“Jemma?” This time Ben didn’t yell. He turned his head toward her voice like he had moments ago.
“I’m still here.”
“Good.” He shifted to look at Vinita before bringing his attention back to Jemma. “You’re truly safe? None of them followed you?”
He’d assumed all twelve men chased him, but he hadn’t counted them. He looked toward the kitchen door, suddenly terrified he’d led the men here. Theo watched the young man and understood his concern before he spoke up. “No one’s comehere. They’re either still searching for you or abandoned it until morning.”
Ben nodded, his gaze lingering on Theo for a moment. He knew he had to explain himself to Jemma’s father, but for now, he preferred to focus on Jemma. She calmed him. While his arm hurt like the devil, and he didn’t enjoy feeling the needle pass in and out of his flesh, he worried most about Jemma. He knew her brave smile belied how upset she was. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed the back of her left one.
“I’m all right now. Your mother’s taking care of my wound, and I haven’t brought anyone to your door. If I can rest here tonight, then I’ll set off in the morning. I don’t want of the contraband close to you, Jemma. If I’m discovered with it, I don’t want you nearby.”
“No. Don’t go.” She darted a plaintive glance at her mother, who continued to sew Ben’s arm, then at her father. She pleaded silently for her father to convince Ben to wait.
“Jemma.” Ben’s voice brought her attention back to him. “It’s nothing more than a little scratch. I’ll be fine in the morning. With it bandaged, no one will notice under my shirt. I can’t dally here now that the shipment is no longer safe. I must deliver it.”
“No.” Jemma shook her head. “Wait at least a day. Maybe one of my brothers could go with you.” She turned beseeching eyes to her father, who nodded silently.
“I can’t. I have to?—”
“I won’t allow it.” Jemma lifted her chin and stared down at Ben, who laughed then winced. He brought her hand back to his lips.
“Would that I could obey, Jem. You gave me the same look the day we met when I told you, you should traipse along the cliffs alone. I would miss it far too much if I didn’t survive.”
Jemma kept her mouth shut as she swallowed her gorge. It wasn’t that she believed him too injured to travel. She fearedfor him since he’d been chased that night, and the excisemen wouldn’t give up now they knew he fled from them. She also didn’t want to give up a moment of their time together now that they’d admitted their feelings. She didn’t want to waste another minute they could spend together. But she understood his duty wasn’t to her. She wouldn’t be selfish and embarrass herself.
She knew Ben had to travel all the way to Poole which lay to the east. It would take three or four days just to get there. He’d be gone at least a week, and that seemed like an eternity. She’d gone months at a time without seeing him for years, but now it felt imperative they be in the same place for more than a passing visit. It tempted her to hide in the cart before he left and go with him. She thought to beg him to pretend they were married and let her travel with him as his wife. But she didn’t blend in anywhere but among her family. She would draw far too much attention. She resigned herself to at least a week or a fortnight without seeing him. She chided herself for being weak.
“Jemma?” Ben tugged on her hand, and she leaned forward. This time it was his turn to put his lips to her ear and whisper. “I will return from Poole as fast as I can. I won’t dilly dally there. I want to be here with you for Christmas. I want to court you if your father agrees. Be patient for a little longer, then you’ll be shooing me away and complaining I’m always underfoot.”
Vinita finished stitching his arm, and the young couple turned their focus to wound. They both strained to see the stitches before Vinita used a torn strip of linen to bandage it. Raj helped him to sit up, and Jemma sucked in a breath as she watched the corded muscle along Ben’s abdomen flexed as he moved. She’d noticed the peeks and valleys while he laid flat, but they mesmerized her now. She wished to trail her fingers over them. When Ben reached for the remnants of his shirt, the muscles in his chest and shoulders bunched and relaxed. She wished to watch them and wondered what it would look like tohave him above her, making love to her as she witnessed the restrained power in his magnificent body.
Ben swung his legs away from Jemma and everyone else. He’d seen the way she assessed him, and it made his cock stir. The last thing he needed was to survive being shot by excisemen only to have Theo shoot him for fantasying about making love to the man’s daughter in front of her entire family. With two deep breaths and strict instructions to his cock to calm down, he rose from the table. He glanced toward the door then down at his bare torso. He shifted his gaze to Jemma.
“I need my tailcoat back, please.”
“Why? You don’t think you’re leaving tonight, do you?” Jemma’s whipped her head around to look at her father. “You aren’t going to let him leave, are you?”
While Vinita doctored his arm, no one had invited him to stay for the night. He wouldn’t ask because no offer meant he wasn’t welcome.
“Of course, he’s not leaving tonight.” Theo crossed his arms as he studied Ben. He didn’t understand the sudden change in dynamics between his daughter and the man she clearly considered her beau. He’d only called out to her, which didn’t speak to a man who held Jemma in disdain. Theo had been injured several times while serving in India before he and Vinita made their home in Polruan. He’d had a couple nasty fevers as well. He knew he’d only ever asked for his wife, and her presence was the only thing that calmed him. He saw the same pass between Ben and Jemma.
Ben looked toward the kitchen door again as he nodded. “I still need my coat back, please.”
“Now?” Jemma demanded. She didn’t understand why he persisted if he was aware he had a room within the manor.
Ben didn’t want to say aloud what they knew. There was still no invitation for him to stay in the house. He merely didn’t haveto leave. He expected to bed down in the barn. He would need the coat to make up for the lack of shirt. He assumed Theo and his sons hid his satchel which had a spare set of the clothes that wouldn’t be easy to reach right now.
“Papa.” Jemma didn’t know what to do because it seemed like Ben planned to leave, heading into the winter night without nearly enough layers. Theo didn’t respond, causing tears to well in Jemma’s eyes.
Ben rested his hand on her shoulder when he really wished to place it on her waist. “What’s the matter? Why are you upset?”
“Papa said you could stay, but you want your coat, so you can leave.”
“Yes. I’ll freeze in the stables without it. Your stable hands will find me and think me a block of ice to chip away.”
“What?” Theo interjected. “You’re not staying in the stables. There’s plenty of room here for you.”
Theo and Ben stared at one another, and Theo realized the younger man truly believed he wasn’t welcome under Theo’s roof. He wondered what made Ben think that since they’d always gotten along, and he’d just watched his wife stitch Ben’s arm after he took a bullet while protecting Theo, his family, and the entire village.
