A/N: Thank you all for the votes, I am truly sorry about the long wait, this last couple of weeks has been hellish, it is flu season and of course I had to go and catch the nasty bugger. I am better now and will try and keep updating.
Jonathan was standing in one of the lower paddocks, his shirt was slung over the fence, his body was glistening with sweat as he was working on fixing a broken fence post. It has been almost a week since the Alec had brought down the hammer so to speak, Jonathan had tried to keep his distance from Laura, well as best one could living in such close quarters.
He was stretching his arms above his head, trying to get the muscles in his shoulder to relax after the strenuous work when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to find Laura standing with a flask and a small container. "I thought you might like some lunch," she blushed slightly while she held out the container, "and maybe some company." she looked expectantly at him, smiling shyly.
"That would be lovely, but won't your father get upset with me once again." he said with a raised eyebrow. Laura looked back towards the house, "He went into town, I needed more seeds, and he needed to do some business." she looked back towards him, "He does this every month. Gets new supplies, maybe some new seeds to plant."
Jonathan motioned for her to take a seat on the grass as he sat down next to her. "So he goes into town at least, why didn't you go with him?" he asked opening the container and smiling at the contents. "I'm going to get fat if you keep spoiling me like this." he removed a BLT sandwich, taking a bite to show his appreciation. Laura smiled at him, clearing her throat she nervously played with a blade of grass. "I used to go with him, but then it stopped." she didn't continue, but Jonathan didn't want the conversation to end. "Do you know why?" he prodded carefully.
"I think I know why, but I can't be sure," she looked at him and when he nodded for her to continue she slowly revealed her story.
"When my mom died he got extremely protective of me, he stopped doing anything around the farm, yet he went on with his normal routine." she leaned against the fence post, getting more comfortable. "The last time he took me into town, there was a man at the co-op, he helped my dad load stock for the farm. We started chatting when dad left to go settle the bill." Laura couldn't help but blush more, her face was warm and she was embarrassed to admit, "We were probably flirting a bit, he had me giggling with the stories that he told me." Laura stopped, unable to make eye contact with Jonathan.
Jonathan watched her closely, "You don't need to go on." Laura shook her head, "No it's okay, it was a long time ago." she cleared her throat, taking a deep breath she finally looked up, "He had me cornered behind some bales of hay, I wasn't comfortable, tried to get away from him, but he didn't listen." she looked away again.
After a long silence, she finally continued. "Dad found us, before," she quickly looked up at him, before looking away, "nothing happened, dad made sure of that." she giggled nervously, "I haven't been allowed to go with him since then." Jonathan leaned forward, cupping her face in his hand, she rested her cheek against the palm of his hand. "Not all guys are like that, there are still decent men on this planet."
Laura looked up at him, their eyes meeting, Jonathan closed the distance between them, his lips making contact with hers, at first softly, lightly brushing against hers, slowly turning more urgent.
He finally pulled away, "You deserve so much more than this." he said as he got up, he looked down at her, sighing before he turned and walked back to the broken fence.
***
Alec made his way through his usual tasks, first stopping at the co-op, ordering corn seeds for later the month when he was sure the paddock will be ready. He watched the bustle following the people as they walked past him, busy with their own troubles.
A young man walks up to him, he could see the man didn't take pride in his appearance, definitely smelling like a bath hadn't been a top priority. "What do you want Louie?" he asks the man when he finally stopped in front of him. "I have the last couple weeks newspapers, I saved everyone of them." The man kept stubbing his toe against a table leg, probably some type of nervous tick Alec had thought.
"Yes, did you see anything funny in them?" Alec asked, he had send word to the co-op, asking for help to find out if they heard of a missing person. The young man kept shuffling around, seemingly lost in his own mind.
Alec huffed a sigh of frustration, walking past the boy to the main office. He could hear the boy following him. Knocking on the office door he opened it, not waiting for an answer.
"Louie says you have newspapers for me?" he asked the woman sitting behind a desk. "And a good morning to you too Alec." she answered rolling her eyes. "I don't have time for this, did you find something or not?" he asked sitting in the only other chair in the office. "Why are you so desperate Alec? Usually you couldn't care less about current affairs." Alec leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "It's personal this time, could you find any news about a missing man or not?" he asked, trying to keep his temper under control.
The woman stood up, walking towards a steel file cabinet in the corner, she pulled out a stack of newspapers, holding them out to Alec. "The top one, it says they are desperately looking for their lost son, his wife is apparently, how did they put it?" she flipped the paper open on the desk in front of Alec, her finger quickly scanning the article, "Oh yes here it is, 'Our darling daughter-in-law is frantic with fear' sounds like shit to me, look the picture isn't even a candid one." flipping over to the next page, Alec came face-to-face with a small passport photo of Jonathan Pine.
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The Abandoned Spy
أدب الهواةJonathan Pine, an undercover secret agent, recovers on a derelict farm after having being found out, where he meets a young woman, who is more than what she seems.
