Texas Twin Abduction

by Virginia Vaughan

  * * *

  Lawson had to find her before Baxter escaped. She wouldn’t survive if he managed to get away. Baxter had the means to disappear. Plus, it was getting dark, which would make finding them even more difficult.

  Lord, please help me find her. He had so much he wanted to tell Bree. He loved her. He’d known since the first time she’d touched his face that he wanted her in his life, but fear had kept him at bay, fear that she would reject him, fear of not being enough for her.

  He knew now why he and Ashlee had never worked. They wanted different things. But Bree... Bree was just the woman for him and he couldn’t wait to ask her to marry him and stay at the ranch with him.

  But first he had to find her.

  His headlights spread across the lake and he spotted something in the water. He pulled up and turned on his high beams. It was the tires of an overturned SUV.

  He grabbed his phone and shot his brothers a quick text, then hopped from the truck and ran to the bank as he spotted something moving in the water. A moment later, Baxter, his clothes soaked and his head bleeding, waded out.

  “Where is she?” he demanded. The mayor’s only answer was to gesture back to the vehicle in the water.

  “She fought me. She tried to get away. The gun went off and shot Lenny in the head. I couldn’t get control before it flipped and landed in the water.”

  “And Bree? You just left her there?”

  Baxter slipped out of his wet jacket and ignored the gun Lawson raised at his head. “She hit her head. Lost consciousness. She’s probably still alive down there. You have a choice, Lawson. You can rescue her or stand here with that gun trained on me until she’s dead.”

  He gripped the handle of the gun tighter, but he knew Baxter was right. He needed to reach Bree and get her out of that water before she drowned. But he wasn’t ready to let this man go, either.

  Baxter grinned and rubbed water from his hair. “What’s it going to be, Lawson? Do you care more about taking me in or rescuing the girl?”

  Baxter kept his eyes on him, then Lawson noticed something in his hand. As he started to lift his arm, Lawson realized what it was. A gun!

  Baxter raised it toward him and Lawson fired, hitting Baxter in the leg. He dropped the gun, screamed out in pain and fell to the ground, grabbing his leg as blood began to redden his wet trousers.

  Lawson walked over to him and picked up the gun, tossing it into the water.

  “My brothers are on their way,” he said. “You stay right there.” He could handcuff Baxter to his truck, but the man would surely fight him and that could cost precious moments Bree might not have. Instead, he kicked off his boots, then waded into the water to rescue Bree. The gunshot wound might not stop the mayor from fleeing, but it would slow him down and give his brothers a better shot at tracking him if he managed to get away.

  He swam out to the overturned SUV and saw the driver. Baxter was right. It was too late for him. The bullet to the head had probably ended his life immediately, but it hadn’t stopped him from bloodying up the water.

  He glanced through the back window and saw Bree still in the backseat. She wasn’t moving. He tried the door but it wouldn’t open, so he swam around to the other side. He had to get to her. Fear pressed at him.

  That door wouldn’t budge, either, but he spotted another window that had been kicked out. If that was how Baxter had gotten out of the car, Lawson could use it to get in. He pushed through the window and reached inside for her. She wasn’t moving, which wasn’t a good sign. He had to get her out. He grabbed hold of her, pulled her through the window and into the open water until his feet touched dirt. He carried her to the bank. She wasn’t breathing so he started CPR.

  She’s not dead. She’s not dead.

  His mind was racing with what he would do if he lost her. He’d never had the chance to tell her he loved her. He couldn’t lose her now. Not now after he’d finally gotten her back.

  He glanced around. Baxter was gone. One less thing he had to worry about.

  Headlights filled the darkness and he saw Colby, Paul and Josh hop from a truck and run his way. Paul pushed him aside, taking over compressions as he watched.

  Colby draped a blanket over him. “What happened?” he asked Lawson.

  He shook his head, his mind a jumble of thoughts and fears. “The mayor. He pulled a gun on me, so I shot him in the leg. He won’t get far.”

  Colby nodded to Josh, who got on his phone and started shouting orders to organize a search for Baxter. He wouldn’t get away. Not with the Avery brothers after him. He was most certainly leaving a blood trail for anyone to follow. A good bloodhound should be able to flush him out with no problem.

  But Lawson couldn’t focus on that now. He would leave Baxter and his crew to his brothers. His sole focus now was the woman lying unmoving on the ground. What would he do if he lost her?

  He hadn’t even known his heart could sink so low, but every second Bree didn’t respond to the CPR was a second his heart fell even further. Despair began to set in and only fear kept him from pushing his brother out of the way and swooping her up into his arms—fear that she wouldn’t respond to him, fear that he would lose it when he touched her.

  He put his head in his hands and just prayed. It was all he could do for her. He’d never been able to save her. Only God could do that and if He chose not to save her life here, at least He would save her soul. But how was Lawson going to go on without her in his life?

  She flinched and then started coughing and gurgling up water.

  Relief flooded him. Relief and gratitude. This time, he did push past Paul and put his arms around her. He covered her with the blanket Colby had given him.

  “Bree. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay,” he told her, planting kisses on her forehead.

  She lifted her hand to his face. “Lawson?”

  “I’m here. I’m right here. I’m not leaving your side. I thought I’d lost you.”

  She leaned her head against his arm. “I shouldn’t have left you. I had to—I had to save my sister.”

  “I know.”

  “Ashlee?”

  “She’s okay. She’s at the hospital. She’s safe.” He pushed the hair from her face and nearly lost his composure. He was just so happy she was alive. “I love you, Bree,” he whispered, but he wasn’t even sure she heard his declaration before she faded away again.

  * * *

  Bree hugged her sister tightly. She didn’t want to let her go. It had been wonderful being with her again the past three days, but today Ashlee was returning to Dallas and back to her own life. Jake had shown up to be with her and the money he’d given Bree had been returned to him. Ashlee had confided that she thought this relationship was going somewhere. She didn’t blame Bree for what had happened and made Bree promise not to blame herself.

  “Take care of her,” Ashlee said, speaking over Bree’s shoulder.

  Bree turned around to see Lawson leaning against the porch post, legs crossed in his easygoing manner.

  “I will,” he said. He moved down the porch steps. “By the way, I had a voice mail from the manager of your apartment complex. They found your cat after he got loose and are taking care of him until you return.”

  “Thank you. I can’t wait to get back to him.”

  He gave Jake a handshake and Ashlee a hug. “You be safe.”

  “Don’t worry about me—I’ll be fine.” She fiddled with Bree’s hair, then smiled. “But I’m thinking of adopting a new hairstyle just in case there’s any more confusion in the future.” She gave Bree a wink, then turned and allowed Jake to help her to the car. They drove off together.

  With effort, Bree reminded herself she didn’t have to worry about Ashlee’s safety anymore. Mayor Baxter had been captured and arrested. The SUV had been pulled from the lake and the recovered notebook had listed the names an
d addresses of all the ring’s suppliers and dealers across the country. According to Colby and his friends at the DOJ and DEA, the book and Baxter’s arrest would bring down one of the biggest drug distribution operations in the country.

  Bree was glad of that, glad that people like Travis would no longer be trapped in addiction because of people like Don Baxter.

  But all was not well with the Courtland County Sheriff’s Office. Baxter’s phone records revealed he’d received a call from Deputy Deaver shortly before he’d fled. Kyle Deaver had left the scene of the compound only to be captured in a drug den in Dallas as part of a DEA sweep. Ironically, the raid had resulted from information obtained from Baxter’s notebook.

  “What do you think about him?” she asked Lawson as Jake and Ashlee’s car kicked up dust in the driveway.

  He shrugged. “I’ll admit I didn’t want to like him at first, but he checks out okay. Plus, he seems to make your sister happy.”

  “Yes, he does.”

  “I’m hoping I can do the same for you.” He slipped his arm around her and she flinched and pushed away.

  “I’m not sure that can happen.” She walked onto the porch and fell into a rocker.

  Bree watched as Lawson took off his hat and fidgeted the brim with his fingers before following her and taking a seat on the porch step. His declaration of love for her on the banks replayed in her mind all the time and made tears press at her eyes with every word. Her heart hurt so badly, wanting to believe him, but she knew too much had happened between them to make a future together.

  She choked back tears as she thought about leaving this place. She’d fallen as much in love with Silver Star Ranch as she had with Lawson Avery.

  “What’s going on with you, Bree?” he asked, not turning to look at her.

  Her heart soared at the sound of her name on his lips, but then instantly fell at the thought of leaving here. She thought he would be happy to have a way out of his declaration of love, a way to save face. He turned to face her and she wiped away a tear that slipped through. “I love it here. It’s beautiful. But I can’t stay. You know I can’t stay.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why. I’ve done too many things, messed up too many times. You said it yourself. I’m bad news.”

  “I was wrong, Bree. I judged you for things I knew nothing about. I’m not so perfect, either. I spent the past years chasing after something I thought I needed—a career outside of Silver Star and a woman who didn’t even want me. I was so blind to what I already had, and what I truly needed.

  “The truth is that everything I’ve ever wanted is right here on this land today and that includes you. You’re not that person I was foolish enough to believe you were. You’re a beautiful, smart, loyal and courageous woman who I want to spend my life with.” He rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed. “When I thought I’d lost you, all I could think of was getting you back safe. I couldn’t bear the thought of my last words to you being so vile and bitter.”

  “You weren’t wrong.”

  “Yes, yes, I was. Don’t you see, Bree? You’ve changed. Everyone keeps saying it. Maybe it’s time we both accept it. Neither of us is perfect, but we’ve both been made perfect by the blood of Jesus. He’s washed away all our sins and made us new creations.” He got up, then knelt beside her rocker. “New creations that belong together.” He pulled something from his shirt pocket and opened it, holding it out to her.

  Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the lovely diamond ring. “It belonged to my grandmother,” he explained. “I know it’s not much, but I want you to have it, Bree. I don’t want you to leave. I want you to have all of this with me.” He took it from the ring box and held it out to her. “Will you marry me, Bree Taylor?”

  Her chin quivered at the sight and she bit her lip to keep from bursting out a yes. “Are you sure you’re asking the right twin?”

  “I’ve never been surer of anything else in my life. You’re the right twin for me and the right woman in my life. Please say you’ll marry me.”

  So many emotions pushed at her as she stared into his eyes. But her doubts finally fled when she saw acceptance and love settle there. She nearly couldn’t catch her breath as she gave him the answer he was waiting for.

  “I would love to be your wife, Lawson. Of course, I’ll marry you.”

  Her hands shook as he slipped the ring onto her finger, but he settled them. They both stood and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, sealing all her doubts away once and for all. She leaned into his arms and knew this was the place she always wanted to be.

  “Promise me one thing,” she told him. “Promise me we’ll never leave this land.”

  He slipped his hat back on and pulled her closer for a kiss as he whispered, “That’s one promise I intend to keep.”

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Stolen Child by Jane M. Choate.

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks so much for joining me on this brand-new adventure. This is the beginning of a new series for me entitled Cowboy Lawmen and Texas Twin Abduction is book one. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  At the heart of Lawson and Bree’s story is the theme of second chances. Lawson thought he wanted a second chance with his ex-fiancée, Ashlee, but he soon learned he was trying to force something that would never happen. Bree’s past seemed to define her until she realized that our God is truly the God of second chances. Together, these two very imperfect people found their second chance at love.

  I love hearing from my readers!

  You can contact me online through my web site www.virginiavaughanonline.com or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ginvaughanbooks.

  Virginia

  WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK FROM

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  Stolen Child

  by Jane M. Choate

  ONE

  Air hissed a scant inch from his temple. The bullet didn’t find a home there, but it came close. Too close.

  Grey Nighthorse kept his head down.

  No sense in giving the shooter another opportunity. If he hadn’t dropped the keys to the truck and bent over to pick them up, he’d be dead. That sobering knowledge only stressed why he was in Atlanta, Georgia, rather than on deployment in Afghanistan—the Stand in ranger-speak.

  The heat that had been his constant companion there was worse in Atlanta’s nonstop humidity. Thick in his nose, a silent thief of energy, it sent an unrelenting stream of sweat across his brow before dripping in agonizingly slow motion down his nose, over his lips and finally settling at the base of his throat.

  He didn’t dare move to wipe it away. Didn’t dare breathe. Patience was a soldier’s best friend. And so he waited.

  Crouched behind the truck he’d rented, he reached for the AR15 normally strapped to his back, only to remember he didn’t carry it Stateside. A 9mm that he carried in a neoprene Sticky-brand holster tucked at the small of his back was his only weapon. It was an adequate tool, but puny when compared to the AR with its metal worn blue and kick-in-the-gut power.

  Shots continued, hair-raisingly close. More than once, his ranger unit had been pinned down by enemy insurgents armed with RPGs, but the breath-stealing knowledge that a shooter had him in his sights was the same, whether in a bombed-out school in Afghanistan or here in Ansley Park, one of the city’s oldest and wealthiest neighborhoods.

  Grey didn’t fool himself that he was invincible. He knew better. Too many of his brothers in arms had died from taking unnecessary chances. Bravado had cost more lives than enemy fire.

  He knew he couldn’t remain where he was forever. He had to make a move. At a lull between shots, he duckwalked around t
he truck, opened the passenger-side door and climbed in, sliding over into the driver’s seat. Staying low, he started the truck and headed toward the shooter, praying he wasn’t too late, knowing that he was since the shooting had stopped.

  The roar of a high-powered engine and the smell of exhaust confirmed his suspicion that the shooter had already hightailed it out of there, the acrid stench of peeling rubber and skid marks on the street the only remaining signs. But who knew Grey would be here, outside his mother-in-law’s house? The kidnapper?

  Grey slapped his fist into his palm, the resulting sound only an echo of what he’d like to do to whoever took his baby girl.

  Terror crawled up his spine like a flesh-eating parasite, stealing his strength. With a superhuman effort, he willed it away. Lily needed his resolve, not his weakness.

  He squared his shoulders. He was a ranger. Rangers didn’t give up. Ever. Grey admitted what he hadn’t been able to when he’d first received the telegram telling him that Lily had been kidnapped. He needed help. He couldn’t do this on his own. Asking for help didn’t sit well with a ranger. They prided themselves on being able to power through a problem, whatever the circumstances.

  Got a problem? Call a ranger.

  If he’d had it in him to laugh, he would have done so at the arrogance of his thoughts. He was as vulnerable as the next guy when it came to his child.

  Pride was the last thing on his mind right now. He’d trade all his training, all the spit-and-polish glory in making ranger, for Lily’s safe return.

  The crumpled paper in his hands contained three short sentences. Lily taken. No ransom yet. Must return.

  Grey rejected the idea that he would never see Lily again. He would find her. Somehow. He couldn’t bear to think about the alternative.

  A litany of prayer and pleading ran through his mind.