Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Devil’s Lair
Benedict was sitting with Charles in his apartments before making their way to the gaming rooms. The crowd was uncharacteristically large tonight, especially since the season was not upon them. The noise from above normally excited Benedict, knowing that those patrons sitting at the tables were filling his pockets. Now, the sounds of gaiety and boisterous laughter did nothing for him, he longed for more and until he found Sophie’s brother and the cousin hell-bent on killing him, he could not have what he desired most.
“I can’t sit here staring at the walls much longer. We should begin making the rounds. Keep your eyes open for Pettigrew. I have no idea what Bradford looks like, but if you notice someone you haven’t seen before, we should investigate. I informed Sam to allow Pettigrew entrance if he shows,” Benedict said as he stood from where he had been seated and walked toward the door.
“I’m not certain Pettigrew would announce his presence. I imagine he will more than likely try to sneak in undetected with some of his friends, that is if he still has any. But it is more than likely that he will not try to harm you here.”
Benedict agreed, but he was anxious to be done with this mess and he welcomed Pettigrew or Bradford to come to him, to be man enough to face him instead of attacking him from the shadows as the cowards they truly were.
He and Charles made their way up the stairs to the gaming rooms above. They moved stealthily through the crowds of people. It was a typical night, perhaps busier than usual for this time of year, but The Lair was still the best gaming house in London. People far and wide came to drink, gamble, and enjoy lovely ladies who came to prey upon the wealthy men who frequented the establishment.
“The prince from some small eastern European country is supposed to visit the Lair tonight. I suppose that is the reason for the larger crowd. It doesn’t matter to members of the ton how small the country is, a crown is a crown.”
Charles laughed. “Yes, I remember a few years ago when a Prussian prince traveled to London. Hawksford and Leicester took him out drinking, and he ended up naked the next morning in the Serpentine. Needless to say, the palace did not find it as comical as the three of us did.”
Benedict laughed as he remembered the incident but then stopped dead in his tracks as Charles came to an abrupt halt beside him.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is that your wife playing hazard?” Charles asked as he squinted his eyes to peer across the room.
At first, Benedict thought he was seeing things. It was not like he hadn’t imagined seeing Sophie all over London since he had returned after leaving her in Brighton, but now there she was in the flesh, and showing more flesh than he would have liked. He watched as she smiled at the gentleman seated beside her. She was wearing a royal blue dress with a bodice cut much lower than anything he had seen her in before. The tops of her breasts giving a nice show to the men around the table. The sudden elation he felt at seeing her again gave way to anger as one of the men leaned over and whispered something in her ear.
He stalked toward her, Charles following behind. When he reached the table, Sophie looked up and gave him a bright smile. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to kiss her or wring her pretty neck.
“I was beginning to wonder if you had other plans for the night.” She stood from the tables and sashayed over to him. “I hope you don’t mind. I lost a few pounds at the tables, but since I lost it here, I figured you wouldn’t be too upset.”
Charles cleared his throat to gain her attention. “While I hate to disrupt this touching moment, I have to ask, did you travel to London alone?”
Sophie’s grin widened. “Bella said to tell you that she is waiting for you at Avanley House.”
Charles’ expression instantly lightened. “Then I bid both of you goodnight. I think I will call it an evening and join my wife at home.”
Sophie looked around the room. “Do you have a suggestion of what I should play next?” Her tiny nose scrunched up. “I’m afraid hazard is just not my game.”
Benedict gripped her arm and pulled her through the crowd of people. He passed Sam along the way and with a nod of his head, communicated that they were not to be disturbed.
He pulled her into his private apartments and closed the door behind him. He watched as she made her way around the room, her hips swaying from side to side. “The first time I came here, I didn’t take the time to appreciate how extravagant your apartments were at the Lair.” She turned to face him. “I see your arm has healed.”
It took all of Benedict’s strength, strength he didn’t know he possessed, not to rush to her and take her in his arms. “Why are you here, Sophie?”
He saw her eyes flash as her lips tightened in a straight line. “Might I remind you that you stated in our original marriage agreement that I could do as I saw fit? I could go where I wanted and reside wherever my heart desires. I chose to come to London.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Sophie’s hands clenched into fists. “You do not get to tell me where I should be! You left me, you left me to live a life on my own.” She stomped closer to him and lifted on her tiptoes to get closer to his face. “If you don’t want me to live with you as your wife, you will simply have to get used to watching me live without you. It is only fair. You don’t get to cast me aside and out of your mind as if I don’t exist. I want you to see me every day as if I were haunting you.”
She moved to step away, but Benedict gripped her arms painfully, pulled her into his chest, and leaned down angrily. “You already haunt me! If I could cast you aside I would, but you are embedded in my soul. I see you everywhere I look, I hear your laughter on the breeze, I see your smile, hear your voice calling to me, and I crave your touch!” He leaned down and took her lips in a bruising kiss. “I had reasons for leaving you, and it was not because I wanted to be without you.”
“I know of your reasons.” She wrenched herself free from his grip. “Lord Warrick told me everything.”
Benedict stalked toward her, his anger in full competition with his lust. “Warrick? What the hell does Warrick know about me?”
She lifted her chin a notch higher. “He made inquiries as to why you left me, and when he found out the reason, he told me everything.”
Benedict had stalked her until she was backed against a wall. He pressed his body against hers as he placed both hands on either side of her head, effectively caging her in between them. “Why the hell would Warrick interfere in my affairs? Why would he want to know the reason I had left?!” He was shouting now, and he saw her face pinken as her own temper began to flare.
“He did it so he wouldn’t feel guilty!”
“Guilty?! Guilty for what?!”
“Guilty for kissing me!”
Benedict sucked in a deep breath as he punched his fist into the wall. “The bastard kissed you?!”
Sophie didn’t care that he was mad, he had left her to think he didn’t care, and his burst of anger just confirmed to her that he did. “Why is it your concern, Benedict? Why?”
“Damn it, Sophie! You are my wife!”
“Then you shouldn’t have left me. You shouldn’t have left me to cry myself to sleep at night, to think you had grown tired of me, to think that you really wanted to abide by our ridiculous agreement we had when we first decided to marry. My heart was broken, and I was not sure if it would ever heal. I felt empty inside. I moved throughout the day like a shadow.” She raised a hand to her cheek to wipe a stray tear from her eye. “You should be thankful to Warrick.”
Benedict leaned further away from her. “Thankful? I should be thankful? The bastard is in love with you, Sophie. He kissed you! That thought alone makes me want to call him out.”
“He is an honorable man and wanted me to know the truth. If he had been the scoundrel, you believe him to be, he would have just taken me with him to his estate in Kent. That was his plan before he found out the truth behind your departure. He saw how much I was hurting. I couldn’t disguise it, no matter how hard I tried.” She pushed against his chest as he stepped closer. “So, if you want to push me away, if you want to go about everything alone, then I refuse to be unseen so that it is easier for you to deal with.” She took a deep steading breath, straightened out her skirts, and tucked a stray hair that had fallen behind her ear. “Now, let me pass. There is a large gaming room upstairs, and I have money to lose.”
She watched as a feral grin spread across her husband’s face as he stepped even closer. He leaned down toward her, his nose touching hers. “If you think for one minute that I will allow you to walk out of that door, to go back into those gaming rooms where every man in there is thinking of what you would look like naked in their bed…” He let one lone finger brush across the top of her bodice. “If you imagine that I will allow you to walk away from me after weeks of dreaming of having you this close again, of hearing your voice…” He leaned down pressing his nose into the crook of her neck. “Of having your scent haunt me at night as I lay in bed, my cock throbbing with need…. You are sadly mistaken, dear wife. You made your choice to come here and now you will pay for that decision.”
Sophie had just enough time to gasp before his lips descended upon hers. The burning need they felt for each other was nearly consuming her. She pressed against him and relished the sound of her dress being ripped away from her body. He released her lips only long enough so that his mouth could feast on her neck and shoulders. Sophie cried out as his teeth sank into her flesh.
Her hand moved over him pulling his coat from his shoulders before she tugged and ripped his shirt open. She pressed her lips against his warm flesh letting her tongue taste him as her hands roamed over his body.
Benedict had meant to scold her, to send her back, but there was no use in fighting it. She was here, and she belonged to him. And he would never let her go again. He had already ripped her dress down to her waist but that wasn’t enough. He raised his foot and with his boot tugged harder, the sound of the silk ripping only spurred him further until the dress lay on the floor in tatters at her feet. He took just a minute to look down at her, her body still hidden from his view behind the sheer chemise she wore. He growled as he lifted her into his arms and moved toward his bed chamber.
“Damn Warrick for thinking he could take what is mine.” He threw her none too gently on the bed.
Sophie bounced once but then looked up toward the ceiling. She began pushing herself back as he stalked toward her on his hands and knees. “Oh, my word! The ceiling….it is…”
Benedict grinned as he watched her eyes scan over the orgy scene painted above them. “Wicked… Is that the word you are seeking?” He gripped her ankles and yanked her back down to him. “I have always wanted to bring you here, to make love to you here in my bed underneath that.” He grabbed her slippers and pulled them from her feet and threw them across the room. Then he let his hands move up her stockinged leg slowly. “Take a good look, Sophie. I want you to take notice of the things that are being done to those maidens in the fresco.”
Sophie couldn’t seem to pull her eyes away from the indecent painting. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and if she had seen it the first time she met Benedict Kingston, the first time when she came to plead with him to not allow her brother to lose the abbey gaming at The Lair, she would have run from him, too afraid to return. She felt his hand pushing her chemise higher as his fingers moved up past her stocking to where they met the silky-smooth flesh of her thigh.
Benedict felt a need he had never felt before, a hunger, he was ravenous for this woman. He rolled each one of her stockings down her legs revealing to him the creamy soft skin underneath. He saw Sophie’s shocked expression as she continued to stare at the ceiling above them. His laughter caused her to tear her gaze away to stare at him.
“Every one of those things depicted, every one of those wicked immoral acts you see, all of them, I am going to do to you this very night, my love.”
Sophie saw the wicked promise in his eyes as he tore his shirt from his chest. She bit her bottom lip in anticipation. When she made the decision to come to London, to confront him for deceiving her, she had secretly longed for this and if he thought the things depicted in the sinfully delicious scene above her would make her shy away, he was mistaken.
She leaned up on her elbows. “Well then, let’s get on with it.”
Benedict’s sharp intake of breath seemed to fill the room. He didn’t hesitate. He quickly swept her chemise over her head leaving her naked for his pleasure. He took just a moment to admire the exquisite beauty before him.
“Bloody hell, Sophie. How will I ever be able to let you leave this bed?”
Then with an almost wild ferocity, he took what he wanted, what he had been dreaming of every night since he left her. His mouth swept over hers in a kiss that would leave no doubt in her mind to whom she belonged. His hands gripped her flesh tightly as if he were afraid, she would vanish before him. But that wasn’t enough, he wanted to taste every inch of her. He wanted to kiss and nibble on her perfect skin before he took her in every way imaginable. His body shook with need, and fear that he would hurt her. Afraid that savagery would overtake him, and he would use her in ways one does not use a wife. But right now, he couldn’t think beyond the need to sink his cock into her and relish in the way it felt to have her naked body pressed against his own.
He pushed her legs apart and thrust into her, her cries filled the room as he took what he wanted, what he needed. He closed his eyes, willing himself not to spill into her immediately, and praying he had not hurt her. When he felt her legs tighten around his waist, and he looked into the passion filled eyes of his wife, he knew that he was not just slacking his lust for her, he was giving her what she needed, what she wanted as well. They both had missed this, they both needed to drink their fill and the troubles that they faced could wait a day…. possibly two. Hell, he may not leave this bed, or her body for a bloody week.
The sounds of the crowds above in the gaming rooms had long since drifted away. Benedict allowed his fingers to trace circles over Sophie’s naked back and shoulders as she slept on her belly. He had been true to his word and had taken her multiple times and in various and intriguing new ways for many hours. To his delight, his sweet little wife had been just as ravenous as he and more than willing to try everything he suggested. Now that his lust had been sated, for the time being, he realized that now with Sophie in London, he had to take additional measures to keep her safe. The danger had not passed, and he was still concerned for her safety but after seeing her and having her in his arms again, he knew that he did not possess the willpower to send her away. He moved her hair to the side and pressed his lips to the top of her spine and then feathered kisses along the line down to the curve at the top of her buttocks. Sophie moaned sweetly and he flipped her over, so he had access to her full round breasts. She smiled as he lowered his head to pull her nipple between his teeth.
He let his hands move over her ribs to her flat belly and he noticed she was thinner than when he left her. “You need to eat, my love. Shall I have Sam bring you something?”
Sophie shook her head. “Maybe later.”
“You are thinner. I can count your ribs.”
Sophie frowned and pulled the sheet over her. “I haven’t been able to eat very much or hold food down since you left.”
Benedict felt like the biggest bastard ever to walk the streets of London. “Darling, I will spend my life trying to make it up to you. What I did was unconscionable, but you don’t know how it tore at my heart knowing I was hurting you, the fear I felt leaving you alone knowing Warrick and others would desire to make you theirs. I left because I was afraid for you. If you had been with me when the accidents occurred, you could have been hurt or killed.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
Benedict chuckled as he tugged the sheet back down. “And if I had told you the truth, would you have agreed to go to Kenworth Park and stay sequestered until the danger had passed?”
Sophie rolled her eyes knowing she would have wanted to come to London with him. “I still should not have been left behind to think the worst. Do you still not realize what I suffered?”
Benedict’s face turned serious as he moved to cover her body with his own. “Do you not think I suffered Sophie? I never imagined it would take as long to find the person responsible for the threats. I had every intention of coming back and explaining everything. I’m glad I didn’t know Warrick was attempting to take you from me. It would have added to my torment. Last night as I was holding you in my arms, I couldn’t shake the thought of how close I came to losing you.”
Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. “Do you know who is behind it?”
Benedict kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her eyes, and her lips before answering. “We have a few leads, but I don’t want you to worry.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes just a fraction. “It’s my brother, isn’t it?”
Benedict paused. “I believe he is involved, yes, but there is someone else who is helping him and encouraging him.”
Sophie could feel her eyes begin to fill with tears. How could her brother have turned out to be such a monstrous person? “I’m so sorry.” Her voice trembled as she spoke.
Benedict cupped her face in his hands. “Shh, there will be none of that, my love. There is nothing for you to be sorry about.” He kissed her deeply. “Everything will be alright.” He nudged her legs further apart so he could settle between her thighs. “I only want to love you, Sophie. I don’t want to think of anything else. Time will come for that all too soon.”
He entered her slowly and swallowed her gasp with his kiss. As he moved inside her, he knew he would do whatever it took to keep this woman safe and by his side. While the Lair had always been his home, Sophie was his world.