by Rebecca King
“I said, get off me!” Jessica demanded in a voice full of desperation. “How dare you touch me?”
She twisted her head around to get the man’s vile hands off her face. The stench of his foul breath made her stomach churn alarmingly. She tried to step away from him, but the solid bulk of the dresser pressing against her bottom preventing her from moving an inch.
“You should be used to having a man’s hands on you. Someone as pretty as you should be fully aware of what a man wants,” Lloyd drawled, his eyes dipping into the dark hollow of her heaving bosom.
“Get out of this house,” she bit out.
“I am sure you will be more – accommodating,” he drawled, “once your brother has departed.
“Ben is going nowhere. If you hurt him, I swear I shall have you in front of the true law in this county,” she spat. Her eyes narrowed with the ferocity of her fury.
“I am the law in this county,” Lloyd challenged arrogantly.
Carruthers sniggered as he watched.
“Shut up, Carruthers,” Lloyd drawled. The look he threw his colleague made the man take a wary step backward. “Go and stand outside. You don’t need to see this. I won’t be long.”
“You are nothing but a scoundrel. You are more corrupt than anyone in this village,” Jess countered. “Get your hands off me.”
When he merely smiled at her and leaned closer, she kicked his shin at the same time that she bit down on his wrist. She looked up in time to watch in horror as his eyes filled with rage. His hand lifted as though he intended to hit her. She braced herself.
“You heard her,” Marcus warned coldly from the doorway. “Get your damned hands off her now, or I will throw you bodily out of the window. How dare you?”
He held a hand out to Jess, who pushed roughly away from Lloyd and stumbled toward her saviour gratefully. Once she reached him, he slid an arm around her waist and held her against his side. He studied the red marks around her wrists with a scowl and turned accusing eyes on the magistrate.
“Don’t ever forget that someone employed you, Lloyd. You are accountable to them for everything you do – including assault, and attempted rape. They can, and will, see that you are held to account by the law your position in this village requires you to uphold. After what I have seen today, you are no more in a position to uphold any degree of law around these parts as he is,” Marcus said with a derisory nod toward Carruthers. “If you ever come into this house again and threaten this lady without a good reason for doing so, I shall report you to your employers. I will ensure that the force of the law is enforced upon you. From what I have witnessed here, today, your personal interest in this woman is neither welcome nor appropriate. Now get out of this house, and don’t come back.”
He moved a still trembling Jess out of the doorway and into the hall, leaving neither Lloyd nor Carruthers any opportunity to speak. It was clear from the look on the magistrate’s face as soon as he entered the hallway that he abhorred having his authority challenged, and was determined to have the last word.
“It is a foolish person indeed who threatens me,” the man drawled as his gaze raked Marcus with insolent defiance.
“I am not threatening you. I am merely stating a fact. You know nothing about me,” Marcus challenged. “You know nothing about who I am, where I come from, or who my connections are. You would be a fool if you challenged me, without the wherewithal to gather the facts about how much damage I could do to you. Now, you are breaking the law entering this house without a reason, and trying to force yourself upon a lady, especially when I have already told you she is my fiancée. If you knew she is engaged, Lloyd, why are you pestering her?”
“You are lying. Jessica is not engaged,” Lloyd protested.
“Jessica is my fiancée, I tell you,” Marcus declared. “Until you have proof to say otherwise, keep your damned hands to yourself. If I find you anywhere near this house again; I will take a formal complaint about you to the Lord Chief Justice himself.”
A heavy silence settled over the room. Lloyd still stubbornly refused to move. He turned an accusatory glare on Jess.
Terrified, Jess stepped as close to Marcus as it was possible to get. She was blessedly relieved when his arm instinctively tightened around her. She had never been so grateful for anybody’s protection in her entire life. Now that she was safe, she watched Marcus battle with the stubborn magistrate with keen interest.
Typically, Lloyd turned the situation into something sleazy and sordid.
“I didn’t realise that you had that kind of arrangement going,” he drawled.
The gaze he threw at Jessica effectively branded her as nothing more than a common whore.
“If you call marriage to be that kind of arrangement then yes we are, and I can only be glad of it,” Marcus retorted flatly.
Jess felt tears pool in her eyes. She knew Marcus was doing his level best to protect her but, as she stood in the hallway nestled against him, she had wonder what it would be like if his statement were real. It would be heavenly to have someone like him beside her, there to protect and love her unconditionally.
If only, she mused with a heartfelt sigh.
Marcus shook his head warningly at her when she opened her mouth to say something. She dutifully lapsed into silence. At the moment, she was so darned grateful he was there she would have done anything he asked of her. If Lloyd had to believe she had a closer association with this man than they truly had then, it could only work in her favour. Now, if only Marcus stayed long enough for Lloyd to turn the focus of his attention elsewhere, she knew she would be able to rest comfortably in her bed at night.
Lloyd stormed toward the door but hesitated briefly in front of Jess.
“I warn you now that I will catch your brother red-handed. He is a thief, and should be behind bars.” He threw a dismissive look at Marcus. “I will be back.”
“Make sure you have good reason to come here again, Lloyd,” Marcus challenged as he watched the magistrate stalk out of the door. “Or you will not cross the threshold.”
When Lloyd whirled around to say something, Marcus slammed the door in his face.
“He is livid,” Jess whispered. “He won’t like being thwarted like that.”
“I don’t care,” Marcus snapped. “Just stay inside today, Jessica,” he pleaded softly.
At her ready nod, his hand slid down her arm to capture her fingers in a gentle hold. He studied the marks on her wrists and shook his head.
“How long had he been here?”
“He arrived a couple of minutes after you left. He hasn’t been that lecherous before,” Jess whispered. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Men like Lloyd are just as criminal as the criminals they catch. If he is in this house threatening you without cause, and does something like that, you are at perfect liberty to do whatever you need to do to protect yourself. Smash him on the head with something, or kick him. Do whatever you need to do, but get out of the house and run for help. It is up to him to account to the locals why he has done what he has. He will then have to explain to them why he has been in your house in the first place.”
“The villagers hate him,” she whispered.
Now that the threat had gone, all of the emotion she had refused to show in front of Lloyd came raging to the surface.
Marcus hauled her into his arms as soon as he saw the tears, and held her tenderly while she wept.
“I know. I have seen him trying to pick on Ben in the tavern. The man is an oaf. Neither him nor Carruthers, have anything to do with the law,” he sighed and made a mental note to mention Lloyd in his missive to Sir Hugo. “Just tell Ben what has happened. Then he will have no excuse if he keeps doing stupid things which put you in danger. If his behaviour is giving Lloyd an excuse to come to this door, then he has to stop. It is as simple as that.”
Jess frowned, in spite of her tears, and leaned back to look up at him.
“Just who are you?” she whispered.
&nb
sp; “I am not going to hurt you,” Marcus assured her. “I just see things a bit more than other people do, that’s all.”
“Like what?”
“Like the brace of pheasants hanging in the scullery, that Lloyd is accusing Ben of stealing. Then there is the side of beef on the hearth that you cannot afford to buy.”
Marcus watched her as he spoke and knew she was aware that they were stolen. He was a little annoyed for getting so ensnared by her beauty that he didn’t believe she would be amenable to crime. But the truth was there, on her face. In the lingering guilt that flickered in the shadows of her evasive gaze.
“I have told him to stop several times,” Jess admitted.
She could see no reason to lie to him. Not after he had just protected her. The least she could do was be honest with him.
“I don’t know where he has had the beef from. He won’t tell me and, to be honest, I don’t want to know. I have told him to stop bringing that here too, but he just won’t listen to me. He thinks he is helping.”
“It will be alright,” Marcus whispered. “I could have a word with him, but I am a stranger. He will undoubtedly just tell me that I am poking my nose in.”
Thankfully, she had stopped crying. Marcus tipped her chin up until she looked at him.
“Which is why you must tell your brother about what Lloyd has done to you. He needs to understand the severity of what you are likely to be faced with if Lloyd catches him.”
“It is horrible,” Jessica whispered.
She shuddered to think what they would do with her when they realised the engagement was fake, and quickly closed the fear out.
Marcus had very little experience of comforting distressed women and was at a loss to know what to say or do now. Without telling her who he truly was, and who his connections in the War Office were, there was not much he could say to reassure her.
“Well, as far as everybody is concerned now, I am your fiancé. That should hopefully be enough to keep Lloyd away. We can work on Ben. Assuming he doesn’t get caught, and indeed stops his thieving, there is no reason for Lloyd to come anywhere near here.”
He kissed the back of her hand but didn’t release it.
“Why are you doing this?” Jessica asked. “Thank you, by the way, but why are you helping me like this?”
“I am susceptible to a damsel in distress,” he teased.
Jessica smiled up at him but seeing his eyes so full of shadows made her worry. She suspected there was an entirely unseen side to Marcus she had yet to learn about and an ulterior motive behind his willingness to help that had nothing to do with any attraction to her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You are welcome,” he murmured.
Slowly, so he didn’t worry her, he lowered his head. This time, when his lips settled over hers, they didn’t immediately leave again. Instead, they settled as though they were meant to be there. His mouth captured her soft sigh of surrender. His kiss increased in pressure and demanded her total compliance in the nicest of ways.
She clung to him and copied his movements. It was raw, it was honest, it made her senses swim. She couldn’t stop it. The more he kissed her, the more she wanted. She just couldn’t deny herself this one moment in time where she felt special. It was wonderful. Far more than she had ever expected to experience, especially when he moaned low in his throat and tugged her closer. She went willingly and stood so close to him that her breasts pressed wantonly against the solid muscles of his chest.
Marcus moaned again when the needs of his flesh became unbearable. He knew he should stop, especially when he began to judge the distance to the chaise. She was untried; vulnerable, and needed protection. Instead, he was positively marauding her senses. Tearing his lips away from hers, he slid random nipping kisses down the long column of her throat. In spite of his best intentions, he couldn’t stop his hands from searching out every dip and hollow of her feminine curves.
“Jess,” he murmured. “We need to stop.”
Jess gasped. A shiver swept through her when his palm slid down her side and came to rest on her hip. When it slid back up again and cupped the delicate curve of her breast, she wantonly cupped the back of his head and drew him back to her.
Marcus couldn’t deny either of them. He wanted her. He had from the first moment he saw her. Now, after just a few short days, the need had become irresistible. He had work to do, letters to write, people to follow, a colleague to meet. He shouldn’t be taking time out like this to indulge in needs of the flesh.
But he was because he couldn’t tear himself away from her.
“God help me,” he whispered when he eventually found the strength to lift his head.
He took one look at the raw need on her face and knew he was lost. Sweeping her high into his arms, he lay her down on the chaise in the sitting room and followed her down.
Jess lay beneath him, completely stunned. Their clothing lay in abandoned disarray around them, but nothing else mattered except what they had just shared.
She was horrified, appalled, shocked, and amazed, all at the same time. She stared at the ceiling while her body began to cool, but wasn’t sure what to say, or do now. Everything had changed forever, and in a way that she could never go back and undo.
Did she regret it? She wasn’t entirely sure. Her mind didn’t seem able to function. She had never once contemplated that her body could do such things, but it had, and more besides. It had left her in a daze from which she didn’t seem able to break free.
Unsure what to do, she lay perfectly still and waited for Marcus to move. It was horrifying to think that she barely knew him. She quickly closed out the worry that maybe Lloyd was right in considering her to be wanton, and turned her attention back to the man in her arms when he spoke.
“Are you alright?” Marcus asked huskily.
He placed a kiss on her shoulder and lifted himself onto his arms so he could look down into her face. He had never experienced such raging passion before. In all of his life, he had never met any woman he had wanted to bed so fiercely, so desperately, that nothing else mattered. Even now, with the first flames of desire dampened, his body was beginning to respond again.
When she didn’t speak, he tipped his head to one side. She looked hot and sweaty, which was unsurprising given what they had just shared. She also looked thoroughly wanton, and carefree, which only endeared her to him even more.
You are sunk, Marcus mused thoughtfully but didn’t care one bit.
To Jess, he whispered. “Did I hurt you much?”
“I am fine,” she whispered, feeling slightly vulnerable in the aftermath.
Sensing she was withdrawing from him, he frowned. He didn’t want her to have regrets but struggled to find a way to reassure her. While he couldn’t promise her a future per se, not with his work for the Star Elite increasing threefold by the day, he wasn’t just going to walk away from her either. She had been untried. He wasn’t the kind of man who would deflower virgins and then simply abandon them. However, he had no idea what he should be saying or doing right now to reassure her. Jess was the first woman he had ever deflowered.
“I know I hurt you,” he whispered. “I am sorry. It won’t be like that every time.”
“It’s alright,” she replied. “I just-”
You just what? She didn’t know what she could say.
“This changes everything,” he whispered.
“Does it?” She looked at him fully for the first time, desperately trying to ignore the fact that he was still draped over her so intimately that when he took a breath, she felt it.
“You know it does, Jessica. You are not the kind of woman who indulges in sins of the flesh and then ignores the importance of it. I am not the kind of man who takes advantage of a woman and just walks away. I can’t and won’t.”
“I don’t know you,” she protested. “It’s horrible to have to say it, but I don’t know what came over me. I don’t usually do this kind of thing.”
“I know,” Marcus smiled. “However, it is done now. We have time to get to know each other. Once we have, we can decide where we want to go with this.”
He saw the spark of hope light her eyes, and couldn’t bring himself to tell her that he had no idea how long he would be in the village. In reality, he could leave tomorrow. He would have to face that when he came to it. Until then, he was a resident of Smothey, however temporary, and Jessica’s lover.
“This has to remain between us,” she pleaded, horrified at the thought of what Ben would say if he realised what she had done.
“It is a personal matter between you and me, Jessica. Neither of us will discuss it with anybody else,” Marcus assured her.
She nodded, inwardly relieved that she didn’t have to explain this to anybody.
When Marcus moved, her instinctive gasp drew his attention. He was about to ask her if she was alright again when he saw the tell-tale blush stain her cheeks. Leaning over her, he smiled down into her somewhat shy gaze.
Dropping a playful kiss on her lips, he shifted again until he was lying completely over her.
“I c-can’t,” she whispered, appalled at the waywardness of her body when it began to tingle with sensual anticipation. “Not again.”
Marcus grinned. “I don’t believe I have ever shown you how quickly a body can recover.”
“Oh?” Jessica gasped when he began to do delicious things with his lips again, and set about learning everything her body could do.
Marcus yawned and looked down at the woman beside him. At some point over the last two hours, he had carried her up the stairs to her bedroom whereupon he had set about showing her exactly why he could not walk away.
She was now safely tucked up beneath the sheets, sated, exhausted, and fast asleep.
He wished he could stay with her, but he couldn’t. He had work to do. Forcing himself to leave the bed, he placing a tender kiss on her brow, tugged the covers up, and left her to sleep.
Out in the corridor, he contemplated which room to search first. He had never seen anyone return to their rooms so had no idea which room belonged to whom. However, he had to take advantage of everybody being out of the house to search the place. Now that Jess was asleep, he could do so without interruption.