Tall, Dark and Wolfish (31 page)

Sorcha furrowed her brow and twisted her lips in contemplation. "Is she very pretty?"

"
Havers
! Sorcha," Elspeth groaned, "the man is nearly twice yer age. It doesna matter if the lass is Helen of Troy or Helen of the trol s."

Her friend slumped into a seat at the table, touching one flower of the hyssop and causing it to turn brown and fal off the stem. Elspeth snatched the pot

away from Sorcha and scowled. "Doona hurt my plant with yer dark mood."

Sorcha sighed. "Bring it back, I'l fix it."

Elspeth shook her head. "It's fine. Doona worry about it. And honestly, Sorch, ye just turned sixteen. There's no rush."

The girl shrugged and muttered something under her breath, though Elspeth couldn't quite make it out. Then she rose from her spot. "Wel , then, I've got

lots to keep me busy." She started for the door.

"Thanks," Elspeth cal ed, "for the hyssop."

Sorcha waved her hand in acknowledgment then shut the door behind her.

Elspeth noticed Ben wore an amused look. "What is lady's mantle?" he asked.

She sucked in a breath. "Where did ye hear that?"

"Sorcha mumbled it on her way out."

Elspeth rubbed her face in frustration. "The little sneak!"

"What is it?" he asked again, but this time concern laced his voice.

"It's used in love potions. Ye'd better warn yer brother no' ta eat or drink anythin' in Sorcha's presence."

Ben threw back his head and roared with laughter.

She punched her hands to her hips. "I hardly think it's funny. It's a very powerful plant. And she could make it more potent than anyone else."

He dropped down to the settee and pul ed Elspeth with him. She landed on his lap, and her mouth fel open in surprise. "Ben!"

"It's hard to imagine anyone wanting Wil that badly."

"Wel , he's yer brother. I imagine ye doona see him the way women do."

Ben's muscles tensed beneath her. "Oh, and how do you see him?" he growled.

Elspeth leaned forward and kissed his jaw. "As my brother-in-law."

He held her tighter and kissed her brow. "It's no matter anyway. Wil can breathe easy, since we'l al be on our way soon."

"Ye mean ta London?"

He nodded. "Can you tie up your loose ends so we can leave in the morning?"

She'd already talked to Rhiannon about watching the cottage for her and helping those who needed her. The weather-channeling witch didn't have the

same healing powers, but she could mix potions. Most people didn't need the sort of healing Elspeth was capable of, and Rhiannon could fil the void for a

while.

"I think that can be arranged."

Alec MacQuarrie's persnickety butler pointed Ben toward the library. There were a couple of people Ben would miss when he left Scotland, but this

particular servant wasn't one of them.

He sighed when his eyes landed on his old friend, who frowned with concentration and turned the pages of an old tome. "Looking for something in

particular?"

Alec closed his book with a thud. "Ah, Ben, just doing a little light reading."

Light reading? The volume looked to be thicker than the betting book at White's. Ben couldn't read the spine or cover before his friend dropped it to the

floor beside his chair.

"Care to join me?" Alec asked, sitting forward in his seat and gesturing to a matching overstuffed leather chair across from him.

Ben obliged him and raked a hand through his hair. Alec didn't seem quite right, but he'd worry about that later. He had more important things on his

mind at the moment. "I was hoping to find my brother here."

Alec smiled. "He's stil abed. Poor fel ow raced from England without stopping, as though the fires of hel chased after him."

"How do you know this?"

"I'm housing not one but
two
of his drivers. They apparently traded off the whole way, switching with the horses. He didn't rest at even one inn along the

way, always moving forward."

Good God! Al because Wil found out that Ben had been writing Prisca? He shook his head. "I do believe my brother is more complicated than I

original y thought."

Alec laughed. "I could say the same about you, my friend."

"Complicated" didn't even begin to describe Ben's life at the moment. He shrugged. "I also came to say good-bye. I've decided to take Elspeth to

London."

At that, Alec winced.

"We'l be back, MacQuarrie," Ben teased. "It's only

for a while. I intend to have my new home here, like we discussed. With the most modern conveniences, a jewel in the Westfield crown."

Alec's grimace deepened. "About that…" He scratched his head. "There's been a slight problem with your traveling coach, Ben. I was hoping to have it

repaired before you needed it."

"What sort of problem?" he asked as a feeling of dread washed over him.

"Strangest thing, real y. The day we had that awful storm, the day Miss Ferguson and I accompanied you to the vicarage…" Alec shifted uncomfortably in

his seat. "When you married Elspeth."

Ben's dread increased. "Get on with it, already."

"Wel , my groomsman said a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and… wel , it struck the top of your coach—"

Ben fel against the back of his chair. Rhiannon's storm. That little witch purposely ruined his coach! And ever since then she'd been as sweet as could

be.

"—There's a gaping hole in the top from where it caught ablaze."

"Good God!" Ben muttered. "Why didn't you tel me before now?"

Alec scoffed. "Wel , you took off for a week and no one could find you, and before that you'd been a little preoccupied with your wife. I just thought I'd

have it taken care of for you. Sort of a wedding present."

"How am I to take El ie to London now?"

"Wil brought his own carriage. You could go back with him," Alec suggested.

Ben groaned. He'd envisioned spending a fortnight with Elspeth inside his carriage. Wil iam had
never
entered those fantasies, and he'd rather not put

him there. Maybe they could delay going until his carriage was travel-ready. Then he thought of the way her smile had lit up in the cottage when he told her

they were leaving. She was already getting things in order for them to depart.

A fortnight with Wil . He cringed at the thought, but he didn't real y have a choice. "I suppose I'd better go wake the blackguard."

He left Alec to search out his brother's room. Dear God, he hated the idea of traveling with Wil ! Even Simon would be better. Simon wouldn't chat his

ear off or try to charm Elspeth right from under his nose.

Ben tossed open Wil 's door and didn't even bother to knock. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised to find a naked maid draped across his

sleeping brother's form, but he did suck in a startled breath.

The sound woke the poor lass, who squealed and pul ed the counterpane up to cover herself. Wil blinked open his eyes, a lazy smile on his lips. "It is

customary to knock, little brother."

Ben scowled at him. "I'l wait in the hal way." Then he stalked out and shut the door behind him. He could hear Wil trying to soothe the lass while she

dressed, promising her that his brother knew how to be discreet.

Final y the girl opened the door and scurried past Ben, her face the color of over-ripened strawberries. Inside the chamber, Wil pul ed his trousers up

around his hips and grinned unrepentantly. "I suppose you need something, Benjamin."

He stepped inside the room and closed the door. "Have you no care for your reputation, Wil ?"

One dark eyebrow rose in question. "Since when do such things matter to you?"

He sighed. Wil was right. Not that long ago he would have done the same sort of thing. "But one of Alec's maids?" He hated that he sounded like a

prude.

Wil chuckled as he pul ed a fresh shirt over his head and began to tuck it into his trousers. "I'm certain my little brother didn't leave his quaint cottage to

chastise me about my bed partners. What do you want, Benjamin?"

"I suppose you're heading back to London soon?"

"No reason to stay here." Wil slipped into a shiny grey waistcoat.

"Ah, wel , I was hoping you'd consider taking Elspeth and me with you."

Wil 's hand stil ed on one of his buttons. "You want to travel with me?"

Not particularly, though he didn't have much of a choice. He shrugged. "You can get to know El ie better."

Wil 's brow rose in amusement.

"Not that much better," Ben growled. "Keep your hands off her."

Wil laughed again, shrugging into his jacket. "Didn't you come here in your own coach?"

Ben sighed. It would have been so much easier with Simon. A simple yes or no would have sufficed. "My coach had a bit of an accident."

"Oh?"

Then it hit Ben. He was going to have to tel his

brother everything. Wel , almost. He stil had no desire for Wil or Simon or anyone else to know he was broken, but the general brushstrokes would have

to work. "Elspeth's a witch, Wil ."

"Not a very complimentary thing to say about one's wife, Benjamin." Wil reached into the armoire, retrieving a snowy white cravat.

His brother always made everything more difficult. "Not like that. I mean she's a
real
witch. Can you stop moving for a bloody minute and listen to me?"

Wil dropped the cravat on the bed and faced Ben, surprise reflecting in his light eyes. "A
real
witch?"

"Yes, and her coven hasn't exactly welcomed me with open arms. I just found out that one of them sent a bolt of lightning straight through the roof of my

coach."

"Sent a bolt of lightning?" Wil echoed. "They have those sorts of powers?"

Actual y, it was a relief to say the words aloud to someone else who wouldn't think he was mad. "And then some. I've been attacked by firebal s and

plants intent on cutting off my circulation. Which reminds me, Elspeth wanted me to warn you not to eat or drink anything in Miss Ferguson's presence."

"Why not?"

"She thinks the girl is creating a love potion with you in mind."

Wil smirked. "The chit doesn't have to go to al that trouble. She's quite a pretty little thing."

"You're old enough to be her father," Ben barked.

His brother's smile faded immediately. "How old is she?"

"Sixteen."

Wil 's smile returned. "I hardly think I was fathering children at twelve, Benjamin."

Ben resisted the urge to growl. "Just stay away from the girl. She's like a little sister to El ie."

"Very wel . So you need a ride to London?"

Ben nodded. "If you don't mind. We'd like to leave tomorrow."

"Before lightning can strike
my
coach?" Wil joked.

"Go ahead and laugh. They're a formidable force."

Thirty-eight

Ben rol ed over in the big wil ow bed and reached for Elspeth as soon as the sun came up over the green hil s of Edinburgh. He smiled to himself when his

hand stroked over her hip. He loved waking up beside her in the morning. This was the first morning he'd actual y been able to do so. She usual y woke

with the chickens, but he was much more used to Town hours.

Without opening her eyes, she rol ed toward him and placed a hand over his heart. Fiery locks of hair covered her face, disheveled beautiful y from

sleep. He brushed them back with the tips of his fingers, lingering to draw his finger teasingly down her nose. She twitched it and smiled a sleepy smile.

She moved to stretch, rol ing onto her back. "Time to get up?" she asked, her voice crackly from sleep.

"Not yet," he said as he began to unbutton her nightrail. He moved down her chest and placed a kiss on the skin he'd exposed. "We have time."

But then he lifted his head when he heard footsteps on the walk. Dainty footsteps. Feminine footsteps. Witchy footsteps. He groaned and laid his head

on her bel y. "Sorcha's here," he mumbled against her skin.

Elspeth giggled, causing the muscles of her stomach to ripple under his head. "Are ye hearin' things again?" she laughed.

"In three… two… one…" he whispered, counting down on his fingers. Then a gentle knock sounded on the door. Elspeth slipped from beneath him and

buttoned her nightrail as she stood up.

"I'l never get used ta that hearin' ye have," she laughed as she went to the door.

"I'l never get used to the coven, love, so we're even."

"I heard that!" she cal ed back.

"Of course you did," he replied, unable to keep the smile from his face.

He quickly washed and dressed while his wife talked with Sorcha in the kitchen. Elspeth came in when he was nearly dressed, looking so cute in her

fril y white nightrail that he simply stood and looked at her. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in disarray. He wondered what she'd look like in fifty years.

Stil just as beautiful, he'd wager.

"Wil 's here already?" he asked.

She nodded. "Why else would Sorcha be here? I doona ken what I'l do with the girl."

"I know what Wil would do with her, so keep her far, far away from him, love." He kissed the top of her head as he walked by her and hefted her heavy

chest of clothes with ease.

"There's another by the door," she said, pointing to a smal bag ful of bottles and pages with notes.

"Are you sure you need to take al this with you? Might not be much need for healing in London." What he real y wanted to say was that people didn't

readily seek out her kind of healing unless they couldn't afford a doctor. And he'd not have al the miscreants and vagrants knocking on his door to

summon his wife.

"There's always need for healin', Ben." She simply smiled at him, so he loaded the bag along with the chest.

As they prepared to leave, Rhiannon and Blaire arrived. He chuckled under his breath when Blaire said, "Ye hurt her, Lord Benjamin, and I'l do the same