He abruptly lowered her to her feet.
Ruby had been too distracted by the feel of him, she hadn’t realized they were inside the cabin.
“If you need to use the bathroom, it’s right over there.” Lincoln waved a hand toward a door to his right.
Uncomfortable at the direction her thoughts had taken, Ruby cleared her throat and took a step back. “I-I’m fine.”
She remained where she was and took in the cabin’s interior while Lincoln dusted off the table and set the basket on its surface.
“Are you hungry?” he rasped, opening the basket to retrieve its contents.
Ruby realized she hadn’t eaten since earlier that morning. “I could eat.”
He pulled out a chair and sat, indicating that she should do the same. “Have a seat.”
More than a little nervous, Ruby joined him at the small wooden table.
She watched in silence as he poured them some red wine before unfolding a cloth containing cheese and crackers. He then opened a few more containers of fried chicken and potato salad.
What he did next shocked her into silence.
His hands slowly lifted to the cloak’s button at his neck. He released it and carefully pushed the hood back, slipping the garment free.
Ruby’s eyes grew huge in her face as she stared at the inhumane face of the Beast.
Lincoln didn’t blink, only peered at her with those electric blue eyes. “This is who I am. You will eat with this face, spend your days with this face, and sleep with this face. Though I resemble a monster, I am still a man. But I am also a man with needs. And you will meet those needs.”
“Now?” Ruby whispered, more in shock than in fear.
The Beast shrugged a massive shoulder. “I haven’t decided yet. But I meant what I said. I will not take you by force, so you can relax. Now, eat.”
Ruby swallowed hard. She couldn’t force her gaze away from his face. He wasn’t hideous like she’d originally thought.
His hair, a chestnut color, hung loose around his shoulders. Though his forehead was larger than a normal man’s, it somehow fit his beastly form. His teeth resembled his timber wolf’s, but his lips were full and soft looking. His nose appeared more animal than man, and a light dusting of hair covered his cheeks. But his eyes were what held her attention most. They had to be the bluest she’d ever seen.
“Are you going to stare or eat?” he snapped, snatching up her plate and filling it full of food.
Ruby jumped at his growling tone. “Excuse me, but you’re the one who decided to remove the hood. I was merely looking.”
His movements were jerky with obvious anger or maybe embarrassment. She couldn’t tell.
“Tell me about Spencer.”
That caught her off guard. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Humor me,” he practically snarled, setting her plate back in front of her and filling his own.
Ruby didn’t want to discuss Spencer. Especially not with the Beast.
She picked up her fork, took a bite of potato salad, and spoke once she’d swallowed. “I don’t know what you want to know. Spencer and I have been seeing each other since the tenth grade.”
“Do you love him?” He took a large bite of his own food.
Ruby thought about that for a moment, remembering the blonde she’d seen straddling Spencer in his room. “I thought I did.”
Something flickered in the Beast’s eyes. “But you’re not sure?”
“I’m not sure of anything anymore.” And she meant it. Her entire life had changed over the past week. “May I ask you a question now?”
He only nodded.
“When can I make Daddy’s funeral arrangements?”
His expression turned angry. “If it were up to me, I would dump him in the river for the gators to feast on. But since he was your father, I had Templeton make the arrangements. The funeral is in two days. All expenses have been taken care of.”
Though it pissed her off to hear him speak of her father in such a way, Ruby was too relieved that Lincoln had taken care of the funeral. So she let his remark slide. “Thank you.”
He brushed off her words of thanks. “Tell me about college.”
Swallowing her next bite, Ruby wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I have attended the University of California in Berkeley for the last two years. I’m studying to be a vet.”
“I see. And how much longer before you receive your degree?”
“Two more years.”
The Beast continued to question her around ravenous bites of food. “And if you obtain custody of your brother, how will you manage college then?”
Ruby hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have to finish out the year at a local community college and go from there.”
Try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to look away from Lincoln’s face. He truly was a beast. “May I ask you a question?”
“You may.”
“How do you know that you’re cursed and this” —she indicated his face— “isn’t some birth defect?”
Lincoln stopped chewing and took a long pull from his wineglass. “You’ve spent the last two years in medical school, Ruby. Have you ever known of a human child born to resemble an animal? A beast?”
“That doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” she weakly responded. “I mean, just because your face is different—”
“My face?” he interrupted, surging to his feet. “You think this curse stops with my face?”
He suddenly reached up, gripped the hem of his shirt, and yanked it over his head. His gloves came off next.
Ruby nearly swallowed her tongue. She’d never seen a chest that size before. Muscles bulged from his shoulders to the waistband of his form-fitting jeans. His stomach was ripped with washboard abs that appeared hard as marble. But his claw-tipped massive hands were what threw her most.
She quickly glanced away, scared and intrigued all at the same time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that it’s not true. It’s just that, well, you have to understand how hard it is for me to grasp that you were cursed to be a beast.”
He pulled his shirt back on and returned to his seat. “Now you know.”
And she did know. Something inside her wanted to believe him. Did believe him. “And my grandmother did this to you.” It wasn’t a question.
The Beast leaned back in his chair, his electric blue eyes glowing with intensity, and proceeded to tell Ruby the story of how he came to be.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lincoln watched Ruby closely as he recited the story of Agatha Atwood’s curse and the death of his mother that occurred during childbirth.
He saw moments of fear in her eyes, but never once did she interrupt him or appear as if she didn’t believe him.
Throughout the revisiting of his past, his mind continued to stray to the dock when he’d held Ruby in his arms and she’d pressed her face against his neck. She’d trusted him to protect her.
She finally held up a hand. “And my father had the means to break this curse?”
“He was aware of it,” Lincoln admitted, tearing his thoughts from the memory of Ruby in his arms. “I believe that he did. But as far as I know, that knowledge died with him.”
For some reason, Lincoln couldn’t bring himself to tell Ruby of the riddle her grandmother had left for him. He much preferred her fear over her pity. And he somehow knew she would pity him.
He abruptly pushed his chair back from the table. “Come here.”
Fear flashed in her eyes, but she did as he demanded. She slowly stood and rounded the table, stopping about a foot before him.
Lincoln took hold of her hand, gently tugging her forward. “Close your eyes.”
Her lids squeezed tightly shut, and a barely noticeable tremor passed through her. Had he not been so in tune with her, he might have missed it.
He brought her hand up to his chest and held it against his skin. “Touch me.”
Licking he
r lips in a way he’d come to associate with her being nervous, she flattened her palm and slowly coasted it up to his neck.
“More,” he urged, his own eyes sliding shut.
The feel of her fingers slipping through the fur of his chest had to be the most incredible sensation the Beast had ever felt. In all his twenty-nine years, he’d never felt a female’s touch in this capacity.
A moan slipped from his lips.
He jerked his eyes open to find her staring back at him with a look of curiosity on her face. But it was gone so fast he was sure he’d imagined it. “That’s enough.”
Ruby hurried back to her seat, her face pale and drawn.
“Finish your food.”
He noticed her hand trembled as she picked up her fork, and decided to get her talking again. Why it bothered him, he would never know. “Tell me about your life.”
“My…life?”
Lincoln nodded, averting his gaze. He couldn’t bear to see the revulsion he knew would be lurking in her beautiful eyes. “Your favorite foods, music, colors…things like that.”
“Um, okay,” she hesitantly murmured. “I love all kinds of food, but my favorite is steak. As for music, I love the blues, anything by Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Stevie Ray Vaughan. And my favorite color is red.”
Red looked amazing on her, Lincoln thought, taking in everything she told him. Hence the reason he’d picked the red dress and rubies the night she’d had dinner with him. It simply…fit, just as her name did.
He chanced a peek at her from beneath his lashes, noticing how she fidgeted with her fork. “Steak is my favorite too.” Where did that come from?
“Really? Rare, medium, or well done?”
Lincoln answered without thinking. “Rare.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Is that because you’re a…um, I mean…”
“I know what you meant,” he snapped, regretting it instantly when she shrank back.
She dropped her gaze to her plate. “I didn’t mean any insult. Sometimes, I speak without carefully thinking my words through. My daddy always said that I lacked a filter.”
The mention of Charles Atwood served only to piss Lincoln off more.
“I really am sorry,” she mumbled, laying her fork aside.
Lincoln brushed off her apology and nodded toward her plate. “Are you finished?”
“I’m really not that hungry. But the food was good.”
He abruptly stood. “Come, I want to show you something.”
“Outside?” She glanced skittishly at the door.
Lincoln’s lips almost twitched. Almost. “Alligators usually only attack if you are near their nest. And we are going in the opposite direction.”
“Usually?” Ruby rose from her chair. “This will probably be one of those unusual times.”
The Beast studied her nervous stature.
He moved up next to her and bent his knees. “Get on.”
“Your back?”
The uncertainty in her voice wasn’t lost on him.
“Yes, my back!” he snapped, leaning down a little lower.
Ruby jumped at his words and stepped onto her chair before wrapping her arms around his neck and climbing onto his back.
Lincoln immediately hooked his forearms under her knees and lifted her higher.
The feel of her small body pressed firmly against his back did strange things to Lincoln’s insides. And then her scent hit him again.
A growl of desire rose in his throat, but he swallowed it back. The last thing he wanted was for her to see the attraction he felt for her.
Though it killed him to admit it to himself, Lincoln recognized the attraction he had for Ruby. Hard as he tried to fight it, the feeling only seemed to grow with every minute they spent together.
It angered him that he wanted her. She was the enemy. The spawn of Charles Atwood.
She climbed up higher on his back the moment he stepped out the door. Lincoln was lost.
“Where are we going?” she questioned, her warm breath fanning his ear.
Lincoln glanced down at the obvious erection bulging from the front of his jeans, hoping like hell that Ruby wouldn’t notice it. She’d likely run screaming toward the water to take her chances with the much-feared alligators.
To take his mind off his sexual craving, Lincoln stomped toward the back of the cabin, attempting to think of anything but the sweet scent of the woman clinging to his back. “My father had this built for my mother. I’m told that she came here a lot when she wanted to be alone.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. My father never married again.” Reaching his destination, the Beast bent at the knees, allowing Ruby to slide off his back.
She merely climbed up higher. “Are you sure there are no gators back here?”
A strangled sound burst from his throat, half growl, half chuckle.
The Beast stilled, caught off guard by the emotion. It was the first time in his life he’d ever laughed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ruby glanced around at the surrounding area. Woods covered both sides of the small cabin, providing dozens of places for alligators to hide.
She realized that Lincoln had lowered her toward the ground, but there was no way in hell her feet were touching earth until he could assure her that no gators were lurking about.
Was that a laugh she’d heard coming from him? “You can think it’s funny all you want, but I’m not coming down.”
Another odd sound came from him. It took her a moment to realize his upper body shook with laughter, and another for her to join in.
Whether she laughed from nerves or from the insanely comical situation she found herself in, Ruby couldn’t stop the chuckle that spilled forth.
And there, behind the small rundown cabin on the banks of the Mississippi, an unlikely bond was formed between two very different souls.
They laughed until Lincoln dropped to his knees and Ruby unwittingly slipped off his back.
I must be crazy, she thought, wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes. I’m in the woods with a Beast that can’t possibly be human, finding humor in a situation that’s so far from funny, it’s insane.
The Beast sobered first. “I do not know where that came from. I have never laughed like that before.”
“It’s been a long time for me as well,” Ruby admitted, pushing to her feet while immediately checking her surroundings again. “What is it that you wanted to show me?”
Lincoln stood also, gesturing toward a clearing up ahead. “Would you prefer to be carried?”
“I think I can make it. I suppose if we were going to be eaten, it would have happened by now.”
His electric blue eyes twinkled. “I suppose you’re right.”
Ruby followed him toward the clearing, her breath catching as a multitude of different colored rose bushes came into view, enclosed inside an old wrought iron fence. “Wow, it’s beautiful. Did you do this?”
He shook his head. “My mother started it before I was born, but I’ve kept it up since I was old enough to come here alone.”
Something shifted inside Ruby. She peered over at Lincoln’s profile. He’d grown up alone, an outcast cursed from birth. A boy who had never known a mother’s love. “My brother grew up without a mother also.”
Lincoln stiffened. The relaxed look on his face turned hard. “You think to compare me to your brother?”
“No. I—”
“We are nothing alike!” he snapped, moving to face her. “Millions of children grow up without mothers. But only one was cursed to live as a beast. Me!”
He spun on his heel and strode back toward the cabin, leaving Ruby to run in order to catch up.
“I’m sorry,” Ruby breathed, stepping into the cabin behind him. “I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”
Gathering up the picnic paraphernalia, Lincoln kept his back to her. “Your pity is neither wanted nor needed.”
Helplessness welled u
p inside Ruby. No matter what she said or did, she always seemed to offend him. “I don’t pity you, asshole! I just thought that if we were going to be spending the next three weeks together, maybe, just maybe we could get along.”
Lincoln turned with basket in hand. “Let’s get back. I have much to do before it gets dark.”
Ruby stepped to the side as he came barreling past her. He stormed down the hill to the dock, leaving her to fend for herself where the gators were concerned.
* * * *
Ruby entered Cameron’s room, careful not to wake him. After spending a tense ride back in the boat with Lincoln, her nerves couldn’t handle the pain her brother was sure to be in when he woke.
“Has he come to yet?” she asked the nurse, busying herself on the opposite side of Cameron’s bed.
The nurse gently smiled. “For a minute. The pain meds we have him on pretty much keep him sedated. He drifts in and out.”
“So, he’s not in any pain?”
“Nothing unbearable,” the nurse assured her. “I’ll just go out and give you some time alone with him.”
Ruby returned her smile. “Thank you.”
Once the nurse disappeared into the hallway, Ruby took a seat next to Cameron’s bed and took hold of his hand.
“Hi, Cam,” she whispered softly. “I know you can’t hear me. I just needed to talk to you.”
Taking a shuddering breath, she kissed the back of his small hand and continued. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you were hurt. And I’m also sorry that I haven’t been around for the last couple of days. But I’m doing everything I can to make sure that you are taken care of.”
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Ruby blinked back the tears that threatened to choke her. “You’re going to be okay, Cam. I promise. You’ll be back in your own room very soon, and I’ll even get you the new video game you’ve been asking for.”
Ruby paused, her next words seemingly pulled from her very soul. “Daddy will no longer be with us, Cam, but I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re happy. I’ll even move to a local college, so I can be home with you every night.”
Ruby and the Beast: A Beauty and the Beast Novel Page 10
