The murders threatened to rip her little world apart. The perpetrator seemed to have targeted the members of her household and she had violent feelings toward the mysterious creature. Was Perry doing these horrible things?
Botter stood up in surprise, his pipe quickly hidden behind his back. “My lady,” he said. His gaze darted to Shadow’s empty stall.
“Saddle me a horse, Botter,” she demanded. She didn’t care what horse, as long as it could gallop.
“Yes, my lady.” Botter immediately began to lead Melinda’s small brown mare out of its stall.
“No, Botter. That horse will not do.” She tapped her foot and crossed her arms.
The man’s face crumpled in a dark frown. “There’s the new black, but—”
“Saddle him. I want a ride, not a country stroll.” She usually wasn’t so insistent, so demanding, but this morning she didn’t want arguments from the stable man.
Botter led the new male black out and saddled him. Elizabeth studied the horse. Yes, this one was skittish and it would be dangerous to give him his head as she used to give Shadow. But her mare had been a heart in concert with Elizabeth’s. No horse could replace her.
“What’s his name?” She should have known but had forgotten, the horse having been purchased for Perry over six months earlier.
“Thunder,” Botter answered.
Her stable hand’s short answer told Elizabeth that Botter was hurt and offended by her attitude. She sighed. She pinned her skirts out of her way and stepped into the saddle. The horse snorted restlessly.
She gazed down at Botter. “I’m sorry, my friend. I didn’t mean to be unpleasant to you.”
He glanced up at her, concern in every line of his face. “He rode out this morning like the devil hisself was after ’im. I didn’t like the look of it.”
She nodded. “I upset him, I believe. Don’t worry, Botter.”
“You be careful, my lady.”
With a snap, she urged Thunder to gallop toward the moor. The wind had blown the storm away and the moor smelled fresh from the rain. Mud splattered Thunder’s legs as he pounded across the soggy landscape.
Elizabeth loved the feel of the air on her face, the rushing wind as she and the horse flew over brush and bramble. Thunder seemed to match her mood, his speed increasing. The morning light was muted through the gray clouds that still lingered.
The sound of pounding hooves reached her ears and another horse galloped beside her. It was Joshua’s. Bent over his horse’s neck, he resembled a dark apparition of intensity and danger. Elizabeth laughed and spurred her horse faster.
This time Joshua didn’t stop her but met her at every jump, every dodge. The two horses seemed to be in concert, their flying leaps taking her breath away. Then she reached a crumbling wall, the remnants of some past boundary, and Thunder balked. When he reared, she held him fast, unwilling to allow him to throw her from her saddle. He squealed, but she gripped the reins grimly.
Finally Thunder quieted and she leaned closer to speak softly in his ear. Thunder snorted and remained still.
“Why do risk your life that way?” Joshua snapped, his face flushed.
The truth? Did he really want the truth? “Because it’s mine to risk,” she said, knowing that didn’t answer the question.
Joshua dismounted and strode toward her horse. She should have made Thunder run, getting away from the man who had destroyed her peace of mind. Instead, she sat frozen. “This from the woman who berates me for my abandonment of her?” His tone was harsh.
He reached her side and jerked the reins from her hand. “Enough.” As fast as a striking snake, he yanked her out of the saddle.
Fear ripped through her and she jerked her body to get away from him but he wouldn’t release her. To her shock, he dragged her back to his horse and removed some rough rope from his saddle bag. “This will move things along. But not here.”
She pulled against his hold. “Stop this, Joshua. Your name is already synonymous with scandal because of Perry. If you force me…” She swallowed. She couldn’t finish, not because of the fear that made her pulse skitter but because the thought of the strands of rope digging into her flesh excited her as well. She closed her eyes. She was a fool.
“Mount my horse and I’ll save the rope for when we have privacy. Fight me and I’ll truss you up like a newborn calf.” He dangled the rope in front of her and tears blurred her vision. What could she do? Her desire to escape still beat in her blood, but she couldn’t fight him and herself. She loved him. She’d given him everything ten years earlier and nothing had changed.
Despair washed over her. What did it matter? He would take what she had, then leave her alone. It was the only thing she knew. His promise to stay the night before meant little, since he’d promised the same thing when they were newly in love. And she couldn’t fight it now any more than she could fight it then.
She tipped her chin and stepped toward the horse. His hands clamped around her hips and he assisted her onto his horse, then mounted behind her. The rope was still in his hand even as he gripped the reins. His arm pressed against her breast and he leaned his head against her neck. “We will have this out.”
He spurred the horse and headed in the opposite direction to the house. She twisted in the saddle to stare at him. “Where are we going?”
“I do not believe we can achieve privacy at Arundale Hall.”
“Which doesn’t answer my question,” she snapped.
His gaze met hers and the dark intent in it made her shudder. He smiled grimly. “We are going to Lord Everret’s.”
“No,” she said in a whisper.
“Yes. We have some truths to uncover. And you need to believe me when I tell you I’m not leaving,” he said, and spurred the horse faster so that the breath left her body.
She closed her eyes and tried to contain the tears that welled up in her chest. Truths to uncover? Terror ripped through her. What Joshua might find out about her there scared the life out of her.
How was she going to escape this?
*
The rigid way his wife held herself didn’t deter Joshua one bit. All during the night he’d turned her words over in his mind, trying to understand the hidden meaning behind them. His conclusions had stiffened his resolve. The temptation to take her there, on the moor, had been almost unbearable. But he’d meant what he said when he told her they had truths to uncover.
To trust him, she had to see that he wanted what was best for her. Yes, Everret’s would give him a chance to show her his true self, the love he had for her, and the reason he’d left her all those years ago. No more secrets between them. There was much she hadn’t learned about the Arundale men and Joshua meant to reveal all.
When the manor appeared in the distance, she stiffened even more. “How can you bring me here? I’m your wife.” She sounded outraged but he sensed something else beneath the surface.
“Not very fashionable, I know. But perhaps Lord Everret will forgive me, since I’ve been in Jamaica all this time.” He couldn’t help needling her.
Her head whipped around and she glared at him, her brown eyes bright. “This is no better than a brothel. Worse, in fact.”
He slid his hand, still clenched around the rope, up her torso and over her nipple. She shivered, her hands clenched on the horn of the saddle. “We’re married. That makes it all legal.”
“But immoral.”
He scraped the heavy rope over her breast and reveled in the way color climbed up her neck to cover her cheeks. “Very.”
Her lips pinched together and she had the primmest, most adorable expression on her face. He couldn’t wait to change it to one of passion.
They reached the front steps and a man appeared. Joshua hopped down and grabbed Elizabeth around her waist, the rope dangling from the crook of his arm. He gripped her arm and tossed the reins to the man. “If you please,” he said and marched his errant wife up the steps of the manor.
Everret opened the d
oor himself and raised an eyebrow at Joshua. “May I help you, sir?” he said formally. His black hair was perfectly slicked back and his long fingers pulled at his waistcoat. His gray eyes assessed Elizabeth, darting over the rope and Joshua’s hand clenched around his wife’s arm.
“You may. I require one of the dungeon rooms.”
Everret stared at him. “For…both of you?”
“Yes.”
“And what else?” the man snapped.
Joshua held Everret’s gaze. “You.”
Elizabeth gasped and tried to jerk away from his hold. “You’re insane,” she hissed.
He still stared at Everret. “No. I’m not. I know what needs to be done.” Finally, he glanced at his wife. “You do not trust me. I have to teach you to do that.”
“Trust you?” she spat. Then she shot a glance at Everret as if she’d just remembered he was there.
Everret’s eyebrows rose. “And what do you want with me?” The man’s voice was bland.
“To help you as you once helped me.” Family. That was what Marcus Everret wanted. That was what Joshua had to give him.
“I don’t need your help,” Everret said coldly.
Joshua brushed past him, shoving Elizabeth in front of him. “Yes, you do.” Without missing a step, he strode toward the door he knew led to the lower level and the dungeon rooms. Of course, he didn’t have keys and if Everret chose to be stubborn, Joshua would get nowhere.
But he’d read the man correctly. Everret was curious.
Keys rattled as Joshua opened the door to the descending corridor and negotiated the steps. Elizabeth still resisted. “What are you doing, Joshua?” she whispered.
“Why won’t you trust me?”
She remained silent. He’d left, yes, but she’d never asked him to come home. At that moment, Joshua realized he, too, had unhealed hurts. Why hadn’t Elizabeth asked him to come home? Why hadn’t she ever said she missed him?
His hand tightened on her arm. He’d get answers of his own as well as give them. All with Marcus Everret watching.
They entered one of the dungeon rooms and Joshua began to undress Elizabeth. She resisted him silently, grimly. “I don’t want to ruin this gown and force one of Everret’s servants to fetch you another.”
Her lips trembled and he fought the urge to relent, to soften. He removed her dress and her riding boots. She stood in the center of the room, her chin high and her hands covering her bare breasts. Her legs were crossed and color flooded her face and chest.
Everret said nothing, but remained behind Joshua. The mark on the inside of Elizabeth’s leg showed clearly, even though she pressed her thighs together.
“Look at me,” Joshua demanded, and her gaze met his. Numb agony was all he saw. He nodded. “Do you believe that I love you and will never leave you?”
Her lips curled. “No.”
“Do you still believe I fucked other women?”
Her eyes glittered in the dim candlelight that flickered across her face. “Yes.”
Everret shifted his feet. Yes, he’d be uncomfortable with this. He knew why Joshua hadn’t had another woman after he’d left.
Elizabeth’s eyes were wide. “Joshua, is this man—?”
“I did not give you leave to speak,” he snarled at her, and her gaze jerked back to his face. “Marcus, you will help me to restrain her. Use this,” he said, and held out the rough stable rope from his arm.
For a moment he thought Marcus might refuse. The light in Marcus’ eyes was not for Lady Arundale and Joshua knew it. Marcus had other interests altogether. But restraining another person, male or female, would excite his Beast, just as it did Joshua’s.
“No. You cannot do this.” Elizabeth’s face was white, her eyes wide with fear. He scented the emotion pouring from her. He also caught the arousal, the excitement she couldn’t hide from his Beast.
“I can. And I will. To answer many questions you have.” He locked his wife’s hands behind her back and allowed Marcus to begin his complicated rope restraint. The man was a genius with knots.
While Marcus wound the rope around Elizabeth’s hands and ran the length down the crack of her arse, Joshua couldn’t resist running his fingers over her breasts. Her breath caught and he rolled the tight buds between his fingers, catching the scent of her sweet honey when he did.
When she moaned, he knew she had been made for him, for his Beast. He growled, a low sound of approval that made her shudder in response. Yes, she knew he wanted her, but she didn’t trust him.
Pleasure was all she would know from his Beast, but she didn’t know why. This was his fault and his to remedy.
Joshua opened one of the wooden boxes along the wall and discovered a small cloth pouch with nipple clamps connected by a chain to another clamp for Elizabeth’s clitoris.
He turned to find that Marcus had maneuvered Elizabeth to one of the benches and bent her over. The man’s gray eyes were a tell-tale luminous blue. Like Joshua, dominance both brought the Beast to the surface and, in the end, calmed it. How long had it taken his half brother to discover that? Joshua had been guided, almost from the beginning, by Marcus’ subtle hand.
Elizabeth’s gaze showed both fear and excitement, the candlelight revealing a sheen of sweat on her skin.
He stood in front of his tied-up wife. “I’m going to answer your questions. All of them. The ones you’ve asked and the ones you haven’t.”
She glared at him. “You don’t know my thoughts.”
One side of his mouth rose. Ah, his sweet Elizabeth. Even though she was trussed up and at his mercy, she defied him, challenged him, tested him. It was the thing he’d most loved about her when they were young. It seemed that hadn’t changed. “Oh, but I do. When Lord Everret here mentioned that you were aroused when you visited to retrieve Perry, I knew. I realized how difficult my absence had been, what my mark had done to you.”
Tears glistened in her liquid brown eyes. “Then why are you doing this to me? Why are you forcing me to be naked in front of him?” Her tone was filled with contempt for the other man.
“That is one of the questions I will answer.” Joshua bent down and flicked her breasts where they dangled over the edge of the bench. When her nipples were budded and tight, he used one of the clamps. She gasped and he sucked on the protruding nub. He did the same to her other nipple, the chain sparkling in the dim light. “He is my half brother.”
“What?” she squeaked, her breath coming in pants.
Joshua stroked her breasts to add pleasure to the pain and marveled at the flush that spread over her cheeks. “My father had a child out of wedlock before he married my mother. Lord Everret is my brother.” His gaze met hers. “In all ways, he is my kin.”
“Why I must be treated in this manner—”
“To give you a taste of the pleasure you deserve.” He was still at eye level with her, squatting in front of her with his fingers stroking her beautiful tits. Joshua met his half brother’s stare. “I require your help.”
Marcus met his gaze. “You’re doing fine.”
Yes, he had Elizabeth hot and wet, but he wanted more. He wanted her to trust that he would never do anything to hurt her. Ever. He shook his head. “Will you make Elizabeth come?”
He glanced at his wife, and her widened eyes and worried expression only made him harder, his cock begging for relief. Her gaze swerved wildly around the room as she sought some comfort, some escape. But there would be none.
Her lips trembled. “What are you doing, Joshua?”
“Look carefully,” he said. He nodded his head at Lord Everret and she focused on the other man.
Eerie blue eyes, gleaming teeth growing larger as she watched, signs she had to know and recognize. Despite the clamps and despite the rope, she met the other man’s stare. “My apologies, Lord Everret.”
“For what, my lady?” Marcus attempted to sound unconcerned, but Joshua noticed that his voice was husky and low.
“For misjudging you. I accu
sed you of purveying sex without understanding. I did not know.” His wife turned her glance back to Joshua and it had only hostility for him. “Is this what the Beast demands?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “It requires obedience and surrender.” The way she dropped her gaze caused his Beast to snarl and pound at the cage he kept it in. He growled and reveled in the way her body jerked at the sound.
“Then…do whatever you will and be damned,” she snarled.
“Lick my wife’s cunt, Marcus. I want her screaming.” He gripped her chin. “And you’d better scream my name, wife,” he demanded. “Because I am the one giving you pleasure. Through him.”
She tried to yank her head away, but he held her face fast, his fingers digging into her jaw. He held her gaze as Marcus knelt behind her and slid underneath her, his mouth near her pussy. Her lips shook and she closed her eyes. Hot color flooded her face and she remained very still.
Joshua knew when Marcus laid his tongue on her by the way she jumped. Her eyes flew open and he smiled grimly at the frantic expression, the way her eyes glazed over. A moan escaped her lips and she squirmed restlessly.
“Here, Marcus. Put this on her clitoris. Suck on it while it’s clamped.” He slid the last clamp to Marcus.
“No, Joshua, please, don’t,” she begged. But he was unmoved. He smelled her arousal, her excitement, the musky scent of passion that filled his nostrils. His Beast howled within. She gasped when Marcus pinched her clitoris and clamped it. God, she was stunning, every shift of her body tightening the chains and the ropes on her skin.
“Bite her, Marcus.” He held her gaze, silently ordering her to keep her eyes open.
Marcus growled against her pussy and bit her, sucking loudly.
Elizabeth screamed, her hips thrusting against Marcus’s mouth and her gaze never leaving Joshua’s face. “Joshua,” she cried out.
His teeth elongated and he jammed his fingers through her hair. When he took possession of her mouth, his tongue dominated her, demanded her response. She gave it, helpless in the storm of pleasure he’d just created.
This was what he wanted to give her. Pleasure. Pain. Possession. She belonged to him no matter whose mouth might be on her pussy. And she was going to find out who was master of Arundale.
Wolf of Arundale Hall Page 11
