Elise's Story: A Bentley Sisters Novel

by Lauren Beaumont

  Elise’s Story

  A Bentley Sisters Novel

  By

  Lauren Beaumont

  ©2015 by Blushing Books® and Lauren Beaumont

  All rights reserved.

  No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Beaumont, Lauren

  Elise’s Story

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-62750-902-2

  Cover Design by ABCD Graphics & Design

  This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  About Lauren Beaumont

  Ebook Offer

  Blushing Books Newsletter

  About Blushing Books

  Chapter One

  Wearily, Elise made her way down the steps of the tiny aircraft that had flown her from Ottawa to the remote town of Kuvanerk, perched on the southern coast of Canada's Baffin Island. Although she'd lost count of the number of flights she took each year, they never ceased to exhaust her. She guessed it didn't help that she'd never truly overcome her fear of flying or, rather, her fear of the plane falling out of the sky.

  Her journey had started over twenty hours ago as she'd left the rain and cold of a grey, dismal June day in London. Despite all her travelling, Elise knew that London was her home. It was where she had grown up with her three sisters, where she retreated whenever she needed a break from her relentless schedule as a freelance photographer and where, increasingly, she felt a longing to settle permanently, rather than continue her current nomadic existence trekking from wilderness to wilderness. Despite that, she knew that the weather in London often left a lot to be desired even in the summer, although her latest assignment was unlikely to have brought her to warmer climes.

  From London, she had taken the twelve hour flight to Ottawa via Toronto, transferred airports and then waited for a few more hours in the chilly airport lounge for the tiny twelve seat aircraft to arrive to fly her to Kuvanerk and the gateway to Arctic Canada.

  As she looked back over her shoulder, she shivered into the insulated layers of her down jacket, although she wasn't sure whether it was from the memory of the turbulent three hour flight in the tiny plane or from the biting cold wind blowing in her face. Although it was mid-June, and technically the start of summer, Arctic Canada still saw some snow at this time of year and its vast sheets of ice were only just beginning to melt. She knew that those conditions were going to make the next couple of weeks much tougher but, she hoped, they would also result in a stunning backdrop to the pictures of the Arctic wolves she was hoping to photograph in their natural habitat. Very little was known about the habitat or territories of the Arctic wolf, mainly because its remote and inhospitable haunts kept it largely safe from the predatory nature of man, which meant that her commission by an international photo journal was a coup for Elise both personally and professionally.

  Elise certainly hadn't flown into Kuvanerk to threaten the wolves' habitat in any way. She specialised in photographing wildlife in its natural surroundings, often going where other photographers and journalists refused to venture. She'd spent the last few years in places as far afield as the Masai Mara and Serengeti in Africa and the Atacama Desert of Chile, in each case spending weeks camping out waiting for the perfect photograph, the one which would capture the beauty of the animal against the stark bleak wilderness in which it lived and survived.

  This latest project was quite different for her though, as she had only two weeks to get the shots she needed, not to mention the fact she needed to use these two weeks to think carefully about the offer of a permanent editorial job based in London that she had received a while ago and for which she was now being pressed to give an answer.

  "Miss Bentley?" a deep, inherently confident voice called out to her.

  Startled out of her reverie, she swung quickly to one side peering out from the warmth of her scarf to see a tall, dark male figure striding towards her and she tried to hide the automatic grin that pulled at the corners of her mouth. She would bet her entire commission for this project that the man marching determinedly towards her was Max Bryant, good friend and former army buddy of Tom Sinclair, her sister Lily's fiancé.

  Tom, along with Luke and Alex - her other two quasi-brothers-in-law, had been tormenting her for ages about the safety, or more to the point, lack of safety, involved in her taking on and wandering through the world's wildernesses by herself. Most recently, to Elise's innate amusement, they had joined forces and insisted that she have company on her next trip. Normally, Elise would have laughed at their overly zealous protectiveness and been secretly irritated at their continual need to treat her like a child, but she'd admitted to herself – if not to them – that the travel did become quite lonely at times and some company could be an interesting change. Besides, from what Tom had said, Max Bryant knew the Canadian Arctic well and, in particular, had spent time around Ingiyokke Park, her ultimate destination. It just might be the case that the man would be useful, rather than a hindrance, to her project.

  However, a frown also creased her brow; she was supposed to meet Max Bryant that evening for dinner in Kuvanerk, where they would finalise their itinerary for the next couple of weeks. Tom had told her that Max had occasionally acted as a guide around the park in the last couple of years, even though he was normally based in the United Kingdom, and that he would be happy to accompany her throughout the two weeks and generally follow any sensible route through the park. None of that, however, explained why or how the man had shown up at the airport. It was amusingly predictable that Tom's friend would take the job of chaperoning her to a new level of seriousness and would show up early, but she didn't remember giving him her flight details.

  As he advanced towards her, she unconsciously took a slight step backwards, as rather than just being tall, he was one of the biggest men she had encountered. He had to be well over 6 feet 6 inches, taller even than her brothers-in-law, with broad shoulders and a chiselled face. Although she couldn't be sure, she wouldn't be surprised if the man was pure muscle from head to toe without an inch of fat on him. Although large men didn't scare her automatically, in the last year one awful experience had taught her to be wary; as no matter how street smart she thought she was, she knew she couldn't compete against pure physical strength of the kind she faced now.

  To her relief, as he came closer to her, she saw that his eyes were kind even though they had narrowed slightly when he saw and noted her instinctive retreat.

  "Miss Bentley?" he queried again as he came up to her, more softly this time. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Max Bryant." He held out his hand to her in greeting.

  "Oh!" she stumbled slightly over her words, not having expected a man of this size and obvious confidence to have even noticed her reaction, let alone apologise to her. "Hi Max. Yes, no... that is, yes, I'm Elise." She paused and then b
lurted out, "You didn't scare me, I just didn't expect to see you here. I thought we were meeting later tonight?"

  He grinned, his hard features softening fractionally as he took in her confusion. "I flew in yesterday, so I thought I may as well pick you up from the airport and make sure you got to the hotel. You're probably exhausted after the flight."

  "Oh!" Surprise radiated through her voice and over her face. "That's really nice of you, thank you. I didn't know you even knew what flight I'd be on."

  "Well..." His grin turned to a slight frown. "You did forget to reply to my, or Tom's, emails leaving us your flight details. Fortunately, I know the guys at the airport pretty well and they confirmed which connecting flight you took."

  "Oh! I haven't checked my email for a couple of days, so I didn't see anything from you or Tom." She frowned. "I'll give him a call from the hotel; I hope he wasn't worried."

  He chuckled. "Don't worry; he knows that I was planning to meet you at the airport and I told him which flights you were booked on, so he shouldn't be worried. Although," he added, "I'm sure he and Lily would love to hear from you anyway and know that you arrived here in one piece."

  He quickly disguised the smile that automatically pulled at his lips as he saw her astonishment that he'd checked up on her flights, knowing from what Tom had told him that the lovely Elise Bentley was often independent to the point of being foolhardy. Tom had confided in him that, in his view, she'd looked after herself when she was travelling for work for so long that her self-reliance was now second nature to her; and more times than not, she simply failed to think that someone else could help her out or take some of the responsibility off her shoulders.

  He caught sight of a figure jumping from the tiny aircraft behind Elise. "Hey, Steve!" he called out, recognising the man immediately as one of the co-pilots who regularly flew the Ottawa-Kuvanerk route. "You happen to know where Miss Bentley's bags are?"

  He knew, from experience, that the bags of all the passengers – not that there were very many – would be unloaded quickly and delivered into the airport building. But he'd seen the weariness on Elise's face and known immediately how tired the young woman was from the trip, even though she'd tried to hide it. He figured that anything that might save her a bit of time so he could get her safely back to the hotel would be a good thing.

  Elise looked on in bemusement as Max calmly took charge and retrieved her bags from the small plane, so that they didn't have the hassle of waiting for them to be transferred to the small terminal. Before she knew it, she found herself being ushered out of the cold, through the airport and into Max's waiting car. As she fastened her seatbelt, she wryly thought to herself how she had been very mistaken to assume she knew, from her brothers-in-law, what domineering, assertive men were like, and how to handle them. From the little she'd seen of Max, he looked like he knew how to take those attributes to a whole new level!

  As he started the engine and pulled away from the airport towards central Kuvanerk, he smiled over at her, pleased to see that she already looked more relaxed now that she was in the warmth and security of the car. The faint lines of tension had quickly disappeared from her brow.

  "You okay now?" he asked.

  She blinked at him in surprise. "Sure, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong, really. I was just surprised to see you at the airport, that was all." She paused slightly. "Thank you for coming to pick me up. It's really kind of you and I do appreciate it. It was just unexpected and I guess I'm a bit tired. Sorry I haven't been more talkative."

  He laughed out loud at her reaction. "There's no need to apologise, Elise! I just thought you seemed tired when you got off the plane, and a bit tense, maybe. But you seem more relaxed now."

  He cheeks reddened as she realised that Max was clearly more observant than she had given him credit for, particularly if he'd already noticed how tense she'd been exiting that rickety little plane. She'd spent the last ten years schooling her reactions so that it wasn't obvious how much she disliked air travel.

  "Oh, it's nothing, really," she said, still blushing. "I'm just sometimes not great at flying. I get over it pretty quickly though," she added, wanting to reassure him that he wasn't going to be travelling with an emotional wreck of a woman for the next couple of weeks.

  "You're kidding? But don't you fly all the time?" He looked at her disbelievingly, but seeing the worry in her eyes at his reaction, quickly changed the subject. "Look, we're heading into Kuvanerk proper now." He pointed out to her the key local landmarks in the small town so that she could get her bearings before pulling up next to a small hotel.

  "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It looks really nice!"

  "What did you expect?" He raised an eyebrow at her quizzically, before jumping out of the car and moving round to her side of the vehicle to help her down.

  "Well, I kind of figured the town would be much smaller than this, with just a few B&Bs and stores for provisions. I guess I was wrong."

  He laughed. "It's an easy mistake to make. Sure, the town acts as a gateway to Baffin, and even Greenland and beyond, but it's also a thriving town in its own right. We have museums, theatres, cinemas... all the things you'd find in any town really."

  "We?" Immediately Elise picked up on his use of the pronoun. "I thought you were based in the UK rather than Kuvanerk?"

  "I am, but I lived here for over a year and I guess there's still a part of me that feels tied to this part of the world. I'll tell you more about my background over dinner. For now though," he steered her towards the reception desk where an older woman was waiting, beaming, to welcome them to the hotel, "let's get you checked in and you can get some rest."

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Elise found herself laying back snuggled into the downy luxury of soft pillows. Max had swiftly checked her into the hotel and made sure that her bags were safely deposited with her, before writing down his room number for her and telling her that she should get a few hours rest before meeting him for dinner that evening.

  Well, she thought, "telling her" was more than a bit of an understatement. He was clearly a man who was used to giving orders and expected them to be obeyed without question. It hadn't even occurred to him that she might have things she needed or wanted to do. She'd had vague thoughts about exploring the town in the few hours she had before dinner.

  She sighed. Not that she minded this time, she thought to herself. She was so tired that she'd practically jumped at the chance to take a nap and recharge her now diminishing internal batteries. Max Bryant may be used to giving orders, but he also seemed to be able to read her pretty well, even if he hadn't met her before. She frowned, knowing how unusual that was. More often than not, men complained that she was impossible to get to know, as she didn't let people get close enough. That wasn't true. Rather, she was just picky in her choice of confidants, as she'd always felt the need to find a connection with a person before she could really open up and be herself with them.

  She slipped deeper into her stack of pillows, resting her head back and letting her eyes drift shut. Max reminded her of her brothers-in-law. That shouldn't have surprised her. She loved Luke, Tom and Alex dearly, but each of them was fiercely protective of his family, which included Elise, and had no qualms about letting his natural, dominant and authoritative masculinity rise to the surface in a display of protectiveness, if he thought the need arose. There was no way any of them would have allowed Elise to be accompanied by someone who didn't match their own ideals and values.

  Elise smiled to herself. It could prove to be an interesting couple of weeks with Max Bryant. Indeed, she knew that her sister Lily was holding out hopes that Elise and Max would hit it off in more ways than one, even though Elise had warned her that she wasn't on the lookout for a boyfriend. Although, now that Lily was engaged to Tom, she wanted everyone to experience that same happiness and security, and so Elise had found it difficult to dissuade her from her romantic notions. Now that she'd met Max though, she had to admit that he was one of the most attr
active men she'd ever encountered. The similarity in personality to her brothers-in-law was oddly reassuring, even though it made her slightly apprehensive. And physically... well, the man could hardly be faulted!

  Sleepily, Elise let her eyes drift shut and gave in to the doziness, knowing that not only the physical demands of the next two weeks would require all her energy, but that emotionally she may well need her wits about her around Max!

  * * *

  Grabbing her insulated jacket and bag, Elise ran down the stairs of the small hotel, worried that she was running late. They were only having dinner at a restaurant down the road, but the temperature outside was freezing, despite the bright sunlight. It had taken her longer than she planned to pull on all her layers of clothing.

  "Steady!" A hand reached out to grab her just as Elise lost her footing on the last stair and she looked up to see Max staring down at her, concern etched on his face. Carefully, he set her back upright but kept his hand on the small of her back. "Are you okay?"

  Annoyed at herself for being so clumsy, which was unlike her, she nodded briefly and paused to catch her breath. "Yes, sorry about that. I was worried I was late and wasn't looking where I was going, I guess."

  Tilting her head up towards him, he gazed down at her with narrowed eyes. "Did no one ever tell you that running down the stairs is a bad idea?"

  She flushed, knowing that he was right, and pouted slightly at him, even as she took the hand he offered and stepped down the last stair, this time safely.

  "I guess so," she mumbled and then, wanting to change the subject, asked brightly, "So where is it we're going for dinner?"

  He raised his eyebrows at her, letting her know that he knew exactly what she was doing, but that he chose to play along.

  "There's a good grill down the road I thought we could go to. It's nothing fancy, but the food's all fresh and homemade and there's a pretty good variety. Does that work for you?"