The Raider (Montgomery/Taggert 9) - Page 81

The moment he was free, Ethan slipped away into the darkness. Jess stayed where she was, ready if she were needed to stop Ethan from doing something foolish.

Her attention was on Abigail and she didn’t see the soldier on the ground. He was on her, pinning her body down before she was aware that he was awake. She rolled away from the knife he held but not before it had grazed her side. As she rolled, the man’s hand came in contact with her breast.

“A woman,” he gasped and the next moment he had his legs between hers and his hot, wet mouth on hers.

Jessica struggled but the man was too strong for her. He pinned her hands while he fumbled with his pants.

Then, suddenly, he was still.

Jessica was still struggling when she felt the man roll off of her—or, more correctly, being pushed off of her. She blinked in the darkness to see the Raider standing over her, sword drawn.

He didn’t say a word as he offered her his hand and pulled her to stand before him. She could see the hard glitter of his eyes behind his mask.

“I…we…” she began.

He caught her hand and began pulling her toward his horse.

Jess put her hand to her side and felt the bleeding but she wasn’t going to complain to him.

He half helped, half shoved her onto his horse, then mounted behind her and started galloping.

As they rode, the cool wind in her face began to revive her. Here she was, riding in the moonlight, the man she loved seated behind her, his strong arms surrounding hers. It was an exhilarating moment—yet she felt strangely unsettled. Something was worrying her and she wasn’t sure what. It had been a successful raid, that is, if Abby and Mrs. Wentworth got home, but still something was wrong.

She twisted in the saddle, gasping at the pain in her side. “Stop!” she demanded. “You have to stop.”

The Raider looked at her face in the dim light and pulled his horse to a halt. Immediately, his lips were on hers, kissing her face, her eyes.

“No, please,” she whispered, all the while leaning her head back to give him access to her neck. “Where are you taking me?”

“Home. To our home. To Farrier’s Cove, where we can make love all night long. And then I plan to tan your hide for doing such a damn fool thing as—”

“No, please, I don’t want to fight with you.”

“I don’t plan to fight,

Jessie, my love.”

“You have to take me home.”

“I am taking you home.”

“No, I mean home to Alexander.”

As she held him, the Raider felt as if a piece of steel had just shot through his spine, and his voice was as rigid as his body. “Alexander? You want to go home to that lace-encrusted, whining, cowardly ass after I just saved your life?”

Jessica felt as if she were being torn in half. She wanted to go with the Raider, even though she knew it would be an argument whether or not she slept with him, and, heaven help her, she wanted to lose the argument, but at the same time she knew she needed to go home to Alex.

“He’s not been well and if he finds that I’m gone, he’ll be upset.”

The Raider’s eyes bore into hers. “Jess, are you in love with this man?”

“Alexander? I should think not. It’s just that he gets upset and his heart isn’t what it should be. Please take me to him.” Jess could feel the blood trickling down her side. Maybe it was her wound that was making her do this strange thing. Right now, the last thing she wanted was to wrestle with the Raider. What she wanted was Alexander to take care of her.

The Raider dismounted behind her, then lifted her to the ground. “I believe you know your way back,” he said coolly. “I pray no one encounters you in that disguise.” With that, he turned his horse and left her.

Jess caught her breath against the pain in her side. It was a two mile walk to the Montgomery house and she dreaded it. Each movement opened the wound again, and she could feel blood slowly flowing down her side.

The Raider had let her down at the head of an old Indian path that would lead her to the back of the Montgomery house. She walked and stumbled, rested against a tree, then walked some more.

Tags: Jude Deveraux Montgomery/Taggert Historical
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