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21
As soon as there was enough light to see, Isabella sat up and looked around the room. It was a big one-room cabin that looked oddly familiar.
After a minute or two, it dawned on her that this was the cabin Papi had built with the help of some men in Silver Veil. It was created to be a simple respite for those times Papi wanted to pray or take his family to enjoy the cooler mountain temperatures and wildlife.
She thought back to the night before—the uncomfortable ride. She stretched and moaned at the pain in her side. She was still tied with her hands behind her, and her ankles were tightly wrapped in rope. The men had carried her from the horse and dumped her on the bed, removing the sack from her head before leaving her there with the order not to move. Somewhere in doing her best to obey their order, she had fallen asleep. Now she was wide awake and frantically wondering what to do. Where were the men? How could she escape them?
It had been ten years, maybe more, since Isabella had been here, and yet it looked untouched. She was almost expectingPapi and Mama to come through the door at any minute. Instead, only silence greeted her.
For several minutes, Isabella struggled against the rope that tied her hands. It was definitely snug and immovable. She tried to put her legs down over the side of the bed but found herself tangled up in the covers and her own skirt. She tried to roll back and forth to loosen the materials, but she was getting nowhere.
She stopped moving and tried to think. At least it was now daylight. That would make it Sunday. There was no possibility that she’d slept longer than the night. She thought back to the two men who had taken her. Who were they? They never spoke except in whispers to each other, and they were never loud enough for her to hear their voices.
She heard noise outside the cabin window. Could it be an animal or perhaps the men who’d taken her? Isabella wondered what she should do and decided to pretend she was still asleep. She’d try to get a good look at the assailants and judge what she could do to help herself.
But the noise faded, and no one came into the cabin. Isabella shook her head. Now what? Whoever had kidnapped her—
Kidnapped. She hadn’t thought of that term until just now. Diego had talked about kidnapping her so they could get money from her father and run off to be married.
This was his doing.
Isabella didn’t even question it. She sat up in bed and called his name as loud as her voice would allow.
“Diego!Diego!Where are you? Come here right now!”
She waited and listened. The noise outside the cabin returned, and the front door opened.
Diego Morales strolled into the cabin as if they were doing nothing more than sharing the day together.
“I see you’re awake.”
“Diego, untie me right now. How could you? I should have known it was you.”
Isabella was angrier than she’d been in some time. In fact, the last time she’d been this mad, the focus of her emotions had been Aaron Bailey.
“I demand you untie me. This is ridiculous. Do you know what this stunt has probably done to my poor father? You know he’s dying. How could you?”
She fought against the entanglement of covers and nearly rolled off the bed. Diego came to her side and caught her before she could fall.
“Whoa. Hold on now. Just hold on.” He pushed her back and unwrapped the blanket from her skirts.
She fixed him with what she hoped was her most intimidating stare. She clenched her mouth closed to keep from saying anything more. How could she have ever thought herself in love with this man?
“Now, look,” Diego said. “You aren’t going to be hurt. I wanted to give you one more chance to slip away with me—to elope.”
She said nothing but watched him carefully as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He put his hand on her lower legs to still her.
“Please listen to me, Isabella. I love you.”
“That’s a lie.” She couldn’t refrain from speaking her mind. “You stole me away from the people who honestly love me to bring me here. I thought I was going to die on that horrible ride up the mountain. Whoever helped you—or maybe it was you yourself, and that’s why you never spoke because you knew I’d recognize your voice—sorely mistreated me. Threw me over the horse like a bag of oats. My body is probably black and blue.”
“I am sorry for that, Isabella. Sorry too that you were frightened. I never wanted that but didn’t know how else to get you here. I know you have deep feelings for me, and I wanted us to have a chance to talk and perhaps still move forward with our plans.”
“And just how are we supposed to do that? You haven’t got a penny to your name. Your own father won’t have anything to do with you because you have debts and a wife.”
“I don’t have a wife! We were never legally married. She was just a loose woman I pretended to marry. She tried to obligate me by having a child. I don’t even know if he’s my son.”
“So you deserted them and came after me, and when that didn’t work out, you killed my Aunt Josephina.”
