Tall, Dark and Wolfish (21 page)

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 tel 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 tel 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 al did. But she was a grown woman, for heaven's sake.

"Out!" she yel ed. "Al of ye!" She brought her arms from beneath the counterpane and brushed her hands toward the door when they al 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
stil 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 al ." He'd always known her temper matched her hair. And al 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 wel and truly ruined you, Miss Campbel ."

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

"What could be worse, El ie?" 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 Campbel women." She fidgeted with a loose string on the counterpane,

which she stil clutched to her chest.

"Alec wil 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. Tel 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'l 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'l 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, El ie."

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

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 firebal 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 pul ed off his pinkie ring and placed it in his palm, offering it for her to examine. "I'm sure it's too big. I'l

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 swel ed 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, El ie?

Wil you marry me?"

"Are ye sure about this?"

She didn't real y 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 il egitimate—"

He pul ed 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 wil dare say a thing."

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

Ben grinned at her and pul ed her back into his arms. She belonged there, and he wouldn't ever let her go. "Get dressed, love, then we'l 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 wil be furious enough that she wasn't invited, El ie. I can't tel 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 col apsed!" 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 wal 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."

Alec pul ed at Ben's hands, grasping for breath. "I'm not the one—"

"I haven't laid a hand on her," Ben hissed. That wasn't entirely true, but true in the way Alec meant.

"You forget, I know you," his friend sputtered, tugging at Ben's hands.

"She's
not
with child," he insisted, wishing he could divulge why she'd col apsed, but revealing the truth behind her healing powers would only hurt her

more. So he pushed his friend out the door instead.

On the ground at his feet, Alec rubbed his neck, where Ben had held him.

Glaring down at him, Ben growled, "She's ruined in name only, MacQuarrie. And I'm rectifying that as soon as possible."

"What do you mean by that?"

Ben shook his head in disgust. "What do you think I mean by that? I'm going to marry her."

Alec choked. "You?"

"Of course, me!"

It was quite infuriating that his friend stared at him as though he'd lost his mind. Then Alec's mouth fel open, but no sound escaped.

"What is it?" Ben demanded.

"You don't seem the sort, Westfield. As soon as you bed a lass, you lose al interest in her. I've seen it time and again. I can't imagine you married."

He had been that way. Perhaps he stil was, though he didn't want to believe that. Elspeth was different from the others. He shared a connection with her.

He couldn't imagine ever losing interest in her. On the contrary, every minute he spent away from her made him want her more. Of course, he hadn't

bedded her yet. What if he
did
lose interest?

Ben bal ed up his fist, wanting to pummel Alec into the ground for even making the suggestion. "Wel , I'l thank you to keep your opinions to yourself,

MacQuarrie. And I'l expect you to show her the respect due my wife."

Alec pul ed himself up from the ground and dusted his hands on his pants. "I've always held Miss Campbel in respect. Just because she marries you, it

won't change my opinion of her. And despite our differing opinions, Benjamin, you are my best friend."

"You'l stand up for me then?" Ben asked. Since his family couldn't be present, he hoped Alec would be.

Alec smiled. "I'd be honored."

Elspeth stepped from her room to find Sorcha sitting on the settee, holding her head in her hands. Ben was nowhere to be seen. "Sorcha?"

The young witch's head shot up, and Elspeth could see the tears in her eyes.

"Are ye al right?"

"Oh, El," she said, rising from her seat. "I failed ye. I'm so sorry. I came along ta keep ye out of this sort of trouble."

Only it didn't seem like trouble. It was a bit frightening, the prospect of marrying a man she barely knew, but not trouble. There was something comforting

in the fact that she'd be exploring this new role with Ben. If it had been anyone else, she'd have been terrified.

Elspeth wrapped her arms around her friend. "Doona be upset, Sorcha. It'l work out for the best."

"Cait'l be furious with me." She sniffed back tears.

That was definitely true. Elspeth brushed Sorcha's tears away. "Doona let her bul y ye. Besides, I think Ben crossin' my path was fated. No' even Caitrin

could stop it."

Sorcha nodded sadly. "I was thinkin' that very thing."

"Where is Ben?"

Her friend pointed to the front door. "Fightin' with Alec MacQuarrie in the yard."

"
Mo chreach!" Elspeth muttered, rushing to the door
. She bolted outside, but what she found were the two men huddled together, Ben's arm draped

around MacQuarrie's shoulder as if the two were the best of friends.

Both men's eyes flashed to hers when she stepped on the front porch.

"Sorcha said ye were fightin'."

Ben stepped toward her, a charming smile on his lips. "Ah, MacQuarrie and I were just having a lively discussion. Nothing to worry about. Are you ready

to go see your vicar?"

Without thinking, she nodded eagerly. Then the world began to spin. She would have col apsed if Ben hadn't caught her against him.

"El ie!" His voice sounded strangled.

She clutched his waistcoat and smiled what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I suppose I'm stil a little weak. Nothin' ta worry about," she echoed his

earlier sentiment.

Ben tilted her chin upward until she met his eyes. His furrowed brow made it obvious he wasn't reassured in the least. "I'l decide what I worry about."

Elspeth stepped away from him. "I'l be fine."