Miss Winters Proposes (9 page)

An icy chill crept down Juliet’s spine, glacial tendrils of fear gripping her into a rigid silence. Cleo continued with her growl, her flesh rippling along her mouth, her teeth bared.

Frederick sighed. “Call off your hound, so we may talk.”

Who was this person staring at her with bloodshot and wild eyes? Juliet stared at her cousin, a man who had gone from familiar relation to foreboding stranger in the course of a few days.

“I often find hounds are an excellent judge of a person’s true character.”

He shot her a condescending look. “I am not going to harm you, Juliet. I am here to rationally discuss your future.”

Juliet pulled her blanket closer, not bothering to calm the hound she far trusted over the relation who stood in her doorway with a set of stolen keys. “If you refer to the future where my husband takes you in hand for breaking into my room unbidden, then yes, please, let us talk.”

“You mean the husband who is not present on the morning after his wedding?” Frederick snorted. “Come now, you cannot pull the wool over my eyes. Your marriage is a lie. The viscount was once married to Amelia, after all.”

“And what is that meant to infer, Frederick?” she asked, her heart plunging.

Her cousin’s eyes roved over her quilt-covered body. “While you possess your sex’s agreeable and complementary physical traits, Amelia, well…she simply bore them better. One cannot compare silk with a sow’s ear.”

Juliet glanced down at the worn floorboards, her fingers still gripping the blanket for the small measure of security it provided. “I think it would be best if you left. Now.”

Instead of closing the door, he stepped into the room, further provoking Cleo’s growl and the intensity of Juliet’s grip on her quilt.

“I do not mean that as an insult, but as proof this marriage you have concocted to gain my attentions has gone far enough. I confess I was almost willing to believe the sincerity of the viscount’s affection for you, but I, too, was once…involved with Amelia. Her beauty, her poise—”

“You think I married the viscount to capture your attention? To incite your jealousy?” Her finger’s numb, Juliet loosened her hold on the blanket.

“Well, yes. I admit I’ve been a little negligent with my attentions, Juliet, but I have been waiting for you to give up this childish interest in these hounds and to develop the skills necessary to maneuver through Society as a politician’s wife.”

“A childish interest?” she asked. Her gaze fell to Cleo’s alert body. “It does not seem childish to the men willing to pay hundreds of pounds for an opportunity to breed their hounds with Father’s kennel.”

Frederick took a tentative step forward, inching his way closer to the bed. “True, but they are men. And your father will continue to do well with his hobby. But it is
his
hobby. A man’s hobby. And one not suitable for a woman.”

Cleo’s growl deepened. “I highly suggest you leave, Frederick. Cleo does not share your opinion and should she feel her suitable and capable protector, trainer, and breeder, is threatened, she will not hesitate to defend me.”

A loud clomping of footfalls sounded on the other side of the wall. Benjamin burst into her chambers, the servant’s door to her room near thrown off its hinges with his excessive force.

Cleo whined, her nose sniffing toward the viscount.

Juliet’s skin warmed at the sight of her barely dressed husband. The dark growth of a day’s worth of beard added a roguish appeal to his already attractive features.

Features that were now contorted into one of barely controlled rage. Benjamin glanced between her and Frederick. “What the hell are you doing in my wife’s chambers, Winters?” he bellowed.

Frederick lifted a sand-colored brow. “More than you, apparently.”

Benjamin barreled toward him. Juliet flung herself toward her husband, thrusting her body in between the two men, halting Benjamin’s progress with outstretched arms and palms flattened firmly against his thick chest. While Frederick was more than deserving of the violence her husband promised, she did not want blood spilled on her favorite rugs. “My cousin was just leaving.”

Benjamin’s nostrils flared. “Perfect. So are we.”

“Oh?” Juliet lifted her gaze to her husband’s stormy one.

“It is time to acquaint you with your new home. We are leaving for Darlington Hall. Immediately.”

Chapter Ten

Benjamin stood with his hands curled into tight fists at his sides, his wife’s slender and half-dressed body the only thing separating him from Winters’s smug face. A face he would like nothing more than to rearrange—preferably into a swollen, bloody, and distorted one.

The cur had bribed a naive housemaid to steal keys so he might force his way into Juliet’s chambers, for God’s sake. What sort of vile scum crafted sordid schemes to prove his suspicions?

Benjamin knew precisely what sort—the sort who seduced young innocents, whispering promises of marriage in their ears, only to leave them swollen with child, desperate, and condemned by Society.

He’d be damned if he allowed Winters to repeat his infraction. Especially with Juliet.

He peered down at his wife. “Grab whatever you require to make the ride to Darlington. We’ll have the staff send over the rest of your wardrobe after we have settled.”

“What of my father?” She glanced at her bitch, who stood alongside her, its lips pulled back into a snarl. “And the hounds?”

“I spoke to the apothecary yesterday. Your father’s health has improved. He will do well enough with the housekeeper checking in on him. As for the hounds, we’ll bring them along. I have no intentions of leaving them here.” Benjamin lifted his eyes to Winters. There was no telling what the man would do with the prized beasts should they be left to his devices.

Winters shook his head, a low chuckle emanating deep in his chest.

“I fail to see what all the excitement is about. Honestly, Colwyn. You couldn’t possible expect me to believe you would marry Juliet based on love alone. Not after your proclamation that you would remain a bachelor indefinitely. Come now. Being seduced by Amelia is one thing. Juliet, well, is Juliet.”

Benjamin had tried to be a gentleman. He had done his best not to resort to violence in front of his wife. But insulting her was not about to go unchecked. At least not from him. Stepping around Juliet, Benjamin slammed his fist into the side of Winters’s jaw.

The blackguard stumbled backward. Blood and spittle dribbled down the side of his face, his hands cradling his chin. “Do you see what sort of man you have connected yourself with, Juliet?” Winters hissed. “One who resorts to violence when the truth is spoken.”

“Benjamin, stop, please. He isn’t worth your attentions.” Her petite hands closed over his other forearm.

He straightened, his arm warm and sensitive where Juliet held her grip. “And I’ll do it again if necessary. Speak against my wife, Winters, and you’ll have more than my fist to contend with.”

The heir to Hollington, the next baron, and Benjamin’s future neighbor, spat on the wooden floorboards. “Your standards have lowered, Colwyn. For once I am thankful for Amelia’s death. She didn’t deserve to be attached to a man with such a disregard for propriety.”

Benjamin chortled. This from a man who seduced women for his personal gain and twisted aspirations? The man was lower than a cur. He was a reptile. A scum-sucking, parasitic leech.

Streams of early morning light peeked through cracks in the heavy curtains, the bright light illuminating the hurt and pain etched into Juliet’s features—along with the dark outline of her hips and the dusky, pink circles of her breasts through the thin and transparent veil of her shift.

Damn.

Benjamin shoved Juliet behind him, the bulk of his body a shield, if not against Winters’s words, then his physical advances and roving eyes.

“It is not I, but you, who suffers from a drought of respect and decorum.”

“At least I would respect my wife enough to make certain her needs were met on her wedding night.” Winters dabbed a handkerchief at his jaw.

Juliet’s grip tightened on Benjamin’s arm.

“Enough. Get. Out.” Benjamin spoke each word quietly and with the full brunt of his hatred. The man could go to the devil, if he had not already sold him his blackened soul.

Winters leveled a glare toward Juliet. “I officially retract my offer. I could not hope to wed someone who prefers a man with no sense of pride or distinction. I hope you can live with your decision, and the consequences it bears for your family.”

He shot Benjamin one last sneer before ridding his unwelcome presence from the room. The sound of the door slamming echoed in the modest-sized chambers, the reverberations of both Winters’s words and actions stunning them into rigid immobility.

Juliet’s hound relaxed, the sleek pointer burrowing its muzzle into Juliet’s side.

A side that trembled against him, shaking with what he could only presume to be anger and…pain.

His arms instinctively wrapped around her, his hands weaving through her riotous curls, pulling her against his chest.

That she should have to bear witness to the cruelty Winters uttered…

“Thank you,” she whispered, moving her lips against the thin muslin of his shirt. “I don’t know what he would have done had you not found me.”

Benjamin tightened his arms around her, lowering his mouth to the top of her cinnamon-scented curls. “It was fortunate Mrs. Ancell sought out my assistance, though I am still at a loss to explain why it was necessary at all.”

Juliet lifted her head, her face one of righteous indignation. “Indeed. That Frederick would sink to such dark levels of cruelty…” She burrowed her face into his shirt.

He removed his fingers from her tresses and placed them under her chin. Tilting her face upward, he stared into the tumultuous depths of her eyes. “There is no excuse plausible for your cousin’s behavior. But that you were even a possible target for his abuse has me concerned. I confess, it was quite distressing to find my bed half-empty and chilled this morning.”

A soft, rose-colored flush infused Juliet’s cheeks, the pink bloom making his pulse skip. “I did not want to overstay my welcome.” She lowered her gaze, her flush deepening to crimson. “You did as I asked and gave me what I desired. I thought to return the favor.”

He hadn’t the slightest recollection of asking her to leave. Indeed, his continual affections and his insatiable hunger for her attentions had him reaching for her this morning. Never before had he felt so connected to a woman. So attuned to both her needs as well as his own.

And never before had he been so terrified of a woman. Of the power she held over him. Of the pain she could inflict upon him should she be wrenched from his life.

His aroused lower half bore testament to his concerns. He was weak, unable to deny himself of her pleasures, as evidenced by the readiness in which he had given in to her request for consummation. The more she was around, the more he would be unable to resist her.

Hence his desire to return to Darlington—alone.

But he could no more do that than he could resist her temptations. Not after Winters and his crazed violations against the woman who was now under his protection.

“I do not want you to leave my side, Juliet. Especially here, whilst Winters still lurks about the house. Your safety is my utmost concern. Wherever you go, I shall follow.”

“You would go to such lengths? For me?”

Benjamin ran his thumbs over her cheeks, marveling at the way her face fit perfectly into his palms.

“Of course. You are my wife. I will not allow Winters to violate you.”

Juliet lowered her eyelids, her long lashes brushing over the tops of her freckled-dusted cheeks. “I need to dress. I’m afraid I am not suitably clothed for riding.”

Benjamin glanced down at the delicately trimmed shift hanging precariously low off her narrow shoulders. The rumpled garment was more than suitable for the type of riding he suddenly had in mind.

He lowered his lips to hers, unable to control the need that gripped him, that compelled him to indulge his desire and taste the sweet saltiness of Juliet’s lips.

Her mouth readily received his, her hands gripping his arms.

Juliet’s teeth pulled on his bottom lip, nibbling his soft flesh and unleashing a floodgate of desire. She tore her mouth from his, her lips hot and swollen as she kissed the sensitive skin of his throat.

“Juliet.” He moaned, his breath already ragged from her caress. His fingers found the thin fabric of her shift and slid it past her breasts, the white garment pooling at her feet.

A beam of sunlight caught the mass of curls tumbling over her shoulders, the bright copper color shifting into a fiery red that made his mouth dry. She was stunning. An embodiment of an Irish fey set on bewitching him with her charms.

And he was thoroughly and uttered bewitched.

Her hands left his arms to cross over her chest, her face blushing crimson in the early morning light.

“I—I—” Her shoulders curled inward as she sought to cross her legs and hide her nudity from his gaze.

Was it possible? Could she be embarrassed by her own natural beauty?

His jaw clenched. Of course she could. Had not Winters insulted her on that very topic? Comparing her to Amelia, and openly declaring the two could not compare?

It was true Amelia was a beauty. With her blond hair and turquoise blue eyes, she had been highly sought after…and refused when her fortune was revealed. As the daughter of the third son of a knight, she bore the title of a gentlewoman, if little else. With four brothers and two younger sisters, Amelia’s dowry had been nonexistent. Her physical beauty and outward appearance her saving grace in catching the eye of an eligible gentleman.

She had caught the eye of a man, all right. But certainly not a gentleman.

Until Benjamin had offered her marriage after stumbling upon her scandal at a country house party while in search of a quiet corner to read. He had not intended to hear Amelia’s pleas for marriage, her revelation that she was, indeed, carrying Winters’s child.

Winters, however moved he might have been, however much he may have truly desired Amelia, had refused her. She was, after all, of little consequence. A no one who no longer had a purpose in his grand scheme.

Which had led Benjamin to accept the responsibilities Winters had refused.

But Amelia, even with her poise and good looks, fell short in comparison to Juliet’s exotic beauty and unbridled passion.

He set his hands on her shoulders, running them down the lengths of her arms, gently encircling her wrists with his hands. “You are beautiful, Juliet. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

She peered up at him, her wide eyes searching his. “While I am flattered by your compliment, I am not blind. I am perfectly capable of seeing my reflection in the mirror. The same as Frederick sees mine.”

“And you hold yourself to the standards of a man who has obviously lost his mind? Who presses his suit to further his own agenda?”

Her fingers slipped to her elbows, exposing her full and perfect breasts.

God, she was beautiful.

And in need of convincing.

“I don’t suppose so.” Her brow furrowed. “But I am not—”

Benjamin pressed his finger into the swell of her lip. “I do not want to hear what you are not, Juliet, but rather what you are—like exquisite. Exotic. And exceptionally desirable.”

She stared at him, her eyes further widening before her lids lowered into a sultry gaze—one no longer reflecting shame or even innocence, but heated longing and desire.

The tip of her tongue flicked his finger, the small motion further inciting his hunger, fueling his need to have her beneath him. To see her writhing with unadulterated pleasure.

He retracted his finger, only to have Juliet pull it into her mouth, her lips wrapping around his appendage, her teeth scraping along its length.

Benjamin’s body tensed, his cock pulsing with the heat she stirred with her touch. He had never wanted anyone more than he wanted Juliet. And he had a mind to prove it.

Pulling out his finger, he captured her lips with his own. With a light sigh, her lips parted, granting him an entrance he eagerly claimed. With his tongue, he greedily devoured. With his hands, he gently caressed. First her arms. Then her waist, her hips, her stomach, and finally her breasts, the soft mounds filling his grasp.

Juliet broke their kiss. Her chest lifted in his hands, her head tilting back to reveal the seductive length of her neck. His hands left her breasts to support her back, his palms spreading against her shoulder blades. Partaking of her offering, he nipped at the creamy expanse of skin under her jaw.

Her pulse raced beneath his lips, her breath coming in short little gasps that spurred his desire and deepened his need. With one last nip, he lifted his head and slid his hand below the curve of her bottom and lifted her into his arms.

“Benjamin.” Surprise registered in her hooded eyes, before a dark wave of desire reclaimed them.

He answered her with another kiss, lowering her on the layers of disheveled quilts strewn across her bed.

“I want to consummate the marriage,” he whispered.

“But we already have.” She wrapped her legs around his hips, the juncture between her thighs rubbing against the taut fabric stretched across his arousal. “Or have you forgotten?”

As if he could clear his mind of the ecstasy wrought by her lovemaking. He could think of little else.

He leaned forward and nibbled her earlobe. “Ah, but this time fear is not the driving factor behind our actions, but pleasure.”

Juliet’s mouth widened into a smile. “Then, please, do not allow my inquisitiveness to get in the way of your objective.”

“As you wish.”

His hands left her to peel off his hastily thrown on shirt and breeches. Naked, he lowered himself over her, his palms resting on either side of her head. “Have I mentioned how beautiful you are, my dear?”

Her pink lips beckoned him with their softness. “Only once.”

“Then I shall have to say it again, lest you do not believe the sincerity of my compliment.” He took her lips between his and kissed her before adding, “You are beautiful, Juliet.”

Her hands ran down his back, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. Lifting her head, Juliet claimed his mouth, while her hands sought his arousal.

He bucked at her touch, her hands stroking his arousal and making his bottom clench. She was a temptress, a goddess come to test the very limits of his sanity before he went wild with a hunger that only she could sate.