Hawk's Way: Rebels: The Temporary Groom. Joan Johnston

      It took a full second for the charge to register. Kidnapping? Then he realized what must have happened and groaned. “Look, Officer, I can explain everything.”

      “You have the right to remain silent,” the officer began.

      Billy’s lips pressed flat. He had married Cherry Whitelaw in the hope of solving his problems. Instead he had jumped right out of the frying pan into the fire.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHERRY STARED at the back door of Billy’s house—now her home, too—trying to work up the courage to go inside, wondering, absurdly, if she should knock first.

      She turned and stole a glance at Billy’s rugged profile as he drove away, pondering what it was about him she had found so beguiling. He had rescued her, listened to her troubles, and shared his in return. She had felt his desperation and responded to it. Now he was her husband. She twisted the cheap gold ring that confirmed it wasn’t all a dream, that she was, indeed, Mrs. Billy Stonecreek.

      Good grief. What had she done?

      Cherry had gone off half-cocked in the past, but the enormity of this escapade was finally sinking in. Surely it would have been better to face Zach and Rebecca and explain the truth of what had happened at the dance. How was she going to justify this latest lapse of common sense?

      She felt a surge of anger at Billy for abandoning her at the door. It wouldn’t have taken long to introduce her to Mrs. Motherwell and explain the situation. So why hadn’t he done it?

      Maybe because he’s having the same second thoughts as you are. Maybe in the cold light of day he’s thinking he made a bad bargain. Maybe he’s trying to figure out a way right now to get out of it.

      If the back door hadn’t opened at that precise moment, Cherry would have turned and headed for Hawk’s Pride.

      But it did. And Cherry found herself face-to-face with Penelope Trask.

      “I saw you standing out here,” Mrs. Trask said. “Is there something I can do for you?”

      “I, uh… Is Mrs. Motherwell here?”

      “She packed her bags and left this morning.”

      Cherry stood with her jaw agape, speechless for perhaps the first time in her life. Had Mrs. Trask already managed to gain legal custody of Billy’s children? Had their marriage been for naught? She wished Billy were here.

      “Don’t I know you? Aren’t you one of those Whitelaw Bra—” Mrs. Trask cut herself off.

      Cherry knew what she had been about to say. The eight adopted Whitelaw kids were known around this part of Texas as the Whitelaw Brats, just like Zach and his siblings before them, and Grandpa Garth and his siblings before that. Cherry had done her share to help earn the nickname. She was proud to be one of them.

      She met the older woman’s disdainful look with defiance. “Yes, I’m a Whitelaw Brat. You have a problem with that?”

      “None at all. But if you’re looking for your missing sister, she isn’t here. I have no idea what my no-account excuse for a son-in-law has done with her.” She started to close the door in Cherry’s face.

      Cherry stuck her foot in the door. “Wait! What are you talking about?”

      A flare of recognition lit Mrs. Trask’s eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re the girl, aren’t you? The one Billy kidnapped.” She stuck her head out the screen door and looked around. “Where is he? I have a few things to say to him.”

      “Kidnapped?” Cherry gasped. “I wasn’t kidnapped!”

      “Your parents reported you missing late last night.”

      “Why would they think I was with Billy?”

      “Your date wrapped his car around a telephone pole, and when he kept mumbling your name the police called your parents, thinking maybe you’d been thrown from the car. At the hospital, the boy told your father that he’d left you at the stock pond with Billy, after my son-in-law ran him off with his fists.

      “Your father couldn’t find you at the stock pond, and when he came looking for you here in a rage, Mrs. Motherwell called me. Your father seemed bent on strangling someone before the night was out.”

      Probably me, Cherry thought morosely.

      “Of course I came right over,” Mrs. Trask said. “All I could tell your father was that I wouldn’t put it past my reckless son-in-law to kidnap an innocent young woman.”

      “Mrs. Trask, I wasn’t kidnapped.”

      “I suggest you go home and tell that to your father. He told the police Billy must have kidnapped you, because you’d never go off on your own like that.” Mrs. Trask smirked. “Of course, that was before he found out you’d been expelled from school earlier in the evening.”

      Cherry groaned.

      “You’re in an awful lot of trouble, young lady. Where have you been? And where’s Billy?”

      Cherry put a hand to her throbbing temple. Zach and Rebecca must be frantic with worry. And disappointed beyond belief. She didn’t want to think about how angry they were going to be when they heard what she had done.

      “May I please use your phone?” It was her phone now, so she shouldn’t have to ask. Except, this didn’t seem the right moment to announce that she and Billy had run off to Las Vegas to get married.

      Mrs. Trask hesitated, then pushed the screen door open wide. “Come on in, if you must.”

      As soon as Cherry’s eyes adjusted to the dim light in the kitchen, she saw Raejean and Annie standing together near the table.

      They wore their straight black hair in adorable, beribboned pigtails, and stared at her with dark, serious brown eyes. Their noses were small and their chins dainty, like their mother, but they had high, sharp cheekbones that reminded her of Billy. They were tall for six-year-olds and dressed exactly alike in collared blouses tucked into denim coveralls and white tennis shoes.

      “Hello, Raejean,” she said, addressing the child who had her arm wrapped comfortingly around the other’s shoulder.

      The child’s eyes widened in surprise at being recognized. Then she said, “I’m not Raejean, I’m Annie.”

      The other twin’s mouth dropped open, and she glanced at her sister. Then she turned to Cherry, pointed to her chest with her thumb, and said, “I’m Raejean.”

      “I see,” Cherry said. They were both missing the exact same front tooth. No help there telling them apart. Billy had said Raejean was the confident one, so Cherry had assumed it was Raejean who was giving comfort to her sister. But maybe she had been wrong.

      “I need to use your phone,” she said, moving toward where it hung on the kitchen wall.

      Cherry felt the girls watching her while she dialed.

      “We don’t need another housekeeper,” the twin who had identified herself as Annie said. “We’re going to stay at Nana’s house until Daddy gets home.”

      Cherry felt her heart miss a beat. She turned to Mrs. Trask and said, “Billy went into town for supplies. He should be back any time now. There’s no need to take the girls anywhere.”

      “I’ll be the best judge of that,” Mrs. Trask said. “Go upstairs, girls, and finish packing.”

      The twins turned and ran. Cherry heard their footsteps pounding on the stairs as the ringing phone was answered by her sister, Jewel. Of her seven Whitelaw siblings, Jewel was the sister closest to her in age. Jewel had been adopted by Zach and Rebecca when she was five—the first of the current generation of Whitelaw Brats.

      It had taken Cherry a while to straighten them all out, but now she could recite their names and ages with ease.