Trusting Them (4 page)

A fit of coughing urged her back to bed. Seconds after she’d made herself comfortable again, Brady returned with a plate brimming with scrambled eggs. They looked delicious but she couldn’t imagine being able to eat even half of them.

“I scrambled them soft so they should be easy on your throat.” Brady sat the plate in her lap and waited while she tasted them.

“Mmm, they’re good. Thanks. I guess I was hungry.” She took a sip of the water.

“I was going to bring some milk up but decided that since you’ve been running a fever, it wouldn’t be a good idea. Wouldn’t want it to sour in your stomach.”

“Thanks for the eggs, Brady.” She smiled up at him. “And water is just fine.”

“I’ll let you eat and come back to check on you in a little while.” He hesitated, then sighed and left.

Jeni managed to eat a healthy half of the eggs despite thinking she wouldn’t be able to. The water proved to be a little bit harder to swallow than the eggs, but she managed to empty the glass by the time Brock knocked on the door and walked in.

“Brady said you might be finished eating by now.” He ran a hand through his shaggy hair.

“The eggs were delicious. I was hungrier than I thought.” She started coughing again and groaned. It hurt her sides.

“Still got a cough, though, haven’t you?” He walked over and rested a work-roughened hand across her forehead. “Don’t think you have a fever right now though.”

“I’m fine, just tired I guess.” She fidgeted under his hand.

“I expect you’re sore too. You have quite a few bruises on you. Care to tell me where they came from?”

“I…I don’t know. I guess I had a wreck somewhere and they’re from the wreck.” She looked down at the half-empty plate in her lap.

The circumstances behind most of her bruises couldn’t be revealed to the kind brothers who had helped her. She knew that were it not for them, she would be dead. She owed them so much, but that meant keeping them safe. To keep them safe, she would have to continue to lie and hope she could figure out a way to leave as soon as possible.

“Some of those bruises are older than your having a wreck last night.” Brock raised her chin to look at him.

His eyes seemed to see right into her soul, and she realized in that minute that he knew she was lying to them. What else could she do, though? If they knew the reason for her being in this predicament they would want to help her. They were honorable like that, she decided. No, she couldn’t let them get mixed up with her crazy ex-husband.

“I don’t remember what happened. I’m sure it was a car wreck,” she hedged.

“If you say so. But, Jeni, you can trust us to help you with whatever trouble you’re in.”

“I don’t think I’m in any kind of trouble,” she lied. Even to her it sounded like a lie.

She was saved from needing to say anything else by Brady coming into the room. He smiled at her and stepped around his brother to pick up her plate and the empty water glass.

“Looks like you ate a pretty good amount.” He straightened up. “I’ll bring you up some more water in a little while.”

“Thank you both so much for being so kind to me. I really appreciate it.” She knew it was lame, considering how her presence in their home put them in danger from her ex.

“Don’t worry about it. You needed help. We couldn’t very well leave you in the middle of the road in the snow.” Brock shoved his hands on his hips.

“Do you think we will be able to get into town today?”

Brady looked over at Brock with an odd look on his face. She glanced from one brother to the other.

“Not today. If we don’t get any more snow tonight, we might be able to tomorrow afternoon. The wind is blowing the snow around too much for it to be safe to drive right now.” Brock seemed to be watching how she would take the news.

“Oh, okay.” She swallowed and immediately began coughing again.

“You need to rest. You’re courting pneumonia as it is. Just as soon as it’s safe to get you to town, we’re taking you to the doctor,” Brock said.

She noticed Brady didn’t seem too happy about that prospect. Why was that?

“Are you warm enough? We’ve got the generator on right now, but we’re going to have to turn it off in a little while to save the fuel. Don’t really know how long this storm will last,” Brock said.

“Oh, I didn’t realize the electricity was off. I’m fine right now. If it gets colder I can just add another blanket, right?” She watched their faces as they exchanged looks.

“We’ll see,” Brady said. “I’m going to take this downstairs. I’ll be right back with some more water.”

She watched him go and felt a piece of her seem to go with him. Brock walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“We slept in here with you last night. Without the electricity, it’s too cold to sleep alone and you were burning up with fever. We’ll probably be doing the same tonight if the electricity doesn’t come back on. I don’t expect it will until they can get someone out here to run the lines and find the break. Too windy to risk putting anyone on a pole right now.”

“So, you’re planning on sleeping with me again?” She realized it didn’t bother her as much as it should have.

“Yep.”

“Okay. I guess it’s the best thing to do.” She felt a flush spread over her face and hoped he wouldn’t notice it.

When he reached out and ran the back of his hand over her cheek, she knew he had. It only served to embarrass her more. She couldn’t look at him. When he lifted her chin, she still averted her eyes from his.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.

Jeni wasn’t sure she could say anything around the lump in her throat. She felt his touch clear to her womb. There, it burned her from the inside out. She drew in a shaky breath and held it.

“Look at me.”

She couldn’t stop her eyes from gazing up into his chocolate orbs. He slowly leaned down and brushed her lips with his. Just the barest of butterfly kisses. She groaned. She wanted more. She wanted to taste him. He seemed to know what she wanted because he pressed his lips harder against hers and slanted his mouth over hers. She inhaled his scent as he licked along the seam of her lips. It washed over her and through her. He smelled of saddle leather, smoke, and the sweet musk of man.

The soft but persistent touch of his tongue finally persuaded her to open her mouth to his assault. He hummed his approval and explored her mouth with his tongue. He teased along hers and then nipped at her bottom lip when she started to pull away. He was having none of that. He wasn’t finished with her yet. His hands moved from where they had been cupping her face to her shoulders. One ran around her neck beneath her hair and massaged her neck. It relaxed her just enough that she didn’t notice when his brother entered the room until he cleared his throat.

There was a look of hunger on his face as he licked his lips. She pulled back from Brock’s arms and tried to sink into the covers. What had she done? She couldn’t get involved with these men. Not one of them and certainly not both of them. She had a madman on her trail.

“Don’t pull away like that,” Brock said.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” She caught herself licking her lips, much like Brady had been doing earlier.

Brady walked over to the bed and sat the glass of water he’d been carrying on the bedside table. He knelt on the floor next to the bed and leaned in. She found herself swaying towards him. When his lips touched hers, she opened as if it were the only thing she could do. The feel of his lips was so completely different from his brother’s. He seemed less sure and more hesitant. She whimpered when he pulled away.

“You’re sick, and I’m acting like a randy teenager. I’m sorry, baby. Get some more sleep.” Brady stood up and backed away from the bed.

“We’ll be downstairs if you need us. Why don’t you take a nap?” Brock said as he headed towards the door.

She watched both men walk through the door before Brady closed it most of the way behind him.

She was in so much trouble.

* * * *

They were in so much trouble, Brock thought. His brother was already a little in love with their guest. He refused to let himself think about what she meant to him at the moment. All he could think about was that she was lying to them about something and he had the distinct feeling it was something they needed to know about.

“Snow’s supposed to slack off tomorrow,” Brady said.

“Still going to get another few inches tonight. I’m not worried so much about the snow tomorrow as the wind. We can’t possibly drive to town if it’s still whipping around like it is now.” Brock looked out the kitchen window and sighed

“She’s gonna bolt first chance she gets,” Brady finally said.

“Yeah.”

“What are we going to do to stop her?”

Brock didn’t turn back around. He couldn’t bear to face his brother like this.

“Nothing. Not a damn thing.”

“Why the hell not?” Brady demanded.

“Because number one, we can’t keep her prisoner here and number two, she’s hiding something from us. She doesn’t trust us and we don’t know what sort of trouble she might be in.” Brock ran a hand around the back of his neck.

“She needs time to learn to trust us. One day isn’t long enough. Especially when two men are taking care of her.”

“Well, it’s all the time we have, Brady. If the weather eases up enough tomorrow, we have to take her to town. She’s sick. I’m worried about pneumonia.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that she’s ours. She belongs with us. I feel it inside of me.” Brady thumped his hand on his chest.

“I know. I know.” Brock hung his head, then turned back around.

“Let’s go break the ice in the water troughs again and check in with the hands on the cattle. It will be dark soon.”

Brady shook his head, but walked over and grabbed his coat and hat off the hooks by the back door. Brock could tell there was going to be a fight before it was over with. His brother wasn’t one to back off something he wanted. And he wanted little Jeni pretty damn bad.

Brock grabbed his own coat and hat. After putting on the coat, he shoved the gloves from his pockets over his big hands. He could well imagine running those hands over Jeni’s sweet skin. He could just imagine how her rosy breasts would look held in his weathered palms. Dark skin and light silk together. He groaned and pushed the errant thoughts from his head. He had work to do and it wasn’t getting done standing around daydreaming about something that probably would never happen.

The wind assaulted him as he opened the back door and then pulled it closed behind him once he’d stepped out into the thigh-deep snow. They’d shoveled a path to the stables and between the two barns, but the blowing wind just covered them back up again. Even the sparse trees on that side of the house couldn’t break its persistence. Brock pushed through the snow until he got to the first barn. Then he circled around to where the fence ended at the back of the barn. There, on the other side of the fence, stood a round watering tub, all of five feet in diameter and about three feet deep.

Brock didn’t bother brushing the snow off the top of the frozen water. Instead, he took the pick they kept by the barn and swung it over his head again and again until he’d broken through the ice to the water below. It splattered up and over the snowy top. He broke up a few more pieces, then moved over to the next one.

Most of the cattle were gathered together in a tight mass of mooing cowhide and twitching ears next to the barn. A section of the barn roof extended out a good six feet, with rough-hewn poles holding it up as a makeshift shelter from rain, sleet, and snow. As long as the cattle had food and water, they would be fine in the snow. The only worries he had were the calves, only about seven months old. He debated rounding them up and putting them in the barn for the night but figured that it would take a miracle to separate them from the herd.