Dare, Lydia - Tall, Dark and Wolfish

Ben sat casually in a chair by her bed, his elbows resting on his knees, as though he held court in women's bedrooms all the time. Maybe he did. Why did that thought suddenly make her irrationally jealous? He arched one eyebrow at her, a playful smile hovering about his lips.

MacQuarrie glanced about the room. His face hardened and a muscle twitched by his left eye when he spotted her dress on the floor. "What are you wearing under that counterpane, Elspeth? Please, don't tell me he was in bed with you naked."

"I canna see why that would be any of yer business,

Mr. MacQuarrie," Elspeth snapped. If one more person tried to run her life, she would scream.

"Elspeth, you have no family. I'm trying to stand up for you. Please tell me he didn't take advantage of you. Because then I would have to lay waste to my very best friend."

"You could try," Ben growled under his breath.

Alec MacQuarrie truly did have good intentions, Elspeth believed in her heart. They all did. But she was a grown woman, for heaven's sake.

"Out!" she yelled. "All of ye!" She brought her arms from beneath the counterpane and brushed her hands toward the door when they all stood there like ninnies looking at her. "I plan ta get out of this bed in ten seconds, and unless ye

do want ta see what I have on—

" She raised the edge of the counterpane and looked down. "Or do no'." She shrugged and shook her head in disbelief. "Ye'd better be out of my room by then."

Elspeth sat up and swung her legs to the side of the bed. "Doona say I dinna warn ye." She prepared to drop the counterpane.

The door slammed shut quickly. Elspeth rested her forehead in her hands for a moment before she looked up at Ben. "Why are

ye

still here?"

He shrugged as a wolfish grin crossed his face. "I wanted to see what you wore beneath the counterpane."

"Ye already ken what I'm no' wearin'. Ye undressed me, after all." He'd always known her temper matched her hair. And all the rest of her.

"Oh, yes, I did," he growled, with the sweet

memory of her nearly bare body pressed against his taking over his senses.

"Would ye please leave so I can get dressed, Ben?" she sighed, as though the weight of the world rested on her shoulders.

Ben dropped to crouch before her as she sat on the edge of the bed. "I think I have just well and truly ruined you, Miss Campbell."

"I'm sure ye have, Ben. But worse things have happened."

"What could be worse, Ellie?" he asked. He truly wanted to know what lay in her heart.

"I could be ruined with a bairn on the way, Ben. It seems ta be the way of the Campbell women." She fidgeted with a loose string on the counterpane, which she still clutched to her chest.

"Alec will insist that I marry you now," Ben said quietly, watching her face as he said the words. "Since I

have

been in your bed."

She waved her hand. "That doesna count. It wasna even a pleasure." Her face colored when she realized what she'd said.

Ben chuckled. "It was a pleasure for me."

"Ye ken what I meant ta say!" she cried.

"No. Tell me," he whispered, his voice suddenly straining against his throat, the same way his shaft strained against his pants.

"When ye came ta me under the night sky, and we came together.

That

was pleasure. I canna imagine anythin' more pleasurable."

"I promise that the next time I share your bed, it

will

be more pleasurable."

Elspeth's eyes grew wide, then she looked down at the mark on her wrist. She lifted one hand to stroke across it.

"If you touch that now, lass, I'll have to be inside you."

She lowered her hands. Thank God! He didn't think he could take more torment.

Elspeth leaned forward and touched her forehead to his, her green eyes flashing. "What if I want ye ta be inside me?" A pretty blush crept up her cheeks.

It was the hardest thing Ben had ever done, not to toss her onto her back and surge into her. But he stopped, counted to ten, and then met her eyes. "Then you'll have to marry me first, won't you?"

Elspeth sat back, studying him. "Marriage? That's no' very fair ta ye. I mean ye were only trying ta help me and—"

"I meant to ask you earlier today anyway, Ellie."

She blinked at him. "Ta marry ye?" she asked doubtfully.

It wasn't exactly the way he'd planned to ask her, but a lot had happened between this morning and now. "Yes, before Blaire threw her fireball at me."

She shook her head as though not truly believing his words. "Why would ye want such a thing?"

Ben cupped her jaw. "Because I want

you.

I care about you, Elspeth, and I don't intend to travel with you to London and have you meet my mother and brothers without my ring on your finger." At that he pulled off his pinkie ring and placed it in his palm, offering it for her to examine. "I'm sure it's too big. I'll get you something more appropriate once we arrive in London. A nice, big emerald to match your eyes."

Tentatively, Elspeth picked up the ring, turning it over in her hand. Her gaze flashed back to him. "I like this one. I never noticed the wolf before." She ran her finger over the engraved image and then handed it back to him.

Ben's heart swelled with pride at her words. "It's the Blackmoor crest," he informed her as he slid the ring back on his pinkie. "What do you say, Ellie? Will you marry me?"

"Are ye sure about this?"

She didn't really have a choice. She was ruined, like her mother before her. But saying so wouldn't be the right way to go about convincing her. Besides, he did want her. This situation simply solidified it. "I've never been more sure," he replied with a wink.

Elspeth threw her arms around his neck. "I think ye're mad ta want me for a wife, Ben Westfield. I'm certain most lords doona marry illegitimate—"

He pulled back from her. "I don't think of you like that."

"But it's the truth."

He hated to see the hurt in her eyes, the years of knowing that everyone else thought they were better than her. "It doesn't matter to me," he assured her. "And when you're Lady Elspeth Westfield, no one else will dare say a thing."

She bit her plump bottom lip. Ben could tell she wanted to believe him. "Lady Elspeth Westfield? I do like the sound of that."

Ben grinned at her and pulled her back into his arms. She belonged there, and he wouldn't ever let her go. "Get dressed, love, then we'll go see Mr. Crawford."

"Ye want ta marry me in the church?" she asked, a note of surprise in her voice.

Ben kissed her chin. "My mother will be furious enough that she wasn't invited, Ellie. I can't tell her I married you over an anvil or something like that. She'd have my head."

Twenty-seven

Ben thought it might be nice to help his bride-to-be dress, but she promptly tossed him from her room. As soon as he stepped over her threshold, Alec grabbed his coat with both hands and scowled at him. "I can't believe you've done this, Westfield."

Ben shrugged out of his friend's grasp. "It's not the way I planned it, but I can't say I'm unhappy with the outcome."

"She collapsed!" Alec hissed, as if the word meant something more significant. "Fainted."

"You saw that for yourself, MacQuarrie."

"Aye, I just didn't understand what it meant until I found you in her bed."

Ben shook his head, not grasping his friend's meaning.

"Don't play the innocent with me," Alec grumbled. "She's

enceinte

. It was the one thing I asked you not to do. You're the worst sort of blackguard, you—"

A moment later Ben had Alec pressed against the wall of the cottage, his hands wrapped around his friend's throat. "I've told you before, MacQuarrie, I won't let you or anyone else disparage her."