Captive Heart (Cartwright Gals: A Romancing the Ponderosa Spinoff Book 2)

Chapter 1

"Oh, Ellie, it's beautiful!" I breathe, running my hand down the front of the white lacey wedding dress. Ellie Young, Madeline's good friend and Virginia City's dressmaker, stands behind me adjusting the back, trying her best not to prick me with a pin.

"Brie, hold still or you're going to get yourself jabbed." She laughs as I try moving to see a different angle in the mirror. "I just need to take it in about an inch around the waist and then I think it'll be finished."

"Did you finish Jewels' dress yet?"

"I finished it last night," she points to a box on her cutting table as I step out of my dress, "it's in that box."

"I just know she's going to love it." I quickly pull on the light green dress I wore to town. I step up to the table and open the box to pull out the light blue dress that I had Ellie make for my youngest sister. "It's beautiful, just like everything else you make, Ellie."

"Thank you." She sits down at her sewing machine and begins to push the pedal, making the final adjustments to my dress. "At least you gave me more time to make these than Madeline gave me to make her wedding gown."

"Well, she had to hurry or she would've become a spinster." I joke as I fold the blue dress back up. Madeline, who's now twenty-eight, was very close to becoming a spinster but that all changed when she became friends with Kevin. Those two have a very sweet, endearing sort of love and it's precious to watch.

Leaning on the table, I watch Ellie as she continues with her stitches. Instinctively my hand moves to the locket around my neck and I brush my fingers over it. When Candy proposed to me on Christmas, he didn't have a ring but he promised to buy me one as soon as he could. A few days later he asked me what type of ring I wanted and I surprised him by saying I'd rather have a locket. It confused him at first but when I explained that I could get a small portrait of him and wear it around my neck, right next to my heart, he agreed, especially after I pointed out that I was going to get a wedding band after our marriage and that I really didn't need two rings. The locket he bought me was simple yet beautiful. He had our initials carved on the front and I painted a small portrait of him to put inside. Flipping around the silver heart in my hand, I gently open it and look yet again at the likeness of the man who's captured my heart.

"Do you want to take this home with you today?" The sound of Ellie's voice brings me back from the little place my mind had drifted. Looking up, I quickly shut the locket and drop it back onto my chest. She gently folds my dress and lays it in a box, it's new home until I wear it in two weeks.

"Of course I do." I giggle, excitement bubbling up in me again. "I can't wait to show it to Mama and Jewels."

"I'm guessing Madeline will have to wait." She teases, tying a ribbon around the box to keep it closed.

"Not too long though, she's supposed to come over sometime soon." I pick up both boxes, the one with Jewels' dress and then the one with mine in it. "I better get home. I've been in town so long now I'm surprised Pa and Candy haven't started a search party to hunt me down."

"You better get a move on it before they think you vanished on them." I walk across the room towards the door. "See you soon, Brie."

"Bye, Ellie." Waving over my shoulder, I step out the open door. I walk up to the hitching post where I left my brown mare, Callie, and rub her neck as I slip the boxes into the big saddle bag Pa let me borrow. After I untie the reins from the post, I nimbly swing mount into the saddle. I can still remember Pa's face the very first time he saw me mount a horse that way; he was shocked to say the least. I guess he was surprised that a girl could do something that he really only saw Little Joe do.

I turn Callie in the direction of home and wave to a few friends who I pass on the street as I ride out of town. The road is empty as I make my way home but after I've ridden for about fifteen minutes or so, I hear galloping horses behind me. I glance over my shoulder and see three horses speeding towards me so I quickly pull Callie to a stop on the side of the road. But instead of continuing on past, like I thought they would, they pull up short beside me. All three are somewhat rough looking men, which makes me realize how alone I really am out here.

"Eh, lookie what we've found, amigos." The Mexican looking one closest to me scans me up and down. Fear begins to pump through my veins as he pulls his horse closer and blocks my way back to the road. Now I know how Madeline felt that time when she got hounded by those drunks in town; only these men are sober and dangerous looking and there's no one to butt in and get them away from me. The other two follow suit, moving in closer and completely blocking me from getting away.

"She's a pretty senorita, ain't she, Carlito?" The blonde one farthest to my right laughs as he leans forward in his saddle to get a better look at me. The way all three of them keep looking at me makes me feel like a bug stuck under a magnifying glass.

"Si." The Mexican, whom I'm assuming goes by Carlito, swings his right leg over his saddle. As his feet hit the ground, I realize that they have no intention of letting me go home. He steps up to me and lays one of his dark tan hands on my thigh. My insides recoil as I try to shift Callie away but his hand grabs my thigh in a grip that's nothing but painful. I try not to gasp and quickly swallow down the pain and fear slowly making their way up my throat as the blonde man lets out a chuckle.

"Well, Carlito, what do ya say," he asks, "it's been awhile since you've had a pretty face to look at or do you think with her havin' red hair'll make her too much trouble for ya?"

Carlito turns towards his blonde partner and lets out a string of Spanish that I'm glad I can't understand because if the look on the other man's face is any way of telling, I figure it was nothing but curses. His mouthful of Spanish spoken, he turns back to me, hand still on my thigh but thankfully no longer bruising it, "You are a quiet senorita, what's your name?"

"That is none of your business." The fear pulsing through me makes it come out almost a whisper, but it's still loud enough for the other to hear. He chuckles quietly but quickly stops when Carilto's head swivels back in his direction.

"Your name, senorita." This time he growls it at me and I realize I better tell him or he might smack it out of me.

"Brie."

"Brie, it's a pleasure to meet you." He tips his hat. "Now, if you would be so kind as to turn your horse in the other direction, we'll be on our way."

"Um, excuse me?" I ask, confused, yet not completely surprised.

"What he means, Brie," the blonde man says as he leans a little closer, "is that now that you've seen us, we have to take you with us."

"But why?"

"It's simple: you'd tell the sheriff that you passed us on the road and we can't have that." With his words, I fully realize my situation. Apparently they're some sort of outlaws on the run and I just happened to be in their path.

"Come now, senorita," Carlito says again, "turn your horse."

I know that if I put up a fight I'll only get myself in deeper yet I have to do something, so I quickly lift my right leg over the saddle. If my horse comes home without me, my family will know something's wrong and come looking for me. Before Carlito has a chance to react, I leave my left foot loosely in its stirrup with my right one nearly touching the ground as I slap Callie's rump as hard as I can. I quickly leap backwards so I don't get dragged along as she takes off at a gallop towards home. A mixture of Spanish and English curses fly through the air around me as Carlito roughly grabs my arm and spins me around to face him. Continuing to curse at me, he slaps his hand hard across my face before dragging me the few feet to his horse. He grabs me around the waist and I'm practically thrown into the saddle.

"Let's get outta here." He swings himself up behind me. Kicking his horse into a gallop, he heads west away from the Ponderosa with his two partners close behind. As the wind whips past me it makes the pins holding my braid on my head loosen as I fight back tears of fear and dread.