Thankfully, last night I’d been granted something that I hadn’t previously had. Last night I had been given permission to question. “I’m scared. Why can’t we tell everyone that Thomas took me? I hate people thinking you did this to me.”
“Because this”—he looked out through the hangar’s open garage door and over the airstrip. I followed his gaze and suddenly realized we weren’t at the same airport where Thomas had brought me yesterday—“is where I fly in and out of for The Light. I’m not sure how I’d be able to explain to Xavier or Father Gabriel how I knew Thomas’s destination.”
I swallowed. “H-how did you know?”
“My handler searched flight plans. Flight plans are supposed to be filed in advance. VFR, visual flight rules, don’t require it, but for safety, especially with such large areas of unpopulated wilderness, most pilots do it. Thank Father Gabriel, Thomas had. He’d filed his plans before leaving for the Northern Light. They included his estimated time of return to Fairbanks and listed the airport. Technically, there’s no way I could’ve made it from the Western Light to Fairbanks in time to save you, which was the story I gave Benjamin and the reason the US Marshals were there instead of me. But Benjamin has no way of knowing that. He hasn’t left the Northern Light in years. Father Gabriel would know and so would Micah, if he were questioned.”
I shook my head. “This is such a mess.”
“Well,” he said coldly, “I’m sorry you’re still involved.”
My neck straightened. “Now, as in because we’re going back, or you’re sorry I was ever assigned to you?”
Jacob’s narrow gaze silenced me—Sara—the way only he could. “No more. We’ve been through this. Now we’re going back as Sara and Jacob. Later today I’ll take you to Brother Raphael and you’ll need to explain and apologize for your absence. He’s a Commissioner. Correction will be at his discretion.”
“No, Jacob. No more, ever.”
He lifted a brow. “You had that option. You chose otherwise.”
I felt suddenly nauseous.
“We need to hurry,” Jacob said, “so I can make it to Assembly.”
“What about Thomas?”
“I told you, he’s no longer a threat.”
“But won’t The Light question his disappearance?”
“Minimally, that’s not our concern. It’s his. Like I said, no one enters The Light and leaves. Theoretically he shouldn’t have been in the community. Once Xavier is informed of what Thomas did—entering the community on more than one occasion—even Xavier won’t question Thomas’s sudden disappearance. Benjamin knows what Thomas did to you, so he won’t question his disappearance. Once Father Gabriel learns Thomas entered the community, he won’t question it either. He’ll assume there was a problem, and it was handled.”
I shrugged. “Maybe there are advantages to not questioning.”
Jacob reached for my hand, and with a grin said, “It’s taken you long enough to figure that out.”
My cheeks flushed as I glanced toward our intertwined hands.
“This hangar doesn’t have cameras or surveillance inside,” Jacob explained. “That’s why I didn’t park outside. I’m going to help you onto the plane, and then I have some last-minute things that need to be done. Remember, do not talk.”
As he helped me from the truck, I replied, “Yes, Jacob.”
His lips curled upward as his gaze devoured me. “Life would be so much easier if you could remember that is always the correct response.”
I was exhausted, had a battered cheek, had been gone nearly a day from a place no one leaves, and had my hand in the hand of a man whom twenty-four hours ago I’d never wanted to see again. I was out of fight.
With a shy smile, I lowered my chin, looked up through my lashes, and repeated what my husband wanted to hear. “Yes, Jacob.”
Just before entering the plane, he stilled our steps. With his free hand he surrounded my waist and pulled me close. “I pray that one day I’m able to call you by another name, but in the meantime, you’re my wife, my Sara Adams, and while I do and will respect the boundary you placed on sex, right now I want to kiss my wife, and I plan on doing it. Do you want to stop me?”
Before I could answer, he pulled my hips tighter against his, causing our chests to collide. Needing to see his face, I lifted my chin and looked into his dark gaze. As leather and musk enveloped us, he rephrased, “More importantly, do you think you can stop me?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to stop you. After all, you’re my husband.”