“Another reason Prudence has trouble with poverty is because we weren’t saved from the full terrible clutches of it,” he told her. “Three years after our parents were killed, we were thrown out of Colchester House by His Grace the Duke of Addinton for debts my father allegedly owed. We were left to live or die on the street.”
When Fable heard this, she opened her eyes and lifted her head off his chest. “You were homeless?”
He nodded. “For two years, we stole and begged for scraps of food.”
“What?” She rubbed her eyes and opened them even wider. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“My sister hates that we were once ‘street urchins’. She will be angry if she knows I told you. I’m glad to be telling you now though. I understand some of the hardships of living out there, especially for a girl. I saved my sister from being raped thirteen times, and was stabbed several times for it. But at least she had me. You had no one.”
“You felt responsible for someone else,” she pointed out. “I was free of that.”
She felt him breathing and let it lull her again. “How did you return home?”
“We met Lord Andrew Holt, the Marquess of Cambridge and he took us in. But I was troublesome.”
Fable looked up at him again. “Youwere troublesome?”
He ignored her doubtful tone and continued. “I joined the Royal army and three years after that I rode back to ColchesterHouse with proof that my father never owed any debts, killed the Duke of Addinton and his men, and took my house back.”
She stared into his doe eyes and tried to imagine him wild with rage and revenge. She quirked her brow at him. He wasn’t the enraged, wild type. Captain Ben West was put together, composed, and disciplined. He was the planned out, quiet assault type of guy.
“You’re very attractive ,” she said boldly, and then looked away to blush.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, his voice deep and low with restraint that started out playful.
“I like that you took back what was yours,” she told him.
“What about the killing?” he asked her quietly. He didn’t look worried by what her answer would be, but the slight shift of his resolute jaw revealed how he felt about it.
“It was a consequence of his vile actions.”
He was still for a few seconds. Was he breathing? Fable looked into his eyes and then smiled when he pulled her closer and held her more tightly.
“Ben?” she said after another minute and let her gaze settle on his lips. “I’ve never been in love before.”
He moved his warm palms up and down her back. “Neither have I.”
“I’ve never been with a man before.”
“Nor I with a woman.” His voice resonated through her blood, her bones.
She felt him move his fingers through her hair, over her chin, then under it. He lifted her face gently and then moved closer to kiss her.
And then his lips were pressing against hers and she couldn’t think of anything but the wonderful warmth and safety of his arms, the tender curiosity of his lips, and his kiss that told a thousand stories of a man losing his heart to a woman.As she suspected, his bottom lip was plumper, softer. She tested it instinctively with her teeth. He reacted by pulling her closer into the warm, hard angles of his body. She shivered with desire and the anticipation of fulfilling it. She opened her mouth to his, welcoming his tongue with a fleeting dance of her tongue across it–until he pushed her down gently and deepened his kiss, capturing her tongue and holding it still with his. His mouth was hot, like a brand, sealing her as his.Oh, she shouldn’t have come this far. Now, she didn’t have the resolve to hold back. Yes, she would be his. She would happily be his. He made her breath come hard and fast. His hungry tongue, like a curious touch over the pulse of her throat made some muscles loosen while others grew tighter. When he scraped his teeth over her chin, her legs opened involuntarily, nestling him close. She felt his body growing tighter, harder as his lips returned to hers. Her heart felt as if it were going to pound right out of her chest.
Finally, he withdrew. He gazed into her eyes. His plump, red lips hovered above hers. “No matter how much I fight it, or how unfamiliar it is to me, I’m almost fully certain that I love you, Miss Ramsey.”
Chapter Ten
Prudence West stopped on her way toward the north-west wing, where Lord Sudbury’s rooms were and stared at the door to the guest room. It had been an hour now since Miss Ramseyhad stumbled out of the room and tumbled into Benjamin’s arms. What had her brother been doing making his way to the guest room so late in the night? He’d carried the waif back into the room and there he stayed–fool that he was!
She looked longingly toward Simon’s room. She needed his company. She couldn’t sleep. Slumber only brought nightmares of sleeping huddled in an alley outside in the dark, afraid, oh, so afraid that she would lose her brother every time he failed to return to her until the morning, beaten up and bleeding but in possession of enough money to pay for their lodgings for another few days. But worse than him not returning to her until morning, was when he was with her, fighting off some miscreant who thought to have his way with her in the alley–-of seeing a knife in her brother and blood gushing like a spring from his belly. Ben had no idea how much she had grown to depend on him. She had a wonderful, handsome man who loved her and wanted to take her away but she couldn’t leave Ben–and she hated herself for it.
After more than an hour, she gave up waiting for her brother to exit the guest room. She felt the blood rushing to her face as her careless rogue of a brother kept a woman like that for his pleasure.How could he?she raged silently. The woman was a pauper! Oh, their poor father! Thank God he wasn’t here to see this. Benjamin was sure to lose their father’s fortune to some wench. Staying in her room for so long likely meant that he bedded the urchin. What would he do if she turned up pregnant with his child? Oh, the very thought of it made Prudence’s bones shake.
She hurried to Simon’s door. On the way, she tried to remember any lady who sparked her brother’s interest in the past. He was a dark, brooding killer, made all the more dangerous because he walked with the favor of the king. After they were told about the deaths of their parents, Prudence’ssoft-spoken little brother had retreated into a dark place and became an angry, vengeful young man. Their father’s servants helped them survive for three years until Lord Addinton came to Colchester House and threw everyone out, including her and her brother.
Prudence rubbed her palm over her belly and let out a little groan. Those were the worst days…years of her life. She hated remembering the way she begged for food. And she’d only finally done it because she was starving to death. While she begged for scraps, her brother fought in competitions and often won enough for them to eat and sleep for a few days. He fought. That’s all Benjamin did. He didn’t give himself any time for girls or their wiles. He became one of the fiercest fighters in Colchester, where they barely survived until Lord Cambridge took pity on them and rescued them from the streets.
