Conspiracy Game (GhostWalkers, #4)(60)

Briony shook her head. If her brother broke down, she would cry a river. She held herself rigidly. “Not without all of you being in danger.”

“Give him your earrings.” The order came from behind her. Too close behind her. Jack crowded her so that she felt his body heat. She felt his warm breath on the nape of her bare neck.

Briony stiffened but didn’t turn around, her palms covering her earrings, holding them to her. “These belonged to my mother. They mean a lot to me.”

“Give them to him. You can have them back later.”

She was going to cry. She blinked furiously as she removed the small diamond studs. Jebediah closed his fist tightly around them as he bent to kiss her.

“I’ll take care of them, Bri.”

She nodded, afraid to speak, biting her lip hard to hold back the tears. She wanted to cling to Jebediah, to the love and comfort of her familiar world. Now, when she needed her family and friends the most, she was thrust into a world of uncertainty—of fear. She didn’t want to be afraid of Jack or her reaction to him, but she was.

Jebediah gathered his sister into his arms, pulling her close to whisper into her ear. “You don’t have to do this, honey. We’re a family. We’ll take care of you ourselves.”

Jack heard the soft entreaty, heard the small sob she tried to suppress, and his gut twisted hard. He wasn’t used to emotion. He’d trained himself not to feel anything, and now here she was again, and just like before, he had the same instant bond with her, the same flood of raw emotion that had nearly ruined him months ago. He put a restraining hand on her arm—or maybe it was to comfort her—he honestly didn’t know which, but if she cried, he was afraid it was going to tear him up inside.

“It isn’t helping prolonging the good-byes, Jebediah. Get out of here and make it easier on her.” His voice was gruff—too gruff. He felt her stiffen beneath his hands, and she shot him a quick, quelling glance over her shoulder. There were definite tears swimming in her eyes. His heart turned over. Violence was his world. His first reaction was to smash something, his next was to pull her in to the shelter of his body.

Briony held herself away from him at first, but as her brother dropped his arms in resignation, she dug her fingers into Jack’s restraining arm where it circled her waist, almost as if by holding on to him she could prevent herself from following Jebediah.

“I love you, Bri,” Jebediah said.

“I love you too.” She choked and pressed her hand against her mouth to keep from telling him she’d made a terrible mistake.

Jebediah looked at Jack for a long time, as if memorizing every detail of his face. “You know I would never have brought her here unless I thought she was in real trouble.”

Jack nodded. “I know.”

“If anything happens to her—if you harm her in any way, Jack, and that includes breaking her heart, I don’t give a damn if you are the baddest ass around, I’ll hunt you down.”

“I know.”

Jebediah remained staring at Jack a moment longer and then touched Briony’s arm before turning away.

Briony bit her lip hard as she watched her brother disappear into the thick trees surrounding them.

Jack felt her trembling. Felt her pain. It got to him as few things could. He had the mad desire to snatch her up into his arms and carry her back to the house. “Let’s go up to the house where it’s a little warmer.”

“Not yet.” She couldn’t move. As long as she stayed where she was, separating herself from her family wasn’t a reality. She couldn’t breathe, panic setting in, her throat closing down, stopping her air until she was choking, fighting just to stay alive. She was alone.

“Breathe.” Jack’s hand came up, fingers curling around the nape of her neck, massaging gently.

“I can’t.” She took a step after her brother.

“Sure you can; you’re just having a little panic attack. Let out your air and draw it back into your lungs.” Deliberately he turned her around to face him, to keep her from staring at the spot where her brother had disappeared. Placing her hand on his chest, he took a deep breath, willing her to follow his lead, capturing her gaze with his own. “That’s it. You’re fine. They won’t take our baby from us, Briony. I may not be the best man in the world, or the easiest to live with, but I take care of my own.”

Briony stared up at him, looking more vulnerable and forlorn than she could possibly know. Jack wrapped his arms around her and held her, offering the only comfort he knew how to give. He wasn’t a man of words; he never had been. Everything he said to her seemed to come out wrong.

She leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m afraid. I don’t think I’ve ever been this afraid before—not even in the Congo.”

“Of me or of Whitney?” His fingers tunneled into her hair because he couldn’t help himself. Her scent was impossibly feminine, a mixture of flowers and rain and the outdoors. She was made for candlelit dinners and satin sheets, not for the end of the world out in the middle of the Montana wilderness.

“I don’t know,” Briony said honestly.

“I’ll get you through this,” he said. “I give you my word.” She wouldn’t know that he’d never quit once he gave his word, or that he’d die to protect his unborn child and its mother. He didn’t want to examine his reaction to Briony too closely. It didn’t feel right thinking she was part of an experiment and they were both no more than puppets on a stage, but he couldn’t stop his tremendous physical attraction to her, or even the way he responded emotionally.