As You Wish (The Summerhouse 3)

Without Elise’s planning, there would be no big, new jobs. His family wouldn’t come to live with him. And there was sadness for her, that she was being put through this ordeal.

Elise looked away from him, her eyes searching for Alejandro, but he was nowhere to be seen. With his disappearance, all hope left Elise. Like a great whoosh, the belief that all this would somehow repair itself fled. She’d been sent back in time, but her stay had accomplished nothing. She’d have to spend the two weeks she had left battling her father—and he’d win. Like he always won. This time, there’d be no Dr. Hightower or Arrieta to save her. This time—

At the sound of a horse’s hooves, Elise halted. She looked up to see Alejandro—beautiful, dark-haired Alejandro—riding an even darker horse.

In an instant, she knew what he was planning to do. She’d told him of learning how to jump onto the back of a galloping horse and he was using it.

“What the hell is that crazy bastard doing?” one of the guards yelled.

The other guard clamped down on Elise’s upper arm and tried to pull her out of the way of the animal coming toward them. He was much stronger than she was and she knew she couldn’t stand up against him. She bit his hand. She twisted and clamped down with all her might.

The man jerked his hand away. “He can have you!”

Both men jumped away as Alejandro came at them on the huge horse. He didn’t slow down but leaned far over to one side and held his arm down to Elise.

As she’d trained to do, she grabbed his arm and leaped upward.

Alejandro pulled so hard that she went sailing through the air and landed in the saddle behind him.

She flung her arms around him and buried her face in his back.

He never so much as slowed down as he urged the horse forward. They went around the side of the house, past chickens and dogs and a couple of workmen. He didn’t begin to slow down until they were on the side of a hill that looked down over the ranch.

As he halted the horse and leaned forward to stroke its sweaty neck, Elise stayed with him. She didn’t loosen her grip around his chest, or remove her face from his back, or even open her eyes.

“You can look,” he said softly in Spanish, his hands on hers. They were so tight on his stomach they were sure to leave a bruise.

“Sorry, but I can’t speak Spanish,” she murmured in Spanish.

“And I can’t speak English,” he said in English. “Look!”

Smiling, relieved that the charade of language was over, she opened her eyes and looked down the hill. There were four cars with SHERIFF printed on them, and her father was being put into the back seat of one of them. The three guards were in the other cars.

Standing to the side, angrily talking to a man in uniform, was Mrs. Foster. “You called the sheriff?” Elise asked Alejandro.

“No, I didn’t. It’s my guess that he did.”

Elise looked where he was pointing. Standing to the side, leaning against a silver car, was Kent. The sun glinted off his blond hair.

Just as her father got into the sheriff’s car, she saw him say something to Kent. Elise had an idea that her father was ordering Kent to find her.

“That’s not possible,” Elise said. “Kent would never call in the law. He worships my father. He’ll do anything for him. Marry me, give me sleeping pills, have me committed to a mental institution, chase me all over the country, threaten to—”

Alejandro turned in the saddle to look at her. The things she was saying hadn’t happened.

The cars, with their prisoners, began to slowly move down the long driveway. Mrs. Foster went to talk to Kent, then she turned and pointed up the hill to where Alejandro and Elise were sitting on the horse.

“I have to talk to him, don’t I?” Elise said.

“Yes.”

There was determination in Alejandro’s voice, but she also heard fear. She hadn’t seen Kent since she escaped their wedding. The first time around, she hadn’t known that you can’t force someone to love you. You can’t do enough good deeds or virtuous tasks to inspire love. At least not the kind of all-consuming, passionate love that was needed in a marriage.

Alejandro held her arm and helped her get down from the horse. When she looked up at him, he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He’s worried that I’ll go back to Kent, she thought—and couldn’t help smiling.

He dismounted, but gave his attention to the horse.

“I guess I better ride down,” she said, and he nodded. “I’ll talk to him and...and tell him that I’m so sorry for running away and would he please, please take me back. I’ll do anything—”