Read Online BROKEN by Kimberley Reeves - Free Book Online Page A

keeps it running.   I’ve been using Jessie’s computer to educate myself.”  
    The tension in Jessie’s shoulders eased.   “You told me you were just e-mailing your buddies , and all this time you were learning about tractors?”
    “I wanted to impress you, honey.   Can’t blame a guy for that, can you?”
    She smiled back at him.   “No, I suppose not.   So how long are you two going to tinker with that thing?   I need to run into town for grain and some other supplies.”
    “Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours,” Hank said. “Maybe even less now that I have a self-educated tractor expert to help me out.”
    Kincaid didn’t bother to respond.   Crossing the kitchen, he leaned down and gave Jessie a kiss.   “If I’m not back in two hours, come and rescue me.”
    That had been over an hour ago.   Jessie moved away from the window but couldn’t let go of the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right.   Kincaid had been here for nearly six weeks now, and she thought maybe that’s what was bothering her.   She kept expecting to see that look in his eyes, the one that told her he was getting restless and would soon be gone.  
    Instead, he seemed quite content to spend his days helping out with the endless chores around the ranch.   Most of the time he was with her, but when he knew whatever she had to do for the day wouldn’t take her far from the house, he would opt to accompany Hank.   He was kind and considerate and had completely lost his discomfort at showing his affection towards her when others were around.   She should have been grateful for the changes in him, but for some reason it put her on edge.   It was like waiting for a bomb to drop, she thought dismally.
    Jessie rubbed at her temple.   Why couldn’t she make herself believe he had really changed and wasn’t going to pick up and leave any day now?   Why did she still have doubts when he’d been so loving and attentive?   Or was that why she had doubts ?   The Kincaid she knew had been intensely sexual, but not attentive.   When they were alone , he was constantly touching her, kissing her, and inevitably making love to her, but all that ended the moment someone else came into the room.  
    It was almost as if he felt it made him look weak to show so much affection in front of other people , and though it had hurt, eventually she had accepted it as a part of who he was.   Now all that had changed.   She’d fallen in love with him, with the Kincaid he had become over the past several weeks, and she was terrified she would wake up one morning to find he’d reverted back to his old self.
    And he still hadn’t told her about the mission, at least nothing that revealed why she saw that haunted look in his eyes when she came into the room unexpectedly and caught him unaware.   He told her they had been sent to rescue a journalist and his wife and that the poor woman had been brutalized repeatedly in front of her husband.  
    He’d been genuinely horrified to find the woman so out of her mind that she fought him as he carried her out of the facility.   Kincaid was guilt-stricken b ecause he and his team had spent a week planning the rescue , even knowing what was probably happening to the couple.   He’d refused to say anything more, telling her once again that he needed more time.  
    But it wasn’t just his evasiveness about the mission that bothered Jessie.   He was hiding something else, she was sure of it.   The absentmindedness, the things he should have known but didn’t, certain mannerisms that he had never displayed before; all of it added up to something, but what?   And there were other things too, like the frequent phone calls to his parents, and the lack of calls to his brother.  
    Kincaid never had a problem with her being in the room when he called his parents, al though she usually made an excuse to leave out of courtesy.   As for calls to his brother, he’d always wandered outside to