If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) (4 page)

Bened nodded. “So you do not see him as the dangerous one.”

“No. To be dangerous requires some work and that is one thing my uncle never does.”

He reached across and patted one of the hands she had clenched into small fists on top of the table. He could tell by the brief look of surprise on her face that she had not realized she had done so. Bened was sure he had the full truth now, although he was not sure she fully believed the threat she faced. Whoever this Sir Edgar Benton was, he would have to be dealt with for Bened suspected the man would not quietly accept the loss of such a young, nubile bride.

“One thing I do have experience with is greedy, murderous relatives.” He was pleased when she laughed for he knew it had been a rather harsh thing to say even as the words left his mouth.

“I truly do not wish to think of them that way but I must.”

“You must. Even if something proves me wrong. There are, by my count, three people who would benefit if your brother was gone and at least one who would benefit if you were both gone.”

“Three?”

“Your betrothed. He is out the payment of a debt and a young bride.”

She slumped back in her seat and rubbed her hands over her face. “And it is my aunt who would benefit from both Simeon and me out of her way.”

“Exactly.”

“Do you think the men you took the horses back from are still going to be a problem?”

“I have no idea, but, if not them, someone else will be. Sadly, there are many more rogues to hire if she dismisses them for failing her.”

“Oh, dear. Augusta hates being failed, detests any failure at all. It is the one thing that reveals that ugly side of her she usually keeps so well hidden. It enrages her. Once I saw that I began to wonder how my uncle had survived being married to her for so long. He fails her all the time.”

“She needs him for some reason. Maybe to hold her place in that society that is so important to her. Maybe she likes the fact that she is the power in her marriage and knows she would not find that anywhere else.”

“You clearly do not even consider the fact that she might actually love the fool, do you?”

“Not for a moment but I could be wrong. Yet I find it difficult to believe a woman who does what I think she is doing is capable of such an emotion.”

Suddenly Primrose felt exhausted. It was all too much. The worry she had suffered while he had been chasing horse thieves combined with the knowledge about her aunt bled all her strength away. It was weak and cowardly but she had no wish to talk of it, or even think of it anymore for now. She forced herself to her feet and brushed down her skirts.

“I thank you for getting Smudge back. I would have been heartbroken to have lost her. I am also very glad you were able to do so without injury. And now, I believe I will retire. Suddenly I am very tired despite the brew I just drank. Good sleep, Sir Bened.”

“Good sleep, Miss Primrose.”

Bened watched her leave and sighed. He hated the fact that the hard news he had had to deliver had crushed her so. He knew that was part of the exhaustion she claimed. It bruised the spirit to learn your family wanted to hurt you, would betray you that deeply and completely.

Deciding he needed to clean up and get some rest himself, he ordered a bath and went to his room. As he passed the door to Primrose’s bedchamber, he heard a sound that made him pause and his hand was on the door latch before he could stop himself. She was crying. He forced his hand away from the latch. She had a right but he did not have the right to intrude. He also knew that, if he went in the room, his plan to comfort her could all too easily turn into so much more.

Shaking his head and wishing he could strangle Augusta Wootten, he went to his room. The hot bath brought to him calmed him and slowly his need to rush to Primrose’s side faded in strength. It was too soon to push himself into her life in that way.

There was also the fact that Primrose was not a woman you bedded and walked away from. Bened knew that before he drew too close and gave in to the desire that she could stir in his blood, he had to make up his mind about just what he wanted from her aside from a long night of lovemaking. The Honorable Primrose Wootten was a woman you did not play with. She was well bred, rich, and far above his touch for a start, despite his new honors. If he took her as his lover, he would have to take her as his wife. That was not something a man did without a great deal of thought. Bened could only hope his attraction to her gave him the luxury of having time for such deep thinking.

 

 

Primrose slowly got off the bed where she had collapsed upon entering the room only to indulge in a long weep. She washed her face and then proceeded to get ready for bed. There was nothing she could do to change her circumstances. Or her family. In truth, the only real family she had left was Simeon. He was all she should give any thought to. Her aunt and her greed could not be allowed to hurt him.

Crawling back into bed, she found herself thinking of Sir Bened and softly cursed. Despite her best intentions there was obviously one distraction she could not shake free of. She desired the man and desire was obviously a tenacious beast that would not be ignored. The only thing she needed to consider was whether or not she would do anything about it.

If she did she would destroy her reputation. Then again, she mused, her reputation was already at great risk and would be destroyed anyway if word got out that her aunt and uncle had betrothed her to Sir Edgar Benton. She could cling tightly to what scraps she had, thus allowing her to deny any accusations with complete honesty, or she could accept her ruin and do what she wanted. It was very tempting to do the latter but she knew she had to resist that temptation until she had thought the whole matter through very carefully.

There was always the chance that news of the crimes of her aunt and uncle would shroud her own and allow her to continue as she had before her father’s death. Such a circumstance depended far too much on luck and the whims of society. What a baron’s daughter had done or was suspected of having done was of more import to gossips than what crimes her aunt and uncle had committed. Society would consider her taking a lover as gossip far more tempting to repeat and salivate over than the fact that her aunt and uncle were guilty of murder and had plotted to murder the baron’s heir and daughter, or even to marry her off to someone all of society had turned their back on simply to pay off her uncle’s gambling debts.

She closed her eyes and sighed. There were too many roads to turn down. She needed to make up a list of the benefits and consequences and go from there. It might be wise to remind herself more often of just how little she knew of Sir Bened and how short their acquaintance had been. The fact that she trusted him, liked him, felt as if she had known him forever, was just her lonely heart playing tricks on her. It was not possible after barely one full day of acquaintance.

“But I do know him,” she whispered, and opened her eyes to look at the door. “I know it is foolish after so short an acquaintance but I
know
him.”

Try as hard as she might she could find no disagreement with that statement in heart or mind. Every instinct she had said he was a good man, one she could trust, and that her desire for him was not some trick brought on by a need to have someone strong to lean on. She knew she was not so weak that a man’s offer of help would make her ready to give up her much-prized chastity.

Flopping onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling. Having that coffee had probably been a mistake. Now her mind was far too busy for her to sleep. Learning that part of your own family wanted you dead did not help either.

Was she leading Augusta to Simeon? Was that why the woman was following her and trying to make it so she could not reach her brother? Did the woman already know how to find Simeon or have some other plan she and Sir Bened had not yet uncovered? The thought that her aunt would kill her brother terrified Primrose. Somehow she had to find him before that woman did. And warn him.

She had to wonder what Simeon would think if and when she found him and had Sir Bened at her side. Simeon was an amiable man not given to fighting and posturing, but he was her only brother and now the head of their household. It was quite possible he would react as many a father would if he found his daughter had been riding all over the countryside with a man. Primrose shook that thought aside. It was a problem she could deal with when she had to.

A yawn swept over her and she realized she was finally feeling sleepy. Since she had settled nothing in her mind, she had to wonder why. Then she realized that she had indeed made a decision. She knew Bened, in her mind, in her heart, even in the very blood in her veins. His interests and opinions might still be a mystery as was his family and history, but she knew the soul of the man as if it was clearly visible to her. He was a good, honest man. Now she just had to decide how deeply she wished to be involved with him.

It made her a little giddy to realize she was considering taking a lover. Shocking that she would do so soon after meeting him but then she was no longer a young maid. Many thought of her as a spinster. Such a step would have serious consequences concerning the rest of her life. Giving a man her body would mean giving him her heart. Primrose had no doubt about that even if she had never done such a thing before. She could never become so intimate with a man without her heart becoming involved. Men could have such relations with women and maintain their distance. Thus, she had to consider that she would run the risk of getting her heart broken. Before too much longer she had to decide if Sir Bened Vaughn was worth the risk.

Stepping out of the dress shop into the late morning sun quickly had Primrose squinting. She stared down at the ground until the sting of the bright sunlight eased a little and then started to look around for Sir Bened. He had said he would wait for her just outside the shop, his reluctance to enter it so visible, she had been amused, but she could not see him anywhere.

After Primrose bought some ribbons, the previously reluctant clerk had suddenly become very talkative. Primrose had gathered a lot of information but was not sure what use she could make of it all. Yet now she knew for certain that her brother had passed through this village. She just wished he had lingered for a while. Instead she was going to have to follow him again and try very hard to catch up to him. She always seemed to end up where Simeon had been not long after he had left the place. If this had been a game, she would have quit playing it long ago.

Keeping a close eye out for Sir Bened, she walked toward the inn where they were staying. She worked hard to convince herself that everything was all right but there was an unease beginning to knot her stomach. It was strange for Sir Bened to wander off with no word to her. He was very set in his determination to save her, protect her. The man would never simply walk away without letting her know where he was headed, she was certain of that. So where was he?

Perhaps some woman had lured him away, she thought, recalling the looks the women had given him from time to time, and then stumbled slightly at the pain that thought caused her. Yet she had no claim on him. He had stuck by her side because he was convinced she needed protection as well as help in finding Simeon. The stab to the heart she had suffered when thinking he had left with a woman told her that some part of her did indeed think of him as hers, that she had some claim on him. Telling herself not to be a fool, that she had only known the man for a day, helped not at all.

Pausing at the front of a pub, she wondered how big a mistake it might be to go inside to look for Bened. Then a noise from within the shadowed alley between the pub and the cooper’s shop caught her full attention. She had seen enough arguments between the men working at Willow Hill to recognize the sounds of fists hitting flesh.

Stepping just inside the alley, Primrose pressed herself up against the stone wall of the pub. Three men were confronting Bened. She winced each time one landed a blow on him although he was holding his own against such poor odds. When one pulled a sword she nearly called out but then Bened drew his own sword. A movement caught her eyes and she watched as one of the men was very slowly inching his way around to get behind Bened. The moment he was past Bened she pulled her pistol and aimed it at him.

The man held a knife in his hand and Primrose braced herself to shoot him before he could use it on Bened. Then he saw her and the smile he gave her was so cold she shivered. He was far enough away from her that she could not see him all that clearly, although his grin was easy enough to spot. A faint light shone through the window of the building behind him making a precise silhouette of his form, and she used that to keep her gaze, and her pistol, fixed on him.

“You mean to shoot me, lass?” He tossed his knife from one hand to the other and back again, displaying his prowess with it. “One chance before I reach you. Head or heart?”

She saw how the light revealed that his legs were braced apart, in a fighting stance, that faint light shining between them. “I do not think I like those choices.”

“Only ones you got, lass.”

She aimed at his head and then drew that aim downward until it rested just above the light shining between his legs. “Not the only one. Might not kill you though you will probably wish it had. You could also bleed to death as you wail about your lost pride.”

Bened stumbled and nearly got himself skewered when he heard Primrose’s voice from behind him. The man facing him with a sword was good, seeing his brief distraction, and quickly taking advantage. Bened suspected all that saved him was that he had a lot more practice and more recently than he suspected this man had. He drew his pistol, needing to hold at bay the two men he was fighting long enough for him to chance a glance behind him.

What Bened saw made his blood run cold and not simply because the third man had managed to slip up behind him. Primrose stood there aiming her pistol at a man who had evidently intended to stab him in the back. He hoped the man could not see the cloudiness of her gaze or her fear. The threat she tossed out in a calm, cold voice made him proud even as he bit back the urge to order her to run.

The men in front of him demanded his attention and he swiftly pushed them back with pistol and sword. They all knew the pistol held only one shot so was only a threat until he fired it, that he would have no time to reload it and fire again before they could bring him down, but, for now, the threat of being the one who got shot was enough. What he needed to do was push the men in front of him so far back and in such a way that it kept them back long enough for him to help Primrose.

“Sir,” Primrose said when the rogue she faced slid a step closer to her. “Do not move.”

“Pretty wee thing like you will not shoot a man.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on that?”

Primrose was proud of how cold she sounded despite how she was inwardly shaking with terror. The very last thing she wished to do was shoot the man but she was determined to do it if he threatened Bened again. It would haunt her forever and she knew it, but she would find that far easier to deal with than seeing Bened stabbed in the back.

Just as she began to believe the man would allow her to keep him at bay, he lunged at her. She shot him before she even finished the thought of doing so. Her aim was a little to the right so, instead of the horrible wound she had intended to inflict, she caught him in the upper right leg. It still took him down but she doubted he would stay there long.

With a flurry of sword work, Bened wounded both men facing him. They retreated and he took the chance to hurry to Primrose’s side. The man she had shot lunged for him and Bened kicked his arm. The snap of a bone and the man’s scream assaulted his ears. That and the gunshot would, he hoped, draw a few people to the alley to investigate.

“Can you reload your pistol?” he asked as he placed himself between her and his attackers.

“I can.”

“Then do so as swiftly as you can. These men are not the sort to be down for long.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath to steady herself and began to reload her pistol.

A gunshot and a man’s scream should bring people running, she thought as she fought to do what she had to with care yet some speed. Relief nearly sent her to her knees when she accomplished the chore and could stand and face the enemy along with Sir Bened. Her attempt to stand at his side was swiftly and very firmly thwarted, however. Bened just kept shifting that big strong body of his to keep himself between her and their attackers.

Before either of them could do another thing, six men raced into the alley, stopping just inside as they studied the scene. That hesitation gave two of the men who had tried to kill Bened a chance to run, however. Two of the men who had rushed to their aid went after them but Primrose doubted they would be successful in capturing the men. The one she had shot had no chance to attempt an escape and was being yanked to his feet by two others. The remaining two approached her and Bened.

“Are you hurt, miss?” asked the older of the two.

“No,” she said. “You arrived in time.”

Bened nodded and slung his arm around Primrose’s shoulders, ignoring her start of surprise. “And we are grateful for it. I am not sure how much longer I could have kept them from robbing us and putting their filthy hands on my wife.”

Primrose was surprised at how smoothly Bened lied to the men who had rushed to their aid. She had to admit it was a good lie, though, as it nicely explained what was going on in a way that would probably prompt very few questions or doubts. The man they had wounded just glared at them. He was clearly no more eager to explain what was really behind the fight than they were. She also tried to ignore the small thrill of delight that went through her at hearing the words
my wife
on Bened’s lips.

She leaned into him, turning her face into his chest so that the men he spoke to could not see her expression. The last thing she wished to do was to spoil Bened’s game. It could prove as much help to the men who had attacked him as it did her and Bened but there was nothing to be done about that. They simply did not have the time or the proof to drag out the whole true story.

What troubled her most was that her aunt had sent her hirelings after Bened. The woman had seen what a problem he would be and set out to be rid of him. This attack had been intended to kill him and that terrified her. Primrose began to try to think of ways to get him to leave but doubted any of them would work. She would do her best, however. There was no way she could allow her difficulties, her family’s battles, to cause him to lose his life.

By the time the men left, dragging their prisoner off to the magistrate, Primrose was feeling a bit weak. The fight and the fear caused by it had sapped all her strength. She allowed Bened to lead her to the inn where they had booked two rooms for the night. The solicitous way the maid treated her as she brought them some tea and food told Primrose that word of the attack was already spreading. She frowned at Bened who appeared to be finding it funny.

She glanced at the other couple in the private parlor, and said softly, “Such a smooth liar you are, Sir Bened. I was most impressed.”

“At times it is the only smart thing one can do. Did you want us to tangle them up with the truth?”

She sighed. “No, yet I feel a bit guilty for lying to men who had come to help us and accepting the sympathy of that maid when nothing happened.”

“Then think of it as sympathy handed out simply because you were in danger and you were. Maybe not the one I implied, but there was a real threat to your life.”

“It was mostly to your life. I but happened to stumble into it. She wants you gone.”

“Which tells us quite a lot.”

“What? That my aunt, whom I had long dismissed as a nasty, vain fool, is actually a cold-blooded killer?”

“Forewarned is forearmed.”

“Are you going to heed the warning?”

“I have or I would already be dead.”

“I cannot allow you to put your life at risk for me.”

“Ah, I wondered if that was where you were headed. It is not all for you. I cannot leave you to her mercies. It would shame me for life if I did so. I am a man who has always watched people’s backs. It is who I am. I find their enemies before their enemies can find them. Do you know how it came to be that I, the son of a farmer, got a knighthood, was named a baronet, and was gifted with a small piece of property?”

“I rather thought it was because you have relatives with much higher honors.”

“There is that and I am certain it helped the man who pushed for this honor for me, but I got it because I was protecting an earl’s son. Took a bullet for the idiot. And, believe me, it was not what I had planned when I moved to save him. Never expected more than my pay but he was the earl’s only heir. And we should all pity him for that,” he added, and took a drink of his ale. “Whenever my family has need of someone to help them track a person or go against their enemies, they come for me. That makes me a man whom you will never convince to leave just because things have become dangerous.”

She sighed and slumped in her chair. “So you will stay and if the worst happens to you, leave me to have that on my conscience forever.”

“Your conscience is clear or should be. None of this is your doing. You merely wanted to find your brother to tell him of your father’s death.”

“And to flee a marriage I did not want so there was some selfishness involved,” she reminded him.

“From what you told me of the man chosen for you, you would have been foolish not to try to get as far away from that risk as possible.”

“There is nothing I can say to make you change your mind, is there.”

“Nay, not a thing.” He studied her for a moment. “And you can just forget trying to lose me by running off.”

Startled that he had guessed what she had been thinking, she stared at him. “Those familial gifts you spoke about? One of them is not the ability to, well, read my thoughts, is it?”

“Nay, that curse settled on the head of the clan, the Duke of Elderwood.”

“Truly?” she whispered. “He can see inside a person’s mind?”

“Hear what is there, aye. And it is not the wondrous thing you appear to think it is. It is a curse. Modred is a young man but he hides in that castle of his because being amongst people can be a pure hell on earth for him. The few in my family who have been gifted that way often end up insane or kill themselves to end the noise. It is sad for he is a good man.”

“When you explain it that way, I can see what you mean.” She frowned. “His name is Modred?”

“I fear so.”

“That seems a bit like adding insult to injury.”

He laughed and nodded. “It does. But, as I said, he is a good man and, amongst the family are ones he can be around without discomfort. They do their best to visit with him as often as they can.”

“Can he be around you?”

“He can be around most of my family and he now has his aunt Dob there to train him in silencing the world. One day he might be able to make short visits to the world outside those walls.”

“Then I shall pray for him to gain that freedom.” She helped herself to one of the small sandwiches the maid had brought them.

“You accept what I say very easily.”

“Well, as was said by Shakespeare in
Hamlet,
‘There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Papa also said to keep an open mind and never cease to question and learn. He felt the way to judge what was good or bad was to ask oneself, ‘What harm does it do to the innocent?’” She shrugged. “I heard that from the time I was a small child and it stuck with me.”