look at it before signing for it; said it was probably something to do with her mother’s estate. But when she looked at that letter she just went all kinds of shades of pale, Jace. Then when she opened it, she started crying.”

  “Who was it from?” Jace was asking the question before Miss Edmunds had completely finished her statement.

  “I don’t rightly know, but…”

  “But what?” Jace could hear the desperation in his own voice.

  “I did something, Jace,” she said. “Something that could get me in trouble.”

  Jace pulled the nozzle from his truck and jammed it into the pump before turning back to Miss Edmunds, resisting the urge to shake the information out of her. “Tell me…”

  She looked around and lowered her voice. “She tossed the letter and the envelope, but I took them out of the trash.” She paused. “I’m not supposed to do that. It’s none of my business what folks get. But something just told me to…”

  “Where is it?”

  She inclined her head toward the building down the street. “The post office. I tucked it away.”

  A few minutes later, they were at the back entrance of the post office. Jace waited while the postmistress entered to emerge a few moments later with the letter and envelope. Jace was so grateful that he hugged the postmistress, thanking her over and over and promising not to tell anyone what she’d done.

  Then he sat in the truck and read the letter over and over.

  “Girl,” he said. “What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Where to, cowgirl?” The driver laughed at his own joke as Lily Mae climbed into the back of his cab.

  She didn’t acknowledge his joke, even if she could understand it. In her white sleeveless dress, ponytail, and cowboy boots, she looked—as her grandmother would have said—‘fresh off the turnip truck.’ But that’s what Lily Mae had intended, to arrive at Tony Orzo’s office transformed into someone he’d no longer be interested in.

  Lily Mae gave the driver Tony’s address and sat
back in the seat, watching the familiar, unwelcome scenery of L.A. pass as the driver zoomed in and out of traffic. It was midmorning, and back home she’d probably be running errands for Jace or maybe checking the garden for vegetables she planned to use for the evening meal. She’d be barefoot, the earth warm and alive under her feet. Maybe she’d keen to watch a bee make its way from deep inside a squash blossom, its back legs laden with its harvest of pollen.

  There were no bees here, no soft earth, no sense of home. No love. Lily Mae forced herself to turn her mind from what she’d lost to what she had left. She hugged the bag on her lap close to her chest. Inside was all of her jewelry. She’d planned to take it to the pawn shop, but decided that a man like Tony could get someone to give him fair value for it. There was more than enough to cover what she owed him. She was confident enough of that to keep a few pieces for herself. She’d have to pawn those to rent a room until she could find a job. Once she got settled, she’d find a way to her SUV, if she could. Or maybe she’d just rely on public transportation and send the title to Jace, giving him the vehicle to make up some of what she owed him. A deep sadness bubbled back to the surface. She could never repay him completely. The most valuable thing he’d given her in Texas could not be repaid. He’d given her trust. And she’d broken it.

  Anxiety replaced sadness as the taxi turned down the street leading to Tony’s office building. Lily Mae had not called to let him know she was coming. She wanted to catch him by surprise, to walk in without giving him time to think of a way to trap her. Her plan was to pay her debt, walk out of Tony’s life, and start a new one. If she sensed a threat in him, she’d leave. Maybe she’d find a smaller town, some place where she could eventually get her own place, if she worked hard enough. Maybe some place where she could have a garden…

  “Here you are, cowgirl.” The driver turned the screen of the meter toward Lily Mae so she could what she owed. Peeling a few of her remaining bills from what she had left, she handed them to the driver and exited the cab.

  She’d gotten good at hiding her nervousness when working in Los Angeles. Now she called upon that reserve as she took the elevator up to the third floor. The lobby of Tony Orzo’s office suite bore her distinctive decorating style. Sleek, modern lines and gleaming surfaces greeted Lily Mae, and she was struck by how unappealing that style seemed now to a girl who longed for gingham prints and wood grain.

  “I’m here to see Tony Orzo,” she told the receptionist. It was Kelly, the same girl she’d talked to whenever she’d visited Tony’s offices, and the girl stared now, as if trying to place Lily Mae.

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “He’s expecting me,” Lily Mae replied, knowing it was partially true. He was expecting her within the week…

  “Name?”

  “Lily Slater.”

  “Lily…?” Kelly looked her up and down, her phone frozen in her hand. “I didn’t recognize you…”

  “Please, if you don’t mind. I’m kind of in a hurry.”

  The receptionist called into his office and then cradled the phone. “You can go on back,” she said.

  Stay calm. Lily tried to look the part of the brave, secure woman she’d tried to be in L.A. as she walked into Tony’s office.

  He was sitting behind his large desk, his hands folded on the black lacquer surface. His ebony hair was slicked back away from his angular, wolfish face.

  Tony was wearing a tailored black suit with a black silk shirt underneath. His blood red tie matched the carefully folded kerchief peeking from the pocket of his jacket.

  He smiled, his white teeth gleaming as he fixed her with a steady, predatory gaze.

  “What on earth are you wearing?”

  She didn’t ask before taking a seat on the other side of the desk. Usually she did, but Lily Mae was in no mood for formalities.

  “I got your letter,” she said, ignoring his question.

  “Yew gawtt mah lettah?” He mimicked the drawl that had returned in her short time in Texas, and she felt herself flush with humiliation. “A month in the country and they’ve turned you back into a bumpkin.” He chuckled. “Looks like I’m going to have my work cut out for me, turning you back into the sophisticated woman I know you can be.”

  “You won’t be getting the chance, Tony.” Lily Mae opened her purse. “I’ve come to pay you what I owe you.” She began laying her jewelry out on the top of his desk—sapphire rings, diamond necklaces and earrings, several delicate antique Victorian pendants, designer bracelets.

  “What’s this?” Tony asked.

  Lily Mae looked up at him. “Giving you all my jewelry,” she said. “It’s probably worth more than what I actually owe. I have appraisal cards for the antique pieces…”

  “Put it back.”

  She looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “The deal was for money, not a bunch of your old jewelry.”

  “It’s not ‘old jewelry,’ Tony,” Lily Mae responded. “It’s valuable jewelry. Some of these are designer pieces.”

  He leaned back in his chair, tenting his fingers in front of him. “So if it’s so valuable, why didn’t you pawn it instead of coming to me for a loan?”

  Lily Mae flushed. “At the time I thought I could turn things around without selling off my belongings,” she said.

  “So, you used me to save your baubles, but now that you’re out of options you want me to just take them in lieu of payment.”

  “I want you to take them as payment.” Lily Mae could feel herself starting to get nervous. “They’re worth…”

  “Less than what you owe me, Lily. If they weren’t, you could sell them and get the money.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “A pawn shop won’t give me what this stuff is worth. But I know you can get what it’s worth.”

  “I could if I were willing. But I’m not.” He stood and walked behind Lily Mae, dropping his hands to her shoulders as he leaned down to speak into her ear. “We had a deal,” he hissed. “You owe me cash or what was suggested. I think we both know what that is.” His lips brushed her lobe and Lily Mae jumped from her chair, upsetting it as she whirled to face him.

  “I never promised you anything,” she said, her voice wavering.

  “Oh, didn’t you? I remember what you were wearing the day you came in here begging for help. I remember that short little pencil skirt, the high heels, the way you played with your hair and crossed and uncrossed your legs every time you thought I was looking.”

  Lily Mae shook her head, ashamed because she knew his words were true. She had done more than ask; she’d dangled her assets as encouragement.

  “You said you were the kind of girl who always honored her commitments, remember?” Tony walked over and grabbed her suddenly by the hair on the back of her head. “What were your exact words? Especially the attractive ones?”

  His gaze was hard now, and Lily Mae had gone from ashamed to terrified in his grasp.

  “I know you thought you were playing me, Lily. But what you didn’t realize was that I not only saw through you like a pane of glass, I also knew how this would end. I pegged you as a little girl lost from the day I met you. And I planned to make you my possession. What I didn’t expect was for you to all but put yourself in my hands.” He gripped her hair harder. “Of course, you thought you’d slip away by moving back to Texas, but all that did was make me want to teach you a lesson…”

  “No, Tony…” Lily Mae could feel her heart hammering in her chest.

  “I don’t ever want to hear that word out of your mouth again,” he said. “From now on, it’s going to be ‘yes, sir’ every time I want something, whether it’s your pretty hands lighting my cigarette or your pretty mouth around my cock.” He smirked. “Unless you’d rather me send some of my guys to Texas and find out who was taking care of you all this time. You couldn’t have been taking care of yourself if you can’t even square up with me. So who was it? Old flame? What does he do? Work in a garage? Run a hardware
store? It doesn’t matter who he is or what he does. I can have him taken care of. You know I can.”

  Tony cocked his head now as he used the pad of his thumb to wipe away a tear trailing down Lily Mae’s cheek. “Don’t cry, baby doll. We’re going to be so happy together.”

  He leaned down, righting the overturned chair and shoving Lily Mae back into it before going over to his desk. For a moment, Tony Orzo regarded her silently before picking up the phone on his desk and ringing his receptionist.

  “Kelly, come in, please.”

  Lily Mae could not even meet the receptionist’s eyes as she entered the office.

  “Lily is going to dinner with me tonight, but she doesn’t have anything suitable to wear. I’d like you to go down to Pandora’s Boutique and pick her out something elegant and sexy to wear. Tell the owner she’s about a size six, B-cup, 5′3″. Get her some shoes, too. What size do you wear, Lily?”

  Lily Mae didn’t want to answer, but feared what would happen if she didn’t.

  “Seven,” she said quietly.

  “Heels that match the dress. At least three inches.” He grinned. “And underwear. Black thong, half-cup bra.”

  “Jewelry?” Kelly asked, and Lily Mae wondered how often she was given odd commands that she obeyed without question.

  “She brought plenty of her own,” Tony said. “Oh, and make reservations at Malargo’s for seven.”

  “For seven tonight?” Kelly asked. “You were supposed to meet Phillip DeMarco.”

  “Cancel,” Tony said.

  “Are you sure, sir?” Kelly asked. “Mr. DeMarco was pretty adamant that you meet him tonight. He won’t be happy.”

  “He’ll get over it,” Tony insisted. “Now go do what I told you to, or I’ll find someone who will.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kelly said, and Lily Mae heard the office door shut as the receptionist left. A moment later, Tony appeared at her side.

  “Look at me,” he said.

  She forced herself to obey.

  “We’re going out tonight,” he said. “We’re going have a nice dinner, and then afterwards we’re going to go back to my place. You owe me, baby. And tonight you start paying back. With interest.”