Wait for Me (16 page)

Stumbling out to the clearance, Kenya limped on her toe then fell to the ground. Her hands shook as she touched the blood at her feet from where the fight started. Tears streamed down her face. Dust clouds filled the air around them and she could see tire tracks leading away from the far side of the dirt driveway.

Pivoting on her knees tearing at the hole she'd torn coming down through the trees, she scanned the dry road. "Carl…help me, we gotta find him."

She pushed off the ground, blood staining her knees where she dropped to the ground and tore her jeans. "Where, what…Carl you gotta tell me. I don’t care what he told you to do. I can't stand here while he's with that lunatic," she blurted, the lump of pain biting at her body, rocking her as anxiety squeezed her heart. She had to be at his side.

Kenya tore off in the direction of the dirt settling in the air. Car tracks screamed through the dry soil and she ran down the street. Out on the main road she turned in all directions searching the landscape for the jeep. Wiping frantically at the tears dripping down her face, she jerked forward as Carl’s body slammed into hers from behind. His large arms lifted her off the ground grouping her to his hard body.

“Kenya—please.”

“Carl, either help me or let go!” she hollered. “I gotta find Jonathan.” Struggling she kicked back. Carl yelped but held her tight. “Let go, Carl. He’s gonna get killed. What’s wrong with you? We need to help him…hell, let go!”

“Kenya, you’ll get yourself killed. Let him handle this,” he fired, struggling with her flailing arms. Snapping her head back, she caught Carl in the chin and he lost his grip. She hit the ground rocks grinding into the skin of her palms. 

Scrambling to her feet, she tore off to the jeep. Throwing the truck in gear, she peeled off in the direction of the dust cloud. Jostled around in the cabin, she clawed at the steering wheel keeping the truck from turning over barreling past the sheep.

Cursing, she hooked the jeep around the first path through the field, then slammed on the brakes and threw the truck in park when a wood frame appeared flat to the mountain. Sweat trickling down her neck. She wrenched the door handle, shoving the door open. The Jeep's axle squeaked as she leapt from the truck, rocking it side to side. The dust cleared. Whirling around, eyeing the landscape through the tree, a lump clogged her throat. She braced a hand on her knee and came away with blood smeared across her palm from the cut through her pants. She wiped a hand over her bloody knee and scanned the dry ground. No tracks. No cars. She'd lost them.

Searching for the other trucks, she spotted the jeep Jonathan had gotten into parked under a tree. From the crazy angle, he’d gotten out in a hurry.

Grabbing the door she eased it shut, cringed when the soft click hit the air. Darting a glance out over the hood, she doubled checked for moving branches through the trees. Clear. The dead leaves crunched beneath her as she ran around to where the other two trucks parked. Scraping her arms in the bramble along a barbed fence, she bit down on the scream tearing up through her throat. Kenya squat low to the ground, listening for voices coming from the wood frame set into the mountain. It turned out to be a sort of mineshaft entrance.

Breathing raged she braced a palm to the dirt and dead grass, catching her breath when hands closed over her mouth. Swinging back, she caught the person around the head and fought to bring him down. Feet scrambling for purchase in the soft dirt under the trees, she heard his familiar voice.

“Aye, Kenya, you’re strong as a bull.”

They fell to the ground, her back pinning him to the ground.

“Carl…” Her body went slack. “What are you…?” She broke off when he set her up right. “Never mind, I think they’re inside the tunnel. Their jeeps are over there and I heard voices, but I can’t be certain.” Carl's baroque thick enough to feel on her skin when he spoke. “Jonathan’s gonna kill me letting you get away.” He groaned against her face, getting in close to her, his eyes darting around the open field. “I gotta get you outta here.”

She blanched. “You lost your mind. I’m not leaving without Jonathan,” her voice a strained whisper.

“Kenya, this is not a game. Those were real guns with real bullets.”

“You think? And real blood on the ground too?” She shook her head in disgust. “Either help me or slink away, but Jonathan is in there fighting, and I’ll be damned if I curl up in a ball and wait.”

“Hell,” Carl cursed out, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Ever use a gun?”

“Yes, but that was a long time ago…my father taught me.” Carl gave her a wry grin. “My Uncle hunts ducks so I had to learn or get left at home…now unless you have a shot gun…” 

They both startled at someone coming through the trees behind them. Kenya caught herself on the fence when Carl shoved her behind him. The form came closer. Her body relaxed…then tensed again when seeing black hair.

“I should throw you over my shoulder and beat you with a stick.”

“And get your eye blackened. Where’s Jonathan, Jamie?” she said, gripping Carl’s shoulders, angling out from behind his body. “Don’t double talk me. Where’s he at?”

Taking Jamie’s offered hand held out to her she got to her feet.

“Protecting your honor. Now get back to the estate, Kenya.”

Her honor? Eyes wide she asked, “My honor isn’t in question. Whose blood was that back there on the ground Jamie?”

Jamie grabbed her to his chest, walking her backward away from Carl. Her heart squeezed. They stumbled over the bramble. A horse whinnied out in the field and Jamie put his hand over her mouth, getting her back to the Jeep.

“Shh! Jonathan’s not hurt, he's okay,” he bit out, pulling the door on the Jeep open. She snatched away from his grip, bolted toward the entry into the mountain. With Jamie on her heels, she made it to the inside of the frame before his body crashed over hers. Hauling Kenya’s body against the wall, Jonathan nearly knocked the air from her lungs.

“Doona get yourself killed, woman. This is about to explode. My cousin’s tracking the men through the tunnels. Go in there and get him and everybody else killed.”

“Tunnel? Tracking,” she grunted, picturing Jonathan with night goggles and a shotgun. “Jamie…Brian wants to kill Jonathan…”

His grip relaxed and she caught the flicker of surprise in his eyes. “He told you?”

She wiped her mouth then covered her nose from the crude smell in the air. Sulfur. Great, dynamite. “Ah…no…your sweet uncle tried to blackmail me before we came. Is that sulfur I smell?”

He mouthed a curse and stepped back, running a hand through his hair. “Jonathan knows what Brian did?” he asked, ducking his head around a stonewall.

“Yeah,” she said and lurched as Jamie grabbed her hand and took her deeper into the tunnel.

“I should still beat you with a stick. Come down here.” Tugging her behind him, Jamie grumbled and Kenya found her body lifted over a pile of rubble. He picked her up as if she were a child. Good Lord all the men must bench press small cars, their all so strong. “I’ll let Jonathan beat you instead.”

“Jamie, the smell…sulfur?”

He twisted scanning the area. “For blasting the tunnels. You’ll wish you had some once Jonathan sees you down here instead of safe in the castle.” Kenya gulped at his words, knowing Jonathan would be pissed and once the Gaelic started flying, it would be over. It wouldn’t surprise her if he tried to whoop her behind with a stick. 

They emerged onto a room filled with men and weapons. Fire and sulfur found her in the form of Jonathan’s heated stare coming at her through the braced tunnel. She wished Jamie had beaten her instead of giving her to Jonathan. She wouldn’t lie and say apprehension wasn’t squeezing her heart. Jonathan would freak knowing she came out here. Kenya halted, seeing his tight mouth. His body stiffened to a plank of wood upon seeing her. He gripped her arm so tight leading her down a narrow tunnel knowing a bruise would form. Dirt kicked up under their hurried steps. She skidded to a stop as he hurled around and pinned her to the wall.

“Shh!” he said, his body flattening hers.

His hot breath poured down her face as he held her. Her heart pounded. The beat skittered in her chest. Her breast heaved against his. Her hands clasped tight to his chest between them.

“Are you okay?” she asked. His rough hand closed over her mouth.

“Shh!!”

“Jonathan—”

“Shut up!” he groaned in her ear. Turning from her face, he peered down the dark space and took her even deeper. Her boots scraping over the small pebbles blended in the dirt, sending a dust cloud to coat her pants. Kenya let her hand slip over the walls as they went behind another wall. She craned her neck to see. A door the color of the walls opened and he led her inside, closing it behind them. His body pressed hers to the wood surface and he gripped her face kissing her harder than she’d ever been kissed. She didn’t care how rough he handled her. She’d seen blood on his jacket and everything paled until she felt his heart beat against her chest. She wanted him. She erased the fear with manic kisses. She let him push her shoulders against the stonewall, holding her hands away from his body. His lips were on her neck. His grip dropped from her hands shoving the sweater up her body. His manic hands and mouth searching her body said they both worried the other was hurt. He kissed along her stomach murmuring curses over her skin. She arched away from the wall fisting a handful of his hair. 

Jonathan came back to her mouth hungry, plunging his tongue in again. Her breath whooshed from her lips. His anger fed at her mouth. His hands continued roaming her body. She loved it. She loved him. Lord she loved, Jonathan.

“Aye, yer killing me, Kenya.” Wrapping her tight in his embrace, he swung her around, back bumping along the wall. She hoisted her legs around his waist, pinned to the rough wall. Hands touched every place they landed.

Kenya mumbled, “You don’t fight alone. I care about you, Jonathan. I don’t know if I wanna know what all that was, but I have to know you’re okay.”

Her words sat between them in the dark and added weight to the space. She laced her fingers behind his head burrowing her face in the crook of his neck. Confused as to what she wanted to say or hear from him, she clung tight wrapped around Jonathan’s muscled torso. It didn’t matter either way; her heart hadn’t crawled up to her chest from the fall it took to her stomach worrying about Jonathan.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, cupping her thighs.

She leaned back to see his face in the gloom. His chiseled features stood out even in the dusty air.

“No…” she answered and yelped “Ouch,” her hip stung. Jonathan swatted her twice. “What the—”

“Yer could’ve gotten killed, Mo Run‘. I donna want ye involved in this.”

Gaelic hit the air…pissed and scared; Jonathan’s face flushed a brilliant red.

“It’s too late. You involved me when you made love to me.” She embraced his face and the kiss was tender this time. They breathed in one another. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me nothing or I’m on a plane.” She warned, kissing his fingers soothingly caressing her lips. “My sister is engaged to Brian. You held a gun to your father’s head.” Anxious she began to tremble. “He held a gun to your ribs because I argued with my sister…” She sucked in a breath. This soap opera worsened by the minute.

He blew out a breath, adjusting her in his arms. “I knew Brian would eventually try and blackmail you. He must’ve gone straight for you in the States. He wants this land anyway he can get it.”

“He had to have gone after Morgan the second Julia and I left the restaurant,” she acknowledged. “How long has he been watching me?”

“I don’t know, babe. I can’t tell you any more than that. Carl’s gonna take you to —”

“Carl’s not taking me anywhere,” she forced, pushing away from his chest.

He set her on her feet and she gasped feeling the hard metal under his shoulder.

“OMG, Jonathan. How many guns do you…?”

Gingerly she stroked a finger over the leather holster lifting her eyes to him then the weapon bulging under his arm. Seriously strapped, he meant business. She gulped. Stroking a hand around his waist, Kenya felt another piece at his back. Raising her eyes to him, she froze. 

“Shh!” He closed his hands around her face. Clutching his shoulders as his mouth eased in along her jaw, she chewed her lip knowing he would send her away. “Go to the estate and wait. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Grit from the dirt crunched between her teeth. She wiped at the granules on dirt off her tongue. “I…I hate this,” she confessed shaking her head. “All this violence…What is all this?”

“It’s whatever you need it to be…” he started as the large wood door creaked opened before he could finish. Clutching his sweater, Kenya slanted her gaze around Jonathan’s body to see Jamie’s broad shoulders sticking out from around the door.

“Jonathan…we’re ready,” Jamie said, holding a hand out to Kenya. “Aye, come, Kenya. Gotta get you out of here.”

Running a hand along the wall, she started to leave when she found Jonathan angling her away from Jamie. Around a small dip in the wall, her hands laid flat against the cold stone. Jonathan’s body molded to her back and hips. His hands circled her waist and his mouth warm on her neck.

“If you weren’t my woman I’d have you strapped and by my side, Kenya. Nothing scares you.”

She bit her lip. Scared didn’t cover the terror racing through her body. His mouth trailed kisses down her throat. The press of his hand smoothing down her belly trapping her behind snug to his groin made it all too real. “I don’t want you to see this side. You’re my calm, Kenya. I count on your peace. Don’t take it away by experiencing my violent ways.”

She placed her left hand over his stroking her breast, her nipples taught and poking through the material of her bra, realizing he may not come home. “Get hurt and you’ll know real violence from me. I’m starting to like you, Blakemore.”

“You’re a good woman, Kenya.”

“I’ll go so I don’t get beat with a stick this time,” she uttered under her breath and stumbled when Jonathan yanked her behind him. He had a thing about protecting her and this was no different.