OUT OF THE DARKNESS (THE PRESCOTT SERIES) by B. J. McMinn Read Free Book Online

get it and help you.”
    While Margaret spooned liquid from the rabbit stew down the girl’s throat, Jason sat behind her to help keep her in a sitting position , so she wouldn’t choke. She swallowed what she could, the rest dripped down her chin. The broth slid down her slim throat coming to rest in the hollow of her throat.
    Jason stared at the delicate lines of her slim neck, longing to let his tongue follow the trail of warm liquid. Sliding his lips across the pale, s oft skin of her throat to sip from the hollow where it pooled. He glanced up quickly to see if Margaret could tell where his thoughts had strayed. She appeared not to notice as she cleaned the girl’s neck with a damp cloth. Clearing away the remnants of Jason’s sensual vision.
    The a che in Jason’s groin had grown uncomfortable. He suddenly realized he hadn’t been with a woman since his wife died. Had he been living from day to day for so long until he hadn’t noticed the passage of time? The ranch kept him busy, and his trips to town to see Emma took time, but surely, there had been a woman in there somewhere. He grimaced, if there was, he couldn’t remember one.
    He shifted again to ease the tight fit in the front of his trousers. Nothing seemed to help. Margaret finished feeding her patient and laid the spoon and bowl aside. Rising to her feet, she waited for him to lay the girl down. Now what was he going to do? He couldn’t stand up in front of his sister in the shape he was in. Better wait. Margaret eyed him curiously, as if she couldn’t understand his reluctance to lay the girl down and rise from the bed.
    Moments ticked by , and the silence had become awkward when a child’s scream distracted her. She slipped from the room. Saved. Now he could lay the girl down without embarrassing himself. By the time, he joined the rest of the family in the kitchen Margaret had the situation under control. Jason thought the same of himself.
    D ays slipped by as he prepared the ranch for winter. Margaret tended to the house, children, and ‘the girl’. Each day she gained strength and stayed awake longer. She never spoke, and after the trauma she’d apparently suffered, he didn’t press her. Green eyes would stare at him for a moment when he entered the room and then close. Sometimes she went back to sleep and other times he knew she feigned sleep. Margaret told him not to worry. Her body, which had been so long without sleep and proper nourishment, needed rest.
    Anxious to set his plan into action, he checked on her ofte n, hoping to get the answers he needed. Where had she come from? Was she free from any commitments? What was her name? He was tired of referring to her as ‘the girl”, especially, when he had begun to think of her as Jade, the color of her beautiful green eyes.
    He shut the door behind him , and the smell of fried meat and potatoes caused his stomach to growl. “Supper ‘bout ready?”
    “Yes. Seat the children, I have their plates filled and on the table. Are you very hungry?” Margaret asked as she piled his plate high with food.
    “A herd of run-a-way buffalo wouldn’t stand a chance against my appetite tonight.” He winked at Tyler.
    “Yer funny, Uncle Jason.” Tyler giggled and scooted into his chair.
    Margaret cleaned the kitchen while the children played in the floor. Seated in the rocker with Emma tucked into his arms, he gently rocked until her eyes closed in sleep. When assured she wouldn’t awaken, he laid her in her bed.
    Tyler and Janey protested when Margaret ushered them to bed. “Get moving you two, your uncle needs to get his rest, he has a hard day ahead of him tomorrow.”
    “Night, Sis.”
    “Night.” The click of the door echoed in the now silent room.
    A whimper and soft cry woke him. When the sobs continued, he realized it wasn’t one of the children or Margaret would have tended to them by now. He rose from his lonely bed and entered the girl’s room. She lay huddled under the covers,