Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“ I ’ll only be gone a couple hours. I’ll return when I’m certain no one watches the house. I won’t lead them to you, Jemma.”
“And we can hide you here.” Jemma put her hand on Ben’s as he reached for the kitchen doorknob.
“It’s too great a risk,” Ben countered.
“No. The risk is you being in the dark and alone again. There’s a summerhouse at the far end of the estate no one uses. I can take you there. No one will think to look there.” Jemma turned to look at her parents, praying they’d agree with her. “It’s the warmest evening we’ve had in weeks. It’ll still be cold in the summerhouse, but we won’t freeze.”
“We?” Ben, Vinita, and Theo barked.
“I am not taking you with me to hide from those vigilantes.” Ben crossed his arms, despite how it tugged his stitches, and stared down at Jemma, who looked completely unfazed.
“You don’t know how to find it, and I can’t very well traipse back here on my own. My brothers are still out hunting. Papa needs to be here when the excisemen arrive. I’m the only one who can take you.”
Ben glanced over Jemma’s shoulder at her parents, who looked as eager as he did to have Jemma outside while the government officials swarmed the area. But all three knew she made sense. When Vinita and Theo dipped their chins at the same time, Ben relented.
“Put more layers on and get your coat and scarf. It might seem pleasant now, but it likely won’t feel that way after being out there. We can’t light a fire, so bundle up.” Ben already had his coat and gloves on. He wrapped a scarf around his neck, leaving it loose enough to pull up over his nose and mouth. Gemma rushed upstairs to put on a warmer pair of stockings before gathering her outerwear. She rushed back downstairs as she donned her coat.
“Be careful.” Vinita kissed her daughter’s cheek before doing the same to Ben. She’d already accepted he would soon be her son-in-law. Theo engulfed Jemma in a bear hug, and he clapped Ben on the left side of his back, careful not to jar the injured man’s arm.
Then they were off. Ben and Jemma slipped out of the kitchen and hurried to the path. She took his hand and led them away from the manor house. “This way. We’ll weave through the trees, otherwise, the path leaves us too exposed.”
It would also make it more difficult for anyone to track them since they’d leave no footprints in the mud that remained after the snow melted.
Neither Theo nor Vinita was eager to concede Jemma was right, but when they looked between the couple, then at each other, they knew it was the safest place for Ben to hide. If anything happened to him, they were certain Jemma would never forgive them.
“Go,” Theo relented.
They moved with urgency but didn’t dare run. It was too slippery with too many trees. Ben didn’t think he’d manage with his arm back in a sling. Neither spoke as they walked nearly two miles to reach the far end of the Rowes’ estate, which was larger than Ben knew. They’d emerged from the trees only a quarter of a mile from the house. They’d been exposed the rest of the time, so both were alert to anyone spying them in the daylight. Jemma knew where to find the key, so she hurried to unlock the summerhouse. Theo wanted neither squatters nor poachers to make their home there, so they kept the small building secure.
Jemma pulled the drop cloth from the settee, and they shook it out together before Jemma folded it in half. They wrapped it around themselves as they huddled together. Ben removed the sling to make it easier to embrace Jemma. She rested her head against his chest, and it calmed them both. Ben stroked her back as they listened for anyone’s approach. They whispered even though they knew their voices wouldn’t carry outside.
“How long do you think we need to stay?” Jemma was in no rush to leave.
“Until your parents send out a search party.” Ben didn’t jest.
Jemma shifted until they could kiss. It was languid with no threat of being caught. It carried on as their hands roamed over each other. Ben felt no pain since Jemma’s kisses drugged him far better than any medicine. He longed for more, as did she. Together they moved to lay Jemma back, allowing Ben to shift above her. He rested his weight on his knees and left forearm. As he gazed down at her, it excited him to think they would soon have the right to be in the same position whenever they wished.
“Jem, once we’re married, I will make love to you any chance we have.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. But if ever you don’t want that, say no. Never fear me forcing you.”
“Forcing me? You would never, ever do that. You know I’d tell my father and brothers, and you’d never survive.” She chuckled before growing serious. “You aren’t that type of man. I feared rejection and disappointment. I feared a broken heart. But I have never, since the moment I spied you, feared you. Even when we didn’t speak more than we had to in passing, I knew I was safe with you. I know you protected me more than once when men wished to do more than converse. I always assumed it was merely because I’m a woman.”
“I’ll always do my best to protect anyone unable to so themselves. But know that it took all my restraint each time not to kill those men. There’s nothing I won’t do to keep you safe. You’re everything to me.” It was as close to a profession of love as they’d come. Neither was read to say the three words lest the other didn’t feel the same. They wanted to believe their feelings were reciprocated, but neither braved the possible rejection.
Instead, their lips fused once more. Ben was careful how much of his weight he pressed against Jemma. But she grew restless. She ran her hands down the length of his back until she reached his buttocks. When he didn’t stop her, groaning instead, she cupped it. It surprised her how different it felt from her own. Chiseled muscle met her palms and fingers. She pressed, wishing him to rub his length against her mound. She understood the logistics of coupling, but she’d never longed for it the way she did now as she welcomed her introduction to passion.
Ben was hesitant as he rocked his hips. He watched Jemma’s eyes slide shut and forced himself not to rush when she tested moving her hips beneath him. But her frustrated moan made his bollocks ache. He wanted this to only be pleasurable for her, even if he thought he might expire from his need to thrust and spend. The dustcover was large enough to keep them covered without impeding their movements. Jemma widened her legs, allowing Ben to settle more against her mons.
“Jemma, do you know what happens between a man and a woman when they come together?”
“Yes. My mother explained it years ago, but I also found a book in father’s study they must have brought back from India. It had pictures.” She appeared sheepish and couldn’t meet Ben’s gaze anymore.
“Did you enjoy looking at them?” His lurid imagination pictured her reading the book and wanting them to be the couples on each page.
“Yes. I—I—” She was too mortified by image that sprang to mind to finish.
“I’ll never insist you share your thoughts, but I wish you would. I think they’re the same as mine.”
“Then you admit yours first,” Jemma whispered.
“I want to think you pictured us.”
“I did. There were some that featured more than two people. I don’t want those, Ben.”
He stared down at her aghast. “I will never share you, and I will never touch another woman. It might be exciting to look at such pictures and even imagine what it would be like, but I would never ask it, and I will never suggest it.”
Jemma didn’t know she’d feared he’d be curious until she admitted to herself she wondered if he’d done it before at a tavern or brothel. Ben knew each thought that passed through her mind as though there were written across her face for him to see.
“Sweetling, I’m not an innocent, but neither am I a rake. I know from experience, but I always—” It was Ben’s turn to not want to finish. But the moment Jemma retreated, he knew he had to finish lest she think the worst of him. “I always wanted it to be you. I imagined it was, but I never allowed myself to believe one day it would be.”
“Darling, I understand. I didn’t assume you were still a virgin. I just don’t want to picture you with someone else, and I don’t want to know any details.”
“I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
Jemma nodded. Ben used their kiss to assure her he wanted to be nowhere else but with her. She reached between them and unfastened her coat. Ben kneeled to shuck his while she slipped hers off. They removed their hats, gloves, and scarves since they were in the way, and they both were growing overheated. Ben sat and patted his lap.
“Straddle me.” Ben helped her gather her skirts until they were around her waist. When she settled, it brought his length against her sheath in a way that was far more intimate than even a few minutes ago. Need pushed her to rock her hips. He cupped her bottom, encouraging her to move faster. When she found a rhythm that had them both tempted for more, he worked her gowns buttons down her back. He unfastened them far enough to pull the sleeves down to her elbows. He cupped her breasts through her chemise and found her pebbled nipples. They’d been wrapped up and growing too hot only moments ago, so he didn’t think the tightened buds were that way from the cold. He leaned forward and laved one through the material.
“You shall leave it wet, and it’ll be cold and damp later.” Jemma plucked at the ribbons at her shoulders, but she caught the under gown before exposing herself. She grew timid for a moment; fearful she was too brazen.
“Jemma, let me see whatever you’re comfortable showing me. I’d gorge myself on the sight of your entire body if I could.” His hand rested on her arm, but he didn’t press. She moved it, and he pulled the chemise down to her waist. He’d never seen more magnificent breasts than the ones before him. He hungered for them, and he would not be denied.
He brought his mouth to her left mound while kneading the right. He flicked his tongue over her nipple before suckling. He cupped that breast, lifting it, so he could widen his mouth. He would enjoy every bit he could fit between his lips. He moved to the other, repeating what he’d just done. He went back and forth as Jemma ran her fingers through his hair and along his good arm and shoulder. Her head tipped back as she moaned. His hand left her breast and dipped under her skirts to trail up the length of her leg. He moved it around to her bare bottom and squeezed. He brought it over her hip and skimmed his fingertips over her lower belly. When they drifted downward, she didn’t stop him. He watched her, gratified by how much she enjoyed his ministrations. He moved slowly, worried he would frighten her once his thumb found her pearl.
“Ben.” The breathy moan tempted him to forget her innocence and claim her as only his. He circled the pad of his thumb over the source of her pleasure. “Ben, I want more, but I know we can’t. The more you touch me, the more I rub against your rod, the more I ache to know what it’ll be like to truly couple.”
“I know, sweetling. I want the same. I long to be inside you, to fill you with my seed.”
“I wish we didn’t have to wait. It’s agony.”
Ben continued to work the satiny flesh until she tensed. She gripped his shirt at his shoulders as she moved faster. The pressure against his cock threatened to make him explode. He breathed, focusing on not spilling in his breeches while still bringing Jemma to release.
“Ben!” A wave of electricity shot from her core out through her body and into her limbs as she went rigid. She practically vibrated from how tense she grew. She’d never experienced the sensation, but she already wanted more. She wanted to continue moving, searching for another release. She was aware of what just happened; she just hadn’t know it could be so incredible.
Ben wrapped his good arm around her waist and twisted them to lower Jemma’s back to the settee again. He inched away, keeping her skirts at her waist until he could settle his shoulders between her thighs.
“I told you I wish to taste all of you.” He licked her seam before swirling his tongue over her pearl. If she’d read the explicit book, he assumed she’d seen pictures of couples engaging in what they did now. He didn’t fear it shocking her. He watched her as he pressed his tongue into her entrance. She curled to observe him, her hands fisting her skirts. But when need threatened to steal all reason, she laced the fingers of her right hand through his hair and pressed his mouth closer. Her hips undulated until that mesmerizing feeling returned.
“Ben, yes. Keep going. Good God.”
Short of the roof caving in around them, Ben wouldn’t stop until he witnessed Jemma climax a second time, knowing he gave her this. His tongue worked her entrance before he sucked on her nub. Her hips lifted off the settee as she finally fell over the precipice. He didn’t hurry to move away, instead licking her with soothing slowness.
“Ben, I want to touch you. I want you to find your release, too.”
“We both know if I free my cock, it’ll be inside you before either of us can stop us.” Ben groaned at the self-denial, but he spoke the truth. Reluctantly, Jemma nodded. As their excitement faded, the cold air made Jemma shiver. They fixed her clothes and once again cuddled, this time with Jemma once more on his lap. It seemed like hours, but it couldn’t have been more than one before her youngest brother tapped on the door to let them know it was safe to return to the manor.
They walked back hand-in-hand, trying not to grin like fools lest everyone guess how they’d occupied themselves. When they went inside, they found her family in the drawing room. Ben wanted to know what happened out of genuine curiosity, but he also wanted to steer the conversation away from anyone asking how they’d spent their time.
“What happened?”
Theo’s gaze met his. “They’ve issued a warrant for your arrest.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. But on what grounds?”
“Fleeing the excisemen and refusing to submit to questioning.”
“But none of them saw me clearly. Since I didn’t stop, none could recognize my face. It was too dark for my hair to give me away.”
“That’s why I’ve demanded an audience with the magistrate as soon as we can make it into to his home. I’ve ordered the horses saddled.”
Jemma slipped on glove one before Ben covered her hand his hands. “You should stay here.”
“No. Someone was bound to have seen you leave right after me. I’ll say we were together the entire time.”
“That’ll ruin your reputation. No. I won’t allow it,” Ben insisted. She arched an imperious eyebrow, and for a moment, Ben knew she was a true princess. One look could command an army, but he wouldn’t succumb. “No.”
Jemma leaned in to whisper. “Either you take me, or I will start my own rumor about how we were too occupied for the excisemen to chase you. Let me help if it’s needed. I will defend you one way or another. Would you rather me do it behind your back or by your side?”
Ben knew she didn’t exaggerate her oath to protect him. He glanced at Theo and Raj, who deferred to him. He realized they saw the couple as good as betrothed if they allowed him to decide.
“You may—” Ben stumbled when Jemma raised both eyebrows and her chin. “You’re coming but stay beside me. If they arrest me, stand between your father and Raj. No matter what, you do not get separated from us.”
“I promise.”
The small party waited for a stable boy to saddle Jemma’s mount, then the four set off for Lantic Bay. It was nearly dusk and hardly the ideal time to be on the road, but no one wanted to wait to have the charges dismissed. If the parish constable or excisemen got ahold of Ben, no one trusted he’d survive to stand trial. They cantered through the village, continuing past it and straight to the magistrate’s home. It was a stately house but not as large as the Rowes’. Theo pounded on the door until a servant opened it. The man spluttered but stepped aside lest Theo barrel through him.
“Simmons, I want to know why you issued a warrant for Mr. Pedrick with no evidence or cause.” Theo stormed into the family’s dining room, disregarding the magistrate’s stunned wife.
“No cause? He fled the assembly hall. Why would he leave if he weren’t guilty?”
“Who saw his face to know it was him? It was a lad from the village the excisemen terrified.” Theo’s selective truth meant he wasn’t entirely lying. Ben was younger than him and had been in Lantic Bay. He was certain being shot at terrified Ben. It certainly terrified him the times he was shot at while in India.
The magistrate clenched his jaw as he swept his gaze over the four new arrivals he didn’t wish to see. “Pedrick has long been suspected of smuggling. It’s time we bring him to justice.”
“Suspected. What proof have you to change that from speculation to certainty?” Raj looked at the seated man, infusing the haughtiness he rarely used but seemed to have inherited along with the earldom. “Show me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Because it would jeopardize a case against him or because it doesn’t exist?” Raj pressed.
The magistrate’s already ruddy complexion flushed with anger. “How dare you barge into my home and demand anything of me?”
Raj stepped forward and gazed down at Simmons until the man retreated in his seat. “I dare because I can. You know who I am. Do you dare lie to me?”
The color drained from Simmons’s face as quickly as it had filled it. He shook his head, but he shot a glare at Ben. No one thought this ended Simmons’s mission to bring Ben to heel, but it bought him another night of freedom. They would all take it. Jemma and Ben stood back as Theo and Raj followed the magistrate to his study. He tapped Raj’s arm when he walked past him.
“It’s growing dark, and I don’t want Jemma riding when none of us can see clearly. I’m taking her home.”
“All right. Uncle Theo and I will resolve everything. Be careful.”
“We will,” Jemma chimed in, only too happy to leave now that she didn’t fear Ben being taken from her. Their horses awaited outside where two grooms held the reins. Ben helped her into the saddle before grimacing as he pulled himself into his. They set off, this time skirting Lantic Bay and heading toward the cliffs. They stopped and dismounted when they reached the path where they met.
“It seems a lifetime ago I spied you in your beautiful bright skirts and tunic. I’ve never seen anything like them before. But as curious as I was about clothes, the enigmatic girl with the devilish smile had me tongue-tied.”
“Hardly. And you were the most handsome young man I’d ever met. All I wanted was a way to keep talking to you. I asked my father who you were when he came home. I said I spied all of you on the beach and wondered why someone my age was involved. I discovered you’re two years older than me and felt foolish. I assumed I amused you because you saw me as a child.”
Ben wrapped his arms around Jemma. “The only time I think about you and children in the same breath is when I imagine ours. I guessed you were a couple years younger than me, and I’d wished we were both older. Until my father warned me you’re a princess, I thought to seek you out each time I returned. Perhaps impress you enough to consider me.”
“The time we wasted with our misunderstanding.” Jemma sighed with regret. “You’d already impressed me, and I’d already considered you.”
“We were far too young, though. We couldn’t have made anything come of it except a prolonged courtship. We’re finally both of an age to consider marriage a wise endeavor. I know our families could have married us both off a couple years ago, but I don’t think your parents or mine were in a rush to see either of us go.”
“I know my parents weren’t, otherwise, they would have forced me to marry someone else.” Jemma tightened her arms around his neck. “I’ve never wanted to marry anyone else.”
“Neither have I.”
Jemma went onto her toes as their kiss grew just as heated as the ones they shared in the summerhouse. Ben’s hands cupped her backside, and just as her kisses drugged him earlier, they were his reprieve from his pain. They sank into each other, wishing to devour rather than taste. Ben’s left hand traveled up her ribs until he cupped her breast, massaging it as she moaned. Her hand trailed over his back and ribs until they found his buttocks. They couldn’t get close enough now that they knew what it was to indulge.
“Jemma, you stretch my resolve to leave you a maiden until it’s frayed to the last strand.”
“Do you think I feel any differently?” They shared another kiss that was abruptly interrupted.
“Get on with tossing her skirts. This waiting grows tiresome.”
Ben spun around, searching the darkness for the intruder. Before him stood a man close to his own age, with a dozen others behind him. He reached for the pistol he always carried at his lower back, but four muskets rose, the metal glimmering in the dark. He stood with his arms akimbo, entirely blocking Jemma from their sight. He felt her hand reach to his waist and withdraw the weapon. She did nothing more, the quiet night threatening to give away the sound if she cocked it.
“Who are you?” Ben demanded, his voice like steel.
“Just someone enjoying the show but growing bored with the foreplay.” The stranger flipped a coin toward Ben, who let it land at his feet. “Maybe that will spur things along. I hear Indians can couple for hours.”
Ben sensed Jemma’s anger radiating from her, but she didn’t move. He glared at the vulgar man, deciding how best to extricate them. But the man swaggered toward them.
“I recognize that hair. Your sister is the little bitch who refused me in my home.”
Ben lashed out without thought, his fist driving into the man’s throat, nearly crushing his windpipe. “You’re Zachary Windsor-Clive. You’re the bloody bastard who tried to rape my sister.”
The sound of the muskets preparing to fire stayed Ben from furthering his attack. He wouldn’t do more to endanger Jemma.
“I’m the Earl of Plymouth, you inbred twat.” Zachary gripped his throat as he signaled men to rush forward. Ben heard his pistol’s hammer draw back. Jemma stepped around him, pointing the gun level with the Earl’s head.
“Call them off.” Jemma eased closer until the barrel pressed against Zachary’s temple. He waved back his men, but Jemma didn’t move until Ben reached up and covered her hand. She released the pistol immediately.
“You shall hang for this.”
“I doubt it. I’m on good terms with Lord Pencarrow. He has his own connections that will erase tonight from anyone’s memory.” He wouldn’t mention Theo or Raj unless it grew more dire than just having the muskets pointed at them.
“Not mine. Give me the gunpowder, and I will forget finding you kissing your whore or that you assaulted me.”
“What gunpowder? I’m not an East Indiaman.”
“Don’t play stupid. I know you have it here. I’ve been following your sister and her lover.” Clearly, he didn’t know since no shipments had arrived since Ben departed for Poole.
“My brother-in-law is an earl, one who seems prone to defending his wife. I doubt he will take well to what you’ve said about my sister or his cousin.” Ben pressed the end of the gun firmer against Zachary’s temple. “Leave.”
Ben stepped back but didn’t lower the gun. He knew Zachary was aware of how Raj felt about the Windsor-Clives and their business interests. He didn’t think Zachary was truly foolish enough to do anything.
But then the young earl proved him wrong. “Grab her.”
Half the men rushed forward. Jemma gathered her skirts and ran. She knew Ben was only one man. He would die before letting any of them take her, and then she would still be their victim. She knew the land between Lantic Bay and Polruan better than any of them, since she hadn’t recognized a single man. They weren’t the excisemen who frequented this length of Cornish coastline. She bolted toward a copse of trees and wound her way through them before dashing toward a path down to the beach. It was the same one Ben used to hide. She knew she would be out of sight since it was dark. She could likely hide only halfway down with no one being the wiser.
She heard the men bellowing, but she didn’t wait. She picked her skirts up higher, the rough ground biting into her feet beneath her thin slippers she hadn’t changed out of before they left her home. It nearly tempted her to take them off, but she couldn’t spare the seconds. She pushed harder, moving faster than she ever had. She didn’t dare look back lest she slam into a tree in front of her, but she desperately wanted to know how Ben fared. She’d run for his sake, not hers.
She skidded a few feet down the path before lying flat on her belly. She heard the men charge past her, cursing their inability to find her. She waited what felt like an eternity but was likely ten minutes before she pushed her torso up so she could look around. She heard nothing, so she rose to a crouch and made her way back up the path.
“Jemma.” She whirled toward Ben and sprinted into his arms. He crushed her against him as she trembled.
“Tell me you’re all right,” she begged.
“I’m fine, except for a few split knuckles. What about you?”
“I’m hale. I hid on the path, so they never saw me in the dark. Did they attack you? You didn’t get hurt?”
“The only one hurt was that bastard who dared look at you.”
“What did you do?” Jemma held her breath. She knew Zachary’s type. He wouldn’t let his embarrassment in front of his men go unpunished. It sounded like Ben had roughed him up, and she—a woman—had held a gun to his head.
“Ensured everyone who sees him here knows he’s unwelcomed. No one will believe him if he claims bandits, and he won’t admit the truth. Let’s get you home.” They rode in silence and shared only a brief kiss before she entered her home. “I’m going back to the summerhouse until I’m certain that miscreant won’t demand the constable search your home.”
Jemma wanted to argue, but after facing a group of men with muskets who wouldn’t hesitate a second time to shoot Ben, she relented. She prayed she hadn’t made a grave mistake agreeing with him.