MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (144 page)

Chapter Four

              After meeting the rest of Ethan’s brothers over breakfast, Jessa insisted on pitching in with the clean-up.  She would have done more to thank them for sheltering her, but Liam and Chris chased her out of the kitchen.  Outside the big house the howl of the wind grew fainter, and by the time Ethan took her back upstairs, the frosty windows sparkled with sunlight.

“I think these might you fit you,” he told her as he brought a pair of flannels, worn jeans and a thick, soft pink sweater from another room.

She inspected the sizes and nodded.  “Did your last girlfriend leave these behind?”

“No, they belonged to my mother.”  A flicker of sadness passed over his face.  “She and our Dad were killed by a drunk driver while they were out celebrating their twentieth anniversary.”

“Oh, Ethan, I’m so sorry.”  Impulsively, she hugged him.  “That must have been a terrible time for all of you.”

“I was barely nineteen, and downright terrified that I wouldn’t be able to keep the family or the ranch going,” he admitted.  “But once I came home, the boys helped me a lot.  Our folks taught us to depend on each other, and that’s always seen us through everything.”  He kissed the top of her head.  “Now get yourself dressed, and I’ll give you a tour of the place.”

Jessa had no idea how big the ranch was until she and Ethan stepped outside and she saw the huge barns.  “Wow.”  She tugged Caleb’s jacket around her tighter as she scanned the pastures beyond the outbuildings.  “You run this place with just seven men?”

“Not hardly,” Ethan told her as he scooped her up in his arms, and carried her across the snow to the barn door.  “We keep about twenty full-time hands, and hire whatever extra men we need for calving season, round-ups and drives.”

Inside the barn Jessa smiled as she watched the heads of two dozen curious horses appear over the stall doors.  “You’ve got these guys, too.”  She walked up to a big white gelding and stroked his nose.  “Boy, I miss horses.”

Ethan chuckled.  “You sure are comfortable with them.”

“I originally trained to be an equine vet, but it’s an expensive practice to set up.  I still see a few show horses, but mostly my days are spent looking after cats and dogs.”  She rolled her eyes before she moved to the next stall, where a bright-eyed paint dipped her head to nuzzle Jessa’s neck.  “Hey, honeybunch.  Aren’t you a sweet girl?”

“Rosie is my work horse,” Ethan told her.  “And she probably smells me on you.” 

Jessa turned her head and sniffed her shoulder before smiling slyly at him.  “Eau de Cowboy.  I like it.”  A sharp whinny drew her attention across the barn, where a big chestnut stallion glared back at her.  “Sounds like someone’s jealous.”

“Pete is just bad-tempered,” Ethan said with a sigh.  “My brother Caleb bought him at a stock auction, and he’s been a pain in my ass ever since.”

Jess went over to Pete’s stall, and stopped just as of reach of the horse.  “Ethan, he’s got blood on his mouth.”  She glanced around.  “I need to cover his eyes so I can get in there and have a look at him.”

Ethan handed her a head drape, which she quickly pulled over the stallion’s face.  Once Pete had quieted, she opened the stall door and slipped inside.

“Let’s see what’s hurt you, big guy,” Jessa said in a soft, soothing voice.  Keeping one hand on his hide so he knew where she was, she performed a quick visual assessment.  “His lip’s got a nasty gash in it.  I see fresh cuts on his forelegs, too.”

Ethan picked up a dented, overturned feed bucket.  “Had himself a temper tantrum, kicked the bucket, and then tried to eat.”  He showed her the bent, bloody rim.

“Did your vet leave a suture kit here?”  When he nodded she sighed with relief.  “Okay, I’ll need that, some hide salve and bandages for his legs.”

While she worked on the horse, Ethan asked her if she could remember anything else about the man who had kidnapped her.

“He was middle-aged, about six foot, with thin, sandy hair, and these awful pale blue eyes.”  She shuddered a little as she tied off a suture. “At first I thought he might be a doctor, but he was just wearing a white suit.”

Ethan hesitated before he handed her the salve.  “What color was his car?”

“It was white, too.”  She reached for some bandages.  “I didn’t get the license plate, but it was a Lexus.  How many people around here drive that kind of car anyway?”

“Not so many,” Ethan said grimly.

* * *

              Once Jessa had finished treating Pete’s injuries, she tidied up the stall and replaced his trampled feed bucket with a plastic bin she wedged in one corner.  “I’d keep his grain floor-level until that lip heals, so he doesn’t bump it and open it again.”

              As Ethan followed her out to show her where to wash up, he debated on whether or not to tell her that his neighbor, Richard Demesse, had abducted her.  Knowing that her kidnapper was only a few hundred acres away would likely terrify her. And if she said anything to his brothers, they’d want to form a posse and go lynch the attorney.

              “Ethan?’  Jessa frowned up at him.  “Everything all right?”

              “Yeah.”  He felt like a shit for not telling her the truth, but the situation was too rocky to handle right now.  Instead he held out his hand.  “Want to see what’s in the hayloft?”

              Her gaze darted up before her smile turned puzzled.  “You mean, like bales of hay?”

              “No, something else.”  Ethan took her hand and led her over to the ladder, helping her up onto the rungs before climbing up behind her to the loft.  Watching the sway of her tight bottom made his cock swell against his zipper, and when he stepped off the ladder he was ready to grab her adorable little ass with both hands.

              “Okay,” Jessa said as she turned to him.  “What do you want to show me, Cowboy?”

              “You have to find it first.”  Ethan glanced down meaningfully at his crotch before he sat down on a wide row of bales.  “You look, and I’ll tell you if you’re hot or cold.”

              “Let’s see.”  Jessa went first to the barn window.  “Over here?” 

              “Cold.  Iced over.  Frozen solid,” Ethan said as she moved away.  As she spun around and walked toward him, he smiled.  “Warmer.  A lot warmer.  Hot.”  He cleared his throat as she stepped between his thighs.  “Scalding.” 

              “I still don’t see anything.”  Jessa dropped down to kneel, and rested her hands on his big thighs.  “Maybe you’re hiding it from me.”

              Ethan loved how playful she was.  “Not really possible.”

              She glanced down at the thick bulge in his pants.  “Oh, I get it.  You put it in your pants.”  She slowly unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned and unzipped him, and reached inside his briefs as if searching for something. 

              Ethan inhaled sharply as her soft, cool fingers curled around his shaft.  “Do you like it?”

              “I’m not sure what it is.”  Jessa pursed her lips.  “It feels very big.”  She eased his cock out of his briefs and pretended to study it.  “It looks a little painful, too.”  She brushed her lips across the straining bulb of his cockhead.  “There, does that feel better?”

              “A little,” Ethan said, his voice rough.  “But I think it needs more.”

              “More of this?”  Before he could answer Jessa parted her lips over him and enveloped his tip with her warm, wet mouth.

              “Oh, yeah.”  Ethan pushed his fingers into her hair as she sucked on him, and sighed when she took her mouth away again.  “Don’t stop now, darling.”

              Jessa pushed him so that he was flat on his back, and then stripped off her jeans before she straddled him in reverse.  Looking at her bare buttocks as he felt her mouth on his cock made Ethan utter a deep groan before he clamped his hands on her thighs and spread them.

              “You’re all wet down here, girl,” he breathed as he stroked the pretty place between her thighs.  “I think I’d better do something about that.”

              Now it was her turn to moan as Ethan covered her sex with his mouth, and licked at her sweet, damp folds.  He felt her shudder as he pushed his tongue into the soft ellipse of her pussy.  Jessa sucked his cock deeper, and he showed her his appreciation by slowly laving her hard, pulsing little pearl. 

              Ethan could feel his balls tightening, and lifted her off him to turn her and plant her on top of his cock.  “Come on, Cowgirl,” he teased her.  “Ride me now.”

              Jessa’s hands shook as she frantically positioned his thick cock between her thighs, and lowered herself onto him with a stuttering sigh.  As her pussy slid down the length of him, Ethan reached up to cup her lovely breasts, and squeezed them in time with the gentle thrust of her body over his.

              It didn’t take long for her pleasure to burst, or for him to spill his cream inside her.  Jessa collapsed on his chest as he stroked her back, and sighed as they cooled down. 

              “I like what you keep in the hay loft,” she whispered.  “Could you move it to my bed tonight?”

              Ethan chuckled and was about to answer when he heard the barn door slam open.  “Liam, I’ll look after the horses,” he called out.  “You and the boys check the cattle.”

              “I’m sorry,” a smarmy voice said, “but Liam can’t do anything right now.”

              Jessa froze and stared at Ethan with wide, frightened eyes.  “That’s the man who took me.  The psychopath.” 

Chapter Five

              Jessa wanted to scream, but she made herself pull back on the borrowed jeans and duck down as Ethan straightened his clothes.  When she looked down she could see Liam and Caleb standing with their hands behind their heads, and the monster behind them pointing a shotgun at their backs.

              “Stay here,” Ethan muttered to her as he went to the ladder.

“Come on down, too, Dr. Cooper,” the man said.  “I know you’re up there, and if you don’t, I’m going to turn one of these rednecks into a quadriplegic.”

Jessa exchanged a look with Ethan before she followed him down the ladder and stepped off to face her abductor.  “You don’t have to do this.  I haven’t reported you to the police, and these men have done nothing to you.  If you leave, right now, you can get away.”

“Have you fucked all of them yet, Doc, or just this one?”  The monster turned to Ethan.  “I bet the little whore was very grateful for the rescue.  But be honest, neighbor – is she really any good in the sack, or shouldn’t I waste my time?”   

              Ethan’s expression turned to stone.  “You’re not laying another finger on her, Demesse.” 

Jessa eased her hand in her pocket, and curled her fingers around the suture scissors she’d used on Pete.  She also noticed some movement outside the back barn windows.  “Wait.  I’ll go with you.  Just don’t hurt anyone else.”

The monster leveled the shotgun at Ethan.  “Never going to happen, Doc.”

Jessa stared desperately at her cowboy, and Ethan gave her a direct look before eyeing the windows and then the floor. 

“Down,” Liam called out sharply, and Jessa and all three brothers dropped as gun fire shattered the windows.

“No, no, n—” the monster’s voice dwindled to a wet gurgle as he jerked a few times and then crumpled to the ground.

Ethan yanked the shotgun from his spasming hands and held it trained on him as he shouted, “Clear.”

Jessa pushed herself up and went to the kidnapper, who stared up at her in confusion as blood bubbled from the side of his mouth.  Wet red stains blossomed on his white jacket from the three large gunshot wounds in his chest.

“No,” the man got out before a gush of blood erupted from his mouth, and he went still.

“It’s all right, darling.”  Ethan held her close as the rest of his brothers rushed in, and Liam covered the corpse with an old saddle blanket.  “It’s over now.”

* * *

              While waiting for Jessa to finish giving her statement to the local sheriff, Ethan drank three cups of terrible vending machine coffee and paced the length of the lobby twenty times.  Liam finally told him to sit down before he tied him to one of the flimsy plastic visitor chairs.

              “Will you stop it already?” his brother demanded.  “She’ll be fine.”

              “She’s traumatized,” Ethan countered, and then dragged his hand through his hair.  “I don’t think she’s going to forgive me for keeping from her that I knew it was Demesse.”

              “What, for the fifteen seconds before he showed up and tried to shoot us all?”  Liam made a rude sound.  “If this is you in love, brother, you’re not going to be worth the powder and shot to put you out of your misery.  Ask her to marry you.”

              “After knowing her exactly two days? Yeah, sure.”  Ethan got up to pace the small room again, but at that moment Jessa walked out to join them. 

              “They’re going to have a special team come in and search his property,” she told them, her voice tight.  “So they can see if they can find the remains of his other victims.  They think he might be responsible for quite a few.”  She looked up at Ethan.  “Thank you for waiting for me.”

              “Come on.”  He put his arm around her and gave Liam a warning look.  “Let’s go home.”

              Once they arrived back at the ranch Liam took the rest of his brothers out to do their chores while Jessa went into the kitchen and helped Ethan warm up Buck’s pot of chili.

              “I called one of my nurses at my practice, and she’s arranging to have a car delivered here for me,” Jessa said as she took down the plates from the cabinets.  “I’ll need to get back to Billings as soon as the roads are clear.”

              Ethan nodded, and then said what he really thought.  “Don’t go back.”  As she stared at him, he took the dishes from her hands and set them aside.  “Stay here.  Stay with me.  I’ll buy whatever you need – clothes, shoes, I don’t care.  Just don’t go.”

              Jessa rested her hands against his chest.  “Then when will you want me to leave, Cowboy?”

              Ethan bent his head to brush his lips over hers.  “Never.  I know we just met yesterday, and we don’t know each other, and we live on opposite sides of Montana, but I don’t care.  I want you here, with me.”

              “Well, that means closing my practice, and giving up my apartment, and living with you and your six brothers on a lovely ranch in the middle of nowhere.”  Jessa thought for a moment before she nodded.  “Okay.”

              He laughed before he could stop himself.  “I’ll never let you leave, darling.  You know that.”

              “Cowboy,” she said, smiling up at him.  “I’m never going to want to go.”  

THE END