Dare, Lydia - Tall, Dark and Wolfish

"I'm all right," he said slowly. Was he?

Ben cupped her face and pressed his lips to hers. He took her mouth with much more force than he'd ever taken another. But she merely met his tongue without complaint. Inside, the beast in him rejoiced.

He drew her bottom lip between his teeth and nipped it.

"Ow!" she cried, raising a hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry," he immediately confessed, a twinge of guilt making him wince. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Slow down a bit, will ye?" she smiled. "I think I need ta catch up."

Slow down? He would sooner chop off a limb. If he didn't have her soon, he would explode. Her dress lay in a heap at her feet while she stood before him in her chemise and drawers. He removed them quickly and efficiently before he lifted her in his arms and walked to the bedroom.

He tossed her into the middle of the bed and climbed atop her. With a quick flip of his thumb, he released himself from his trousers and pressed against her.

"Ben?" She stopped him.

Did she say something? He'd ask her to repeat it later. He was very close to completion. He was close to taking her. He was close to being inside her. He growled as he bent his head and pulled her nipple into his mouth.

"Easy, Ben!" she gasped. "That's a bit rough."

He eased his grasp on her and took her hips in his palms, tipping them so he could slide his full length into her at once.

"Ouch!" she cried from beneath him. She wiggled her body until she slid from beneath him, where she could rest against the headboard, her legs drawn up to her chest, clutching them tightly.

"I want you," he growled as he reached for her.

"Oh, ye remember I'm in the room now, do ye?" she spit at him before she scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up. Light suffused the room. "Look at me," she commanded, her biting tone pulling him from his single-minded objective.

He ran his gaze from her disheveled fiery hair to her breasts, which wore red marks from his rough kisses. He clearly saw the outline of his hands on her hips. Thank God she didn't have bruises.

"What have I done?" he asked as he stood up and raked a frantic hand through his hair.

"It's all right, Ben," she said, her finger trailing down his forearm. "I want ye ta make love ta me. Ye just need ta slow down a bit."

"It's too close to the moon," he snapped. "I can't be in control this close to the moon."

"Ye can, Ben," she encouraged him.

He'd come close to bruising her beautiful flesh, and she still wanted him.

He wasn't nearly good enough for her. Ben buttoned his trousers and turned from her. His voice quavered as he said, "I have to go."

"No!" She walked toward him. He backed up until he tripped over the settee. He crashed to the floor in a disoriented lump. She approached. He couldn't let her touch him. He wasn't deserving.

He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward the door. "Ben," she said. "Doona go."

"I have to," he said as he opened the door and ran out into the night. He ran until he could run no longer, until the air burned his lungs. Until his muscles pleaded for him to cease. Yet he couldn't get far enough away from her. If he could do one thing, he could protect Elspeth from what might hurt her. And today that danger was him.

Thirty-four

Elspeth stared at her tattered dress and underclothes lying on the floor. What had come over him? She'd never seen him behave in such a way.

We also become

more carnal.

Ben's words from days ago echoed in her ears. How could a man such as him become

more carnal

? She hadn't quite believed him until now.

But he was right. He'd not frightened her, but it was almost as though he couldn't hear her words, as though he wasn't in control of himself. She wasn't sure what to make of it, as the memory of the encounter flashed again in her mind. She didn't even recognize this Ben. He reminded her of a wild animal…

Which, of course, he was.

Elspeth's gaze shot to the door he'd flown through. Ben had looked so devastated when he escaped her. That look of pain was just as disconcerting as her own panic. Perhaps if she'd had some notice, been prepared for what he wanted—no, what he

needed

—things would have ended differently.

Her husband had needed something from her, and she hadn't been able to give it to him. Guilt mixed with fear and encompassed her, Caitrin's warning still fresh in her mind. Ben would hurt her, she'd said, but she hadn't mentioned that Elspeth would hurt him in return.

She had to find him, make sure he was all right. With a frown she retrieved a serviceable dress from her armoire and threw it over her head. Why did he have to run off like that? Why couldn't he explain to her what had happened, what he needed from her?

She wrapped the Campbell plaid tightly around her and ran out of the cottage just as the sun was setting and casting a deep crimson across the horizon. "Ben!" she called, not certain at all which direction he'd gone. How would she ever find him?

Elspeth wandered deep into the woods, calling for him until she couldn't yell any longer. Her throat hurt, and she collapsed beside a boulder, exhausted, with tears streaming down her face.

Where was he? Couldn't he hear her? The man had better hearing than anyone else on earth. Then a horrible thought entered her mind. What if he could hear her, but he still wouldn't come? Her heart constricted and ached.

"Ben!" she called again, straining her voice beyond reason. She looked at her wrist. He could ignore her voice, but could he ignore her touch? With a shaking finger she touched her mark, hoping he could feel how much she loved him.

Ben winced when he felt her stroke across him. Why couldn't she just leave him alone? Couldn't she tell he wasn't fit company? He wasn't fit for her?

He pressed deeper into the darkened forest. He would walk all the way to Glasgow if he had to. How far would he have to get from her before he wouldn't feel her touch anymore?

One after another of Simon's old lectures echoed in his mind.

It's too dangerous to be with a woman from the

time the moon is nearly full until it starts to wane. You're

reckless, Benjamin. You take too many chances. One of these

days you'll go too far.

He'd been reckless, all right, with the one person he was supposed to protect, the one person he'd never wanted to hurt in any way.

He spied a shaft of moonlight in a clearing and looked up into the sky. Hating who he was and what he'd become, he cursed the moon, now nearly full, for the power it had over him.

Ben growled fiercely, until the growl became a scream. He screamed at the moonlit sky until his voice ceased to work. Then he turned and walked back slowly toward Edinburgh. He had no idea how far he'd traveled. But it was far enough that it might take him days to return if he simply walked.

He couldn't go back to her, even though he still felt her tender strokes against his skin. Even though he still felt her touch as she obviously touched her mark, calling to him. He wasn't good for her. It wasn't safe.

The anger and lust no longer raged in his blood. It no longer called to him, and he felt much as he did before he'd sought out Elspeth. He felt empty. He felt less than whole.

Instead of returning to her cottage, he went to the property outside Edinburgh that he'd just bought. There was an old crofter's cabin that seemed reasonably sound. He would go there and wait for the moon to pass him by. Then he'd go back to her and fulfill his obligation.

He passed the rest of the night and day in solitude. When the moon hung high in the sky, he went to a nearby clearing. There, he removed his clothes and stepped from the shadows into the moonlight. He lifted his arms to the sky and felt… nothing. He felt nothing at all. No madness. No shifting. Nothing.