Having Prudence Read online

  She nodded her head, her gaze was so soft and filled with the love he knew she had for him. And he prayed harder than he ever had that this plan would work just the way he wanted it to. If things went well, Prudence would be his wife by this time tomorrow. He just had to believe.

  He managed to get them both down the ladder without incident and apologised again as he sat her on a high bale of hay just inside the door.

  “Sorry honey, but I need to check and make sure that no one is around to see me put you in the truck. They’re going to come look for you at my place anyway when you don’t show up. It will be easier for me to deny if no one actually sees us together.” Johnny placed a kiss on her cheek and eased through the door.

  His truck was exactly where he’d left it and he walked to it and opened it, glad for the dual opening doors. He eased both of the ones on the passenger side open and leaned the seat forward before pulling a blanket from the floorboard. He’d tried to make the back as comfortable as he could since that would be where Pru was lying as he drove. He hoped he’d done okay. Johnny took the blanket and turned back to the barn, scanning around them the whole time searching for anyone. Luck seemed to still be with them as he saw no one.

  Pru’s eyes widened when he re-entered the barn with the blanket. “It’s just long enough to get you out of here undetected. I promise,” he swore to her.

  He laid the blanket on the floor and then picked her up and lowered her to it. He loomed over her and seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, he reminded her of what they were doing this for. He brushed his fingers over her nipples, pinching and stroking the flesh there. His other palm pressed against the heat of her pussy that could still be felt behind her jeans. Her body responded just as it always did and her eyes darkened with passion.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “I want to love you every day for the rest of our lives. I want to wake up with you in the bed beside me and go to sleep knowing that you are only a finger’s reach away. I need you like I need air. We just have to make it through tonight Pru. One night and then tomorrow no one will be able to separate us ever again. Just give me one night Prudence. One night to begin the rest of our lives.”

  She nodded and he bent to place a kiss against her forehead. She was perfection to him. She was everything. And if for some reason his plan did fail? They would run as far and as fast as they could. For the one thing in this world he could not do was let her go.

  He wrapped her quickly in the blanket and after checking that the area was still clear he lifted her and carried her to the truck. Carefully he lowered her into the back trying to make sure she was as comfortable as possible. He strategically placed things around her to diminish her size and shape in the blanket and when he was done there was no way to tell that there was a person in the back seat of his truck. He lifted the seat and shut the doors moving around to the other side and getting in. Once he’d started the truck he finally breathed a little sigh of relief. So far, so good.

  “Just hold tight, Prudence,” he told her reaching back and touching her through the blanket. She was on her side and his hand touched the curve of her breast. “I’ll have us out of here in just a minute. One night and then the rest of our lives.”

  She didn’t make a single sound but he’d seen the love and trust in her eyes. She believed in him and that alone made him believe in himself. Tomorrow Prudence would become his wife and nothing would be able to take her from him ever again. All they had to do was get through tonight.

  Prudence must have fallen asleep on the trip out to Johnny’s family’s place. When she woke up she was no longer in the truck wrapped in a blanket that made her feel like she couldn’t breathe. Instead she was lying on a wide cot with a blanket thrown over her, and she was naked again.

  “Johnny thought you’d be more likely to stay put and listen to him if you didn’t have clothes on,” came a voice from the corner and Pru barely kept the scream in her throat from escaping.

  She could make out the shape of his mother and saw that she was sitting in some rocking chair knitting. She thought his mother had gone to visit her sister for the week. Wasn’t that what everyone in town was saying?

  “I thought you were gone, Mrs. Wharfton?” Pru asked, sitting up while keeping the blanket tucked safely around her.

  “That was Johnny’s idea,” his mom said proudly. “And please call me Paula. If everyone thought I was gone then I could stay down here with you when Johnny can’t. It’s getting dark now so your dad or someone should show up any time looking for you. They’ll never find us down here, and Johnny said with me down here you won’t panic and do something… Well, he just didn’t want you alone.”

  Mrs. Wharfton blushed and Pru knew that Johnny was afraid she would do something stupid. Sadly, he was probably right. He knew her better then she knew herself sometimes.

  “Where are we?” Pru asked quietly. She didn’t remember seeing this room ever. Of course her visits here had been short and far between. They hadn’t wanted anyone to know about their relationship. Not when she was already engaged to someone else.

  “This old farmhouse holds a lot of secrets,” Paula stated as she continued knitting. “It was once used to hide slaves who made it this far south while still being pursued. Some people will do anything to keep what they feel they possess.” This comment was made with fire in her eyes and Pru had to wonder if it was meant towards her and her sisters’ situation as well. “During Prohibition it was used to make and hide moonshine,” and she giggled at this. “It’s served many purposes in this world and tonight it will be used to shelter you until the preacher gets here tomorrow.”

  “There’s a preacher coming here tomorrow?” Pru asked and her heartbeat picked up. He’d said they only had to make it through tonight.

  “Yes, my nephew is a minister,” Paula said proudly. “He’ll be here first thing in the morning.” Her smile softened and she looked at Prudence the way she had always imagined her mother might. “And this time tomorrow you will be my daughter. And God help any man who tries to take you from us.”

  Now Prudence knew exactly where Johnny got his strength of character and will. His mother might be tiny like Pru was but she seemed to be a force all her own. She remembered when they were kids and Johnny would have to run home so his mom didn’t get mad. Pru had always found that funny. But seeing the strength in the woman in front of her, perhaps she better understood now.

  “Johnny is very lucky to have you, Mrs. Wharfton,” Pru said and bit her lip to try and keep the tears from filling her eyes.

  “Prudence, dear,” his mom said her eyes not seeming to leave her knitting. “Your mom was an amazing woman herself. I’m not sure what if anything you remember about her, but she loved you girls more than anything in this world.”

  Pru smiled. She and Destiny had been so little when their mom had died, when all hell had broken loose. There weren’t a lot of memories that either of them had that hadn’t been shared with them by their older sisters. In fact there was only one thing that Pru remembered. “She always smelled so wonderful,” Prudence sighed. “Like baked cookies still fresh and warm from the oven.”

  Paula laughed and it gave Pru a discreet moment to try and wipe her tears away. “Yes, she did. Your mom was always baking something for someone. The woman could have opened her own bakery and made a fortune. But she wanted to stay home with her girls and your dad would have let her do anything.”

  “Really?” Pru asked. She didn’t remember much of her dad back then either.

  Paula sobered up and looked closely at Pru. “Your dad was a different man back then as well. He loved your mother more than anything or anyone else in this world. She was his sun, his moon, his very air. And when she died, they may as well have buried your daddy that day too. It took him a long time to come back to himself, to realise that he still had children alive that needed him.”

  “Would have been nice had he remembered that from the beginning,” Pru mumbled.

  Paula smiled
and nodded but her words got the point across to Pru. “It is easy to judge what you can’t understand. Your mother was your daddy’s life. They loved you girls and each other. Everyone would smile and feel happiness just to be near them. Then your mother died. And your daddy fell apart. It would be as if my John left one day and never walked back in the door.” Paula smiled sadly at Pru before adding her next comment. “Or your Johnny. When love truly comes into your life there is no his and mine. There is only ours. You are as one person. And if something happens to one of you it is as if it happens to both of you. Your dad died that day as surely as your mother did. Unfortunately there are people in this world that will take advantage of those lost souls. And your daddy found himself in a world of hurt when he finally woke up.”

  “My daddy found himself in a mess of his own making,” Pru said with anger. “Only it is my sisters and I that are set to pay for it.”

  Paula just continued knitting. “And how do you think your sisters made such an easy escape? How do you think you and Johnny were left undiscovered for so long?”

  Prudence jerked her gaze back to Paula’s unsure of where this conversation was going. “What are you talking about, Mrs. Wharfton? What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that there comes a time when you need to open your eyes and look without anger,” Paula said softly with no judgement evident in her tone. “Sometimes things are not what they seem. Sometimes people are more than you can imagine.”

  “Are you saying that my dad has been helping us all along?” Pru couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around that possibility. Had Dad helped Faith? Hope? Charity? Had he known about her relationship with Johnny this whole time?

  “Just open your eyes and think on things for a while,” Paula told her as she put her knitting aside and stood up. “I’m going to sneak up and find something for us to eat. And I’ll see if I can at least find you a shirt of Johnny’s to wear.” She shook her head as she moved over towards a wall lined with canning jars. “Can’t believe that boy even took your underwear.”

  Pru blushed scarlet and was glad for the dim light of the room.

  “I’ll be right back,” Paula promised and then touching something on the shelf a door swung open revealing a dim hall. Paula was through the door and gone before Pru had a chance to get more than a glance. Someday she would love to explore this room and know exactly where in the house it was. But for now she had too many other things on her mind. Had her dad been helping them all along?

  Chapter Three

  Pru sat in the dark and thought back over the years and the things that suddenly didn’t make sense. Faith had been the first to get away just days before her wedding. And Pru knew for a fact that her dad had left to look for her sister. She remembered him coming in and letting everyone know that he couldn’t find her, had no idea where she had gone. And yet not more than a year later they were receiving mail from Faith. Then the same happened with Hope. With Charity, guards had been hired, men that her dad hand picked. And Charity had run away with them. It was enough to make her brain hurt.

  Pru was suddenly thinking of all the times she had managed to escape to meet up with Johnny. All the times they had been able to sneak off somewhere and no one had even stumbled across them much less come looking for them. She had thought they were so smart, so superior to her dad. Now she thought of the looks her dad gave her, the sadness in his eyes. It was as if her father had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And maybe he did when it came to his daughters. Could he have been helping them all along? She needed to talk to one of her sisters. Surely they would know the truth at this point.

  And if dad was helping them, then just maybe she could let go of the guilt she held over leaving Destiny to face the piper next. Surely if he could help four of his daughters then she would be safe as well. It was just too much for Pru to think on at the moment. She jumped from the cot and headed over to the shelf where she had seen Mrs. Wharfton pull on something to open a door.

  She was at the point where she was thinking of throwing things and screaming when the door suddenly sprang open. Before she could take a step Johnny was filling the opening and grinning at her.

  “I should have known that even taking your clothes wouldn’t be enough,” he said with as smile as he backed her into the room towards the cot.

  “I need to talk to my dad,” she breathed as her knees met the edge of the bed. “Or at least try to reach one of my sisters.”

  “Okay,” he whispered as he tugged his T-shirt over his head and let it drop to the floor. She licked her lips at the sheer perfection of her man then shook her head. He was trying to distract her and damn if it wasn’t working.

  “Johnny,” she began and he popped the button on his jeans and eased the zipper down. His flesh was revealed and she could see the long hard length of his cock. And just that glimpse had her mind focused on him again, on them.

  “You can talk to anyone you want to, Pru,” he said as he shoved his jeans down and off so that he stood just as naked as she did. “Tomorrow,” his lips trailed from her ear down her jaw to nibble at her bottom lip. “Tomorrow when you face the world as my wife, as Mrs. Johnny Wharfton.” He cradled her face in his hands and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips. “One night, Pru. Just one night and we have the rest of our lives together.”

  He was right. She had to stay hidden just this one night, just until his cousin arrived in the morning to marry them. All of her answers could come when the new day arrived and she became Johnny’s wife.

  He eased her down on the bed, his large body looming over her. She loved how big he was, how he made her feel so small and treasured. His hips cradled between hers and when he lowered against her she could feel his cock brushing along her stomach. He felt so good and she wanted to touch him, taste him and fuck him all at the same time. Two of her sisters had entered into relationships with two men, and there had been times when Pru had envied them and wondered what it would be like to take two men at the same time. But the truth was that she couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Johnny. So only if she could clone him would that ever happen for her.

  He was everything to her and maybe, just maybe she was starting to realise what her father and mother might have shared. As his lips caressed her skin she thought of what it would be like to lose him, to have him taken from her and never see him again. She couldn’t breathe. It would be as if someone ripped her heart right out of her chest. And she had little doubt that it would be the same for him.

  And like always he knew that something was bothering her. “Relax, Prudence,” he urged her coming back to her mouth and kissing her until they were both breathless and restless for more. “Nothing will stop me from marrying you now.”

  “Yes,” she breathed and gasped when he slipped inside her burying his cock deep in her pussy. He held still and locked his gaze with hers.

  “I love you,” he vowed and forever was there in his eyes.

  “I love you,” she whispered and tears filled her eyes because for the first time she was realising how that love could destroy her as well as complete her. If anything ever happened to him she would never be the same. It would destroy her. And if he ever died, ever left her to walk this earth alone she would pray to die with him. And suddenly she had perfect clarity of what her father must have felt when her mom died.

  She clung to Johnny as tears filled her eyes. “Love me Johnny,” she whispered.

  “Always,” he promised and began to move slowly in and out of her.

  She sighed and soaked him in. This was how he liked things. Soft and slow filled with lots of touching and kissing. She was the one who always begged for harder, faster, deeper. And he would give it to her. But he tended to want to savour her like an anticipated dessert. And his loving was just what she needed right now.

  His hand cradled her hip while the other held her hand palm to palm. Her free hand clasped his shoulder and held tight. Their mouths connected with short sweet kisses before a tongue would slip
past lips and a more explosive kiss would ensue. It reminded her of floating on top of the water, the gentle waves moving her. Only this time the waves were of pleasure and she was heading towards a far better destiny. She could already feel her orgasm building, slow and steady and knew that it would be no less explosive.

  And then he stopped, just stopped with his cock buried deep. He reached over the side of the bed and pulled his jeans up to them.

  “What?” she began but he interrupted her.

  “I got so sidetracked seeing you standing there naked that I forgot why I came down here,” he laughed and pulled something from his pocket.

  It was a shiny square jewellery box and she caught her breath as he opened it. The ring was gorgeous and she couldn’t wait to see it on her finger.

  “I was planning to get on my knees and ask you officially to marry me,” he whispered. “I know we’ve always talked about it, planned for it. But I never really went through the steps of asking you.” She was surprised by the nervousness she could see in his eyes.

  “I love you,” she promised. “I could never imagine myself with anyone but you. I have always known that it was you I wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with.” His grin was as engaging as always and reminded her of the young boy she had first met and called her best friend. “But,” she added and grinned as his body stilled. “If you even think of pulling out right now and getting down on your knees to propose, I just might be a widow before I become a bride.”

  He laughed and the movement had them both moaning as his cock pulsed inside her. She returned the favour with a squeeze of her inner muscles that had him groaning.

  “Put the ring on,” she said, “before we both come.”

  “Yes,” he groaned as she squeezed again. “I want to see my ring on your finger when I come inside you for the first time.”