Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,66
were anticipating the touch of Quinn’s chest.
His breath caught.
She pushed him back to look at his face. He smiled and gave her a wink, but she could tell he was in a great deal of pain.
“You can hold me later,” she said and tried to step back.
He held her fast. “I believe I’ll hold you later as well,” he said, then bent down to kiss her. It was a glorious kiss with no bars pressing into their faces. “You promised,” he whispered. “‘Till the end, aye. ‘Tisn’t the end yet.”
He kissed her again and she heard the chuckle of more than one man, then the gasp of a woman.
“Montgomery! He’s bleeding!”
The woman’s voice sounded a little too familiar. Jules hadn’t considered that her twin would sound like her too.
Quinn looked down into her face. He was worried.
“Ready or not, aye?”
Tears welled in her eyes, but not because she was afraid. She was just so relieved he understood her so well.
“I’m a coward,” she whispered. “Who knew?”
Quinn laughed. “I suppose you could bash her on the head and try to fight your way out.”
She sighed. “Yeah, but that plan’s getting a little old.”
Quinn nodded. “Will you let me handle this?”
Jules smiled, grateful, and got a wink as a reward. He pushed her hair back behind her ears, straightened her coat, then pivoted so they both faced the woman waiting behind him.
Binoculars hadn’t done the woman justice. And she’d been right. Jillian Ross was a beauty—like a Photo-Shopped version of the chick Jules saw in the mirror each morning.
“Holy shit,” she said at the same time Jillian said, “Holy crap.”
No one laughed.
“Jilly?” Quinn gave the woman a little bow. “This is my... This is Juliet. She’s mine. I’m certain the pair of you will find the time to get to know one another, but just now, I need you to tend to my back, aye?”
Jillian’s pale face stared at her. It was like looking at a ghost. Jules was frozen in place.
“I’m bleeding, Jilly. Remember?” Quinn lowered his head to get the woman’s attention.
Jilly noticed him again, nodded, then hurried away to one of the horses. When she came back, she was carrying a first aid kit.
Jules suddenly felt...extra, like she’d been holding someone’s place in the world and now that someone was there to take it back. She was nothing more than a seat-filler, and the appropriate thing for her to do at the moment was to get the hell out of the picture.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
For a half hour, James paced around their little group while Quinn was cleaned and sewn up by her sister. The woman seemed to know what she was doing, so Jules let her at it. But she couldn’t bear to stand near her.
Quinn seemed to understand. At least he didn’t complain about her not holding his hand while a needle was poked in and out of him.
They still hadn’t spoken. Quinn had needed all of Jillian’s attention. But the woman kept glancing over at her. She paced about twenty feet away, between two trees, feeling like an orphan looking through the dining room window at a real family sitting down for Thanksgiving.
She felt a heavy arm descend over her shoulders and glanced up, sure she would see James there, trying to make Quinn jealous. But it was Montgomery.
“Ye see, Jillian?” the man called to his wife. “I’ve got her. She’s not going anywhere.” In a lower voice he said, “For the love of God, don’t go anywhere.”
Jules laughed.
Quinn’s head snapped around. He looked at Montgomery, then at her. There was a question in his eyes and she knew just what he was asking. Was she remembering the dream? Imagining it was Montgomery on the other side of the bars? The fact that he would worry made her tear up.
She looked intently into Quinn’s eyes and shook her head slowly, clearly.
He smiled and nodded. Then she looked from him to Jillian and back, asking him the same silent question. He laughed and shook his head.
“What the bloody hell was that about?” Montgomery asked it none too quietly.
“Private joke,” she said.
“Ah. And just how much privacy did you and my nephew enjoy?” He’d sounded like a protective father, not a brother in law.
“Oh, we didn’t enjoy it.”
Quinn frowned, then called out. “The hell we didn’t.”
Jillian made Quinn lift one arm, pushed it up a little higher, then gave him a good frown. Then she bent back to her stitching. A second later, Quinn cried out.
Montgomery laughed. Jillian slapped her