“He did what?”His oldest daughter, Rose, looked unhappy at having to repeat the story. “Well, he actually tied her up and tossed her over his shoulder. Then he just rode off.”“This was yesterday?”Blond and pretty in a light green gown, the spitting image of her mother twenty years ago, Rose reluctantly nodded.“They‘ve been gone the whole night?”“Yes.”“I‘ll kill him.”“No, you won‘t.” His wife handed him a cup of coffee and smiled.The day had dawned with beautiful clear skies and the kitchen was bright and sunny, fragrant with the homey smell of baking bread. Outside, his three sons unloaded the wagon of supplies, and he could hear Joshua and Jared having a good-natured argument over where to store the new fencing wire. Gerald had stayed overnight in town because he‘d met with his banker to arrange a draft for some new stock he‘d planned on buying, and so he‘d been darned happy to be home.Until he‘d found out his youngest daughter had been kidnapped from his own front porch.Holding the steaming cup, he registered his wife‘s serene expression with suspicion.
