Tall, Dark and Wolfish (19 page)

Just as his head popped up in the kitchen floor, a blazing bal of light came hurling toward his head. He lost his balance and fel back into the secret

room.

"Good God!" he yelped. What was that? And what

was that smel ? He touched a hand to his head and realized the ends of his hair had been singed.

He looked above him and found one of her sister witches glaring down at him. The girl's raven hair hung loosely about her shoulders, and her grey eyes

flashed with indignation. "Just what do ye think ye're doin' here, Westfield?"

She knew him, but he had no idea which one she was.

"Blaire Lindsay!" Elspeth's panicked voice filtered down to him. "I canna believe ye did that."

A moment later Elspeth peered down at him, concern etched across her lovely brow. "Ben, are ye al right?"

"She burned my hair," he said, at a loss to find other words.

"My aim was off," the vicious witch complained. "I was hopin' for yer handsome face."

"Blaire!" Elspeth admonished. "How dare ye come inta my house and treat my guest in such a fashion?"

Ben leapt to his feet. He was a sitting duck with her standing over him like that. He needed to get to higher ground. He climbed the ladder.

"I dare," Blaire told her in no uncertain terms. "Look at yerself, El. Ye've got next ta nothing on and—"

"My wardrobe is no' yer concern."

Final y aboveground, Ben approached the fighting witches. He stared at the dark-haired Blaire. "What did you throw at me?"

She shrugged, looking completely unrepentant. "A firebal . And I have more, so I'd watch myself if I were ye."

A firebal ? That was much worse than the vines that came to life. "Thanks for the warning," he muttered.

"I think ye should leave, Blaire," Elspeth said quietly, though there was a dangerous edge to her voice.

Blaire shook her head. "I dinna come for a social cal , El. Caitrin's been hurt. She needs ye."

Twenty-four

"Hurt?" Elspeth echoed. Her heart stopped beating. "What happened ta Cait?"

Blaire's eyes flashed to Ben before she replied, "I'd rather explain on the way."

Elspeth grabbed her friend's hand and towed her toward her bedroom. "Explain while I dress. I may need somethin' from my stores."

She shut the door behind them and went straight to her armoire, pul ing out the first dress her fingers found. "Speak, Blaire."

"It was Westfield," she whispered.

Elspeth spun on her feet, panic washing over her. "I beg yer pardon."

"She'd gone out for a walk with her maid, and they were both attacked."

Elspeth shook her head. "Ben would never do that."

"Ye doona even ken the man. How do ye ken what he would or wouldna do?"

She didn't know him al that wel , but stil … "I ken he wouldna hurt anyone." Except for the "whore" when h
e had lost control. Had he lost control again?

She shook th
e thought from her head. Ben's altercation had been during an act of intimacy. He wouldn't attack two women on a walk. There had to be a

misunderstanding.

"Ye would believe him over Cait?"

She had a point. She'd known Caitrin al her life and Ben only a week. "What did he do?" Her heart ached as she asked the question.

Blaire took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her dark mane. "He attacked them both, though Cait got the worst of it."

"Attacked them?" Elspeth echoed in horror.

"Aye, the maid said the wolf came out of nowhere and attacked before disappearin' inta the woods. Wil ye dress, already?"

Elspeth realized she was clutching her blue muslin in her fists, and she shook her head. "Sorry." She tore off her wrap and nightrail and started to slip

into her dress. "It wasna Ben," she said as she slid into her old, worn half boots.

Blaire let go a beleaguered sigh. "Of course it was. Did ye not hear me say it was a wolf?"

"It canna be. He canna change. That's why he's here."

"How do we ken that for certain? Ye're only takin' his word for it."

Elspeth quickly pinned her hair, knowing the effort was futile. "Then why else would he have come, Blaire? I doona believe it was him. There are wolves

out there who doona turn inta men, ye ken."

Blaire's grey eyes bore into hers. "Cait has been the most vocal about her dislike of Westfield. So he meant ta silence her. He's come ta destroy the

Còig
one way or the other."

Finished with her hair, Elspeth picked up a smal satchel on her dresser, then crossed to her door. "I doona believe it."

She walked out of the room and into her kitchen, where she found Ben's hazel eyes leveled on her. With his ears, he'd heard every word, she knew it.

"I didn't," he whispered.

Elspeth nodded. She wanted to cry. "I ken." Then she went to the cupboard behind him and began tossing corked bottles into her satchel.

"Can I help?" Ben asked from behind her.

"I doona think now is the time, or ye might be attacked by more than a little firebal ."

He squeezed her shoulders and dropped a kiss to her cheek. "If you need me, I'l be at Alec's. I'm so sorry, El ie."

She looked at him over her shoulder. He was so earnest with his light brown hair with singed ends hanging in his eyes. "Be careful, Ben. If any of the

others get a chance at ye, I doona ken what they'l do."

Instead of returning to Alec's as he'd said, Ben ran swiftly through the woods toward Caitrin's home. He fol owed his nose and used it to find the door the

two women had used when they started their walk. Then he fol owed their trail. They'd ventured much farther into the woods than he would expect of two

women who were just taking a casual strol .

But there was a worn path through the area, and it lead to Elspeth's home, so perhaps this was a path much taken. The wind shifted and Ben inhaled

deeply. As usual, he could pick out the scents of animals in the area. But there was a wild scent that was definitely lupine nearby. If anyone knew the scent

of a wolf, it was him. Ben crouched behind a boulder at the top of a hil and looked down into the val ey. He immediately saw the pups, rustling and

tumbling together in the grass. The mother wolf stood sentry nearby, and Ben could smel the father in the area as wel .

That explained it. Caitrin and her maid had stumbled upon a wolf den. And wolves protected their young.

Ben heard a low growl behind him, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He turned slowly to face the wolf, taking care not to meet his dark

stare. If confronted in such a manner, the male wolf would tear him to shreds.

Ben backed away slowly, heading back down the trail as he'd come. He didn't growl or bare his teeth as he would in a normal confrontation. He'd

stepped into this wolf's territory, after al . And the male was simply protecting his young. If he'd had children, Ben could imagine doing the same.

The thought brought an immediate image of Elspeth to him, cradling a red-haired wolfling in her arms. Their wolf.

The male wolf continued to watch as Ben turned and jogged back in the direction he'd come. It made Ben feel much better to know there was a valid

cause for the attack, if you could consider any cause to be valid.

He circled to the front of Caitrin's house, and the butler opened the door before he could even knock. The man looked down his nose at Ben. It had

always amazed him how they could do that.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to check on Miss Macleod," he told the man.

The butler simply nodded and led him to the morning room, where Alec sat, his foot tapping anxiously against the floor as he nibbled his fingernails.

"How is she?" Ben asked, breaking Alec from his fretful fidgeting. He glanced up quickly.

"Elspeth is with her now." Alec stood up to pace. "There was a lot of blood."

"Maybe the wounds are superficial?" No matter what, Elspeth would have to worry about infection.

"She was in a lot of pain." Alec continued his pacing.

"Would you sit down, man? You're making me crazy with al the moving about." Ben knew his voice was a bit too forceful, but the nervous energy in the

room was going to send him into a frenzy if it continued.

"She'l be al right, won't she?" Alec's gaze final y met his, and he saw the anguish behind the man's rigid façade.

"You truly care about the girl?"

Alec simply nodded.

Ben motioned to a footman nearby. The man immediately returned with two tumblers of whisky. Ben offered one to Alec. He shook his head.

"You'l be no use to her if you're tied up in knots."

Alec acquiesced and took the glass. He downed it in one swal ow. Ben pressed his own glass into the man's shaking hands. He drank that one as wel .

Ben clapped him on the shoulder. "She'l be fine, Alec. You told me yourself that everyone in town goes to Elspeth when they need to be healed."

"Aye, it's like she has healing warmth in her fingertips," Alec said as he final y met Ben's gaze. "She'l be able to heal her. I'm sure of it."

A low murmur of female voices from the corridor reached Ben's ears.

"Ye canna use firebal s on him with MacQuarrie in the room! What's wrong with ye? Are ye daft? Put that thing away."

Ben glanced around the corner and saw Blaire standing with Sorcha. The raven-haired witch balanced a bal of fire over her fingertips, as though testing

the weight of it.

"Is that for me?" he asked. Certainly she wouldn't use it in front of Alec.

"Of course it is. Who else would I use it on? If it wasna ye, then it was one of yer kind who hurt her."

"Your kind?" Alec said as he approached the doorway. Blaire rubbed her fingertips together and extinguished the firebal seconds before he looked

around the corner. "An Englishman hurt her? Who? I'l kil him."

Twenty-five

Elspeth sat on the edge of the bed and tried to work quickly and quietly. She was relieved to find that although the wounds stil bled profusely, most of them

weren't deep.

"Can ye give me a moment, Mr. Macleod?" Elspeth asked, never removing her eyes from an unconscious Caitrin. "I need a bit of privacy."

"Whatever ye need, lass. I'l be right outside the door."

It was a relief not to have to lie to him. She usual y had to send loved ones on
special errands
to be alone with the person who needed to be healed.

Since his wife and daughter were both members of the
Còig, there
was no need for subterfuge with Angus Macleod.

When she heard him shut the door behind him, Elspeth touched her fingertips to Caitrin's forearms, where most of the defensive wounds were located.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling the heat move from her body into Caitrin's. The girl moved, despite the sleeping draught Elspeth had given

her when she'd arrived, since healing could be painful.

Elspeth used al the power in her body, transferring every bit of herself to Cait. "Ye wil be healed," she crooned softly. "No matter how ornery ye are, I

need ye."

The most superficial wounds healed beneath her fingertips. The deepest wounds took more concentration. Elspeth closed her eyes again and imagined

the healing power flowing from her touch like a stream of warmth.

Elspeth knew there was a fine line between healing someone else and hurting herself. But at that moment she didn't care. She needed Cait to be

healed. She needed to fight with her another day.

Elspeth's arms became heavy and cumbersome. But stil she pressed on, because beneath her fingertips the wounds closed and the skin repaired.

She tried to open her eyes but found her lids were too heavy. Stil , she poured her energy into Caitrin.

She heard voices cal ing her name, but she was unable to respond. Her tongue refused to move. Her mouth refused to open. Yet the healing powers stil

flowed freely from her.

Someone caught her when she final y could sit up no longer. Strong arms closed around her body. She wanted to complain about someone moving her