Marie, Laura - Miss: Senorita and the Soldado [The Miss Series 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read Free Page B

his security very seriously.
    Elloisa slowly exited. She was on the outside, but cars were continually coming up the dirt roadway. She needed to hurry across between vehicles without being seen.
    She waited, praying Armando stayed unconscious. She ran across the road and into the fields.
    She took out the walkie-talkie and prayed the guy was in the vicinity.
    There was no response. She needed to get over the first hillside then into the clearing. Perhaps reception was bad down here but would improve the farther up she traveled.
    She was shaking but was physically ready for what was next as she started jogging up the hillside.
    The feel of the sand beneath her shoes was not foreign to her. She had jogged many times over this hill with Ramos or one of the other guards following in a Jeep close by. Her ankles were strong, and her training would surely be tested tonight.
    The more she ran, the smaller the Armando Sintorez Estate looked. Durango had been her prison for the better part of a year. Being south of the Cerro del Mercado, she had some major traveling ahead of her to get to Saltillo. She was alive and she would be free from him forever.

    * * * *

    New York

    Teressa Givani kneeled down and began to pull some of the new weeds from the rose garden beds. She was compelled to keep up the garden even though that had been a pastime that she and her daughter Elloisa did together. She wouldn’t let it go and she wouldn’t allow the gardener to maintain it. Elloisa and she had planted every seed together. They started creating the garden when Elloisa was five. Every year, they would add another type of rose bush. They now had a beautiful garden of various types of roses. Elloisa loved the altissimo rose best and its vibrant pink and cream colors.
    Teressa smiled at the thought. It seemed hopeless to wish for her daughter’s return. However, every time she came out to this garden, she couldn’t help but pray to the roses for help. She inhaled their floral scent then prayed that some way, somehow, they could bring Elloisa back to them.
    She gathered a bunch of roses to bring into the house so she could place them in a vase on the island in the kitchen. It was something that Elloisa always did. The kitchen island looked so bare without them.
    She sighed as she entered the house. Her husband Jerry liked to see the roses, too, although he wouldn’t admit that. He was a man and he felt at fault. If he hadn’t been involved with the undercover case against Armando Sintorez, then Elloisa would still be here. Teressa felt the tears fill her eyes. All she could do was pray that her Elloisa was still alive and not in pain.

    * * * *

    “Elloisa! Elloisa!” Armando screamed off the balcony, and Ramos came running outside.
    “¿Qué hay de malo?” Ramos called to his boss from below.
    Armando looked down over the balcony to the courtyard.
    “Get everyone together. My Elloisa has escaped. Now!” Armando yelled as he held the back of his head. The blood covered his hands and he felt dizzy.
    Why would she do this? How could she attack me like she did?
    The anger inside him was more intense than anything he ever felt before.
    Elloisa would pay for this and probably with her life.
    He heard the roar of the engines as the Jeeps were started and men were yelling down below. They would track her down. She couldn’t have gotten that far on foot.
    He held his head as the dizziness overtook him. Ramos appeared at the doorway.
    “What the fuck happened?” Ramos yelled and Armando held up his hand to signify that Ramos not yell or ask questions. Armando’s body swayed, and Ramos grabbed him, helping him to the bed.
    Armando looked at the rumpled sheets. Images of his Elloisa and what just took place infiltrated his mind.
    “What do you want me to do to her when I find her?” Ramos asked.
    Armando leaned against the headboard, holding a towel against the back of his head as the blood continued to flow.
    “Get her back here, Ramos. I will