Stony Creek Hero [Stony Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (32 page)

“What do you want me to do, honey? He is over thirty, six foot five, and believe it or not, I did just threaten to put him over my knee. My choices are limited here, Lillian!” Bill answered his wife with matching frustration.

His focus was eventually pulled from his woman, who was responding so cooperatively to his attack, by the conversation and explanation of the situation. It appeared that Theodore Davis had been siphoning money from his accounts for the last fifteen years by skimming money off the interest they earned. In addition, there was the direct involvement of Lizzie that was revealed and verified by phone taps where he had overinflated the interest owed not only on her house but the restaurant as well. Apparently, he took that extra money and was tapping it into his personal account at the bank. The arrogant bastard hadn’t even tried covering his tracks as he figured there would be no one interested in checking on a small-town banker.

The FBI had tapes of evidence confirming his lies but also his intent to force Lizzie into a sexual relationship in order to keep her holdings before Ben got involved. There was pile after pile of photos featuring Lizzie at his home, confirming his long-standing perverse interest in her. After Ben made Lizzie safe from financial ruin, Mr. Davis had hired men to kidnap her so he could extract revenge for his embarrassment. He felt that Lizzie “owed” him for allowing her all those months of late payments and then spurning his offer of salvation with another. With her traitorous turn to Ben, as Theodore had put it, he was going to get a taste of her, one way or another. Luckily, the men hired for the job were none other than the three present.

Those very same men shocked her to her foundation as she had been sure that she was being thrust into a desperate situation. The FBI had just picked Lizzie up and explained everything to her in the car while the rest of the town had been mobilizing their rescue. Lizzie had torn her mouth away from Ben’s intoxicating kisses long enough to hear how Millie had given a detailed description of the agents, their car, and physical forms that would have impressed even the toughest of seasoned officers. Gus had been right. She was better suited for the FBI than the agents in front of them were.

It suddenly dawned on Ben that his mother and the other matrons had rifles in their hands, too. What the hell? Damn it, Lizzie had single-handedly taken down Theodore Davis with his help and now his mother and the Ladies Guild were part of the Stony Creek Militia. There was no way he was going to let these slick ladies get the upper hand on the men of the town. No way, he was going to cook their goose.

With a grin of naughty intent, Ben turned in the direction of Donny and his father. Not releasing his hold on his mud-slicked model of femininity, he got a mischievous tone in his voice.

“Oh, Dad, fellas! Did anyone happen to notice that the ladies are armed? After today, we all know that they can handle the guns and themselves but if I go down, who is next to follow, hum?” Ben said almost sweetly. He felt Lizzie cringe as he watched the expressions on the men’s faces go from mild interest to marked disapproval. His own father walked over to Lillian, gave a quick kiss, and pulled the gun from her hands. The action was repeated by Gus and Donny who were whispering some things rapidly in their respective ladies’ ears.

“Why did you do that, Ben?” Lizzie whispered up to him, looking shocked. The FBI, Sly, and Nat appeared to be wrapping things up at present with talk of doing annoying paperwork all afternoon and transporting Theodore to a government jail. Ben took a brief look in the former banker’s direction. He wanted ten minutes alone with him. He saw actual rage at the thought of how close that man had gotten to almost hurting his woman. It was Lizzie, however, who turned the tables on him by being the one who was able to bring Theodore Davis down with her testimony.

It didn’t sit well with him that he hadn’t been the one to at least throw a punch or do some sort of damage to protect the love of his life. Ben felt caged in by his own skin and the riot of intense emotions that were flooding his system. He needed to be close to her. He needed to calm his inner fear that he could have lost her when he had just started to figure things out.

Ben was shaken from his morbid thoughts by the very sweet soul that he was currently focused on.

“There is no way that I am going to have you, Mom, and the rest of the women of this town trying to save us every time something goes wrong, Ms. Carmichael!” he bellowed, looking down at her.

Lizzie had pulled herself out of his embrace and stood like a muddy avenging angel. Her gorgeous hair was matted down with a huge smear of mud going down the side of her face. The beautiful outfit was now a lovely shade of light and dark browns, with her firm thighs looking like he had smeared the mud on himself while caressing their soft inner surfaces. Perhaps he had unconsciously. Well, in his defense, she was plastered deliciously under his body for several minutes. What was a man to do?

“Listen up, Mr. Powell!” Lizzie raised her voice back, eliciting an eyebrow raise from him. “Not only was it me who gave a deposition to all that I knew about Mr. Davis, but it was Millie Braxton who was the only one aware enough to sound the alarm! Not one of the men even noticed those three hooligans take me right off the darned street!”

Ben opened his mouth to respond as he heard the matrons all murmur their agreement, but was cut off as Lizzie started to advance on him with a murderous expression.

“Oh, and by the way, I don’t recall agreeing to be your fiancée, buddy! The traditional manner of engagement involves something involving getting down on a knee and asking, you huge, arrogant brute! How dare you assume that I would just accept and fall into your arms? Who do you think you are? Oh, I know, you are a Powell male. Arrogant and possessive! Sorry, Lillian.” Lizzie finished her tirade with an apology to his mother for insulting her men.

Lillian surprised her, however. “Oh no, honey, you keep going. So far you have got it pretty darned accurate if you ask me!”

“I couldn’t agree more. Just assuming she would say yes, the nerve!” his Aunt Florence finished.

Ben flinched slightly under the onslaught of nodding heads and disapproving expressions from the rest of the ladies. Okay, perhaps he could have handled that a bit better.

“Sly, are we done here? I need to take Lizzie home.” Ben tried to clear the storm clouds that were descending directly on his head. Seeing Nat nod, Ben tenderly lifted Lizzie’s hand to his lips and kissed her muddy knuckles and then turned it so his lips could graze her palm. He felt her shiver and smiled into her hand.

“Come with me, baby, let me take you home,” Ben murmured to her softly.

Lizzie must have been drained from the events of the previous hours as she lost all her bravado and leaned into him exhaustedly. She even allowed him to lift and cradle her lush form in his arms as he thanked everyone that he walked past and loaded her up into his dually.

After he climbed in on his side and was about to drive away, he felt her loving gaze and heard her whispered confession. “I can’t believe you actually did come for me. I didn’t know that anyone actually saw what happened.”

Putting all the love he felt for her in his own eyes, he answered her simply.

“I will always come for you, protect you, baby. The whole town loves you and they know that we love each other. You are never going to be alone again, this I promise,” Ben said as he drove them out of town.

Ben held Lizzie’s hand the entire drive back, unable to relinquish some level of physical contact with her body. For the second time in their relationship, he had felt fear, consuming terror that she was in danger and he might not be able to save her. This go-round, or rather fiasco, turned out not to be the violent kidnapping that was suggested, but that didn’t calm his inner beast one bit. His need to dominate was riding him hard and he was fighting an inner battle with himself to make tender love to her as opposed to what his brain was telling him he needed to do to gain his control back.

“Ben, where are we going? You just passed my road, honey,” Lizzie asked in question.

Ben gave her a soft smile, all he could manage at the moment really.

“My house, darlin’,” Ben replied simply.

As he made the turn onto Rugged Hill Ranch, he felt himself relax as they drove in past his mother’s beautiful artistry with the gate landscaping. The familiar helped take the edge off his needs slightly but it wasn’t enough to stop them. As they drove past his Aunt’s house and the main house, he heard her sigh.

“Your ranch is just so beautiful, Ben, so peaceful. I understand why you love it so much,” Lizzie said in awe of his home.

“Baby, I do love the ranch but I love you more. I hope you are starting to understand that.” Ben tried to make her understand what he was having difficulty putting into words.

His shiny silver trailer was tucked almost charmingly into the foliage that came into view. It was hidden from the main ranch road and Ben had attractively planted trees that draped around the front and sides, giving it an almost urban chic look. Lizzie had commented the last time they spent the night here that he was a man of many hidden talents. He had several new ones that he planned on showing her, starting right now.

As he parked the truck and unbuckled his seat belt, he half turned in the seat to explain to Lizzie what he was feeling but as usual, she already knew.

“Ben, honey,” she began, with her eyes downcast but not in upset. He immediately recognized her submissive position and felt his body surge in anticipation and arousal as he took it in.

“I would like for you to tell me what you need me to do,” Lizzie said softly, reading his mind.

Ben leaned over and scooped her up, pulling her out on his side without answering. He walked up to the front door, knowing that the next time the door opened for them to walk back out, things would be different, better.

* * * *

Lizzie stood just inside the entryway in Ben’s very airy and very messy home. She quelled the urge to start straightening up, as usual, and didn’t move until her gave her leave to do so. The cool air from his AC felt delicious in comparison the increasing temperature from anticipation. Ben was walking around to her back, leaning over to softly kiss her dirty face, cuddling into her neck as he ran his fingers ever so lightly over the distended peaks of her breasts. She could feel her respirations increase as he fit himself right behind her and slipped his meaty arms around her, enfolding her in a comforting embrace.

“Baby, you had me so out of my mind with worry. Please indulge me, please allow me to feel like myself again, okay?” Ben shocked her by actually verbalizing his feelings. Perhaps men can be taught? Lizzie found herself immediately nodding obediently as she pressed backward into the warmth of his chest. She licked her lips as she felt the sensation of his monster erection pulse by the increase in contact with her buttocks. With a naughty smile that he couldn’t see in his position, she lightly rotated her hips to grind against it, silently telling him that she, too, was hungry for what he needed. His breathing was deep and intoxicating against the lobe of her ear as his nimble fingers slid the buttons free on her muddy, white vest. Ben leaned over her shoulder to watch as he ran his fingertips over the nubs that hardened in the cool air and the hot sensation of her own arousal. In sumptuous circles, his hands claimed ownership of her full, soft breasts while his lips began a sensuous assault on that spot below her ear, causing cream to pour from her core. Lizzie tilted her neck to allow him better access in tasting her skin as his hands slid her vest off her arms and onto the floor.

One hand stole back up her chest to cup her neck and chin, pulling it to the side. His controlling clasp furthered her body’s free fall into desire as the other hand slipped under the waist of her matching shorts and into her silk thong. Her gasp filled the quiet of the room as his questing fingers found her swollen lips, soft and weeping as they slid into her channel. Ben expertly used the palm of his hand to press intoxicatingly against her clit while she heard his breathing increase on her neck, whispering of his own increasing desire. Not allowing her one second to calm her own erratic respirations, he pushed her over the edge, grinding his cock into her ass as she came clenching on his hand. Unable to stay silent, she cried out as waves of electric pulses shot out through her body as he slowed his stimulation of her clit.

Lizzie had felt the controlled tightening of his grip on her throat as she had gushed out her pleasure on his hand, pleased to know that he was in less control than he let on. She allowed him to divest her of her remaining shorts and shoes as he took her hand and led them both into his shower.

Ben leaned in and turned on the shower so that the steam started to rise from the enclosure. She watched as he turned back to her, looking like a man struggling with his emotion. Knowing what he needed, control, Lizzie smiled softly up at him and began to pull his muddy T-shirt from his jeans. Placing light kisses along the upper planes of his muscled chest, she felt his own shiver even as the room heated from the steam. His hiss was like ambrosia to her as she toyed with one of his distended nipples, allowing her fingers to pluck at its smooth texture. Her mouth closed over the other, alternating between gentle laps and deep suckling and causing him to groan. She felt decadent as his hands threaded into her hair, keeping her flush against his shuddering form. She wondered how it was possible not to get turned on by a man who knows just how much pull to give her silken hair to keep her on the right side of pain that she so enjoyed. Reveling in his response, she allowed her fingers to unbutton his jeans and slip them down his legs. Using her own naked body as an intimate caress, she slid herself down his chiseled belly, placing light kisses along her descent, until she got to her desired destination.