“At ease,” Maya ordered her squadron.
Immediately, everyone relaxed and placed their hands behind their backs, alert to what their CO was going to say.
Jenny felt embarrassed. Maya had a slight smile playing across her full lips. The power this woman had was immense, and Jenny felt benign warmth flowing from her. Maya’s emerald-green eyes softened. Her voice lowered a bit, but it still rang clearly and strongly throughout the cavern, so that everyone present could hear her speak.
“Jenny, we like to honor anyone who places their own life secondarily to saving another. That’s what this squadron is all about. Our lives are the line for the betterment of the world in general. When I was informed of your courageous act of bravery yesterday, I told my officers about it. We felt, to a person, that you should not only be publicly honored for what you did—and nearly died doing—but also given a military medal for your heroism.”
Maya smiled a little and pointed to the medal. “We don’t have civilian medals, but we wanted you to have one of ours so that you knew how much we honored your bravery. This medal happens to be one of too many that I have of this type….”
Polite laughter rippled through the formation. Jenny turned and looked at the smiling faces of the women squadron and the glimmer in their eyes as they looked at their CO. Clearly, Maya’s leadership here was unquestioned, and her people loved and respected her.
Maya continued in a warm tone, “You suffered many wounds and nearly died rescuing that little boy. In our eyes and hearts, you are brave and heroic. We want you to keep this medal, the Purple Heart, as a token of our appreciation, esteem and respect for who and what you are. We’re proud to have you as one of our own.”
Maya held out her hand to Jenny, smiling hugely.
In shock, Jenny looked over at Matt, who stood off to one side with Akiva. Jenny brought up her hand and shook Maya’s. The CO’s grip was like a steel trap. “Th-thank you, Major Stevenson….” And she released Maya’s hand. Turning, she lifted her hand, a small smile on her lips. “Thank you, everyone. This is so…so unexpected. I really don’t know what to say….” And she turned back to Maya, who was smiling over at her husband, Dane York.
They were honoring her! Jenny realized. They were celebrating her act of bravery in rescuing little Daniel. A lump formed in her throat. Everything blurred. Automatically, Jenny’s badly bruised and cut hand went to the medal that hung on her blouse. Maya was giving her one of her own medals. A medal given for being wounded while in action and under fire. She smiled bravely through her tears at the tall woman warrior.
“I’m honored that it came from you and your squadron. I’ll never forget this, Major. Not ever. Thanks so much. I never expected this….”
With a brisk nod, Maya lost her smile. She came up and handed Jenny a small piece of cloth. “When someone in a squadron gives a person the squadron patch, it’s like saying they’re family. They’re one of us.” Pressing the round patch, which had a head of a snarling black jaguar on it, encircled with red and blue rings, into Jenny’s palm, Maya added, “Welcome to the base, Ms. Wright. You’re now one of us, a black jaguar.”
Jenny’s gaze clung to the patch, until the emblem blurred. Sniffing, she blinked through her tears. Matt approached and slid a tissue into her hand. She thanked him and wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“This is all so wonderful,” she said, strengthening her voice so the formation of smiling, nodding women could hear her. Lifting up the patch, Jenny said, “I know none of you know me, but for so long, I never belonged to anyone, anywhere. I was a foster child. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. What I want you to know is how great it feels to finally be a recognized member of a larger family.”
There was instantaneous clapping and cheering. Some of the women whistled. Others cried out her name. Some smiled. And some had tears in their eyes.
Jenny turned and looked up at Maya, who had a tender look on her face. She could look very stern and official at times, but now Jenny could see deep emotion in her eyes, and in the smile lurking at the corners of her well-shaped mouth.
“I feel like you know what you’ve just given me.”
Nodding, Maya whispered, “I do, Jenny. Now you have a home. And we’re all your sisters and brothers. From now on, you have a family. A big one.” She gazed over at Matt, and stepped aside so that he could join them.
Jenny showed him the patch that lay in her palm. She saw the pride and love shining in his eyes for her. The applause continued. It was overwhelming to her. Wonderful. Unexpected. Exhilarating. As Matt put his arm tenderly around her shoulders and embraced her carefully, Jenny heard cries, yells, Indian war whoops from Akiva and wolf whistles from the men in the group. Matt kissed her lightly on the mouth and then eased away.
As he did, he rasped, “Soak it all in, Jenny. You deserve this. They’re honoring you because you are a real, live, honest-to-God heroine. I love you so much. You’ve got a heart as big and wide as the state of Montana.”
It was all too much for Jenny. After nearly dying yesterday afternoon, and then to have this raucous, sincere celebration in her honor, she couldn’t stop the tears that trickled from her eyes. Oh, she knew she probably shouldn’t show her tears in front of all these military people. But as she self-consciously wiped them away, she saw many of the squadron wiping moisture from their eyes, too.
No longer would she ever consider herself a coward. And she swore to never call herself a ’fraidy cat again. Her spirit lifted and then spread its wings and flew. Matt’s arm around her shoulders was like sunlight to Jenny. The look of pride mixed with love in his expression was all she would ever need. Now, she could come to his side a whole person, not a frightened shadow as she’d been before. With Matt’s love, his belief in her supporting her strong, confident side, she would grow into a more balanced human being. And wasn’t that what love was all about? Partners nurturing one another so they were always growing, with each other’s help?
Chapter Thirteen
“I’m so excited!” Jenny whispered wickedly as she walked arm in arm with Matt toward Morgan’s sprawling two-story log cabin. In truth it was a beautiful place that he and Laura had added on to over the years as they had more and more children. Now there was an octagon-shaped living room at one end of the structure. The rest of the cedar home looked more like a standard cabin one would find in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. It was snowing, and she lifted her face to the softly falling flakes as they walked up the recently swept brick path.
Matt grinned. “What about? The Five Days of Christmas party that’s going to start tomorrow?” Jenny was like an exuberant child as she stuck out her tongue and tried to catch the huge snowflakes spiraling lazily downward from the soft gray sky above. He kept his arm around her waist to keep her from slipping.
Smiling up at him, Jenny stopped and threw her arms around his neck. Matt wore a corduroy jacket with a cranberry-red shirt beneath it. Snow lightly covered his short, thick hair. She wasn’t disappointed as he lifted her off her feet and captured her smiling mouth.
As they stood kissing hotly on the walk, the silent, mighty Douglas firs like green sentinels around them, Matt eased his mouth from hers—reluctantly. In the weeks since they’d returned home to Montana after the mission, he’d found his life more happy than he could ever believe possible. He had also deferred his upcoming mission in order to spend more time with Jenny. Instead, he had taken over the job as mission planning coordinator and worked with Mike Houston. It gave him the best of all worlds, but more importantly, he had time to be with Jenny to cultivate their deepening relationship.
Now, drinking in her sparkling blue eyes, he gently deposited her on the path.
“What was that sudden, bold attack on me for?” Matt demanded as they turned and began to walk toward the entrance.
“Just because,” she answered coyly.
Giving her a skeptical look, Matt grumbled, “When I see that expression on your face, I know I’m in trouble, sweet
woman.”
Laughing, Jenny stopped and faced him. “The doctor said my sternum is all healed up now, and my ribs are fine. You know what that means, I hope?” Her eyes danced with deviltry as she saw his mouth pull into a crooked grin. “Yes, I can see you do!”
“Really?” The last six weeks had been a special hell for both of them. With Jenny’s sternum and rib injuries, Matt wasn’t about to try and love her, and possibly reinjure her. No, they’d decided to wait until the doctor cleared her. A sweet warmth flowed through him as he saw the glint in Jenny’s eyes. How much she’d changed since coming back from Peru. All good changes.
“Really,” she murmured. “Come on! We’ll be late for the final meeting! There’s so much to do for each day of the party!” She grabbed his hand, raced up the steps and opened the ornately carved cedar door. The symbol on it was of the sun and moon entwined with a colorful rainbow. Morgan was the sun. Laura, his moon. And the rainbow, as far as Jenny was concerned, shouted of the love between them and their four beautiful children. She wanted a marriage just like theirs.
Once inside, they shed their coats, hanging them on hooks in the foyer, and removed their boots, placing them on an awaiting rug nearby. Jenny quickly ran her fingers through her blond hair, now damp from the snowflakes. She caught Matt watching her through narrowed, thoughtful eyes. Her body ached to touch him, hold him and love him. The past six weeks had been incredible for her. No longer was she a ’fraidy cat. Morgan liked her new boldness and take-charge attitude. Laura applauded the obvious confidence that she’d brought home from Peru with her. Jenny herself was getting used to this new persona and she liked it—an awful lot. Even better, Matt loved her.
The delicate scent of heated apple juice with cinnamon in it wafted through the cabin as they hurried across the highly polished cedar floor toward the living room, where everyone was to meet. Jenny knew Laura would have cups of the warming cider waiting for everyone.
Christmas music floated through the house, low and joyful. This was Jenny’s second year at the five-day celebration that Morgan and Laura threw for all the families of Perseus who lived in Philipsburg. Even better, returning mercenaries were welcome as well. It was five days of nonstop celebration, of making Christmas something special and memorable not only for them, but for the needy, the poor and the sick of the area. Jenny loved it! There was so much fun for everyone, especially the children of the families.
Entering the octagon-shaped room, Jenny spotted everyone cloistered on the thick, comfortable, butter-yellow leather couches that sat in a semicircle around a low oval table made of cedar and glass. Jenny saw red-haired Abbie, a local schoolteacher who was Laura’s right-hand woman in decorating for this wonderful event. Next to her sat Colt Hamlin, a mercenary who had just come in off a harrowing mission. Several wives of mercenaries, including Shah Randolph and Susannah Killian were in attendance, as was Sarah Harding, who mined sapphires in the mountains nearby with her mercenary husband, Wolf.
Laura warmly welcomed Jenny and Matt and asked them to come and sit down. She passed around notebooks and pens for all and launched into the coming week’s list of activities.
Throughout the two-hour meeting, Matt couldn’t keep his mind off Jenny. He had bought a beautiful emerald engagement ring and wanted to ask her to marry him when the time was right. Tonight, he would.
As he sat there, Matt’s heart expanded with a love so deep and wide that it made him in awe of the emotion Jenny evoked so easily in him. They’d been living at her condo since they’d come home. Every night, after work, he looked forward to the evenings with her. They made dinner together, then ate it in front of the fireplace, on a soft black alpaca rug she’d brought back from Agua Caliente. More than anything, he enjoyed their deep, exploratory talks. In many ways, Matt thought, the past six weeks had been perfect—a chance for them to get to know one another without sex being a part of their relationship.
Not that he didn’t want to love her; he did. But bruised ribs were so very painful; he’d had them once himself. Matt didn’t even want to entertain the idea of crushing Jenny with his weight or hurting her by holding her in his arms. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was cause her pain.
Jenny lifted her chin and gazed over at him, a soft smile of welcome on her mouth. He smiled back and caressed her shoulder as she hunched over the notebook and scribbled away. Coordinating this five-day event, Matt was discovering, was like moving an army from point A to point B. Still, he could hardly wait until this meeting was over and they were done for the day. He had a special night planned—for just the two of them.
Slivers of moonlight filtered through the Victorian lace curtains of Jenny’s bedroom, where Matt lay waiting for her to emerge from the bathroom. He’d surprised her with a catered dinner, complete with champagne, red roses and a bottle of her favorite perfume, piki-piki, made of white ginger blossoms from Hawaii. It was all part of his telling her he loved her.
The door opened.
His eyes narrowed. Tonight, he had draped the dark green flannel sheet across his hips to hide his lower body, because he wore nothing to bed. Usually, he did, out of respect for Jenny. Tonight, everything was different.
Jenny stood there uncertainly, a fluffy yellow towel wrapped around her. The color complemented her damp blond hair. Her slender hands held the terry-cloth material across her breasts, and she was obviously naked beneath it.
Matt’s breath hitched. An ache, so deep and filled with such yearning, flooded his heart and fed his soul as he saw her huge blue, smoky-looking eyes.
Lifting his hand, he murmured, “Come here…” His fingers stretched outward and she moved like a graceful deer, her hand extended toward him. As soon as their fingers touched, he curled her hand into his. Lifting the flannel sheet, Matt guided her into the bed beside him.
“I’m nervous…. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am,” Jenny whispered. Giving him a pleading look, she added with a twisted smile, “And I’m supposed to have such confidence now because of everything that happened down in Peru.”
“You have courage. You always have,” Matt said in a rasping tone. Jenny removed the towel and allowed it to drop to the floor, then snuggled beside his long, hard length. “Saving Daniel’s life was no little thing, sweet woman,” Matt said as he curved his arm around her shoulders and brought her firmly against him.
“I—just feel so inadequate right now,” she whispered, closing her eyes and frowning. Matt’s body was powerful. More powerful than she had ever realized. As she sank against him, her softness against his granitelike angles, she slid her hand shyly across his flat, hard torso. “I’m worried I won’t please you…that my breasts are ugly-looking…or too small…or I won’t look good enough for you….” There, the truth was out. Jenny pried her lids open and, risking everything, looked up at Matt.
The tenderness burning in his eyes was her undoing. How could she worry about such things? She saw the love for her reflected in his gaze. And as he moved his hand in a caress across her damp hair, down her cheek to cup her chin, Jenny realized that her anxiety had been for nothing.
A rumble of laughter vibrated within his chest as she met and held his gaze. As her lips parted, Matt guided her chin gently upward and rested his mouth lightly against hers.
“Listen to me, will you?” he whispered across her lips. A hot, throbbing ache centered in his loins, but he ruthlessly controlled it for her sake. “There is nothing ugly about you, Jenny. You’re perfect to me. In every way. I’m just as scared, just as worried as you are, sweet woman.”
“You are?” Jenny’s eyes widened enormously as she met and held his smoldering gaze. Shimmering tingles radiated through her, head to toe, as he kept touching her lips like a butterfly, teasing her and letting her know how much he cherished her.
“You see, you aren’t the only nervous Nellie around here.” As Matt’s arms moved around her, pulling her against him, Jenny sighed. He was just as scared as she was. He wanted to please her, give her as mu
ch pleasure as she wanted to give him. Even though he was a man of the world, a hero in her eyes, he was terribly human—just like her. That evened out the playing field.
Her racing pulse settled a little. The fear that had held her hostage quickly dissolved beneath the exploratory touch of his mouth gliding slickly across her lips. Jenny responded to his tentative kiss, her breath quickening as she pressed herself wantonly against him.
The groan that reverberated through his taut, hard body resonated like a drum within Jenny. As Matt turned and lowered her against the mattress, his arm cushioning her head and shoulders, she closed her eyes and uttered a soft, tremulous sigh. She allowed herself to begin a bold exploration of him, her fingertips trailing languidly from his thick, powerful neck, down across his bunched shoulders to his tense, darkly haired forearms.
“Look at me,” he commanded roughly.
His moist breath feathered across her cheek as she slowly opened her eyes. Jenny smiled up into his smoldering, narrowed gaze and saw the love he held for her. Yes, there was no doubt: Matt did love her. She saw his mouth curve faintly as he traced her brow with his index finger. There was such tenderness in his expression. Her skin tingled wildly as he move his fingertip downward, across her cheekbone, to the corner of her mouth.
“You are the most beautiful, most precious person in the world to me,” he told her in a husky tone as he glided his fingers across her lower lip. “And all I want to do is kiss you senseless and feel myself within you. I’ve never wanted anyone more than you, Jenny….” And he dipped his head and settled his mouth firmly across her parted lips.
The warm strength of his lips cajoled hers, and a hot fire exploded deep within Jenny’s lower body. As he leaned over, pressing her solidly against the mattress, she took his full weight and gloried in his strength as a man. Feeling the rigid hardness of him against her abdomen, Jenny responded boldly by pressing her hips more surely against him. Again Matt groaned. Her heart sang with joy, with the power she had as a woman. His mouth was worshipful against her lips, sometimes teasing, sometimes tempting and always heated and hungry. He wanted her on every level.
Woman of Innocence Page 16