Seduced Bride-To-Be

CHAPTER 1

Dinah
Benson was not a one to be easily frightened, but now she was near screaming
with horror.

Being
left alone on an empty road, in a carriage with a broken axle was difficult
enough, yet she bore it as best as she could, knowing that there was no
alternative but to wait patiently for help to come. But now, in quickly growing
darkness and with stormy clouds gathering speedily, she shivered with fear. She
had always been petrified of storms! It was on a stormy night five years ago that
her mother died of fever which contributed to Dinah’s dread of thunder and
lightning.

Suddenly,
it started to rain. Heavy drops hit the carriage’s roof and soon waterfalls
were cascading down its sides. A lightning bolt zigzagged across the sky and
Dinah closed her eyes, counting silently until she heard the rumble of thunder.
She went as far as eight. The centre of the storm was still far away, but it
was approaching fast.

Oh,
what a day full of catastrophes it was! She had always dreamed of having adventures
but this one was turning to be less and less pleasant. Another lightning ripped
the clouds and this time the thunder followed much more quickly. Dinah could
not help herself and screamed.

And
then she heard a voice calling her name. Was it real or did she imagine it?

‘Miss
Benson, Dinah!’ she could hear through the rattle of raindrops.

‘Over
here’ she shouted sticking her head outside. ‘I’m here! Oh, help!’

Another
lightning flash! In its light Dinah saw a man approaching on horseback, long black
hair plastered to his face. He looked like a Highwayman. But at that moment she
did not care who he was. She just could not bear to be alone in this storm any
longer.

‘Miss
Benson, are you all right?’ the stranger asked, approaching. ‘We must get you
out of here. It is not safe on the road in this storm. Any moment a branch can
fall and do further damage to the carriage.’

‘Who
are you? How do you know my name? Has Hincks sent you to search for me?’

‘Your
coachman? We found him on the road, not far from the inn. His horse slipped in
the mud and threw him. He’s hurt his head and ankle, but it is not serious. My
man is tending to him.’

‘That
is a truly most wretched day I have ever had! Oh, poor Hincks… I shall go to
him and make sure that he has got all the care he needs. Is the inn far away?’

‘It
is too far to ride there now.’

Another
flash of lightning was followed by almost immediate rumbling of thunder so loud
that it nearly deafened Dinah’s scream.

Next
moment the door of the carriage were open and she found herself wrapped in
strong, muscular arms.

‘Hush,
there’s no need to be afraid of the storm. Come on, I will take you to a safe
place. It is not far away.’

He
lifted her as if she was feather-light and helped her get on a horseback. Sitting
behind her, he put an arm around her waist to support her and they set off in a
quick pace. The rain was falling heavily and within minutes Dinah was drenched
to the skin. She closed her eyes to block the horror of frequent lightning but
she was no longer so mortally terrified. The strength of the stranger’s embrace
and the heat of his body seemed to give her courage. She did not know who he
was and where he was taking her, but she decided that she had no choice but to
trust him.

They
turned into a wood path and after ten minutes they reached what looked like a small
hunting lodge. The stranger jumped off the horse and helped her dismount. Then,
he fished a large key from behind a loose stone at the front steps and opened
the door for her.

‘Wait
for me inside, I’ll just get the horse to the stable.’

When
Captain Alex Legrant came back after having seen to his horse, he found the
girl exactly where he left her. Her teeth were chattering but he did not know
whether from cold or from fear. Both, he surmised.

‘Come’
he said, his voice urgent. ‘You must get off these wet clothes; otherwise
you’ll catch your death. I will build a fire in the drawing room, so we can
both dry ourselves.’

‘Are
there no servants here, sir?’ she asked.

‘Not
at the moment. It’s my uncle’s old hunting lodge. I’ve just come here for a day
or two to check the grounds. I brought only one man with me and him I left at
the inn.’

The
girl looked uncertain. She was alone with an unknown man in the middle of the
forest. He read the doubt in her eyes and said impatiently:

‘Look,
I know what you are thinking but there is hardly any choice left under the
circumstances. Would you rather be sitting alone on the road?’

‘No,
of course not’ she said quietly, but looked unconvinced.

‘Good.
Now, come with me, I shall find you one of my uncle’s old dressing robes and a
blanket, so you can change and wrap yourself for warmth.’

She
followed him into one of the bedrooms and accepted a dark blue silk gentleman’s
dressing gown and a plaid blanket.

‘Once
you are changed, come to the fire. And bring your clothes so they can dry.’

He
left her a candle and shut the door behind him. Thank goodness he and Richards
had been off riding for so long today. Had they not found the injured man, he
might have been lying on the road till the morning. And Dinah Benson would have
to spend a night alone on the road in the raging storm, of which she was so clearly
petrified.

He
started the fire with the practised ease of a soldier and went in search of a dry
shirt and a clean pair of breeches. He also fetched some cold ham and bread
from the kitchen and a bottle of brandy. He was just laying it all out on the table
when the door opened and Dinah came in.

The
dressing gown was obviously far too big for her and she had to tie it with an improvised
belt. The blanket covered her shoulders. Her damp red hair was in disarray and
she was clearly still shaking.

He
took the bundle of her wet clothes from her and spread each garment on various
pieces of furniture. He noticed that she blushed when he was handling her underclothes.

‘You
must excuse me the lack of elegance, Miss Benson. I know that it is more like a
soldier’s camping place that anything you shall be used to.’

‘Why,
it is all perfectly all right’ she said kneeling in front of the fire. The
flames put a rosy glow to her white skin and Alex could not avert his eyes from
her slender figure. ‘There is fire and I can see that you brought some
refreshment. After all, having adventures is not about being comfortable, is it?’

‘Are
you keen on adventures, Miss Benson?’

‘I
have not had much experience of them and, I dare say, I shall have even less in
the future.’

‘Why
is that so?’ he offered here a glass of brandy and when she looked dubious, he
urged: ‘Drink it, it shall chase the chill out of your body.’

She
turned to face him as she accepted the glass. She lifted it to her eyes, as if
appraising the golden liquid within it, and then, with a challenging gleam in
her green eyes she drank half of it in one go. She grimaced slightly and then
gave Alex a speculative look.

‘I
shall tell you about myself, sir, but first I would like to know something
about you. We could start with a name.’

She
is reproaching me, thought Alex. Just seeing Dinah Benson, dressed only in an
old dressing robe, with her red curls coiling around her long white neck, was
enough to make his throat go dry. When she gave him that look, she was almost
provocative. 

He
swallowed, chasing away disturbing thoughts, and introduced himself:

‘I
am Captain Alex Legrant.’

Dinah
looked across the table at her saviour, her mouth full of ham and bread. She
had hardly eaten all day and had been starving. The situation, she decided,
allowed her to forget some of her table manners and let her youthful appetite
take over. For a moment they ate in silence and Dinah took opportunity to study
Captain Alex Legrant. He had the strong features and browned complexion of a
man used to rough conditions. His eyes were dark and watchful and his nose must
have been broken. Long dark, hair hung around his face in drying curls and a black
short beard covered his cheeks and jaw. Not enough, however, for Dinah not to
see the terrible scars disfiguring a big part of his left cheek. Dinah had a
feeling that she had seen him before.

‘You
probably wonder where I got those’ he said and the directness of his statement
made her blush.

‘I
am sorry, sir. I did not mean to stare.’

‘Do
not apologise. Everybody does. Stare, I mean. Even growing a beard did not help
much.’ His mouth twitched in a bitter smile. ‘An explosion during a battle in
the Pyrenees. I am very lucky to be alive, actually. But let us not talk of me.
You were supposed to tell me why your life is deprived of adventures.’

Dinah
looked him in the eye. His way of speaking in short, direct sentences made her
suddenly abandon all proprietary and answer in the same manner.

‘Because
I am a woman, sir. I have been brought up to obey my father and soon I am to
learn to obey my husband.’

‘And
who is to be your husband?’ he asked and a curious gleam lit his black eyes.

‘Lord
Timsbury’ Dinah said bitterly.

‘Don’t
you like Lord Timsbury? I have met him on occasion, I believe, and he seemed
pleasant enough. Besides, he had a reputation of being a very good soldier.’

‘Well,
you know more about him than I, sir. I have not had a pleasure of meeting the
gentleman. It is my father’s wish that I marry him. Such an honour for a
merchant’s daughter to marry a title!’

‘Is
that all what he is to you, Miss Benson, a title?’

‘Not
to me, Captain Legrant, to my father. He does business with Lord Timsbury. And
if you are, by any chance, feeling sorry for the man, do not forget that for
him I am probably just another piece of goods in a transaction.’

He
seemed startled by her choice of phrase, but she was past caring. Somehow, in
this forest lodge, with an unknown man for company, she felt an urge to be free
of all pretence that duty and upbringing forced her to adopt.

‘Do
you mind if I sit down by the fire?’ she asked and not waiting for an answer
she took her half empty glass of brandy and sat on a fur rug in front of the
fireplace.

She
felt rather than heard the man sitting just behind her.

‘A
title marrying money. How crude it sounds when you put it like that, Miss
Benson.’

She
was sitting just in front of him and Alex had to fight an urge to caress her
neck. Her red hair shone in the firelight. She smelled faintly of roses. His
eyes were on the knot of her belt. It did not look very tight. If he just
pulled it… Her voice brought him back to his senses.

‘How
else shall I put it? It is hard for me to think well of Lord Timsbury. Papa
says that it is not the money that he is interested in. Apparently, he had seen
me riding in a park when we last visited London and he was charmed by my
beauty. But, for some reason, he did not introduce himself. How am I supposed
to believe that?’

‘Maybe
he has got his reasons not to make your acquaintance as yet. And why should you
not believe a man capable of falling for your beauty?’

She
turned abruptly and faced him.

‘Do
not mock me, Captain Legrant! My beauty?’

‘You
are a very beautiful girl, Dinah’ he said quietly, his voice slightly hoarse.

In
her agitation, she did not seem to notice that he used her first name.

‘How
can I be beautiful? So skinny and with my red hair. And those freckles!’

‘Your
hair is your greatest asset. And, slender as you are, you are certainly full in
all the right places’ his gaze lowered to her breasts, now rising and falling
very fast. ‘As for freckles, a man just wants to kiss each of them.’

She
should be shocked by his words, slap him, scream, anything! Instead she looked
into his damaged, but oddly attractive face, and let herself imagine what it
would be like to be kissed by him. She remembered the strength of his arms, the
steely muscles, and wanted to feel them around her again.

You
have always wanted an adventure, she told herself. And here was her only
chance. All her life she had been a good girl, always properly behaved and
polite. She had followed her father’s wishes in everything, knowing how much he
had suffered after her mother’s death. She would obey him now, as well, and
marry Lord Timsbury, although it made her feel as if she was one of her
father’s merchandises.

This
once, just this once, she had a chance to follow her instincts and do something
she wanted to do, regardless of the consequences. She closed her eyes and
whispered:

‘Do
you want to, Captain Legrant?’

‘Call
me Alex. Do I want to...... what?’ His voice was husky, as if affected by the tension
growing between them.