If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) (9 page)

Primrose took quick advantage of the man’s distraction and rushed forward, swinging the ash shovel at his head. The first blow staggered him and the second sent him to his knees. When he actually tried to stand up she put all of her strength into the third blow and he went down. She stood over him, ash shovel raised high, and watched to see if he was going to move again, frantically trying to think of what her next step should be if he did.

Bened sat up straight in bed and then tried to figure out what had dragged him out of a sound sleep. He had that irritating tingle on the back of his neck and immediately looked toward the window. It was silently opening and he got out of bed, crept over to it, and stared down at the man clinging to the side of the inn and trying to open his window. Bened smiled, opened the window, and punched the man in the face. He then watched as the man tumbled down to the ground.

Brushing his hands off, he shut and latched the window. The irritating tingle was still lurking on the back of his neck despite the fact that his enemy was sprawled three stories down with what Bened knew were probably several broken bones. Then fear rose up so quickly in his chest he gasped. Primrose.

He yanked on his pants, grabbed his pistol, and hurried to her room just as a man’s cry of pain echoed in the hall. Throwing open the door, he stopped and stared. She had been attacked just as he had feared but she obviously did not need his dramatic rush to her rescue. That stung for he realized he had rather fancied playing the hero for her. A man was sprawled on the floor while she stood over him with an ash shovel in her hand. As he waved away the people who had rushed into the hall at the sound of the shot, quietly telling one of them to fetch the magistrate or one of his men, he stepped into the room and shut the door.

Primrose nudged the man on the floor with her foot but he did not even twitch. She then looked at Bened as he walked over to stand by her side. Every thought left her head when she saw that he was bare-chested again.

“What did you do to his ear?” Bened asked as he saw the mangled remnants of an ear on the side of the man’s head.

“That was my new puppy’s doing.” She gasped and ran to the little dog that was just rousing herself. “She leapt right off the bed, sailed through the air, and latched on to his ear.” She patted the little dog even as she checked for any injury but found none. “Most of the damage was done when he yanked her off for I think she had those little teeth tightly gripping that ear.”

“He is missing a lot of it but I don’t see it anywhere.” He looked at the dog, which was licking its chops. “I do not believe we will be finding it in the room, either.”

Primrose looked at her puppy and grimaced at the blood splattered on the white fur. “Oh, puppy, did you eat it?” The puppy licked her face. “Oh, no, no, no. No licking with the tongue that ate a man’s ear.”

She put the little dog down and then hurried over to the washbowl to wash her face. She was vigorously rubbing her face dry when she caught Bened staring at her. Primrose began to feel a little foolish, set the towel aside, and walked back to where the unconscious man sprawled.

“What do we do with him?”

“We wait for the magistrate and his men to take this one and the one who tried to get into my room. They tried to kill us.”

“Where is the one who tried to get into your room?”

“Sprawled on the ground.” He started out of the room. “There will be a few men marching in and out of here in a few moments,” he warned her before shutting the door after him, and she hurried to tug on her robe.

It was more than a few, Primrose decided much later as the last of half a dozen men walked out of her room. She had only briefly been embarrassed by being seen by so many in a state of dishabille, but it was, after all, the middle of the night and her robe was actually very modest. Every single one of them had stared at her dog in surprise when they heard what had happened to the man’s ear and then grimaced when told there was no retrieving the missing piece. Primrose had been very hard-pressed not to laugh.

She was just deciding to go back to bed when Bened walked back into her room carrying all his belongings. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you are not alone,” he replied as he set his bags down in the far corner of the room. “Even though you are protected by a man-eating dog, the animal cannot stop a bullet. You did very well, so did the rat . . .” He paused for her protest.

“Puppy,” she said, and then muttered a curse when he grinned.

“. . . but I think you know there was a measure of good luck involved.”

“A very large measure. You also arrived very quickly.”

“Not quickly enough to have stopped him from shooting you if you had not awakened and got out of the bed.”

She shivered. “Very well then but where will you sleep?”

“I can sleep in the chair.”

She looked at the small chair near the fireplace. It was a good size and cushioned but it would make a horrible resting place for such a big man. “No, you will end up all cramped and crooked if you try to sleep there. You take the bed.”

“I am not taking the bed from a lady.”

“Fine. Then you sleep on top of the covers and I will sleep beneath them.”

He thought about that for a moment, knew it was going to be a torment to be so close to her all night long, but nodded. “Agreed.” He frowned when he saw her crawl into bed and the puppy leapt up to join her. “The dog sleeps with you?”

“Yes, my man-chewing beast sleeps in the bed. I do not think she takes up much room.”

He shed his shirt, yanked off his boots, and grabbed his blanket. “Odd that she went for his ear. Most attacking animals go for the throat.”

Primrose could not help it, she giggled. “I think that was what she was aiming for but it appears her having one eye does indeed cause a problem and her aim was off.”

Bened laughed as he settled into a comfortable position while trying very hard not to brush up against the temptation that was Primrose. “It did the job.”

“It certainly did, although it is a bit disgusting that she then ate it. I shall have to come up with a suitable name for her soon. Sleep well, Bened.”

He smiled faintly as she said the same to him. Sleep would be a long time coming when so close to her, his every breath filling his senses with her sweet scent. The fact that he only had to turn to be able to take her into his arms was a truly hellish temptation. It was going to be a very long night.

It was time to consider gaining a few allies, he thought. He had family close. In fact, he was sure Argus’s new country manor was not far away and could be gone to without veering off the route they needed to follow. Argus himself might not be able to assist him but he would know where everyone else was and who might be close enough to help him keep Primrose safe until her aunt was defeated. There were many ways his family could help without becoming some private army riding at his side.

The woman was getting tired of the chase and, perhaps, a little desperate. The attacks were more frequent now. Since he took care of the man on the road and now the two who had come to the inn, he was a little worried about what she would send against them next. None of those men were the same ones who had attacked him in the alley.

He needed some people to help him, ones who could keep a close eye on his back for him. The decision to seek out someone in his family made, he closed his eyes and tried very hard to clear his mind of any thought of turning, taking Primrose into his arms, and showing her how pleasurable a little loving would be.

Primrose heard his breathing even out in sleep and carefully turned to look at him. After she turned her head on the pillow she felt her little dog curl up against the back of her neck and smiled. Her protectors.

She looked over at the big man sleeping by her side and felt her heartbeat race. Primrose knew that if she reached out for him he would take her into his arms and share another one of those wonderful kisses with her. He would want to share far more, too, and she was not certain she was prepared for that yet. The desire he stirred inside of her was something she liked and wanted to savor but she was a complete innocent when it came to what men and women shared in a bedchamber. She was not certain what made her hesitate to reach for him more: the idea that she would somehow disappoint him with her inexperience or that she would give her heart to a man who had not asked for it yet.

These matters should not be so difficult, she decided. Men found no difficulty learning all about passion from a fairly young age but then they were not the smaller part of the twosome, not the one who had to be entered. It was all so much more for a woman, she suspected. Women had a more difficult time separating the passion from love. A man could share passion with just about any woman, even if he did not actually like her very much and certainly never considered anything more with her than a romp between the sheets. It must be nice to deal with someone in such a deeply personal way with such ease.

A decision had to be made, she thought as she closed her eyes against the temptation of his bare chest. If they were going to be sharing a room for the rest of their journey, she had to know her course. It was time to make up her mind if she would just reach out to experience the passion she knew without doubt she could share with him and accept all the risks such an action would carry, or if she would bury that desire and save herself for some man who might actually want to marry her.

Something warm and soft was rubbing against his chest, Bened realized as he slowly climbed out of a deep sleep. He gazed around the room he was in and wondered where he was for a moment before the last clouds of sleep cleared his head and he remembered. He was in Primrose’s room.

Cautiously he looked to his side. Despite the covers separating them he could feel her warmth. She was curled up against his side with her cheek resting on his chest. One small hand was resting on his stomach. Peering over the top of her head was the puppy. His arm was still asleep because she was lying on it.

He took all that in even as his body hardened with need. It was time to move away but he was trapped. Slowly he tried to slide his arm out from beneath her soft, tempting little body, stopping when she stirred. He was holding himself very still as he watched her eyes slowly open. Instead of the shock he expected, she looked beautifully flushed with sleep as she smiled at him.

“Good morning, Bened.”

“Morning,” he said, and, because he just had to, he leaned in and kissed her.

What he had intended to be just a fast stolen kiss quickly became a slow, deep tasting. He knew she was innocent but the way she returned his kiss told him she was also a swift and eager learner. He was aching with his need for her by the time the kiss ended and he buried his face in the warm curve of her neck.

He wanted to make love to her, possibly for days without resting, but he was not sure how to take that next step. Primrose was a well-bred lady who could sit higher at the table than he did and was, without a doubt, a complete innocent. That was not the sort of woman he had ever dealt with before.

Primrose murmured her appreciation as he nuzzled her neck and warmed it with soft kisses. Although she had lost some much-needed sleep trying to make up her mind about him, the decision had come immediately upon waking up next to him, feeling his big, strong body next to her, and looking into his beautiful eyes. Reckless it might be, but she knew that, if she did not learn the secrets of passion in this man’s arms, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

She moved the hand she had rested on his taut stomach, lightly caressing that warm skin and tracing the trail of hair that went from it down to the top edge of the covers. And beyond, she thought, suddenly intensely curious about what was beneath the covers.

“Rose,” he murmured against her mouth as he brushed a kiss there, “I need to leave this bed or we will not be leaving it anytime soon.”

“Is that so?”

“Very much so. We might be spending the day in this bedchamber if I do not move and move quickly.”

“Do you want to move?” she asked as she continued to caress his stomach, slipping her hand closer and closer to the barrier of the blanket.

He groaned, picked up that tormenting little hand, and pressed a kiss into her palm. “No, I do not want to move but are you sure you know what will happen if I do not?”

“Mmm. Yes, I believe I do.”

“You are an innocent.”

“Yes.”

“And far above my touch.”

She looked at his big hand, which was moving up and down her arm in a slow caress. “Obviously not.”

He was surprised into laughing. “This is the point of no return, you know. What will happen ends your innocence and that can never be given back.”

“Do you truly want to keep discussing this and trying to talk me out of it, or just get on with it?”

“It is something you should think about.”

“I have been. I have discussed it with myself for most of the night. Discussion over.” She placed her mouth on his and was pleased when, after a brief hesitation, he kissed her.

As his mind clouded over with his need for her, Bened thought that if he did this, he could be affixing himself to her for life. That was often the result of bedding down with the innocent daughter of a titled man. She might not have any parents left but she did have a brother and an uncle. When no great fear of that reared its head, he ceased to think of anything save for the taste of her, the feel of her in his arms pressing her lithe body against his.

Primrose lost herself in the heat of his embrace. His strength surrounded her but did not threaten her in any way. She reveled in it. His kisses clouded her thoughts and made her ache for something more. Passion, she thought dazedly, was a powerful thing.

A brief check in her blind desire came when he began to tug off her nightclothes. She had never been naked in front of a man but she was now, before she could decide if she wished to. One glance at his face as he looked her over ended her unease, however. His appreciation was clear and she almost started to preen before him but he pulled her back into his arms. The feel of his warm skin against her cleared her mind of such thoughts in a heartbeat.

The gentle caress of his big hands moving over her body was so wonderful that it did not trouble her that he was touching what had never been touched by a man before. She just wanted him to keep touching her, wanted him to keep sparking the fire running through her veins with every stroke of his fingers. By the time he began to follow the caress of his hands with kisses, she was more than eager to enjoy that as well. She did not tense until he slid his hand between her legs. That much intimacy was a shock but that shock lasted only a short time for his touch began to build an ache in her that pushed aside all concern and embarrassment with greedy demand.

When he slid a finger inside of her, then another, the intrusion was both strange and exciting. Primrose might have been innocent in body and deed but not in knowledge. She knew he was doing what he could to prepare her for his possession. When just the thought of him pushing that hard length she could feel rubbing up against her thigh into her body dimmed a little of her hunger for him, she pushed it aside.

Only once, a married cousin had told her since she had just had her eighteenth birthday and could find herself headed to the altar at any moment. Lily had insisted that if the man knew what he was doing, it only hurt once and only for a short time. If the way his kisses and caresses were making her feel was any indication, Bened knew what he was doing and Primrose allowed her body full rein over her actions. Soon she was arching into his probing fingers, clutching at his shoulders as he kissed her, and feeling a desperate need stirring to full life inside her. She even murmured a faint protest when he took his skillful fingers away.

What took their place a short time later pulled her free of her blind desire for a heart-stopping moment. She fought against the urge to brace herself and tense but was not completely successful. Bened began to murmur soft words of encouragement and flattery against her throat and suddenly she felt a growing fear inside her wash away. She relaxed in his hold and her passion began to climb again.

Bened feared he was sweating all over her as he struggled to keep her calm. She had been all fire and need in his arms until he had actually begun to join their bodies. Then the fear of it had reared its ugly head. Having his gift react while in the middle of trying to bed a woman he had ached for, almost from the moment he met her, had the effect of dimming his own passion a bit but he now saw the good of it. She was all soft and welcoming in his arms again. He murmured an apology as he thrust through her maidenhead and she gasped with pain but even her pain faded quickly.

A heartbeat later that need to calm also faded. He felt his passion roar back to full life, freed from the restraint of his concern for her. He kissed her as he moved, determined to do his best to make her first time with a man memorable by giving her the gift of release. When he knew he would not last much longer, he slid his hand between their bodies and used his fingers to stroke her into joining him in passion’s fall from the heights.

Primrose was still trembling from the wave of pleasure that had swept over her. It had so stunned her that she had briefly feared she would faint. The strong body of the man who had so sweetly revealed passion’s secrets to her lay weakly against her, yet, even now, he thought to protect her from the weight of him, using his arms to hold him up so that he did not fully rest on top of her. She winced a little as he separated their bodies and all too quickly became aware of a faint soreness between her thighs.

Seeing the wince, Bened went and fetched a wet cloth to wash her with. He grinned as she blushed bright red when he did so. Rinsing out the cloth after cleaning himself off, he moved quickly to crawl back into bed and take her into his arms. He might not be ready to offer her any vows or promises but he would let her know that he was not going to just take what he needed and leave, that he had not only enjoyed what they had shared but was more than ready to keep on sharing it.

Once back in his arms, Primrose was no longer concerned about their nakedness, simply enjoyed the feel of their skin pressed close together. She knew she ought to care about the fact that she was now completely ruined but she did not. This was what she had wanted, and still believed that she would have always regretted it if she had not tasted it. She ignored the part of her that suffered a severe pang of disappointment over the lack of any declaration of love or promise of a future. That was not what she had been seeking.

“I would like nothing more than to spend the day here with you but we need to go have some food and get back on the road,” he said as he kissed her cheek.

“Aunty knows where we are.”

“Exactly. A part of me would like to hunt her down but I have no idea how many men she has at hand and that would leave you unprotected. It is why I have decided we are going to pay a visit to some family of mine and see if there are any of them who can join us. More eyes to keep a watch for the woman or her hirelings.”

“Are you certain they will help?”

“Very certain. It will all depend upon who is around or close at hand. Even if they cannot help me in the way I would like, they will help me in any way they can.” He brushed a kiss over her mouth and slowly sat up. “I truly would love to spend the day, or even a few days, right here, but we cannot risk it. And she is still hunting down your brother.”

Clutching the covers to her breasts, Primrose sat up. “I know. I am going to take a little time to send a post to Uncle George. I am sure that is where Simeon is headed and, if my brother is still unaware of what is on his trail or why, Uncle George can warn him when he gets there.”

“Excellent idea,” he said as he climbed out of bed and reached for his clothes.

As he dressed he realized that he was both pleased and disappointed that she had not given him any idea of her feelings for him or pushed for any declaration from him. It was foolish for he had no intention of doing so, returning either words of affection or offering promises. He knew he had feelings for her, probably deep ones, but now was not the time to speak of such things. They were running for their lives and he knew that could confuse one. It could easily be that which drew them so close and once the threat was gone, that closeness would fade. Any decisions on the future had to wait until their lives were back to normal. He hoped she had similar thoughts for the very last thing he wished to do was hurt her.

Primrose handed her letter to the boy with a few coins and sent him off. There was a chance she and Bened would reach Uncle George before Simeon did, but she had decided that it was best to warn everyone anyway. She looked around for Bened and saw him leading the horses out of the stable. He was so beautifully big and strong. She had spent all morning struggling to decide what feelings she had for him and if she had any chance of stirring any feelings deeper than passion in him. No answers had come to her.

Life was just too frantic and dangerous at the moment, she decided. She did not trust what she felt. Kept asking herself if she was just enamored of him because he was her shield, her savior, and was helping her try to save her only brother. Desire she could trust. It was not a deep emotion but a bodily need. She had heard of enough women who indulged their desires without getting overly attached to the men who fed them to realize that not every woman gave her heart right along with her body. Before she offered up her own heart she wanted to be very, very sure that he was the man who had actually won it.

She secured the basket with her puppy in it to her saddle and watched Bened grin when the dog’s small head popped out and the animal looked around, growled softly at the stableboy, and then disappeared back into the basket. On the other hand, she thought, if Bened made any more jests about her man-eating dog, she might decide he was not worth all this fretting she was doing about the true state of her emotions.

“That’s a relief,” he drawled as they rode out of the inn yard. “I feared your man-eating dog was about to snack on the stableboy.”

“She is not a man-eater. She would never have eaten that bit of ear if it had not been in her mouth. And it would not have been there if the fool had not yanked her off while she was latched on so tightly.”