“Maybe,” Jack conceded. “But you did come here. Go into the trees and take off your clothes, Briony.” He gentled his voice. “If you make me force you, Jebediah is going to get all protective and then we’re going to have a problem. He can’t take me, and there’s a high-powered rifle trained on him. Ken has an itchy trigger finger.”
Briony went very still, her stomach churning, her heart beating too fast. Jack sounded so matter-of-fact. He never raised his voice. Even when he gave commands, his voice was always soft, but he expected to be obeyed. The knowledge was there inside of her, a dawning realization that he truly didn’t live by the rules of society. She was surrounded by forest, deep in the mountains with a man who made his own rules, and she’d chosen that path herself. Worse, she’d put her brother’s life in danger.
Jebediah waited for her answer. He was willing to try to get her out of the situation. She saw it on his face.
Jack stepped toward her, breaking the tension, his shirt in his hand. “We’ve got a few kinks to work out, but I can promise both you and your brother, no harm will ever come to you or the baby as long as you’re in my care. Put the shirt on, Briony, and let Jebediah get out of here. The sooner he goes, the easier on you it will be.”
CHAPTER 10
Briony stepped with great reluctance behind several large trees. It had seemed such a good idea coming to ask Jack Norton for assistance, but the reality was far different from thinking about it. He could take her breath away with one smoldering look, but when he spoke, she just wanted to strangle him. And for some reason he seemed to have no problems touching her a little too intimately. She’d have to remind him what a liability she was.
She’d never been without her brothers watching her back. She was deliberately separating herself from them because she was terrified they were going to be killed protecting her. She tilted her chin. She couldn’t lose her resolve now. The danger to her family and friends was all too real. She just had to be strong. Briony put both hands over her stomach, wishing she were far enough along that she could feel the baby move. Once that happened, she wouldn’t feel so alone and vulnerable.
“Briony?” Jebediah called to her. “Are you okay?”
She tossed her clothes aside and enveloped her body in Jack’s shirt. His scent enfolded her close, teased her senses so that she couldn’t help inhaling sharply. “I’m fine, Jeb,” she lied, careful to keep her voice from shaking as she picked up her clothes. How could just his scent alone make her want him? Whatever Whitney had done to her was frightening in its intensity.
She didn’t look at Jack as she walked back to the two men and handed her things to her brother. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find a way to stay in touch with you.”
Jebediah stared down at her. For one horrible moment she thought there were tears in his eyes. “Are you certain this is what you want, honey? I swear we can find a better way to protect you.”
Briony shook her head. If her brother broke down, she would cry a river. She held herself rigidly. “Not without all of you being in danger.”
“Give him your earrings.” The order came from behind her. Too close behind her. Jack crowded her so that she felt his body heat. She felt his warm breath on the nape of her bare neck.
Briony stiffened but didn’t turn around, her palms covering her earrings, holding them to her. “These belonged to my mother. They mean a lot to me.”
“Give them to him. You can have them back later.”
She was going to cry. She blinked furiously as she removed the small diamond studs. Jebediah closed his fist tightly around them as he bent to kiss her.
“I’ll take care of them, Bri.”
She nodded, afraid to speak, biting her lip hard to hold back the tears. She wanted to cling to Jebediah, to the love and comfort of her familiar world. Now, when she needed her family and friends the most, she was thrust into a world of uncertainty-of fear. She didn’t want to be afraid of Jack or her reaction to him, but she was.
Jebediah gathered his sister into his arms, pulling her close to whisper into her ear. “You don’t have to do this, honey. We’re a family. We’ll take care of you ourselves.”
Jack heard the soft entreaty, heard the small sob she tried to suppress, and his gut twisted hard. He wasn’t used to emotion. He’d trained himself not to feel anything, and now here she was again, and just like before, he had the same instant bond with her, the same flood of raw emotion that had nearly ruined him months ago. He put a restraining hand on her arm-or maybe it was to comfort her-he honestly didn’t know which, but if she cried, he was afraid it was going to tear him up inside.
“It isn’t helping prolonging the good-byes, Jebediah. Get out of here and make it easier on her.” His voice was gruff-too gruff. He felt her stiffen beneath his hands, and she shot him a quick, quelling glance over her shoulder. There were definite tears swimming in her eyes. His heart turned over. Violence was his world. His first reaction was to smash something, his next was to pull her in to the shelter of his body.
Briony held herself away from him at first, but as her brother dropped his arms in resignation, she dug her fingers into Jack’s restraining arm where it circled her waist, almost as if by holding on to him she could prevent herself from following Jebediah.
“I love you, Bri,” Jebediah said.
“I love you too.” She choked and pressed her hand against her mouth to keep from telling him she’d made a terrible mistake.
Jebediah looked at Jack for a long time, as if memorizing every detail of his face. “You know I would never have brought her here unless I thought she was in real trouble.”
Jack nodded. “I know.”
“If anything happens to her-if you harm her in any way, Jack, and that includes breaking her heart, I don’t give a damn if you are the baddest ass around, I’ll hunt you down.”
“I know.”
Jebediah remained staring at Jack a moment longer and then touched Briony’s arm before turning away.
Briony bit her lip hard as she watched her brother disappear into the thick trees surrounding them.
Jack felt her trembling. Felt her pain. It got to him as few things could. He had the mad desire to snatch her up into his arms and carry her back to the house. “Let’s go up to the house where it’s a little warmer.”
“Not yet.” She couldn’t move. As long as she stayed where she was, separating herself from her family wasn’t a reality. She couldn’t breathe, panic setting in, her throat closing down, stopping her air until she was choking, fighting just to stay alive. She was alone.