Biding His Thyme: 4 (8 page)

“I heard Brother Rick arrived with the beef
last week. He had farming equipment too.” She lowered her voice as they
wandered closer to some of the compound members. Jake started exaggerating his
limp again and she slipped her arm around his waist as if she were helping him.
“Do you think it was stolen?”

“I haven’t heard any mention of missing
farm equipment, but I’ll ask next time I talk to my contact. The farmers are
more worried about their missing stock,” Jake said next to her ear. He subtly
guided her in the direction he wanted to go.

“Everyone is staring.”

“Let them,” Jake said with unconcern. “Is
there room for me to sleep in your workroom with you?”

Sorrel stopped walking. “What?” She’d
wanted to test the latest batch of her cream. She could hardly do that with him
in the same room.

“Now that I’ve started paying attention to
you the men will start to wonder what I see in you. You shouldn’t be alone,”
Jake said tersely. “Don’t trust anyone.”

With a glance over his shoulder, he led her
into the trees. He was pretty sure someone—probably one of Brother Rick’s close
friends—would follow them. They needed to set the stage first. Once he was sure
they were out of sight, he surveyed their surroundings. He was as sure as he
could be no one was ahead of them.

“Why hasn’t anyone noticed you’re dying
your hair?”

“My mother suggested it a long time ago.
She knew it was too late for her to leave the compound, but she wanted me to
get out if I could. She’d liked the life here with Brother Samuel, but she knew
I didn’t enjoy it the same way.”

He stopped walking and turned to face her.
His gaze slid to her lips and lingered. He shouldn’t but he wanted to kiss her
again. And he desperately wanted to see what she looked like under the robe.
Damn fool. He needed a woman. Yeah, that’s all this was—the urge to scratch an
itch. “So this has been a long time in the planning.”

“I promised I would carry out the plan we
concocted. I promised her,” she added.

If there was one thing Jake understood it
was promises. Guilt slashed him at the thought. He’d promised Greg he’d get him
out, get him to medical help.

“I said I’d help you and I will,” he said
tersely. “But you need to trust me.”

“I don’t know you.”

Her words stung, even though they were
true. She was taking a big leap of faith trusting him as much as she had
already. “I’m all you have. You have to trust me.” Urgency throbbed in his
words. “Brother John, at least I think it’s Brother John, is following us.
We’re going to give him a show so he can go back to Brother Rick and report.”

She stiffened. “What sort of a show?”

Jake glanced around and spotted a small
clearing. Perfect for what he had in mind. He drew her toward it, tugging
lightly on her hand while resuming his slow, tortured limp. When they reached
the grassy area, he urged her down. She flinched when he loomed over her, her
eyes widening.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Why? You frightened because you’re
starting to like it?” Ignoring her building scowl, he dipped his head, snaring
her lips before she could voice another objection. For a few taut seconds, her
lips remained stiff. Unyielding. Irked by her lack of response he put his heart
into the kiss, pushing his tongue deep, thrusting them both into a world where
sensation ruled and thoughts steered to the sexual.

A grunt of satisfaction escaped him when
she relaxed and curled her arms around his neck.

“I’m going to touch your breasts,” he
whispered on lifting his head. “Or what I can feel beneath that padding. The
next time we’re alone together in a safe place you’re going to answer my
questions, sweetheart.”

“I’m not your sweetheart,” she muttered and
nipped his bottom lip.

Her sharp teeth should have hurt, but
instead a knife of pleasure arced to his cock. Damn, what was it about this
woman? She was filling his thoughts when he should be concentrating on sneaking
around and catching Brother Rick and his cohorts stealing cattle.

Because they
were
stealing. If not
cattle, then they were up to other types of mischief. His soldier’s senses told
him so.

He rolled on top of her, holding her in
place with his weight.

Sorrel let out a gasp, her entire body
feeling as if she were squashed beneath a hard rock.

“Don’t fight me,” he said in a low voice.
“Brother John is spying on us. You don’t want him to report back to Brother
Rick about something amiss between us. And you don’t want rumors to fly around
the compound about our relationship being a pretense.”

Her fingernails dug into his biceps, a
pointed reminder she wasn’t entirely with his program. After a harsh breath,
she went limp beneath him. Hiding his satisfaction, he took the opportunity to
kiss her again, one of his hands slipping under the neckline of her robe.

She froze. “What are you doing?”

Ah, as he suspected. No padding in this
area, but instead a tightly bound strip of fabric. The knowledge brought
curiosity, and his dick lengthened. The only reason he could think of for a
woman to make herself look ugly and unobtrusive was if she were worried about
attracting too much attention.

He lifted his head, shot a swift glance in
the vicinity where he’d last spotted Brother John and saw he’d either gone or
relocated. Fine. It wasn’t a hardship to feel up Sorrel Thyme. Jake settled in
to do a decent job of kissing her. His hands wandered while his lips mapped her
face, her lips and her neck. He breathed in her scent, mostly masked by the
stench of whatever substance she’d put in her hair, and went with the flow of
arousal.

He took his time, even though darkness was
falling.

“What is that digging me in the stomach?”

“Have you had sex before?”

She hesitated. “Once, a long time ago.”

“Then surely you recognize the thrust of a
cock when you feel it.” He was curious about her sexual experience.

Her wet tongue lashed across his earlobe,
then traced the outline of his ear. A shiver swept him, and unable to help
himself, he ran his fingers over her hip and down her leg, stroking back and
forth, testing the flesh beneath her robe. He shifted his hips, thrusting
against her before the thought registered.

“A modern marvel,” she whispered, pausing in
her worrying of his earlobe. “You have two cocks.”

A bark of laughter escaped him. “I have a
torch in my pocket.”

“That’s what I felt the first time. I
didn’t think I could have that sort of effect on a man, not until I felt the
second.”

He stopped then, lifting his head to peer
at her through the gloom. “If that’s the truth then why have you bothered with
your disguise?”

She kissed him this time, thrusting at his
shoulders at the same time with enough strength to take him by surprise. They
rolled with her landing up on top of him. “That’s better,” she said. “I
couldn’t concentrate with two cocks poking me.”

A chuckle burst free. “You’re not into sex
with more than one man. I thought that was the modern woman’s fantasy. To have
two men focused on her pleasure.”

“Not me. All I want is to leave this
place.”

“Then you’ll think about a man?”

“No,” she replied without hesitation. “Men
screw things up.”

“I might take that as a challenge.” Hell,
he did take that as a challenge. He wanted to peel away the layers hiding her
real personality, her true form. He wanted to know what her natural hair looked
like without the god-awful smelly stuff she’d combed into it.

“Don’t,” she warned. “Once I hear back from
Alice—if I hear back from Alice and the news is positive—I’m going to ask her
if I can work for Fancy Free. She mentioned a job.”

Jake nodded, reaching up to cup her face
with his hand. “I hope the news is good.”

He let her kiss him again, enjoying the
hell out of her lips and tongue brushing his. With each kiss her confidence
grew, and he loved experiencing her shy looks and innocent attempts at playing
the siren. If she wasn’t careful, she’d get hooked on him. Jake smiled
inwardly. Hell, maybe he’d let her.

“We can go now,” he said. If they didn’t
quit with the groping soon, he was gonna embarrass himself. His cock was hard
enough to use as a hammer.

“Go where?”

He lifted her off him and rolled to his
feet. At the back of his mind he realized his left leg felt better than it had
for weeks. The walking was helping more than the long gym sessions he’d
subjected himself to before he’d come to Sloan. Jake paused to listen,
satisfied when the sole noise was the
baa
of a distant sheep.

“Jake?”

“We’re going to continue our walk. I need
to check the boundary line.” With sure steps, he led her in the direction he
wished to go. Despite the growing gloom his eyes picked out a distinct path.
“Do you know where this goes?”

“It goes to the top paddock. I come up here
sometimes to pick leaves to use to decorate my candles.”

“Good idea. Make sure you pick up a few
leaves on the way, in case someone stops us.”

When the path widened enough for them to
walk abreast, he curved his arm around her lumpy waist. When she moved closer,
allowing him the liberty without complaint, he smiled. He might not be out with
the team because of his injury, but his military friends, Nikolai and Louie
were right about a change in routine helping to jerk him out of his mental
funk.

They didn’t find anything, not that Jake
had thought they would. It was too obvious, and he figured Luke and Richard
Morgan would’ve checked the boundary fences with the other properties already.

When they’d almost reached the main
compound, Jake reached for her hand. “Are you sleeping in your workshop
tonight?”

“Yes, it’s safer for me. I don’t like the
other women looking at me too closely.”

Jake nodded, aware of the dangerous game
she was playing. “I’ll escort you back before I go to the men’s quarters.”

When they reached her workshop, instinct
made him conduct a quick check of the dark corners to make sure no one was
lying in wait for her. “No bogeymen in the corners.”

“I didn’t think there would be.”

Jake went to her and tipped back her head
with his fingers. “You’re close to your goal now,” he whispered. “Don’t get
complacent.” He kissed her slowly and thoroughly, leaving them both breathing
hard by the time he finished. “Promise you’ll lock the door after me.”

“There’s no lock. Nothing is locked in the
compound.”

Jake nodded. “What about the room Brother
Rick uses as an office?”

“I don’t know. I like to keep away from
Brother Rick as much as possible.”

“Understandable. I might do more checking
tonight. Put a chair under the door handle so you have a warning if anyone
tries to snoop around while you’re asleep.”

“Yes, sir. And I’ll scream loud enough to
wake the dead if anyone scars me.”

“You do that,” Jake said.

Jake left Sorrel and walked across the open
ground of the compound toward the single men’s quarters. When he reached the
buildings, he ducked into the shadows and paused, cocking his head to listen.
Although he could hear voices, they were nothing out of the ordinary. From his
observations, most of the men spent their evenings listening to music,
gossiping and letting the women wait on them.

After deciding no one was scrutinizing his
actions, he wandered to Brother Rick’s office, a small building to the side of
the main buildings. The lights were out, and after another quick pause, Jake
tried the door. Locked. He circled the building, checking the windows. They
were locked too.

Brother Rick had something to hide.

Jake thought about attempting to force
entry, but a night when Brother Rick was away from the compound would make
better sense. Jake slipped back toward the men’s quarters.

It was dark now, the moon shining enough light
for him to see without turning on his torch. Most of the men were still in the
communal rooms, so he turned in that direction. He needed to pick up snippets
of gossip.

He stepped inside the room, and each of the
men turned to look at him.

“Where have you been?” Brother Rick
demanded.

“Sister Sorrel and I went for a walk. She
wanted to collect some leaves and dried twigs to decorate her candles.”

Brother John snorted in disbelief. “At this
time of night?”

“Sister Sorrel has been working all day
making products for the shop. Tonight was the first opportunity to collect
supplies.” Jake waited to hear what they said to that. Brother Rick was working
her hard, and Jake wasn’t sure why. If Sorrel knew she wasn’t telling.

“Her name is Bitter,” Brother Rick said.
“Bitter by name, bitter by nature.”

Jake counted to five under his breath. He
wanted to defend Sorrel, but kept his mouth shut.
One day
, he promised
himself.

Jake walked past Brother Rick and took a
seat. The men started to talk again, murmuring between themselves.

Someone came to sit beside him, and Jake
turned to find Brother John smirking at him. The man had a thin, narrow face
and a pointy chin. Combined with the hints of red in his hair, he reminded Jake
of a fox.

“I saw you and Bitter. I’d fuck her in the
dark too. That way it’s easier to pretend she’s not so ugly.” He nudged Jake on
the arm. “How was she? I bet she was desperate for it. The quiet, snooty ones
usually are.”

“Were you following us?”

“Didn’t see much leaf collecting,” Brother
John said.

Jake straightened. “Follow us again, and
I’ll push your nose down your throat.” He followed up his threat with a steely
glare.

Brother John blinked. A tide of color swept
into his face, highlighting his high cheekbones. “We don’t believe in
violence.”