Breaking Jacob (2nd in Breaking Series)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Jacob looked down at Ellie. She had fallen fast asleep against his chest on the ride back to the ranch. He jumped from the saddle with her legs wrapped firmly around his waist and her arms around his neck. She moaned his name and turned her head so he could see her face as she slept. Her mouth was partially open. Her full soft lips looked entirely too kissable. Her cheeks were red and stained with tears as her long black lashes rested against them.

With her body pressed against him and her long pale legs wrapped around his waist, it was so easy to forget about who Ellie really was. She looked so innocent even as her body set his on fire, that he was tempted to just pretend the last twelve hours hadn't happened and take her inside, make love to her long and slow and just deal with things in the morning.

Jacob shook his head. He couldn't do that. He carried her into the house and laid her on the sofa. She gave a moan of protest and pouted out her bottom lip when he removed her arms from his neck. He covered her with the small throw on the sofa and then walked back outside to put the horses up.

He was tired, his head was pounding and he had a deep aching pain down in his soul that he knew wasn't going to go away any time soon. He unsaddled the horses, rubbed them down and put them back in their stalls before making his way back into the house. Ellie was still sound asleep and peaceful on the sofa. Jacob wished he could just let her sleep and get himself some sleep as well, but if her sister really was in trouble, they needed to talk about it.

He knelt beside the sofa and pushed her hair from her face, letting his fingers linger on her soft skin, "Ellie? Ellie, wake up. We need to talk."

She moaned his name again and snuggled deeper under the cover. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, "Ellie, wake up," he called more sternly.

Her eyes opened and she sat up quickly, nearly knocking their heads together. Jacob rose to his full height as she looked around the living room, "What happened?" she asked.

"You fell asleep," he replied, "I put the horses up and then came back in here."

"The money...."

"By the door," he said, pointing to the pillowcase he'd taken from the saddlebags.

"I'm sorry, Jacob. I didn't have a choice!" she gasped, praying that he'd understand.

"I think that's your problem, Ellie. You refuse to see that you do have other choices. You could have told me sooner who you really were. You could have come to me and told me about your sister. You didn't have to steal money, silver and a horse and take off in the middle of the night. Do you know how foolish that was? Anything could have happened to you out there alone!" Jacob refused to acknowledge the fact that he was more upset over thinking that something bad could have happened to her than he was that she had stolen from them.

"I couldn't have come to you, Jacob! You refused to listen to a word I had to say... Not that I blame you," Her eyes dropped to the rug at their feet.

"I have always had a problem with shutting my mouth and opening my ears, but I promise to listen to you now," Jacob vowed, "Explain to me how you came to be with Otis and how much danger your sister is really in." Jacob still had a hard time believing that any man would stick a twelve year old girl in a saloon and tell the men to have at her.

"Sit down," Ellie urged and Jacob did as she told him and sat down on the cushion beside her. "I was fourteen when my mama died. Liza was two. My papa lost his mind. He didn't want kids anymore if he didn't have mama and he kicked us out and left us on our own. We had nothing. No home, no food and no clothes, except for what was on our backs. At first I begged for food or money but everyone just assumed I was a loose girl who had gotten myself with child and then the father had run off and I was raising my daughter alone. Not a single person would help me," Ellie shivered when she remembered the loneliness and desperation.