by Lydia Dare
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 coming 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 the
re 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.”
“Cait, I’m no’ goin’ anywhere. I doona ken how many times I have ta tell ye.”
“But I’ve seen it, El. And if ye go off with him, back ta England, the Còig will fall apart. We have ta have all of us.”
Elspeth sighed. “I think ye’re puttin’ the cart before the horse. He hasna asked me ta go ta England with him. He’s just lookin’ ta be healed. After that, he’ll go back ta where he’s from.” She glanced down at her mark. She was connected to him, though. Would distance matter? A year from now if he touched his mark, would she feel it?
“He will ask ye, El.”
Even if he did, she couldn’t go. She wouldn’t fit into his world. “Cait, this is my home. It’s all I ken. Ye’ve known me my whole life. Do ye honestly think I’d run off ta London?”
Caitrin looked over El’s shoulder toward the window. “Aye. I’ve seen it.” Then she focused her eyes on Elspeth. “Ye ken I love ye and I want the best for ye?”
“Aye.”
Her friend smiled wistfully. “Good. Because I’m no’ givin’ up on ye. If yer mother stayed with the coven despite mama’s vision, I’ll fight ’til the end of time for ye.”
“Cait—”
She waved her hand as she rose from her seat. “Doona even think ta stop me. Ye’re the closest thing I have ta a sister.”
The others would probably have been offended if they’d heard that, but Elspeth knew the words were true. From their youngest of years, the two of them had been closer than the others. Caitrin threw her arms around Elspeth’s neck. Then she stepped away. “He’s been outside ever since I arrived. I suppose I should leave ye.”
Elspeth gaped at her friend. She was just going to leave her with Ben after all this? “What happened ta fightin’ for me ’til the end of time?”
“Oh, if he tries anythin’, I’ll ken it. Then I’ll ask Alec MacQuarrie ta toss him out on his ear.” With that Caitrin walked across the room, opened the door, and strode out into the night. “I ken ye’re out here, Westfield,” she called. “No need to hide like a dog.”
Ben stepped out of the shadows, a look of boredom pasted on his face. “Ah, Miss Macleod, what a pleasure it is to see you again.”
“Just so we’re clear, Westfield, if ye do anythin’ ta hurt Elspeth, I’ll see ye boiled in a cauldron of oil.”
“With your scintillating personality, Miss Macleod, it is easy to see how you’ve charmed so many admirers,” he responded drolly.
She tipped her nose high in the air with a wicked smile. “Just remember what I said.”
Ben didn’t even watch the haughty chit disappear into the darkness, as his eyes were focused on Elspeth. Her hair hung wildly about her shoulders, and the fire from the hearth inside gave her a radiant glow. She stepped toward him, a pretty blush staining her cheeks.
“I’m sorry about that.”
Ben smiled in return. “Not to worry, love. Miss Macleod doesn’t bother me.” Then he ushered her back inside the cottage.
She gestured for him to sit on the worn settee, then vanished into the kitchen area. “Good, the tea is still warm,” she called.
Ben looked around the small room. Again it struck him that she deserved more. Before he could expound on that thought, Elspeth turned the corner with two mugs of tea, offering him the unchipped one. “Chamomile and blueberry,” she said.
“Blueberry?” Ben echoed. It smelled delicious.
“Aye, blueberries encompass the aura of the moon. Ye should eat some the night it’s full.”
Ben chuckled. “You think blueberries can heal me?”
Elspeth took a sip of hers. “I doona think it can hurt.”
She did have a point. He took a swallow and closed his eyes, savoring the flavor in his mouth. He’d never had more delicious tea. “So,” he finally said, “are you going to tell me why Miss Macleod despises me?”
Elspeth shrugged and dropped her eyes to her lap. “Cait thinks ye’re goin’ ta whisk me off ta London and they’ll never see me again.”
The wind rushed out of him. That’s exactly what he should do. Why hadn’t he thought of it himself? The moon did call to him when he was with Elspeth. He should have her with him always. Then there was the little matter that he liked having her around. He could just imagine her waking up in his arms every morning. “And what do you think about that?” he asked.
He could offer her much more than this cottage. Her grandfather was gone. No one needed her like Ben did. This was perfect.
“I think I hardly ken ye.”
Ben
smiled. “Ah, you know me better than most women, Elspeth. No one else knows what I am. No one else can touch me the way you do.” No one else made him burn for her the way she did either.
She shook her head. “I’ll tell ye what I told Caitrin. This is my home. I willna leave it.”
He blinked at her. Didn’t she know who he was? What he could offer her? If he could get her away from the other four, maybe he could convince her to stay with him. “Not even to find your father?” he suggested.
Her emerald eyes grew round with surprise. “That’s impossible.”
“Not necessarily,” he informed her. “I’ve been thinking about it, wondering who he is. I should take you to see Major Forster—”
“Major Forster? He’s Scottish?”
Ben frowned. “I suppose he is.” He’d never thought much about that before. He sounded nearly as English as the next fellow after his many years in the army. “He runs the Lycanian Society in London—”
“The Lycanian Society?”
“Hmm. It’s an organization for my kind. Most of us are registered. About ninety, ninety-five percent. The Society knows about each of us. Who we are. Where we’ve been. That sort of thing. And we take care of our own. Orphaned boys, those who need medical care. With a little research, we can probably find the Lycan who—”
“—is my father,” she finished. “I never thought ta find him. It never seemed a possibility.”
Perhaps it was a bad idea. She looked so sad, Ben wanted to envelop her in his arms and make her forget he mentioned it. “If you don’t want to look for him, that’s understandable, too.”
Elspeth placed her tea on the small table in front of them and looked down at the mark on her wrist. “If he’s still alive, I would like ta find him. I have many questions. A lifetime’s worth.”
Ben brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Then I’ll help you find him, Ellie.”
Her smile lit up the small room. “Like ye found my hair combs?”
Her hair combs. They had to have been a gift from the girl’s sire to her mother. “Exactly.”
They could leave tomorrow after the funeral. The sooner he got her away from the others, the better.