One particular evening George was especially enraged at Robert. One of the trees on that parcel of land had recently begun bearing fresh ripe apples and George took the fruit as a personal affront to everything that made him a man.
Mary had no idea what apples had to do with anything, but George instructed her to go gather as many as she and the cook could carry. The next morning, Mary put on one of her more casual dresses, the light cotton type that one wears around the house. She and the cook trudged down the hillside and around the pond to gather said offensive fruit.
Mary grinned at the short rotund cook trying to jump for the apples.
“Do not laugh mum, it’s harder than it looks.”
Mary, at several inches taller and a number of pounds lighter, was able to reach them more easily.
The cook just shook her head, “I’m doing the best I can but I do not care anyway. What are we doing out here mum?”
Mary looked at the shiny red skin of the apple and took a deep bite, chewing thoughtfully. She offered the cook a bite and the poor sweating girl accepted eagerly.
Out of everyone in the household, the cook was probably the one person Mary spent the most time with, and coincidentally liked the most. They lay back on the ground next to each other and Mary ran her fingers over the tiny blades of grass. It felt like the velvet that covered their dining room chairs.
Off in the distance, hoof beats pounded against the ground but the two women paid no attention. In the countryside, hoof beats were as common as crickets or birds. The grass almost felt cool beneath them compared to the sweltering blanket of humidity that spread out on top of them.
Slowly Mary became more aware of the hoof beats, as though the ground was trembling from them. Suddenly they stopped. She opened her eyes and found herself staring up at the underside of a black horse’s jaw.
She scrambled away, terrified of the giant black beast. The cook crawled in the opposite direction with the same fear on her young face. From that angle, Mary could not make out the rider, but she was certain no soldier of her husband’s would dare ride up on her in that manner.
“How dare you! Who do you think you are?” Her indignation blossomed pink on her pale cheeks.
“I am Thomas, and work for Robert. You are trespassing, ma’am.” The voice rumbled like the summer thunderstorms but she was not familiar with the speaker.
“I… My husband… we were just tasting the apples. I believe they belong to George. But we shall be on our way, sir.” She stuttered through her confusion and fear.
“The young lady here,” he gestured to the cook, “may leave. You are coming with me. We do not take lightly to trespassing. Let alone thievery.”
“What? Trespassing? Thievery? What are you talking about, sir? This is our land and these are our trees.”
“That apple in your hand does not belong to you or your husband. It belongs to Robert.”
Mary blinked. She was being detained for eating an apple?
The voice turned away from her and ordered the cook, “Get back to the house and tell George to expect a notice from Robert.”
The cook blinked and stood frozen. She looked to Mary and Mary flicked her wrist, shooing her back to their house. The cook took off like a rabbit with a fox inches behind her.
The booming voice grew closer as the speaker dismounted the horse.
“I cannot imagine what Robert will have to say about this.”
Mary looked up through her lashes and found herself face to face with a very broad chest. She kept looking up until she saw a face hovering above hers, dark eyes glinting fire and sun-kissed brown waves of hair combed straight back. Several days of beard growth prickled his chin and cheeks but instead of looking unkempt, it seemed to give him a dashing air.
“I… I did not mean anything. My husband, George, told me to come collect them. And cook and I were hungry so we tried one. We did not mean anything by it.” Mary had dropped her face back down, praying unsuccessfully that her cheeks might return to their normal pale color.
“That is not my concern. That is between Robert and George so you must come with me until they have resolved it.”
“What? I cannot come with you. I must be home when George returns.”
“Your cook will explain what has happened.”
His large hands and noticeable biceps easily took Mary by her slender waist and lifted her to the horse. She tried not to struggle for fear of startling the animal and ending up suddenly back on the ground. She slid backwards towards the hind end of the horse as the man mounted in front of her.
“You will stay with me while they sort things out. It would not be seemly for you to stay at the main house.”
The horse trotted along at an easier pace, Mary bouncing around on the back end, trying not to grab on to the man’s tunic for support. It did not escape Thomas’s notice that every time she was thrown in to him, her full bosom bounced against his back. He tried to focus on controlling his horse through the distraction.
“Ma’am, I do not need you falling off this horse. Please hold on.”
She slid forward until her breasts pressed against his back and her firm thighs sat on the outside of his,
As she jostled against him, she ran this issue over and over in her head. George was going to be furious. And how was she in trouble for eating an apple that clearly grew on her husband’s land?
In about an hour or so, they arrived at a small but well-kept stone house. He helped her down off the horse, and he led the animal to a nearby cask of water for refreshing. He had to duck to enter through the doorway, and Mary found it to be only two rooms inside. The main room contained a stove, a table and eating chairs, and two larger chairs in front of a fireplace. She assumed the closed door was to the bedroom.
Wait. What? I am to be held here in the small space with this man by myself? What on earth would people say? What will George say? He will surely take his belt to me for letting this happen. There is only one bedroom. Oh heavens, what have I done? What have I gotten myself into? All I did was bite the apple that George told me to gather.
Mary took a deep breath and waited for instructions.
“Ma’am, I suggest you get comfortable here. Robert has no intention of giving your husband that pond and I know damn well that George has no intention of giving him that parcel of land. You may be here with me a while. I hope you are a good cook and a good housekeeper.”
Mary blinked in the dim room. The dust danced brightly in the strips of sunlight through the slats on the windows, however the light did nothing but cast shadows around this unfamiliar place.
“Now,” Thomas seemed used to giving directions. “Draw me a bath. It has been a hot day and I need to cool off. The well is out back with a bucket, and the tub is in the bedroom.”
“Excuse me? Draw you a bath?”
“Yes ma’am. If I am expected to feed and shelter you, then you must earn your keep. Draw me a bath before you make dinner.”
Mary dug her short nails into her palms but did not protest further. She was not sure how far this Thomas would take things but he was already being terribly inappropriate with another man’s wife, and seemed to have no qualms about his demand.
Mary carried in several buckets of water from the well, sloshing a decent amount down the front of her thin cotton dress despite her efforts to be careful. By the time she had filled the tub, her wet dress clung to her curvy form and left very little to the imagination. She tried to hold it away from herself but it did not help.
She stood to one side, clutching at the wet dress while Thomas undressed for his bath. She demurely averted her eyes since he left the bedroom door wide open as he prepared to bathe. The man apparently had no sense of decorum.
“I’m having a hard time with my back. You are going to need to come in here and bathe me,” he ordered.
Her mouth gaped open in a small “O” shape. Bathe him? What on earth made him think that was okay? I would not even dream of bathing my husband.
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br /> “But, But I, But I need to start dinner, sir.”
“That can wait until we are finished in here. Get in here and help bathe me.”
Mary looked down at her translucent wet dress, up at the open doorway, and back down at herself. She took several hesitant steps towards the door.
“Get in here woman!” he thundered, louder than those hoof beats.
She peered around the door at the naked man in the tub. “But, sir…”
“No buts. Come here.”
She walked to the tub, trying to focus her eyes on the floor, the walls, anywhere but at the man in the tub. She had never even looked at George naked. Let alone this strange man before her.
He smirked at her as she snuck up to the tub. His lips drawn up on one side, leering at her disheveled attire and nervous face.
“Never seen a naked man? I thought you were married.”
“I am. But I never…”
“Well get used to it. No point in me going down to the house in town to get bathed when I have you right here.”
The house in town? Oh, surely not… Surely he did not mean… Oh heavens, am I in a state of madness and trouble…
He lifted the washcloth from the tub, revealing the rest of himself clearly under the water. Her eyes widened involuntarily. She tried to look away but could not drag her eyes from the sight of him. Even under the cool water, he seemed to be several times larger than what George had ever felt like inside of her.
He looked her dead in the eyes and handed the washcloth to her trembling hand. She carefully soaked in the water behind him and wrung it out over his back. He bowed his head forward as she repeated the action.
“That is just rinsing woman. Wash.” Thomas handed her a bar of homemade soap.
She lathered it against the wet washcloth and gingerly brushed his back with the soapy cloth. It was going to be hard to complete the task with her eyes closed or averted. Her eyes darted around the room for something to hit him with, but all she found were blankets and pillows on the bed. She sighed and looked down at him.
His shoulders seemed as broad at the entire bath tub, narrowing down to a slim waist somewhere under the water. He obviously spent a good deal of time outdoors without his tunic, judging from the even tan tone of his skin. His dark hair curled at the nape of his neck, trying to hide a rather nasty looking scar. She was terrified to look at anything on the front half of his body.
When she had scrubbed his back to his satisfaction, he leaned back to lie against the rim of the tub, giving her no choice but to get a full view of the front half of himself.
She had never been so insulted in her life. All of the years George had used her body as a whipping post and as a whore, but she had never had anyone so blatantly disrespect her in this manner.
“Sir. I believe you can wash your own front.” She held the rag out to him and turned her face away.
“No ma’am, I cannot. You have to be thorough.”
“Sir.” She thrust the rag to him vehemently. “I cannot.”
She gasped when he grabbed her wrist and dunked her hand under the water. The sudden movement sideways threw her off balance and she had to turn towards him and clutch at the rim of the tub. Unfortunately, this particular position placed her full breasts right at his eye level and her dress was once again splashed into translucency.
He guided her hand to his chest, still holding the wet soapy cloth. “Start here.”
She tried not to make eye contact as she performed the task, especially when he would move her hand just a few inches further down. Then another few inches further down. His chest felt as solid as a stone wall under her hand. And his skin was warm when her fingers would brush up against him. He smelled like grass and horses which was not altogether an unpleasant smell. Certainly better than the whiskey or wine that George always breathed on her.
He purposefully placed her hand on his upper thigh and she gasped. “Sir?”
“Thorough. Remember?”
“But…”
“No buts about it. Thorough.”
As she washed his legs under the water, she had to constantly lather the soap again since the water quickly ate away at the soap bubbles. She could feel the hardness of his thighs and calves even through the washcloth. If she had allowed herself to think such things, he was quite a good looking man. But she had no explanation as to the warm water that seemed to have seeped into her veins, heating her body from the inside.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she finished the second leg. But as she withdrew her hand from the water, he grabbed her wrist again.
“I said thorough. You forgot something.” He leaned back against the rim of the tub again, crudely bending and spreading his legs.
“Sir! No! I cannot! I refuse!”
“You are in no position to refuse.”
“You are in no position to ask such things of me.”
He smirked again, knowing that a tiny portion of that statement was true. She almost had the upper hand, given his vulnerability in that state in that position.
He tightened his grip on her wrist and pulled the smirk back down. “I said thorough and I meant it.”
Her breath came faster which caused her breasts to rise and fall just at his eye level. She pretended not to notice his eyes watching them. But she could not avoid noticing that as he watched her bosom, the floating member under the water seemed to lengthen and expand.
“But sir, I’ve never…”
“Well thorough but gentle. Surely you have touched your husband.”
“No sir, never. He simply has his way and leaves the room.”
He soaped the washcloth himself and wrapped it around himself. He seemed to be washing it and the entire area but his face told a different story. His eyes stayed on her breasts as he washed himself but his lips were parted and his cheeks were flushed. And the longer he washed it, the larger it became. She had never seen anything like it. She knew she should not be watching such things but she could not make herself turn away.
That warm water in her veins was starting to bubble a little. Mary had never felt such sensations inside her own body before. And she was captivated by the scene under the water’s surface. The water swirled and dipped around his hand’s movements, hypnotizing her.
After a few minutes, it was several times larger than it had been at the beginning. She thought for a moment he was actually going to faint since his breath was coming very shallow and quick and his eyes were rolled backwards.
“Sir? Are you okay?”
“Huh? What?” His hand stopped moving.
“Are you going to pass out, sir? You look faint.”
He sat there in the water, holding on to his cock, and saw the earnest expression in Mary’s face. And laughed. Not a sly mocking chuckle, but a full on belly laugh.
“No woman, I am not planning to faint. How can you, as a married woman, not have any idea what is going on?”
“Any idea about what? I thought you were going to pass out like George after too much wine.”
“I may in a minute but we are not there yet.”
“Oh….”
Her eyes dropped back down as his hand started moving under the water again. She could not tell why he was enjoying this washing that he was doing but it made the hot little bubbles in her veins pop quickly, like water on the stovetop. Suddenly the man grunted loudly and thrust his hips towards his own hand. Small white puddles formed in the water. When he finished, he looked up at her, smiling with a devilish glint in his eye.
“Tomorrow it will be your turn.”
Dinner forgotten, Thomas claimed the bed for the evening while she curled up in one of the sitting chairs in the living space. Mary was baffled by the entire episode but mostly she was confused by the flow that seemed to be churning inside her body. And she could not get it to calm back down.
The next morning, she made oatmeal for breakfast for the two of them just like some sort of common farm wife. How had she gotten herself into this posit
ion? Not to mention what a strange incident that was last night; something told her that it had been grossly inappropriate but a different something told her that it was not altogether unpleasant. In fact, in a small way, she liked the little bubbles that had formed in her body.
“I am headed to Robert’s house to determine our course of action from here. I am unsure how long I will be but I strongly recommend that you be here when I return. You do not want me to have to hunt you back down.”
She nodded, afraid of what could happen if she fled this place. Any number of men would be after her hide -- George, Robert, and Thomas.
She tried to tidy up the place while he was gone. But he did not seem to own many possessions so it was not a difficult chore. She looked in the pantry to see what the options were for lunch and dinner. Not much really. She wished her cook was here, for help and someone to talk to. She desperately wanted to ask someone about last night, but who would believe her.
It turned out that Thomas was gone all day. Mary dozed in the chair a couple of times and wandered around the grass out front. It felt like a brand-new rug against her bare toes and she wiggled them around in the softness.
She had a simple dinner ready when he returned -- bread and cheese with some ham she heated on the stove.
“See? You are learning already? Such a good wife you must be.”
“At home I have a cook.”
“Well not all of us can live quite like that, ma’am.” His sarcasm was cutting.
“And do not forget, after dinner, it will be bath time.”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away.
“I expect that you can finish the job this time, now that I have demonstrated for you.” His dark eyes glinted and glimmered at her, and he did not even try to hide the fact he was staring directly at her breasts.
After she cleared the table and washed the dishes, she made the requisite trips to and from the well out back to fill the tub again. He stood naked in the corner, watching as her dress became soaked through again and staring when she bent over to pour the water in.
Possessed By The Duke (Regency Romance) Page 16
