Jake, Devils on Horseback, Book 2 Page 10

  Jake.

  Before she could think about why he was out there, she was halfway down the stairs. Her brain started working the moment the dew-covered grass hit the bottom of her feet. By then he’d already seen her and she either had to run away like an idiot or keep walking toward him.

  She chose the latter while her palms grew moist and her heart pumped like the waterwheel behind her. The sound of the water was familiar in an unknown situation. Gabby hugged her arms to her chest, realizing she wore only a thin gown and nothing else. She was naked beneath the white cotton, and her nipples hardened partly because of the cool night air, as well the natural attraction to the man who waited for her.

  “Gabby.” His eyes were shadowed beneath his hat, but she felt their heat nonetheless.

  “Why are you here?” No use being coy. It had to be three o’clock in the morning and he was skulking outside her house. Any self-respecting woman wouldn’t have even acknowledged he was there much less appear in nothing but a shimmy.

  “I couldn’t think of another place I wanted to be than with you.”

  His words sank in and snatched her breath. He sounded so sincere, she didn’t doubt him for a moment. What exactly did that mean though? Although she was ready to step off the path of flirtation and kisses to something more with Jake, her brain reminded her he was a man she hardly knew.

  “That’s nice of you to say, Jake, but it’s kind of an odd time to come calling.” Gabby stood fifteen feet away, throwing up an imaginary wall between them, protecting herself from his effect on her.

  He held out his hand. “Sit with me.”

  Although she knew she shouldn’t stay, Gabby found herself sitting on the same stone wall with him again, close enough to feel the warmth from his body and hear him breathing. Goose bumps danced up and down her spine and a throb of arousal settled low in her belly. She couldn’t deny she was attracted to Jake, more than that really, it was a deep connection between them on a physical level. The cool stones beneath her contrasted the heat of her skin.

  Gabby wasn’t ready to admit it was more than physical. She’d learned that lesson the hard way and no stranger, no matter how romantic he might be, could dissuade her from changing her mind. Alvin Carmichael had taken more than just a month’s profits and her father’s milling secrets, he’d taken her trust and left her father to die. After the raiders attacked, he ran like a rat deserting a sinking ship. If she ever saw him again, Alvin would feel the bite of her vengeance.

  Shaking off the maudlin thoughts, Gabby waited for Jake to touch her. In fact, she couldn’t wait to feel him pressed against her. The memory of his hard chest and calloused hands sent a shudder from her curls to her toes. Jake Sheridan was a man’s man and she intended on finding out just how much.

  A longing raced through her for something more than what she had. Gabby wanted someone to love her, cherish her, keep her safe, but she also wanted a man who’d respect her, trust her, and hold her in high regard. As Jake’s large hands skimmed down her lightly clad back, she wondered if he was that man. His gentle touch almost didn’t make contact, but when it did, he left a path of pure arousal.

  In the wake of his hands came a tingling that spread across her body and landed between her legs. She sighed with pleasure at the familiar feeling that was more than welcome. Even her limited experience told her he was no ordinary man. Jake would teach her what no man had, bring her to heights she hadn’t achieved and desperately desired.

  Gabby’s heart was involved no matter how much she tried to deny it. That was the difference. It didn’t really matter at the moment because she closed her eyes and dove into the pool of sensuality whirling around her.

  Her lips found his and she opened to his questing tongue. They shared sweet, long kisses that made her toes curl and her nether regions moist. His hands never stopped moving, touching and caressing her heated body. Gabby’s nipples were so tight, they were nearly painful, yet he didn’t touch them. Instead he continued to stroke her through the cotton, his touch maddening in its simplicity. She needed more, craved more.

  Gabby was reduced to begging. She broke the kiss, stood and pulled off her nightgown in a flutter of white. “Please touch me, Jake. All of me.”

  She couldn’t see his expression but she heard him swallow. Hard.

  He shed his clothes almost as quickly as she had, which was a feat considering he had been fully dressed. Ever the gentleman, he laid his clothes on the grass as a makeshift blanket. Before she knew it, he’d scooped her up in his arms, and his hot skin pressed against her side, including the hardened staff Gabby wanted to touch. Men fascinated her, the feel of soft skin encasing a hardness only known to steel. She had no doubt Jake would allow her to explore her innermost fantasies, to satisfy her hungry curiosity.

  The cool dew of the grass seeped through his clothes, providing some relief to her overheated skin. When he put his hot mouth on her nipple, Gabby had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. So good, so amazingly good.

  He worked his way down to her pussy, which ached with need. The first touch of his fingers nearly sent her into the sky. Talented touches on her pleasure spot accompanied by the rhythmic sucking and licking on her nipples took Gabby on a journey, one she didn’t want to end.

  His fingers slid inside her to slowly make love to her. The feelings grew too intense and Gabby burst into a million shards of light. She bucked against his hand, prolonging the ecstasy as the waves crashed around, down and through her. It took her a few minutes to take a deep breath, and a few more to realize the joy had only begun.

  His cock pulsed against her thigh, reminding her Jake had not achieved any peak, and she was more than willing to travel there with him. He smiled, white teeth shining in the moonlight.

  “You surprise me every second of every day.”

  She smiled back. “Good.” Gabby pushed at his shoulder until he flopped on his back.

  “Gabby, what—?”

  “Shhh, let me touch you now.” Her hands practically itched with the need to feel him. When her palms finally touched his chest, both she and Jake sighed with pleasure. “You’re so hard.”

  He snorted a painful laugh. “No kidding.”

  Gabby felt her cheeks heat at her silly choice of words. She wouldn’t call herself a whore, though she’d had experience with two men, but somehow being with Jake made it seem like her first time. His chest had a sprinkling of hair, and she used her imagination to conjure an image of the freckles that dotted the skin. She leaned down and kissed his nipples, lightly scraping her teeth on the tiny nubs. A groan rose from his throat, making her smile.

  She proceeded to explore every inch of him, except that which called to her the most, his lovely cock. His firm shoulders and arms, the scars that marred too many places, the crisp, wiry hairs on his legs and his ticklish feet—all of it intrigued her. She touched, kissed and caressed him until he begged.

  “Please, Gabby, I can’t— God I’m about to— Please…” His voice was raspy, guttural.

  Gabby understood his burning need for she had the same clawing within her. To mate, to become one with him, to reach for the heavens together. Her hand closed around his member and he growled his pleasure. She stroked up and down, alternately squeezing at the base and the tip. The other hand fondled his tight balls. If she were a bit braver, she would take him in her mouth, but Gabby wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

  A drop of moisture at the tip let her know how much he enjoyed her ministrations. She smoothed it around the skin and leaned forward to kiss him, never letting go of his cock. The moment her lips touched his, Jake took her mouth in a fierceness that surprised her. He flipped her on her back and nudged her legs with his knees.

  “Let. Me. In.” Each word was enunciated with a naked longing that was drawn from the depth of his heart.

  “Yes, love, yes.” She spread her legs and he plunged in deeply, so far
as to snatch her breath from her body.

  His mouth found her nipple again and he nibbled on it, then bit it as he joined with her. Gabby picked up his rhythm right away, thrusting with him, pulling him into her body, aching for more when he withdrew, leaving a tingling in his wake. She clawed at his back, wanting, needing more.

  “Jake,” she gasped out, barely able to form a coherent thought.

  His speed increased along with the pace of his hands and mouth, licking, biting, pinching and teasing her even as his cock took control of her body. Sweet Jesus, she’d never felt so alive, so full of every imaginable pleasure.

  “Now, Gabby, now.” He pumped into her as he bit her nipple, sending her into an abyss of light and ecstasy that blinded her.

  Gabby knew she screamed because his mouth covered hers, stealing the sound from the ears of the night. Jake eased his strokes until each of them lay trembling, panting in the moist dew, replete with the amazing experience.

  “Did that just happen?” she wondered aloud.

  “I hope so because if it didn’t, then I’m dead.” He rolled off her and pulled her close, tucking her head beneath his chin.

  Gabby’s hand lay on his chest, feeling the rapid beating of his strong heart. A languorous blanket settled over her and she closed her eyes, content to lay in the arms of the man she was rapidly falling in love with.

  The next morning, Jake headed to Cindy’s restaurant with a grin that spanned him from head to foot. Being with Gabby had filled him with all matter of goodness, infused him with the elixir of what it meant to be alive. He hadn’t felt so good in more than five years.

  When he stepped into the restaurant, Elmer sat alone with a mug of coffee and a sadness deep enough to fill a lake. Jake’s good mood flew away on the wind as he shut the door behind him. The older man reminded him that helping the people of Tanger, finding the missing women, was the reason he was there, not to fall in love with a miller’s daughter.

  “Good morning.” He helped himself to coffee from the tin pot sitting on the table and sat down, the scrape of the chair loud in the quiet morning.

  Elmer grunted and took a slurp of his coffee, the tin clinking against his teeth. “Where’s your friends?”

  “About ten minutes behind me. They’re getting ready to break Zeke out of the doc’s house.” Jake let the coffee slide down his throat, warming him with its bitter heat.

  “He all right?”

  “Yeah, the doc just wanted to keep him an extra couple of days because of the bump on his head.” Jake smiled. “I think Zeke is going to miss being there though. Allison Delmont’s been visiting regularly.”

  “Allison’s a good girl. Your friend is lucky she’s visiting at all. That gal is scared of her own shadow, hasn’t left home much since the raids started. He’s also lucky he only got a bump on the head.” Elmer frowned. “Those bastards almost killed poor Sam Rinaldi.”

  Shock rippled through Jake at that bit of news. Gabby hadn’t told him her father had been hurt by the raiders. She didn’t mention that little fact at all. Doubt and mistrust swirled around in his mind—was it a deliberate omission or a mistake?

  “What happened?” he asked as calmly as he could although he trembled inside.

  “Way I hear it, they were looking for his daughter and he fought them off.” Elmer shook his head. “When they couldn’t find her, they beat him half to death then threw him in the mill.”

  “They were looking for her? For Gabby by name?” Jake swallowed hard.

  Elmer nodded. “Yup, that’s what I been told.” He took another gulp of coffee. “A few months later they took my Cindy.”

  Jake’s mind ran through a million reasons why the raiders would know Gabby’s name. They were nameless, faceless strangers, weren’t they? If they knew her, then odds were they weren’t strangers. He’d been right about someone from the town feeding the raiders information, otherwise they wouldn’t have known Gabby’s name. Who was the woman he’d caught in the darkness? Was she involved?

  “Did Sam get a look at any of them?”

  “Dunno.” Elmer’s sad watery eyes pinned Jake to his chair. “He ain’t really right in the head, so there’s no telling what he knows.”

  Jake digested what Elmer told him and knew he had to find out more of what was going on in the Rinaldi house. It appeared there had been much more than just an accident with Gabby’s father. Although they weren’t expecting him, the Rinaldis were about to get a visitor.

  Without acting too suspicious, Jake took his leave of Elmer and hightailed it to the mill. He saw Gideon and Lee walking toward the restaurant and waved at them, then broke into a run. The need to know exactly what had happened in the mill six months ago throbbed in his heart. Why did they want Gabby? And why hadn’t she told him the raiders were responsible for her father’s injuries?

  When Jake arrived at the mill, Gabby wasn’t there and the old man who worked there ignored Jake’s presence. He poked his nose into the kitchen but it was deserted. After arguing with himself for a few minutes, he went in search of Sam Rinaldi.

  Jake knew the bedrooms were upstairs. As he climbed he continually called out for Gabby or her mother, yet no one answered. If either of them came home, he might have some serious explaining to do, but at that moment, all he could think about was talking to Sam. Finding out what had happened became more important than anything.

  When he reached the top of the stairs, there were three rooms, two of which stood open and dark. The third was partially open and the glow of a lamp lit the wooden floor. He knocked softly as he called out. “Mr. Rinaldi?”

  The room was cloaked in shadows, and it smelled of sickness and a bedridden occupant. Jake stepped hesitantly forward, searching the corners for Gabby’s father.

  “It’s Jake Sheridan. I’m a-a friend of Gabby’s and I’m working for Phineas to help the town.”

  Jake stepped farther into the room, his hand resting lightly on the pistol strapped to his thigh. No telling who or what he’d find in that room. The closer he got to the corner, the worse the smell got. By the time he was able to distinguish a man lying in bed, his eyes watered. How did Gabby stand it day after day? It smelled as if the man hadn’t bathed in months.

  “Sir?”

  “He doesn’t speak.”

  Jake whirled around, pistol at the ready, and pointed straight at Mary Rinaldi’s heart. To her credit, she didn’t flinch or even blink. Now he knew where Gabby got her fierceness.

  “I thought it was his legs that were hurt.” He holstered the gun, telling his pulse to slow down. If he was smart enough, perhaps he could find some answers to the questions that danced around in his mind.

  She glanced at her husband with an inscrutable expression. “He hasn’t spoken a word since the accident. They cut out his tongue.”

  Jake couldn’t hide his shock. “They cut out his tongue? Why would they do that?”

  Her dark gaze bore into Jake’s. “I wish I knew. He’s been gone from us and hasn’t ever told us what happened. It’s like they broke his spirit when they threw him in the mill.” She didn’t even shed a tear, her demeanor stoic and almost cold.

  Jake trusted his instincts about people and something about Mary Rinaldi struck him as just plain wrong. What wife would speak of her husband being hurt like that and not get choked up about it? It just wasn’t natural—maybe she knew something about the raiders. The trick was to find out if she did and if so, what it was.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Rinaldi. I came by to talk to you and your husband about what happened.” He was sure he looked as serious as he felt. “My friends and I want to help the town get rid of the raiders. Anything you can tell me about them will help.”

  “I don’t think it’s proper for you to be in my bedroom.” She frowned. “Sam has been through enough. We don’t need to dredge up memories that will upset him.” Without another word, she t
urned and left the room.

  Jake followed her, uneasy with his inability to figure out Gabby’s mother. It was almost as if Gabby was born and raised by someone else—she didn’t look like either of her parents. Although to be fair, he hadn’t gotten a good look at the hollow-eyed man. As Jake walked downstairs he decided he’d try to visit Sam Rinaldi when no one else was around. The man had secrets hidden inside him and Jake aimed to find out what they were.

  By the time he got downstairs, Mrs. Rinaldi was already outside. He stepped out onto the porch and did his best to look responsible and concerned. What he wanted to do was shake her and ask her what the hell was going on.

  “Sam was hurt in the first attack by the raiders.” She stared out at the water rushing past the mill, her voice barely audible above the slap of the wheel’s paddles. “Gabby and I were down at Cindy’s, thank God. I pushed both those girls into the root cellar and ran for the mill. By the time I got there, Sam had already been jammed into the stones of the wheel. The blood seemed to be endless.” She pinched her lips together so tight, they turned white. “Doctor Barham saved his life, but Sam might as well have died because he’s not living.”

  Jake leaned against the post, trying to reserve judgment on the strange woman. “What kind of man was he before the attack?”

  She shrugged. “Hard worker, good father and provider. He loved that mill more than life itself. It was his dream, you know. When it came up for sale, nothing could stop him from getting it.” Mary pointed at the waterwheel. “Now it’s falling apart, Harvey can’t keep up with the repairs, and Sam sits in bed day in and day out. He’ll eat now and then, but he won’t let me near him with soap and water. Sam is a, well, was a muscular man, if’n he doesn’t want to do something, it don’t happen.”

  What Jake noticed the most was what she didn’t say. Mary didn’t mention that Sam was a good husband, nor did she say anything about how Gabby was running the mill and keeping them fed. The one skill Jake could boast was being able to remember things by hearing or seeing them only once. He memorized everything Mary said, anxious to share it with Gideon, Zeke and Lee.