The Iron Heart

by Leslie Dicken

  He could do nothing but imagine them in his hand, his thumb brushing over the pert nipple. Then those mounds would glisten with the trail he left with his tongue.

  A sizzle raced under his skin and created a rather awkward erection. Bennett coughed and took a step back.

  “It shows a map of which room we are to look for the main object.” Ella tapped the paper. “And then there are several other riddles for us to solve.”

  It was too late. The scent of her swirled in his bloodstream now. He would smell her all night, even after he departed.

  “Lead the way, Miss Wilder.”

  “So I shall.” She held the paper in front of her and followed the instructions. They turned down a hall or two until she stood before large, double doors. “I believe this is the library we’ve been assigned to.”

  “Then open the doors.”

  Ella pushed one open and stepped in. Bennett followed and shut it behind him. The smell of dust and leather greeted them as they made their way to the center. Three gas lamps burned in various corners, giving the room a soft low light. The mechanical book retrieval device he built for Lady Westerling was perched at one of the top shelves.

  It was the perfect atmosphere to take advantage of an unsuspecting girl.

  Ella turned and raised an eyebrow at him. Her shoulders glowed with the light. Shadows lengthened along the cleft of her mounds. His pulse charged, flesh solidified. Perhaps he was the one being seduced.

  She licked her lips. “Shall we get started?”

  Yes. Now. He moved forward, hands quick to capture the curve of her hips. Palms burned with the crazed need to touch her. Just mere inches from brushing the fabric of her dress, Ella waved the paper at him.

  “Do you have an opinion if we begin with the scavenger hunt item or the riddles?”

  Bennett drew himself to a halt. What the devil was wrong with him? His heart smashed against his ribs, blood scorched a path through his veins.

  He must control himself better. Perhaps another shot of brandy would help. If only he could find one.

  “Go on, Ella, give the clue for the scavenger hunt.”

  She perched on the arm of a sofa and held the paper to the lamp. “Here’s what we must find:

  My life can be measured in hours;

  I serve by being devoured.

  Thin, I am quick; fat, I am slow.

  Wind is my foe.

  What am I?

  Do you have any ideas on what it might be?”

  Bennett dragged his gaze from her alluring shimmer and walked the length of the room.

  I serve by being devoured. Right now his sane mind was being devoured. Devoured by thoughts of what he could devour on her. Her pouty, kissable lips. Her full, luscious breasts. He could devour her earlobe or lick his way up her thigh.

  Good Lord. This train of thought must stop. Already his cock throbbed. Sweat collected at his hairline.

  He must get out of here.

  “I believe I know what it is,” she declared, “but I don’t see one in this room.”

  He raised an eyebrow but did not move closer. Willed himself not to move closer. “Are you going to share?”

  She gave a small laugh. The diamonds dangling at her ears twinkled. He would nibble those off too.

  “I’ll give you clues.” She made her way around the furniture to where he stood. “Typically it is something this long.” She held her hands six or eight inches apart. “And in various widths, but often about so thick.” Her hand made a circle so that her fingertips just touched her thumb.

  Then that wicked grin returned. “Well, have you guessed?”

  Good Lord, the woman was describing his hot and aching erection. That gold dress had somehow turned her into a seductress!

  Hours. Devoured.

  She was driving him mad.

  Thick. Slow.

  His breath escaped in quickened gasps, hands trembled. He inched forward, ready to slam her against a bookcase and prove that he was all that and more.

  Ella blinked. “A candle, Bennett. My, you are distracted tonight.”

  “Find it,” he rasped. Quickly. So he could get away from this misery.

  “Certainly.” She pressed the paper against his chest. “While I do so, why don’t you take a look at these other riddles?”

  With that, she turned and began searching the room. In doing so, she bent low to look under tables and reached high to search shelves. She opened every drawer, pushed aside each item. He watched her every movement, from the sweet curve of her back to the stretch of her arms.

  “Are you reading them?” she called from across the room.

  He coughed and moved toward a lamp. “Here is one:

  All about, but cannot be seen,

  Can be captured, cannot be held,

  No throat, but can be heard.

  What is it?”

  Ella straightened. “Well, that is not as easy as the first.”

  “I’ll read another.”

  “No, not yet. Are you thinking on these at all? An intelligent man such as yourself should be able to figure these out. They are just puzzles, after all.”

  Perhaps at some other time he could unravel the mysteries of the riddles, but tonight he was—as she said—too distracted. In fact, ever since he’d met Ella, he’d been distracted. He couldn’t afford it and yet hunger tortured him, severe and unyielding.

  For three years he kept himself away from women. They were a diversion. They were dangerous. He had a single focus, a dire purpose. Women caused chaos in a man’s life. Eventually, when the horror taking over his mind was gone, he’d marry. If he kept himself busy enough, he could forego a woman’s warmth until then. He’d been fairly successful at that plan too.

  Until Miss Ella Wilder burst into his life.

  She moved aside cushions on the sofa. “Wind. Wind cannot be captured, but it can be heard. Read another one.”

  Bennett scoured the paper and settled on the last entry.

  “If you break me,

  I do not stop working.

  If you touch me,

  I may be snared.

  If you lose me,

  Nothing will matter.

  What am I?”

  She tilted her head. “That shall take some thinking.”

  A pillow fell to the floor. “Aha!”

  Bennett raised an eyebrow. “You know the answer to the riddle?”

  “I found the candle!” She held it aloft. Her fingers enclosed the diameter as if it were the rigid shaft of his flesh. Her thumb caressed the length in slow, lazy circles.

  The vixen! She was torturing him on purpose, pushing him beyond any sense of restraint. He crossed the room in long strides. “What schemes have you planned, Ella?”

  Her eyes widened but he could hear her breathy gasps. “What-what are you talking about?”

  Bennett snatched the candle from her hand. “This. Do you know the game you play?”

  Her cheeks bloomed to a charming pink. “I found the object required of us. Why does that vex you?”

  “You feign innocence. But all night you have batted your eyelashes at me, given me wicked grins, and fondled candles.”

  “Fondled candles?”

  Bennett arched his gaze over her in a long, deliberate stroke. He began at her bright lips, slipped over her silken shoulders, and then lingered on her generous breasts. His mouth watered, lips parted.

  His voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. “Whatever your agenda, you have won. I cannot stand the torment any longer. Give me what I ask of you and you may have whatever you want of me in return.”

  Ella’s tongue swept across her lower lip. “A…a fair bargain.”

  Bennett snatched her against him. His hands plunged into her upswept hair, his mouth crushed on hers. She relaxed his embrace, enfolded her arms around his neck. Her hot, eager mouth opened to him.

  He thrust his tongue inside her warmth and shivered when she matched his caress. She tasted of sweet wine and keen desire.

/>   Devour.

  Bennett could consume every cell of Ella and still not be satisfied. Once free of its confines, his hunger now roared. Blood surged, blazing and delirious.

  He explored the warm margins of her mouth then demanded she discover his. She responded without hesitation, gave to him just as he’d asked. Her tongue delved between his lips and sought a most basic truth.

  A truth he could not give.

  Bennett brushed from her mouth to her neck. He nibbled the silken skin, listened to her throaty whimpers. Large earrings blocked his path, so he gently slipped them off and tucked them in a pocket.

  “Ella…” The word rolled off his tongue and into her earlobe. She quaked against him and then gave a reckless sigh.

  Her hands slid down his arms, squeezing as they went. She thrust her body against him. “Touch me.”

  Bennett smoothed his hands down her shoulders then across her crushed mounds. His erection jerked as he fully encircled her breasts. It did not matter why she invited him, whether her wishes were real or motivated. This need was so primal, so selfish, it was a wonder he’d not yet stripped her bare.

  “Yes.” Her sigh washed over in an urgent wave. Her hips rubbed his groin. Raw lust consumed each fiber, every nerve.

  Bennett nuzzled her ear, squeezed her luscious flesh. “This is dangerous, Ella. This need haunts me.”

  She whimpered. “I have a hollow ache. I…I don’t know what to do.”

  His lip curled. He knew what to do. He could take care of her ache. With his fingers, his mouth, his pulsing arousal.

  Her lips found the hollow of his neck. She pressed them to his skin in small, wicked nibbles. Bennett moaned, gripped Ella tighter when her tongue licked circles at his jugular.

  His restraint unraveled like the laces on a woman’s bodice. It slipped out from the eyelets and loosened the control on his guard.

  Something moved in his waistcoat. Her hands. Her fingers. Sweet heaven, she sought to undress him!

  The movement continued unabated, even as Ella shifted in his grasp. Through the thick fog of lust, Bennett fumbled in his pockets. At last he touched the vibrating metal.

  “What is it?” she whispered near his ear.

  He withdrew the pocket watch and shifted the lever to stop the alarm. He’d been here too long. He’d nearly forgotten his duty.

  The haze lifted. Sanity returned. Bennett stepped away from Ella.

  “What…where are you going?”

  He smoothed a hand through his hair and tugged on his clothes. “I must go.”

  “Now?” She stepped toward him. “Where? Why?”

  Bennett looked again at her kiss-swollen lips then headed for the door. He’d let his guard down too long.

  “Good night, Ella. I’m sorry I was not more help with the riddles.”

  She ran after him. “Wait. What about the bargain?”

  The bargain. She only kissed him for whatever ridiculous task she had, used her body to just satisfy his offer.

  Lord, he still tasted her on his tongue, still breathed in her divine scent. Was it all a lie?

  Bennett left the room. The cold, lonely darkness awaited him.

  Chapter Nine

  Frustrated.

  Ellie paced the length of her bedchamber at Hilltop Hall. Sleep would not come to her tonight.

  She’d never been so frustrated in all her life. Lady Westerling assured her she’d get what she wished from Bennett. He even promised it to her. Then he left her standing there.

  He hadn’t agreed to create the protection devices. He didn’t finish out the game. He didn’t comment on what he’d done to her body.

  She grabbed a hold of a bed post and sank onto the mattress.

  And, oh, what he’d done to her body.

  Ellie never dreamed that desire would make one so urgent and achy and warm and desperate. Willpower disintegrated. It was no wonder many girls ended up with child before their wedding. She would have stripped herself bare and lain on the sofa had Bennett just asked!

  Even hours later her breasts yearned for his hands, her mouth craved his lips. The spot between her legs remained swollen and tingled with an unrequited need.

  Damn that man.

  She would never fall asleep tonight.

  But she did sleep. She woke to full sunlight streaming in through the large windows. And voices downstairs.

  For a moment, Ellie considered rolling back over and sleeping longer, but she needed to get back to her uncle. She didn’t like to leave him for more than a day.

  The high-pitched titter of her mother spurred Ellie up. She knew that giggle. It only occurred when a handsome man showed Lady Halswitch a bit of flattery or attention. Despite her age, Ellie’s mother still acted like a young school girl around attractive men.

  Who would be here to cause such a reaction?

  Ellie jabbed her feet in slippers, then snatched a robe and tied it tightly about her waist. She hurried to the front of the house and started down the main staircase.

  The voices grew louder. Her mother’s giggle and a man’s voice. Not her father, but something deeper, more mysterious.

  She didn’t need to get much closer to know the man in the next room was Bennett.

  A flutter danced through her, sinful and wild. Her nipples perked, mouth dried.

  Images of last night swelled within her like a whirling breath of wickedness. The shadows on his jaw, the feel of his hands on her breasts. That raw, dangerous hunger lurking in his eyes as she held the candle aloft. His husky whisper, seductive eyes, and mischievous tongue.

  “Once again,” her mother was saying, “you are most kind for bringing these yourself.”

  Ella stepped from the hallway to the archway of the parlor.

  “Not at all,” Bennett replied.

  Then, like a lion sensing its prey, he turned to look at her, nostrils flaring.

  Ellie swallowed a gasp. The man in her parlor was a ghost of last night’s sinful Lord Barrington. Dark whiskers swept across Bennett’s jaw. Deep, purple shadows rimmed heavily hooded eyes. Exhaustion hung from his stooped shoulders, his tense mouth.

  Yet, as her gaze rose to meet his, she saw that same fierce longing.

  “Miss Wilder.”

  Lady Halswitch’s head immediately turned. “Ella! Dear Lord, you are not even dressed.”

  Ellie ignored her mother. “Why have you come, Lord Barrington?”

  “I am returning the earrings you gave me for safe keeping.”

  The earrings he’d slipped off so that he could have easier access to her neck, so that he could nibble the curve of her ears.

  Her breath faltered. “I-I appreciate you returning them.”

  “He tells me they were too heavy for you.” Her mother held out the sparkly dangles. “Why didn’t you say something when I had you put them on?”

  Because it wouldn’t have mattered. But Ellie said nothing. She had no answer because it wasn’t the real reason they were removed from her ears. But neither she nor Bennett would say it.

  He bowed. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I must leave for Barrington Manor.”

  She didn’t want him to go. She needed to ask him about her side of the bargain, where he went each night, when she would see him again.

  Her mother tittered as he kissed her hand. “I do hope you’ll visit again.”

  “I shall.”

  “Although you more than likely will not catch Ella here on your next visit.”

  Ice stabbed through Ellie’s heart. No! Bennett couldn’t know about her living in Lundun. It was bad enough that Lady Westerling knew. The rules of being a district leader clearly stated one must live in the Greenlands, not among the commoners.

  Bennett tilted his head. “Oh?”

  Ellie rushed forward. “Ah, Mother, can’t you see how tired Lord Barrington is? He doesn’t need to know of my silly whereabouts.” She touched his arm. “Thank you for returning my family’s heirlooms. We shall not keep you any longer.”

&nbs
p; His raised eyebrow told her he knew very well she was hurrying him out to keep her secret. Yet, he had so many of his own, he’d not press any further.

  And so Bennett said his good-byes again and quit Hilltop Hall.

  The instant he was gone, her mother whirled, eyes wide. “Right there, a perfect gentleman for you to marry and you chase him away.”

  “I didn’t chase him away.”

  “Even you are ashamed of that hovel you moved to. Did you think that’s what I would tell him?”

  Ellie tensed. “I am not ashamed. I would tell him if it would not prevent me from participating in the Syndicate of Provinces. You know that I am required to live here in the Greenlands for that.”

  “Then stay here, where you belong.”

  Her disobedient lip trembled. “How do you know where I belong?”

  “You were born here, Ella. This is your home. Not with my brother, the dreamer.”

  “He needs me.”

  Her mother’s eyes softened, just barely. “He could move here with us. He knows that. I told him that after Jenny’s death. But stubborn like you, he refuses.”

  Blinding tears stung. Suddenly the pain of why she ran to Lundun threatened to swallow all coherence. Her mother didn’t want her here, she only wanted to keep out the scandal. In fact, her mother never really wanted her at all.

  “I am not David, Mother. No matter how hard you want me to be.”

  It was enough. The mere mention of her brother’s name sent the grand Lady Halswitch into a waterfall of tears. All these years later, the woman had not overcome the untimely death of her young son.

  It was the reaction Ellie hoped for. Maybe now her mother would leave her alone. Certainly it was better to ignore the daughter you didn’t want than to have her remind you of the son you’d killed.

  Frustrated.

  Bennett lay on his bed, but instead of immediately falling into an exhausted sleep, he was wide awake and restless.

  He was a bloody fool.

  There was no good reason why he had to return those earrings himself. He could have easily sent a servant to do the task. Hell, even Gertrude the robotic bird could have delivered them.