by Becca Van
Jenna didn’t believe a word the woman had just said. She glanced at Joan’s dresser and saw that her sister’s jewelry box was open. Joan had been so careful with her things and had always kept that lid closed and locked. She moved further into the room and over to the dresser and then slammed the lid closed before facing Mica again. “Get out. In fact get out of my house altogether.”
Mica met her angry stare with one of her own but began sauntering toward the door. She looked back over her shoulder at her and said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect or to upset you.”
Jenna moved toward the door and then watched until the woman had disappeared back into the living room. That woman was a charlatan and also a liar. She didn’t believe one word of her story. She had been up to something, but what?
Jenna opened Joan’s jewelry box and peered inside. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary so she closed it, locked it, and removed the key from the lock before putting it in her pocket. Joan had been a little OCD about keeping her things in their proper place and from the dust on the dresser that woman had moved everything and not put it back in their rightful place. The hair on Jenna’s neck stood on end and she glanced about the room. Nothing else looked like it had been touched but something wasn’t right. Had Mica been looking for something? And if so, what?
What the hell is going on, Joan? Were you in trouble?
Jenna’s head felt like there was a drum beating in it from the inside out. She couldn’t deal with any of this right now, not with the pain in her skull making it hard to think. She hurried into Jenna’s bathroom, took two pills from the bottle and then drank them down with water. As she was about to leave her sister’s bedroom she looked at the jewelry box again. Her parents had given it to Joan the day she had turned sixteen with a necklace inside. It meant the world to her sister and she wasn’t going to leave it out for anyone else to touch. It was now precious to Jenna. She picked it up and hurried back to her own room.
For some reason Jenna had the urge to hide it, so she opened her closet, removed a pair of shoes from their shoebox, and then placed Joan’s jewelry box inside, put the lid back on, and shoved it to the back of the cupboard. After closing the door, she slipped her shoes off, climbed onto her bed, and closed her eyes. No matter how hard she tried to sleep, her busy mind wouldn’t let her. She kept wondering what Joan’s boss had been looking for.
* * * *
Dach saw the red-haired woman come back down the hallway and studied her body language. He had no idea who she was or what her relationship to Joan had been, but he didn’t like her. Something about the woman put him on alert. He wondered what she was angry about and wondered if she’d had words with Jenna.
Jenna had been absolutely amazing as she had dealt with the details of organizing her sister’s funeral like a pro. She hadn’t flinched from making decisions or even hesitated. The service had been sad because of the loss of life of such a young woman but Jenna had made it into a celebration of what her sister’s life had been. But he was worried about Jenna. She had gone through so much in the last few days and she looked as if she was on autopilot. And he wasn’t the only one concerned for her, his brothers were, too. The more time they spent with her the quieter she became and that worried him.
Dach only hoped she wasn’t bottling her grief up and wouldn’t end up breaking apart when her sorrow got too much to bear. He’d heard Jenna crying at nighttime so at least that was something. Although he admired her strength and tenacity, he was concerned for well-being. She had lost weight and had dark smudges beneath her eyes that were a testament to her lack of sleep.
The redheaded woman hurried over to the man she’d been talking to earlier and whatever she whispered in his ear wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He looked just as angry as she did. They both started walking toward the door and then left without saying good-bye or without a backward glance.
“What the hell?” Dach muttered under his breath and then quickly looked around for Jeff and hurried over toward him. “Sorry to interrupt, guys, but can you give us a minute?”
“Sir, yes, sir.” Jeff’s fellow soldiers replied out of habit and then moved away.
“Who was the woman with the red hair?” Dach asked.
“Oh, that was Mica Paton, she was Joan’s boss.”
“And the man?”
“No idea. Why the sudden interest? Did you like the way she looked?”
“Not exactly.” Something in the way Dach replied must have alerted Jeff because he stood up straight and the smile left his mouth.
“What?”
“I’m not sure, exactly.”
“Gut instinct?”
“You could say that. I’m going to check on your sister. She left about twenty minutes ago and hasn’t come back.” Dach started to move away but Jeff gripped his shoulder.
“Thank you for all your help, Dach. I’m not sure that we’d have coped…”
“Yes, you would have. You have more strength than you’ve given yourself credit for, plus you have Jenna.”
“Yes, I do.” Jeff smiled. “She’s so damn strong but she can’t be strong all the time. I love my sister but I’m really worried about leaving her alone.”
Dach turned back around to face Jeff fully. He inhaled and then released his breath slowly. He and his brothers had wanted to talk to Jeff in regards to Jenna before he left on tour and had decided to wait until he’d passed the physical training, but he couldn’t pass up this opportunity. He glanced up and met his brothers’ eyes and nodded his head to get them to join him and Jeff. A moment later they stood beside him and waited.
“You don’t have to worry about Jenna. She won’t be alone. She’ll have us.”
Jeff straightened his stance and then met his eyes before looking to his brothers and back to him again. Dach waited for the expected questions.
“What do you mean?”
“We like your sister very much. In fact like is too weak of a word. We are all very attracted to your sister and think we could have something very special with her.”
Jeff’s jaw clenched and when he glared at Dach, he didn’t look away. “All of you?”
“Yes.”
“Shit! You want a ménage? With my sister?”
Dach glanced round to make sure no one had heard Jeff’s escalating voice and said, “Keep your voice down. I don’t want anyone talking to Jenna about this. We will talk to her when we think she’s ready. And yes, we want a ménage with her.”
“For how long?” Jeff snapped out the question and scowled at them all.
“Forever,” Dach and his brothers replied simultaneously.
The tension in Jeff’s jaw and face dissipated and then he started to smile. “Thank God.”
Dach raised his eyebrow in silent query.
“I knew damn well you were attracted to Jenna, but I thought you just wanted… Never mind. I’m glad to hear that you want to be with her for the long haul, but you are going to have to give her time to grieve. Jenna was like a mother to Joan and with her working and studying so much she never had a social life. You’re going to have to ease her into a relationship. As far as I know she’s never had one.”
“Never?” Dallas’s voice was hoarse when he asked that question.
“No. Never.”
“Damn.” Dach gripped Jeff’s arm. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Joan used to write to me and she was always saying how she wished Jenna would go out on a date instead of spending all her spare time looking after her.”
“We would never hurt her,” Des said.
“Make sure you don’t or you will be answering to me, Sirs.”
“Nothing I wouldn’t expect from you, Jeff.” Dach glanced toward the hallway and moved away when Jeff’s buddies came back and started talking to him again. He needed to see Jenna and make sure she was all right. He’d seen the tension around her mouth, the lines of pain between her eyes, and how white her face had been. He needed to know she wasn’t sick.
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Dach hurried down the hall and peeked into the first bedroom then quickly closed the door again when he saw that it was empty and knew that it had been Joan’s room. The door at the end of the hall was open and after looking inside and seeing the masculine décor, knew that it was Jeff’s room. There was only one more door to check and it was also closed. He gave a light knock and listened but when he didn’t get an answer, he opened it and peered inside. Jenna was curled up on the queen-sized bed with her back toward him. He quietly closed the door and then got up onto the bed with her.
Jenna looked back over her shoulder at him through sleepy eyes and then she sighed, turned over, and scooted in close to him. Dach relaxed back onto the bed, pushed his arm beneath her neck, placed the other on her hip, and pulled her in into his body. She sighed again and then snuggled up close to him. A few seconds later, her breathing deepened and evened out. He wondered if she was even aware of what she was doing. She’d turned toward him and that gave him hope. If she hadn’t trusted him, she wouldn’t have done that.
Would she?
He had spent the day with her and Jeff yesterday helping with the last touches for the funeral and he’d taken every opportunity to touch her. He hadn’t touched her in a sexual way because she wasn’t ready for that yet, but he’d held her hand, hoping to give her a bit of strength when she flagged, guided her in and out of doors, and hugged her when she’d been on the verge of tears. Just as his brothers had when they had their days off with Jenna and Jeff.
Dach loved feeling her slim, warm body against his. She felt so right in his arms and he never wanted to let go. He’d learned a lot about her over the last few days and even though he still had a lot to learn, he felt like he’d known her for a long time. Jenna Reason was one of the strongest women he’d ever met but beneath that spine of steel was a deep vulnerability and he wondered if she’d ever had a chance to lean on someone when she’d needed to. He doubted that very much. With Jeff away serving their country and earning money to keep a roof over his sisters’ heads and Jenna having to take care of her fragile sister, Jenna would have had no one to rely on but herself.
Well, that was about to change. If he and his brothers had their way she would soon be living in their house and sleeping in their beds. Permanently.
Now all they had to do was to convince Jenna that they were the men for her.
Chapter Five
The week flew by and the next thing Jenna knew, she was watching her brother’s graduation ceremony.
Jenna stood in the crowd and watched as solider after soldier was called up to the podium to be given their special SAS Graduation badges. When Jeff’s name was called she cheered and smiled at him when he glanced her way. She was so proud of her brother and how handsome he looked in his uniform, but she found herself looking at his TO’s, too. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off of them. They looked so tall, muscular and sexy in their uniforms, and she found herself glancing at them time and again.
She glanced around at all the families on the Army Base in support of her loved ones. Even though she was happy for the other people, she felt really lonely right then. Her mum and dad were gone and now so was Joan. She only had Jeff left. Pain pierced her heart but she pushed her sad thoughts aside. This was a happy day and she would damn well be happy for her brother.
She was going out with him and the rest of his team to celebrate tonight and then in the morning he would be gone again. Fear clutched her heart for the only living family member she had left. She had no idea where Jeff was being sent and knew it would be fruitless to ask. He was now a member of the SAS Regiment and even though he had extensive military training and the SAS motto was “Who Dares Wins,” Jenna was terrified that she would lose her brother while he served overseas.
She’d loved spending time with her brother over the last week when she wasn’t working, although it would have been so much better if Joan had been there, too. They’d both been busy during the day but had spent as much time together as they could at night. What surprised her the most was that his TOs came around nearly every night, too.
Monday night they’d brought pizza and movies. Wednesday night had been more movies but they’d brought Chinese food and on Tuesday and Thursday they’d called in after dinner for “a cup of coffee” and to talk to Jeff. Although they had talked to her brother, they’d seemed to talk to her more. Jenna began to wonder what was going on.
The graduated SAS soldiers threw their green berets into the air and cheered in celebration of them passing the physical test they’d been through earlier in the day, just as Jenna’s mobile phone rang. As she walked away from the raucous men, she dug into her bag for her phone and then answered it.
“Hello?”
“Jenna Reason?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“Jenna, it’s Sergeant Banal from the Castlemaine police. I’ve just received the report back regarding your sister’s car.”
“Yes, Sergeant?”
“I’m sorry to have to inform you, but it looks like your sister’s brake line was cut. Your sister didn’t commit suicide, Jenna. She was murdered.”
“Oh. My. God,” Jenna whispered. She glanced over at Jeff and saw him shaking his TOs’ hands and knew she didn’t have much time. She wanted a copy of that report but she had to keep this information from Jeff. If he knew that Joan had been murdered he would go into a rage and probably quit the only job he’d ever known and loved. She couldn’t do that to her brother. Nothing was going to bring Joan back and she didn’t want her brother to ruin his life and regret it. He was so passionate about keeping their country safe and he’d already given up so much for her and Joan. She couldn’t let him give up anything else.
“Jenna, are you all right?”
“Yes, listen to me. I don’t have much time. I’ll be there in about forty minutes. I want a copy of that report, Sergeant. Were you able to get any fingerprints other than my sister’s off the car?”
“We were, but none of them are on record. I’ll have that report waiting for you, Jenna.”
“Good. Thanks. I have to go. I’ll talk to you soon.” Jenna turned around and walked back toward the grass field. She caught Des eying her and plastered a happy smile on her face. She didn’t have to fake the smile. She was so proud of her brother. He’d achieved so much and all on his own.
Des moved toward her at a fast clip and stopped when he was a few feet away. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re pale, Jenna. You’ve been working too hard. Who was on the phone?”
“Work,” Jenna lied and looked away, hoping he couldn’t see that she was telling fibs.
“Shit!” Des sighed and then scrubbed a hand over his face. “You don’t have to go in, do you? Your brother is going to be pissed if you miss the celebration.”
“I have to go in for a little bit, but I should be back in time for dinner.”
“Damn it, Jenna. You’re working way too hard.” Des reached up and touched her cheek just beneath her eye. “This has to stop, sweetie. If you don’t slow down, you’re going to get sick.”
“I’m fine, Desmond. I have been looking after myself for years.”
“And that’s going to change.”
“What do…”
“What’s going on?” Dach asked as he came to stand beside Jenna.
“Jenna has to go into work.”
“Excuse me.” Jenna poked Des in his rock-hard abs and tried not to shiver when she felt the warmth from his body beneath her fingertip. “I don’t need you answering for me.”
Des held his hands up palm out. “I know you don’t. I’m sorry, sweetie, but you shouldn’t have to go into work today of all days.”
“Des, it’s not like I’m going to be working all night.” Jenna hated lying, but if they knew what she was really doing, she could see them wanting to come with her and then Jeff would be suspicious. If he knew about Joan’s car, he would want to s
tay home and throw everything he worked for into the wind.
Hands landed on her shoulders and Jenna looked up to meet Dallas’s gaze. He was scowling down at her. “Did I just hear you say you were going into work?”
“Yes,” Jenna sighed and stepped away from the three men. Her damn body was being a traitor again. She could feel moisture gathering on her pussy folds. Her breasts felt swollen and her nipples were hard and aching. After searching out and finding her brother in amongst his fellow soldiers, she began walking toward him. “I’ll be at the Four Passion Club in time for dinner.”
Jeff slapped one of the men on the shoulder and looked up. He smiled when he saw her coming toward him. Jenna stepped into her brother’s open arms, hugged him tight and then stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you, Jeff. Joan would have been, too.”
“Thanks, sis.”
“I have to head into work for a bit. There was some mix-up on one of the labels apparently. I will be back in time to have dinner with you though.”
“Fuck, Jenna.” Jeff pulled back and then held onto her upper arms with his big hands. “You have been working way too much, honey. You need to slow down or you’re going to burn out and get sick.”
“I’ve already had too much time off work recently, Jeff. You know there are only Sharon and I working at that pathology clinic. I can’t expect her to take my patients forever.”
“I know, but you’re looking really pale, Jenna. If you lose any more weight, a strong wind will blow you over.”
Jenna was touched by her brother’s concern and even though she felt fine, she knew he was right. She’d been so damn tired since the day she had found out about Joan and it was really hard to keep forcing herself to get up every day and go into work. But she’d had to remain strong for her brother. He’d needed her support and encouragement to finish his training. Maybe after he’d been shipped out tomorrow morning, she could take some time out for herself.