Conspiracy Game (49 page)

“You make me feel safe when you hold me, Jack,” Briony confided. “I’ve always been so afraid, but even now, surrounded by our enemies, you make me feel safe.” She murmured the words against the warmth of his mouth, kissed his chin and the small crow’s feet around his eyes—not laugh lines, but from squinting in the sun. Grateful that Ken was on guard duty and had left them alone to sleep while waiting for nightfall, she was determined to take advantage of her opportunity alone with Jack.

Jack kissed the tip of her nose, the corners of her mouth, the small indentation in her chin. It seemed an impossibility to be lying there in the Montana grass, in the place he loved, and hold this one woman. And she kept looking at him with love in her eyes. Genuine love.

“You’re a fucking miracle, Briony.” He kissed her again, and slid his hands down to her stomach, pushing up the material of her blouse so he could cover bare skin with his palm. “I want to feel them move inside of you. A part of you and a part of me. I never imagined having kids or even having a woman of my own. Now that you’re here with me, I can’t imagine life without you.”

She closed her eyes to savor the feel of his hands caressing her stomach. For one moment she thought she felt the flutter of a baby moving inside her, but the movement was so small and brief, she might have imagined it. “Don’t say fucking, Jack.” The truth was that, in spite of herself, she was becoming fond of that term when he said the things he said about her. “You have to clean up your language for the babies. But just in case you don’t know it, I think you’re a miracle too. I love you.”

He went still—utterly and completely still. Even his breath ceased in his lungs. He waited until she opened her eyes and looked at him. “Don’t say that unless you mean it, Briony. I don’t want there to be any mistakes.”

“There’s no mistake. I love you more than anything. I’m happy I’m carrying your children. I love being with you.”

“It’s remote up here and the road is impassable some of the time. We get snow. You could get lonely.”

“I love where you live and the house and all of it.”

“Sometimes I’m as mean as a snake. I like my way, baby—maybe too much.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of it? I know it snows. I don’t get lonely and certainly won’t with you, Ken, and two children running around, and if you’re mean, I’ll see what I can do to soothe you.” Her hand slid over his chest, feather-light—suggestive. “And as for getting your way, you probably will most of the time, so when I really want something, of course you’ll be more than happy to accommodate me.”

“I will?” A slow grin curved his mouth, took a few moments to light his eyes. “I doubt you’ll ever have much of a problem getting anything you want from me, but you already know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, and you know what I want right this minute?” She leaned up to brush her lips against his ear. “I want you inside me so bad I can’t think straight.” Because there was a part of her that feared she might lose him—that this might be the last opportunity they had to be together. “Do you think Ken will stay away long enough to give us time?” She whispered the invitation like a temptress.

Ken, I need a little time alone with Briony.

You think? I’m sitting up here twiddling my thumbs, lover boy. You’d better win her over with your skills cuz you sorely lack in the romance department. You don’t want to lose that woman.

No, Jack definitely didn’t want to lose her. He closed himself off to Ken, and kissed her gently. “I’ve got a hell of a great brother. He’s watching our back trail for us.”

“Go slow, Jack. I need you to go slow.” She wanted to feel loved, wanted to be with him again just in case this was the last time—the only time she had left. It was wrong with poor Ken so close by and accommodating them—she should have felt embarrassed—but she only felt grateful. It wouldn’t be long before they’d be fighting for their lives again, and she needed Jack now. “I’m sorry I look such a mess.”

“Do you think that matters, Briony? No one could be more beautiful to me. Swollen eye, bruises—it would never matter. You’re a fighter, babe, and you make me proud of you.”

He pushed her shirt further up her body, until the underside of her breasts were exposed, fingers stroking soft skin. “When I touch you, I swear, Briony, each time is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I feel like a fool trying to tell you what you mean to me, but I don’t want you to ever think you weren’t worth the effort for me to try to put the way I feel about you into words.”

Jack feathered kisses over her gently rounded belly. Strands of his hair brushed against her breasts, sending shivers of awareness down her spine. Briony didn’t know why she found it so erotic to be outside with him, danger surrounding them, and watching his eyes darken with desire and his body grow hard in anticipation. “You’ll have to be on top so we don’t take any chances hurting you or the babies.” He lifted his head to look at her, his gray eyes nearly charcoal. “I’ll be so gentle you won’t even know it’s me.”

She couldn’t believe how wet and hot she already was just looking at him. His hands cupped her breasts, kneading with exquisite care, rolling her nipple until she gasped, her vision hazing over. Briony’s clothes felt too tight, the material scraping against her sensitive skin and impeding his roaming hands. She hastily opened her jeans and sat up to remove her clothes, glancing around to make certain they were concealed by the shrubbery and thick canopy. The angle of the canyon walls helped, and she could see why Jack had picked such a spot to hide while they waited for dark.

Jack had divested himself of clothing as well and reached up and tugged at her wrist until she was sitting on his lap, straddling him. He fisted his hands in her hair to drag her head back, wanting to devour her, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, teeth tugging at her lips, and all the while he deliberately pressed his hard cock against her wet channel. For a moment he sat still, absorbing the feel of her, the scent of her, the miracle of her being with him. He buried his face against her neck to hide the sudden overwhelming emotion he knew was naked on his face.

“Jack?”

He pulled her arms around his neck until her fingers dug into his muscle as he positioned her legs around his waist. She locked her ankles behind his back, opening her body even more to him, and he rocked her back, rubbing his cock deeper into her feminine heat. He could hear his name on her lips forever, that breathy little hesitation, the way love poured through her voice. He deliberately moved again to draw a little moan from her.

Briony gripped his shoulders hard and made a small keening sound, a soft wail of pleasure adding hot flames of excitement licking through his surging blood. Jack kissed her over and over, drowning in her taste, loving the way she responded, giving up her mouth the way she did her body—wholly—unconditionally. He kissed his way down her throat and shoulders, until he found the hot little points of her breasts, already stiff for him. She was so hot and wet already, rocking against him, letting him know how much she wanted him. That alone was an aphrodisiac.

Jack took her breast in his mouth, felt the unbelievable softness, tugged her nipple with his teeth, rolled it with his mouth, and when she cried out, went back to suckling. With each strong pull, he felt her grow hotter and wetter for him. He loved her body’s reaction, and his hands began to stroke and caress her shoulders, down her back, to her buttocks, his mouth all the while lavishing attention on her breasts.

Briony flung back her head, arching into the heat of his mouth, nails digging into his shoulders. His slow hands and ravaging mouth sent her body pulsing with such aching need she tried to squirm onto him.

“Stop that,” he said sharply and brought his hand down on her bottom, sending an unexpected flare of heat spiraling through her body. “We’re taking this slow and easy, remember? Let it build.” Because he wanted to stay inside her forever. Jack wanted to hold her to him any way that he could. He had no idea how she’d managed to invade his heart and soul—but she had—and he needed her as surely as he needed the sun to come up in the morning. He wanted forever—and he had only a short time—but every moment was going to count.

The terrible aching need was already built—already raging out of control. Briony felt the tension in her rising, the pressure tightening deep inside, until her body clenched and wept in need. “Jack. We don’t have time.”

“For this—for us—we have time.” He kissed her neck, bit gently at her chin, found her breast again, and sent another shaft of desire curling through her with a strong pull of his hot mouth. Her body rubbing over him—pleading, demanding—hardened his cock into a thick instrument of flesh-and-blood steel.

Briony’s hands gripped him harder as he lifted her up and positioned her over his lap. He lowered her until the broad head of his shaft began to force entry, invading her body inch by slow inch. She was soft—so soft it felt like a silken glove gripping him—and hot—so hot he groaned and let gravity help seat her, needing him to be as deep as possible. Her body wrapped him up in silk and velvet, squeezing and clenching so that he gasped with the sheer pleasure of it. He caught her hips and began to move her in a slow, sultry rhythm. “That’s it, baby. Just take a nice easy ride.”

Straddling his thighs, Jack buried himself deep in her body. Briony wiggled, a small movement, but it pushed him even deeper, pressing him tightly against her clit, so each stroke sent an electrical current racing through her body, straight up to her nipples. A hot streak of excitement filled her as she felt her building climax. She arched back further, lifting her hips to his slow, easy rhythm, but adding a circular motion, watching his eyes, his face, reveling in the mixture of lust and love she saw there.

Her breasts swayed erotically with every thrust of his hips; her nipples brushed Jack’s chest to send hot sparks raining over her skin. She began to assert herself as her body wound tighter and tighter, lifting higher, grinding harder, riding him with a faster rhythm. His breath caught in his chest and she took him deeper, increasing the friction, deliberately contracting her muscles around him, drawing a harsh groan from him.

“Son of a bitch, Briony, you’re going to kill me before we’re through.”

She wanted to drive him to swearing. With anyone else it wouldn’t have seemed right—or sexy—but with Jack she knew she was pushing his limits and he was letting her. He didn’t like giving up control—not even sexually—but he let her set the pace, do what she wanted—maybe needed—to do.

She looked him straight in the eye and smiled, a sultry, sexy smile of sheer bliss. “You know what, Jack? This is
me
—loving you.”

His heart jumped in his chest. His cock thickened and jerked in answer.

Her fingertips slid over his face, traced every beloved line. When had he become so necessary to her? She felt love mingling with the terrible cravings of her body, and if it was possible, love for him increased her pleasure even more. She rocked forward and took his mouth, tongue sliding over his lips, teeth teasing and nibbling. His mouth opened, hot and hard and tasting so good. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, all the while rocking and writhing and keeping a steady rhythm designed to drive him as crazy as she could manage.

And then his mouth moved against hers, and he was all at once dominant, hands tightening on her hips, forcing her body into a different, much harder and faster rhythm. She felt the instant flare of excitement—the heat rushing like a fireball through her body to tighten every muscle and heighten her pleasure even more. She tipped her head back in invitation as his mouth wandered down her throat to her breasts, teasing and nipping and driving her insane. She could feel her climax building and building, his mouth and hands and body pushing her closer and closer to the edge. He filled and stretched her, their combined bodies hotter than she’d imagined possible, as he picked up the pace and deliberately pressed into the bundle of sensitive nerves.

Briony bit back a scream and let herself go, muscles clamping down tightly, taking him with her, milking him dry, while her body rippled and quaked with a shocking orgasm. Jack gave a husky groan, as he emptied himself into her and dragged her against his chest to hold her in his arms, while they rocked together, clinging, his face buried in her hair, hers in his shoulder. They stayed that way a long time, just holding each other, while their hearts stopped racing, bodies still one—both feeling at peace.

“We have to get some rest,” Jack prompted finally, reluctantly letting his arms slip away. “We have a long night in front of us.” He poured water onto a small towel. “Lie back and I’ll clean us up. You’ll have to get dressed and sleep in your clothes. We’ll need to be ready to move.”

Briony should have felt embarrassed to have him gently wipe her thighs, but she felt loved and cared for. His eyes remained dark with emotion as they dressed and she lay down beside him, his arm tucking her close to his body, the cover pulled up over them. “Thank you, Jack. I needed to be with you.”

His kiss was gentle. “We’re going to get out of this. All of us will.”

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep—reassured by the confidence in his voice and the warmth of his arms.

J
ack.
Ken resisted touching his brother’s shoulder, knowing Jack would wake up brandishing a weapon and probably slit his throat. He stayed out of range, crouching low, as his twin sat up, already tracking with a gun. Ken waved the muzzle away from his body.
We’re in trouble, bro. I climbed up the pass…

“You did what?” Jack hissed. “Damn it, Ken. That was dangerous.”

Immediately Briony stirred and sat up as well, looking from one brother to the other. “What’s wrong?”

Ken sank down beside them, rifle cradled in his arms. “Sorry we woke you, Bri, but we’re going to have company soon.”

“What’s going on, Ken?” Jack demanded.

“I got suspicious when the damned helicopter never made any sweeps. Why would they do that? I didn’t put it out of commission. They may have wanted me to think I did, but I knew better. So while I was sitting up in the rocks, cooling my heels, I got this idea about Dr. Whitney and his files. Just suppose he managed to find a map of our property and he studied it and knew if we went for this canyon that we had a way up through the pass.”