by Lydia Dare
“I wouldn’t call it bothering.”
“Then what would you call it?” The man really needed to mind his own matters.
“We went for a walk, that’s all.” Ben shrugged, hoping Alec would approve of his nonchalant attitude.
“Then why did Caitrin take off like a feline with her tail on fire?”
“If the lovely woman is running from you, perhaps it’s you who did something to make her retreat?” Ben pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. It had been a really long day.
“Oh, no. It wasn’t me. I was spending quite a lovely day in her company. Then she suddenly stared off in the distance. When I got her attention back, she started mumbling something about Elspeth and ‘that beast.’ Then she ran off.” He slapped the flat of his hand on the wall. “I will know what that was all about, Westfield.”
“You won’t know anything until you speak with Miss Macleod.” His eyes met Alec’s. “Because that group of women is a mess that even I can’t figure out. You’ve known them much longer than me. You probably have a better idea of what’s going on than I ever would.” Please forgive me if you ever find out about my lies.
“There has always been something mystical about the five of them. But I’ve never been able to figure out what brings them all together.”
“Mystical?” Ben asked. How much did Alec truly know?
“‘Mystical’ is probably not the right word.” He scratched his head. “But there’s a bond there that I can’t understand. So when she ran off worried about Elspeth, I automatically assumed you were the beast she had in mind.” He clapped Ben on the shoulder. “Sorry I assumed the worst of you.”
If he only knew how bad the worst could be.
Elspeth walked toward her small cottage, her breath coming in small gasps. She flung the door open and walked inside, nearly startling Rhiannon. Then she turned and stuck her head back out the door. “Sorcha Ferguson, I ken ye’re close by. So ye may as well show yerself !”
She turned and came to a complete halt when she saw that Caitrin was there as well. “If we had Blaire here, the whole coven would be present,” she grumbled.
“I’m here,” Blaire said as she stepped in the door with Sorcha. “Ye doona think she came up with the vine trick on her own, do ye? The battlefield is in my blood. And I doona really care if I have ta cheat ta win.”
“I had ta heal him after yer little stunt.” Her gaze flew back and forth between Sorcha and Blaire. Their eyes lowered to the floor. “Ye actually broke the skin. Ye wounded him. I canna believe ye did that. I dinna ken ye had the power to do that.”
“Neither did we,” Sorcha admitted, her gaze still lowered. “Truly, I had no idea the vines would break the skin.”
“Now ye ken, so doona let it happen again.” She shook her finger at the two younger girls.
“Caitrin said ta keep ye apart,” Blaire mumbled.
“She did what?” Elspeth spun around quickly to glare at Caitrin.
Her friend didn’t lower her gaze. She shrugged nonchalantly and said, “I was worried for ye. Ye’ll have ta forgive me for carin’.” Her words dripped with sarcasm. “And just what did ye think ye were doin’, kneelin’ in front of him with his pants unbuttoned? Answer that question for us. It’s no place for a lady ta be, Elspeth.”
“I never professed ta be a lady! And I was just lookin’ at his mark!” She pointed to the one on her own wrist. “He wears the mark of the beast. It’s exactly like mine. Exactly! The shape is the same. The size is the same. And even the texture is the same.”
“Ye touched him?” Caitrin looked scandalized. “Down there?”
Would this nightmare never end? “No, I never touched him down there. I touched his mark. And I felt it in my own when I did.”
The other four girls stared at her with their mouths open. “Oh, and now when I need ye, ye decide ta shut yer mouths.” Elspeth groaned as she dropped into a chair.
“Ye felt it in yer own mark? When ye touched his?”
“Aye, I felt it. I dinna feel a mere touch. I felt what he felt when I touched it, when I ran my thumb over it. At least I think it was what he felt. I’ve never experienced anythin’ like it.”
“What was it like?” All four girls sat forward.
“It was hot. And wild. And free. And… needy.”
“Needy?” Rhiannon asked. “And just what would he be needin’?
“Me.”
“Ye?” Sorcha asked.
“At that moment, he needed me.”
Caitrin broke in. “He needed ta get ye flat on yer back, El. Doona ye see?”
“No, I doona see.” She gave the seer in their midst a hard stare. “But obviously, ye did see somethin’. So out with it.”
“I saw him ruin ye,” she finally admitted, her eyes filling with tears.
“Thanks for believin’ in me,” Elspeth ground out. Caitrin colored brightly under her stare.
“I could be wrong,” Caitrin said quietly.
“Ye’ve never been wrong before,” Rhiannon reminded her, coming forward to stroke her hair.
“No. But my mother was.”
Elspeth spun quickly to face her. “What do ye mean?”
“Yesterday my father told me that mama had a vision about yer parents. She saw that yer mother would leave ta go with yer father.”
“But she never did,” Elspeth’s voice trailed off quietly.
“No. She chose ta stay and keep the coven together.”
“Doona look at me like I’ve left ye already!” Elspeth snapped. “I’m no’ goin’ anywhere.”
“In some ways, maybe ye have,” Blaire said softly.
All four girls turned to leave. “We’ll see ye tomorrow at the funeral,” Rhiannon threw over her shoulder.
“I havena gone anywhere!” she cried from behind them. But they didn’t look back. Not a single one of them.
Sixteen
Ben lay on his back in the big bed, his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He’d spent the entire night thinking about Elspeth. She wore the mark of the beast. Her father obviously was one of them. But who was her father? And why was her very existence shrouded in mystery?
He probably shouldn’t have barked at her the way he had that afternoon. He’d just been so stunned to see the mark on her wrist.
He supposed he should be thankful she’d agreed to help him. After all, he was at a loss for what to do. So he’d have to apologize in the morning for his abrupt behavior and hope for success with whichever method she chose.
Ben closed his eyes tightly and worked to push all thoughts from his mind so that he could get to sleep. But then he felt a touch. He opened his eyes quickly. He could have sworn Elspeth had just laid her hands on him. But no one was there.
He closed his eyes again and tried to clear his head. But then her fingertips grazed his abdomen. His eyes flew open. “What was that?” he whispered.
The touch moved across his belly, a flat palm sliding across his chest.
“Elspeth?” he whispered. Surely the little witch didn’t have that kind of power.
Ben rose and dressed quickly. He raised the window to his room and dropped down to the spongy turf below. He stood still and closed his eyes. The touch lingered, soft and hot, but no longer overwhelmed him. But then heat enveloped his manhood. He drew in a quick breath. It was as though her delicate little hand was closed around his length.
It was nearly impossible to run with this heaviness between his legs. He was rock hard, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and ran as fast as he could toward her little cottage. He streaked through the woods like a predator hunting prey. Elspeth was speaking to him. He just didn’t know how.
He saw her as soon as he crossed the meadow. She sat on a hill, limned by the sliver that was the waxing moon hanging over her head. She sat and absently stroked her fingertips down her forearm, her gaze far away.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that, lass,” he said, his breaths c
oming in great heaves.
Her head jerked around and she looked up at him. “What are ye doin’ here?”
“I believe you called for me,” he said quietly.
“I dinna call for ye.” She shook her head.
Ben sat down beside her on the damp grass. He tugged his shirt from his trousers. She protested, “I doona think ye should be doin’ that, Ben.”
“I need to show you what you were doing to me,” he mumbled. He lay back on the grass and covered his eyes with his forearm. Perhaps if he didn’t look at her, he would be able to show her without devouring her.
He slowly trailed his fingers across the mark that was usually hidden beneath his clothes. She gasped. He did it again. She cried out.
“So it does work both ways, I see.” He chuckled.
“How did ye do that?” she asked, her breaths coming in a quick pant.
“You started it,” he laughed. “I was just lying in bed and then I felt you touch me.”
“I touched ye? Where?” Elspeth pressed her hand to her heart.
“Where it hurts, love. You touched me where it hurts.”
“I dinna mean to hurt ye, Ben. I promise.” Truly she would never do anything to hurt another human being. His eyes narrowed as his gaze searched her face.
“Does this hurt?” he asked quietly as he dragged his fingertips across his own mark.
Immediately Elspeth felt the rush of heat between her thighs and the thumping that was her heartbeat as it pulsed there. She breathed, “Hurt is no’ quite the right word for it.” Her nipples hardened as he stroked again. “What are ye doin’ ta me?” she asked quietly as she sank back on the dewy grass.
“It appears as though we’re tied together, love.” He stroked again and laughed when she couldn’t hold back a purr. “I do so like the noises you make when you’re pleased.”
“I doona think this is proper, Ben,” she said quietly, the thump between her thighs still taking most of her attention.
“I would say it’s quite improper,” he said as he leaned over her. “I can smell how much you want me.” Her heart skipped a beat. “I can smell your desire.”
She stroked across the mark on her own arm. Two could play this game. “It does the same ta ye, Ben. So take care with how ye use that little tool.” He groaned and lifted himself above her.
“I’ll just ask for you to do it again,” he said quietly against her mouth, before his lips touched hers briefly.
“Ye’ve no shame, do ye?”
“None at all,” he confirmed as he untied the strings at the front of her blouse with his teeth. Never had there been such an enticing sight. She had no thoughts of stopping him. “I want to love you.”
“Love me?” she gasped out as his teeth pulled her bodice lower to reveal the upper swell of her breast. His teeth nibbled gently along the ridge of flesh before he reached up and uncovered it completely. He immediately drew the peak into his mouth. Showers of sparks clouded her vision. He raised his head to look at her. “Make love to you,” he corrected his earlier statement.
“We canna do that,” she groaned. A cool breeze teased her ankles as he gathered her skirts in his hands and delved beneath. When she started to protest, he rubbed the mark on his lower belly once. She nearly melted there on the grass.
“Ye doona play fair,” she choked out.
“And right now I don’t plan to,” he said as he stroked across the mark again. She cried out and clutched his shoulders. The thump of blood in her most secret places called out for something. What, she had no idea. But there had to be some end to the sweet torment.
“I ache,” she moaned as she buried her face in his shoulder.
“I can fix it for you, lass.” His hand slid up her thigh and walked around to her front. He quickly untied the laces of her drawers and pulled them down. She didn’t bother to protest. She simply wanted to find some release from the sweet torment.
“Fix it,” she begged. “Please, fix it.”
His hands pushed her skirts up around her waist as he bent between her thighs.
“What are ye doin’?” she asked as his head disappeared beneath the folds of her skirt. She never once thought of stopping him when she felt the warm insistence of his fingers as they spread her. And his tongue as it speared her slick folds. She clutched wildly at the grass.
He licked quickly across the nub that was her center. Pleasure poured through her, suffusing her limbs with liquid heat.
“Doona stop,” she whispered as she arched her hips to meet him.
She felt the movement of his head as he nodded and sucked her pliant flesh into his mouth. That was all it took to make her shatter into a million pieces. His fingers stroked as his tongue licked across her, drawing every bit of release from her body. He worked until she stilled.
Ben pushed her skirts down and looked into her dazed face.
“What was that?” she muttered. He simply chuckled in response and pulled her into his side. Suddenly she lifted her head. “Ye dinna find the same pleasure.”
“I do not have to…” he started. But Elspeth saw the look on his face. He longed for sweet release the same way she had.
“What can I do ta help ye?”
With a sheepish grin, he unbuttoned his trousers and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He quite effectively blocked her view by pressing himself against her, under her skirts. When he was settled, he lifted her arm to her own mouth and growled. “Lick me.” Immediately, she knew what he wanted. She stuck out her tongue and licked once across her own mark. He moaned and pressed his face into her shoulder. “Oh, Elspeth,” he ground out.
With a small smile on her face, she lapped at the mark again. And a third time. That was all it took. He followed her into bliss.
Seventeen
Elspeth rested her head on Ben’s chest and he stared up at the night sky above them. He’d never felt so wild yet content at the same time. Whatever this power was she held over him, he liked it. He held her close and brushed his lips in her hair. How nice it would be to stay curled up with her like this forever.
Then suddenly she sat up. “Oh, I’ve got ta get back.”
“Tell me you don’t have somewhere else to be.” He groaned.
Elspeth tapped his chest. “Wallace Ferguson has been keepin’ watch over my grandfather. I told him I wouldna be gone long.”
She scrambled to her feet and Ben tried to tug her skirts, but she was too quick for him. “Wait,” he called.
She looked back over her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’ve been gone too long.”
Ben leapt from his spot and chased after her. He always seemed to be chasing her, he realized, which was never the case with most women. Of course, no other woman could make him climax by licking her wrist either. If there was a woman worth catching, it was Elspeth Campbell.
He caught up to her at the base of the hill and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against his chest. “One more moment won’t hurt, Elspeth.”
She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Ben, I have ta go.”
He nuzzled against her neck. “I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have barked at you.”
Elspeth turned in his arms, her emerald eyes glistening under the crescent moon. “Ye did nothin’ wrong. I should have told ye about my mark, but it’s hard for me. I doona ken anythin’ about my father except that he gave me that.”
He brushed his lips across her cheek. “You can tell me anything, Ellie.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Ben tightened his hold on her. “Do ye mind waitin’, then? Let me dispatch with Wallace. Then ye can come in for tea.”
“Of course.”
Elspeth stepped away from him and hurried along the path to her cottage. Ben watched her go, the delicate sway of her hips, quiet as a wolf. He’d been a fool not to see it earlier.
Elspeth rushed in through the door to find Wallace sitting vigil by her grandfather. He barely looked up when she entered
, as he seemed lost in thought. She cleared her throat and he nearly leapt from his seat. “Oh, El, I dinna see ye there.”
“No worries, Wallace. I’m sorry I was gone so long. I hate ta keep ye waitin’.”
He shook his head as he started for the door. “Doona worry yerself, lass. Tomorrow it will all be over with.”
She walked him toward the door. “I canna thank ye enough for everythin’, Wallace.”
He reached for the handle and then stopped and looked at her. “Are ye goin’ ta be all right? Ye ken ye can always come and stay with us. I hate for ye ta be all alone.”
Elspeth sighed. “I’m no’ all alone, Wallace. I have all of ye. Thank ye again, for everythin’.”
Wallace nodded, then opened the door and disappeared into the night.
Elspeth went to the stove in the middle of the room and put some water on to boil. Chamomile with a hint of blueberry ought to do nicely. Then she went to her grandfather’s doorway. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was sleeping peacefully. She quietly shut the door and returned to the stove to pour the water for tea.
Just as she finished, she heard a light rap at the front door. Her heart sped up at the thought of Ben on the other side, and she rushed to answer it. Instead she found Caitrin with the Macleod plaid covering her hair. She resisted the urge to groan. All she needed was for her friend to see Ben.
“It’s late, Caitrin.”
Cait pulled the plaid from her head and gestured to the settee in the small room. “I ken. I willna stay long, I promise.”
Elspeth opened the door wide. As Caitrin stepped over the threshold, she looked past her in the darkness. But she couldn’t see Ben anywhere. She closed the door a little harder than was necessary.
Caitrin flopped down onto the settee and wiped a tear from her eye. Elspeth rushed toward her friend, awash in guilt. She should have realized the girl was upset. “What is it, Cait?”
Her friend clasped Elspeth’s hands in her own. “I hate this, El. I hate all of it. Ye’re my dearest friend, and I hate bein’ on opposite sides.”
So did Elspeth. She smiled sadly. “Then stop.”
Caitrin shook her head. “I canna stop. I doona want ta lose ye. None of us do.”