Much Ado about the Shrew (25 page)

           
"I'm afraid you did, my dear.
And it will not be the last moan you make under my ministrations, I assure
you."

           
"Wait, wait," Bee said
after a moment, and pushed Ben back lightly.
 
Ben pulled away just far enough to see Bee's face. "Wait for
what?" he asked. "I promise not to ruin you before the wedding. But
there is no reason we cannot enjoy our time until then."
 
He moved to kiss her again, but Bee dodged his
mouth.

           
"No, no... just... just wait
for one moment!" she commanded, although with her hair mussed, her cheeks
flushed and her lips swollen from being kissed she did not have the same
presence she usually did.

           
Ben grinned, trying to keep this
picture of Bee in his mind for a later memory. He would think of her the way
she was now the next time she went on a tirade. "I'm waiting, Bee,"
he told her. "What am I waiting for?"

           
"I just... I just want to know
that we won't be caught before we reach Scotland," Bee said.

           
"Ah," Ben said, and sat
her up on his lap, adjusting her skirts around her. This would take a moment,
and it would be best if he weren't constantly mid-kiss during his explanation.

           
"So, you were on your way to
your aunt's house before you were...
er
..." Ben
looked for the right words.

           
"Attacked?"

           
"Before we
intercepted
your carriage," Ben said, frowning slightly.
"Surrey isn't expecting to marry you until the end of the week, which is
in two days.
 
Conveniently, it's also a
two-day carriage ride to Scotland.
 
We
will be joined over the anvil before anyone even knows we are missing."

           
"But what if something happens?
What if we are delayed? What if my aunt sends word, expecting my arrival, but I
am not there?"

           
"My dear, do you think I have
not planned anything?" Ben chided. "Of course, your aunt knows what
is going on."

           
"Does Surrey know you're with
me? That we're on our way to Scotland? What if he chases after us to get my
dowry?"

           
Ben took a breath. "No one
knows where we are. If Surrey does decide he would rather abduct you, he’ll
head to your aunt’s house first.
 
You
have, after all, told your uncle that was where you were headed.
 
By the time he realizes that you’re not
there, we will have already gotten a very large head start."

           
"But what if Surrey comes over
before the wedding date, expecting to see me?"

           
"You will be out, doing...
well, preparing for the wedding, I assume. I don't know," Ben said.
"I'm sure your aunt will be able to come up with some story about you
taking care of the last-minute fittings by your
modiste
for your wedding dress or something to that effect.
 
It will take a few days for you to arrange
the entire wedding... affair." Ben paused, not knowing what else to call
it.

           
"So," Bee said, "Auntie
knows that I am with you?"

           
"Yes."

           
"And what will happen when
Surrey realizes I'm already married?"

           
"Ah," Ben paused.
"Well, he may find that he enjoyed his time on the Continent after all and
will wish to return."
           
Bee raised her eyebrows.

           
"Yes, well... he
may
have been called out no fewer than a
dozen times today."

           
"Called out? By whom?" Bee
said in a shrill voice.

           
Ben grimaced at her tone, but continued.
"A dozen of my closest friends," he said, purposefully vague.

           
"You don't expect him to go
through with any of them?"

           
Ben shrugged. "One or two, I
believe he might, but after five or six, the odds of him surviving are quite
low. Not even Surrey is idiot enough to chance that."

           
"What about my uncle?"

           
"I'm not inviting him,"
Ben said, cupping her breast.

           
"No, of course... not,"
Bee's breath hitched. "I mean, how will you keep him from...
from...." she trailed off.

           
Ben pinched her breast between the
layers of clothing. "From trying to annul the marriage? From calling me
out?"

           
Bee whimpered and threw her head
back, but Ben was certain it was from what his hands were doing to her chest than
his words.
 
"In a week's time,
after
I have thoroughly had my way with
you, your uncle will receive a letter telling him that I have absconded with
you, and that we are married."

           
"A week?" Bee murmured.

           
"Yes, I told your aunt we would
be back in a week."

           
"That was very farsighted of
you."

           
"Yes," Ben said, "It
was."
 
Satisfied he had told her
everything she needed to know, he drew her closer to nuzzle her neck again.

           
"
Benedick
,"
Bee asked breathily, "why did you tell my aunt I would return in a week,
instead of just a few days?"

           
"My dearest Bee," Ben
said, nipping her ear lightly, "Once we are married, I do not intend on
leaving the bedroom for at least that amount of time.
 
In fact, you may have to write her and tell
her you were delayed again."

           
Ben felt Bee give a slight shiver,
and he felt his insides tighten at the knowledge. He wondered if there was any
way he could get Lennox to drive faster; Scotland seemed forever away right
now.

           
"I suppose I could tell her I
was getting fitted for my trousseau," Bee murmured.

           
Ben made a non-committal noise,
planting light kisses along her chin.

           
"My... my
modiste
is a very demanding woman," Bee murmured.

           
"Yes, yes she is," Ben
said, drawing kisses down her neck and towards her chest.

           
Bee's head shot forward and looked
straight at Ben. "But... but wait. My uncle... he's a
duke
. The marriage documents to Surrey are already signed. What
will we do?"

           
"I don't think he'll be able to
annul the marriage. There will be plenty of proof that you are mine at that
point."

           
Bee swatted at Ben's arm. "Do
be serious, Ben."

           
"I assure you, there will be
nothing humorous about it. Wonderful, perhaps. Exciting... ethereal," he
said, punctuating each adjective with a kiss.

           
"
Benedick
,
please," Bee pleaded.

           
"Remarkable, incredible,"
Ben paused, lifting his lips from hers.
 
"Magnificent," he smiled widely, and kissed her again.

           
"
Benedick
,"
Bee repeated, but it was more breathy this time.

           
"I never liked my full name
until just now, did you know that? But now you must always call me
Benedick
." Ben began pressing light kisses up Bee's
neck.

           
"Yes,
mmm
...
yes, but,
Benedick
... my uncle," Bee murmured.

           
Ben paused from a spot at her neck
that seemed most sensitive. "I do so hope you do not keep bringing him up
on our wedding night, my dear.
 
It is a
bit disconcerting."

           
"Ben!"

           
"
Benedick
,
I told you."
          

           
"
Benedick
, for goodness sakes, we
need to make a plan! I want my uncle in our lives about as much as you
do!"

           
"
Mmm
...
excellent. I am not fond of him either."

           
Bee gave an exasperated huff, and
Ben sighed. "It is so much fun tormenting you, my dear," he told her.
"But I relent. I admit I did something behind your back."

           
Bee raised an eyebrow. "Some
thing
? Only one?"

           
"That was fair," Ben said
evenly. "I... well, I sort of... bought your uncle's markers."

           
"You sort of did what?"

           
"I purchased most of your
uncle's gambling debts," Ben said.

           
Bee blinked. "How much?"

           
"Uh, well..." Ben looked
up at the ceiling of the carriage. "40,000 pounds," he muttered.

           
"40,000 pounds? How on earth
did you come up with 40,000 pounds?" Bee shrieked.

           
Ben took a deep breath. "I
didn't really have 40,000 pounds," he confessed.

           
"Of course you didn't! What did
you do? You didn't go to a money lender, did you? Or,
God forbid
- you did not sell the townhouse?"

           
"No, no, nothing of the sort.
You see, well, um... so, we sort of split it up between the four of us,"
Ben said tentatively.

           
"What?" Bee sat back and
narrowed her eyes. "The four of whom?"

           
"Well, me of course, Welles,
Milford... and... Lennox."

           
"You all together had 40,000
pounds?" Bee said, her voice laden with skepticism.

           
"We are not destitute, you
know," Ben said defensively.

           
Bee's countenance softened. "Of
course not. But 40,000 pounds!"

           
"I thought it would be a good
investment in our future," Ben said. "When your uncle receives the
note saying we are married, he will also receive a note dictating that I own
his markers. It says that I will not call them in, provided he releases your
dowry and does not try to force the marriage with Surrey, and that he has
nothing to do with us or our prodigy for as long as he lives."

           
Bee snorted, but did not respond
right away. Ben waited, searching her face for any hint of what she was
thinking.

           
"That was actually quite
brilliant," Bee admitted.

           
Ben sighed in relief. "Of
course it was," he said. "Just what kind of man did you think you
were going to marry?"

           
Bee smiled and pressed her lips back
to his, and Ben pulled her closer. Bee suddenly pulled back and furrowed her
brows.

           
"I didn’t realize Welles and
Milford had that much money to spare.”

Ben sighed. “They don’t. I’ll pay them
back once we’re married.”

“So my dowry pays off the majority of my
uncle’s debt, then? Poor father would have hated that."

           
"Hey, hey," Ben said,
gently stroking Bee's shoulder and neck. "Even if you were completely
undowered
, we would have all gladly paid it."

           
Bee grunted and frowned.

           
"As for me, I figure going into
the marriage 10,000 pounds less won't be much when I think about all of the
money I'm saving on the wedding."

           
The sides of Bee's mouth started to
twitch up, until she finally gave up and, smiling, threw her arms back around
Ben's neck. "Oh, you marvelous man," she murmured.

           
"Wait," Ben said, pulling
back slightly.
 
"I just realized...
when I told you I loved you, did you call me a dolt?"

           
"Just... hush," Bee said,
pulling Ben towards her by the lapels of his coat.

           
Ben smiled and twisted Bee, pushing
her back against seats of the coach. "Hush?" he asked, hovering over
her. He leaned over her and pressed his lips against hers, tasting her
thoroughly.