Conspiracy Game (GhostWalkers, #4)(114)

“Miss Judith?” There was a wealth of affection in Jack’s voice.

“She would come to the home as a volunteer and was the only person Ken and I would listen to. There was something about her, something very distinct and real. She genuinely wanted to help—she cared. Eventually she fostered us. We were nearly seventeen then, and twice her size, but she took us in against the advice of all the other workers. She had a ranch up in the hills and she gave us plenty of room to run free. In return, we excelled in schoolwork.” He grinned at her. “Notice I didn’t say anything about school. She took over our education and homeschooled us because no regular school wanted anything to do with us. We worked hard for her, and she gave us our first real taste of a home.”

“Is she still alive?”

Jack hesitated. “Yes. But we don’t let anyone know that. She could become… ”

Briony lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “A liability?”

Jack groaned. “I’m never going to live that down, am I? And no, Miss Judith needs protection so anyone coming after us won’t be able to use our feelings for her against us. I don’t want her vulnerable.”

“Did you fake her death?” Briony asked curiously.

“Too easily disproved. No, we simply manufactured a very heated public argument and she disowned us. After several months she moved to another state and then, a year later, returned to her hometown, back to her family ranch. We’re never seen near the place and she certainly doesn’t come here. We never call her, so there is never a paper trail to follow. Most people have forgotten we were ever with her.”

“I see.” Briony frowned and turned her face up to the sky. “What about me, Jack—and the babies? What are we going to do after they’re born?”

“You’re going to marry me before they’re born, and we’re going to live together right here on this mountain. Ken will help me protect you and the kids, and we’ll be fine. I think I can send a loud enough message to any enemy that if they dared mess with my family, I’d never stop until they were dead.”

“I wouldn’t want you to do that, Jack. Revenge isn’t the way to live life,” Briony said gently.

He tunneled his fingers in her hair. “You’re not going to change who—or what—I am, baby. Ken and I tried that a long time ago. We know what we can and can’t live with. No one is going to take you away from me.”

She was silent for a long time, staring up at the clouds, her swollen eye watering and aching, but fire in her side was slowly going away. She rubbed her hand over her stomach soothingly. “I’ve changed your life so much already, Jack.”

“That’s a good thing, Briony.”

“And Ken said I can’t marry you.”

Jack felt his heart jump in his chest. He glanced at his sleeping brother. “Did he say why?”

“Yes.” She kept her voice sober. “He said you have to ask me properly.”

Relief made him weak. His pulse beat at his temples, throbbed in his neck. For one moment his fingers closed in her hair in a tight fist. “Properly? If I ask, you might say no, so I’m thinking we’ll just start off right and I’ll tell you and we’ll get the thing done.”

“Get the thing done?” Briony echoed.

Ken snorted aloud. “Jack, I’ll take over watch and you get some sleep. I think you fried your brain up there on the roof.”

“Pipe down over there,” Jack said. “You’re already stirring up trouble.”

“Get the thing done?” Briony repeated slowly. “The thing being what exactly?”

“The ceremony. The paperwork. Whatever the hell it takes to make it legal.”

Briony sat up and glared at him. “Take your ‘it’ and shove it, Jack.”

“There’s no need to be getting upset, Briony. We can’t exactly go around with a bunch of kids and not do whatever the hell it is one does to make it legal.”

“Whatever the hell it takes to make what legal?”

He shrugged. “How the hell would I know? I’ve never done this before. Sleeping together I guess.”

“So you’re going to marry me so it’s legal to sleep with me?”

“This isn’t coming out right.”

“You think?”

“Don’t get upset, baby. I don’t understand why you’re getting upset.”

“Don’t you ‘baby’ me, Jack,” she said, narrowing her eyes in warning. “Marriage might not be anything but a ceremony to you, but to me it’s something sacred. And you don’t have to worry, I’m not about to insist on marriage. I told you from the beginning I’m quite capable of raising a child by myself.”

“We’re not having one child, Briony,” he pointed out. “We’re having two. I guess that means you need me whether you like it or not.”

“I guess you’re not getting it, Jack. I have no intention of marrying you.” She half sat, glaring at him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? What are we going to tell all of our children? I don’t think we’ll be stopping at two, do you?”

Briony couldn’t help the sudden urge to laugh. Jack was impossible—would always be impossible. She leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Two is already scaring the hell out of me. I don’t think we’ll be talking about having more for a long, long time. Do you have any idea how small a baby actually is, Jack? Have you ever held one?”