The Proposal & Solid Soul - Brenda Jackson [34]
“Fine, you stay inside here and I’ll sleep in your barn,” he finally said.
She shook her head after crossing her arms over her chest. “You won’t be sleeping in anyone’s barn. You’re going to sleep in your own bed tonight and I intend to sleep in mine.”
“Fine,” he snapped like he was giving in to her suggestion when he wouldn’t do anything of the sort. But if she wanted to think it he would let her. “I need to take you to Pam’s to show her and the others you’re okay and in one piece.”
A smile touched her lips. “They were worried about me?”
She seemed surprised by that. “Yes, everyone was worried.”
“In that case let me grab my purse.”
“I’ll be waiting outside,” he said to her fleeing back.
He shook his head and slowly left the kitchen and walked through the dining room to the living room where Marvin and a couple of the men were replacing the window. They had cleaned up all the broken glass but a scratch mark on the wooden floor clearly showed where the rock had landed once it entered the house.
He drew in a sharp breath at the thought of Bella getting hit by that rock. If anything would have happened to her he would have…
At that moment he wasn’t sure just what he would do. The thought of anything happening to her sent sharp fear through him in a way he’d never known before. Why? Why were his feelings for her so intense? Why was he so possessive when it came to her?
He shrugged off the responses that flowed through his mind, not ready to deal with any of them. He walked out the front door to where Zane and Derringer were waiting.
“You aren’t really going to let her stay here unprotected?” Derringer asked, studying his features.
Jason shook his head. “No.”
“And why can’t the two of you stay under the same roof?” Zane asked curiously.
“None of your business.”
Zane chuckled. “If you don’t give me an answer I’m going to think things.”
That didn’t move Jason. “Think whatever you want.” He then checked his watch. “I hate to do this but I’m checking out for the rest of the day. I intend to keep an eye on Bella until Pete finds out who threw that rock through her window.”
“You think Kenneth Bostwick had something to do with it?” Derringer asked.
“Not sure, but I hope for his sake he didn’t,” Jason said in a voice laced with tightly controlled anger.
He stopped talking when Bella walked onto the porch. Not only had she grabbed her purse but she’d also changed her dress. At his curious look, she said, “The dress I was wearing wasn’t suitable for visiting.”
He nodded and decided not to tell her she looked good now and had looked good then. Whatever she put on her body she wore with both grace and style. He met her in the middle of the porch and slipped her hand in his. “You look nice. And I thought we could grab dinner someplace before I bring you back here.”
Her eyes glowed in a way that tightened his stomach and sent sensations rushing through his gut. “I’d like that, Jason.”
IT WAS CLOSE TO TEN AT night when Bella returned home. Jason entered her house and checked around, turning on lights as he went from room to room. It made her feel extra safe when she saw a police patrol car parked near the turnoff to her property.
“Everything looks okay,” Jason said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Thanks. I’ll walk you to the door,” she said quickly, heading back downstairs.
“Trying to rush me out of here, Bella?”
At the moment she didn’t care what he thought. She just needed him gone so she could get her mind straightened out. Being with him for the past eight hours had taken its toll on her mind and body.
She hadn’t known he was so touchy and each time he’d touched her, even by doing something as simple as placing a hand in the center of her back when they’d been walking into the movies, it had done something