by Connie Mason
“You will, in time,” Barrington assured her as he prepared to mount the stairs. “Besides, you are in no position to demand anything.”
The moment Barrington disappeared from sight. Bates seized Alexa roughly, passing his large calloused hands over her trembling body. “Damn, Grubbs,” he moaned huskily, “this one’s got the nicest pair of tits I’ve felt in a long time.”
“Let’s have a look,” Grubbs suggested, yanking Alexa’s cloak from her quaking shoulders. The sight of her breasts straining against the bodice of her low-cut gown proved too much for him and he inserted two beefy fingers in the neckline and ripped downward. Alexa screamed as both her bodice and chemise split, releasing her pale breasts. Both Bates and Grubbs stared appreciatively at the vision of two perfect white mounds crested by rose-colored nubs. Bates reacted first, grasping Alexa’s nipple between finger and thumb and squeezing. Alexa screamed, trembling with pain as tears sprang unbidden to her eyes.
Not to be outdone, Grubbs seized the other breast, bringing his mouth to its crest and sucking noisily. Striking out blindly against this forced indignity, Alexa connected with a bulbous nose, eliciting a groan. One knee came up and found a groin and she received tremendous satisfaction when a yelp followed. Her long fingernails imbedded themselves in a pair of eyes and suddenly the sickening pressure was gone from her nipple.
“You heard Captain Barrington!” she gasped, panting from her exertions. “Keep this up and when my husband, Lord Penwell,” she stressed for emphasis, “finds out about it he’ll make you wish you’d never set eyes on me!”
Both suffering from wounds inflicted upon them by one small woman, Bates and Grubbs wisely decided to heed her words. They had enough problems without an earl coming down upon them like an avenging angel. Besides, there were other ways and means of obtaining what they wanted from the high and mighty Lady Foxworth. They’d make her wish she had the foresight to share her favors with her keepers who held her well-being in their grubby hands.
Alexa watched with trepidation as Bates unlocked the door to one of the cells and pushed her forward with the flat of his hand placed against the small of her back. It was dark inside but the dim light filtering through the door revealed a square room bare save for a wooden cot covered with a thin straw mat and a dirty gray blanket, a single chair and small table. An odoriferous bucket sat in a far corner.
Reeling into the room, Alexa fell heavily against the cot as the door creaked shut behind her, leaving her in near darkness. Through the grill in the door she saw Bate’s grinning face ogling her, and then he was gone. A long wail escaped her parted lips as she gave vent to her despair.
Adam, where are you? she silently entreated. I need you so. And then her misery became too great to bear without the relief of tears as huge sobs wracked her frail body and tears streamed down her pale cheeks.
11
Somehow Alexa managed to sleep for several hours, and miraculously, was not disturbed by her two guards until a meal was passed to her through the grille by one of the men, she knew not which. She was surprised to discover that the food, a rather bland stew of vegetables and unrecognizable meat, was palatable though far from tasty. At least they had no plans to starve her, Alexa thought wryly, for the overcooked, unseasoned mess was nutritious enough to keep her alive. The rest of the meal consisted of a mug of tepid water and a crust of dry bread. As she was soon to learn, the same unvaried meal was passed in to her twice each day. Nothing else was forthcoming.
For two days Alexa saw no human face. There were times she had the distinct impression that someone was watching her, but when she looked toward the grille in the door she saw no one. Because of the dampness and ragged condition of her only dress, she wore her cloak at all times. Most galling of all was having to perform bodily functions in plain view. What was even more difficult to bear was the fact that the reeking bucket she was forced to use had not been emptied for the whole time she had used it.
On the third day of her incarceration Alexa could no longer stand the suspense of not knowing what was to be her fate. Consequently, the next time the grille was shoved aside by one of the guards in order to push through her meal, she cried out. “Wait! Please! Don’t go whoever you are!”
Instantly Bates’s ugly face appeared at the opening. “What do you want?”
“I want to see Governor Wright, or General Prevost. And I wish to know if Mac is still alive.”
“Well, milady,” mocked Bates nastily. “From what I hear neither the General nor the Governor wish to see you.”
“But I must see them! It’s imperative I explain to them about Mac!”
“Tell it at your trial.” Having said all he intended to he began to back away.
“Wait! Please!” screamed Alexa.
“What now?” grumbled Bates crankily.
“I’d like some water with which to bathe, and a comb. Perhaps you could send for a change of clothing,” she suggested hopefully. Bates slanted her an assessing look.
“Can you pay? Let me see the color of your coin, milady.”
“You know I was allowed to bring nothing with me. I possess nothing of value.”
“I think you do, milady.” Bates leered, his salacious intent clearly evident in his coarse features. “You can trade your favors for all those niceties you crave. Why, me and Grubbs would be only too happy to bring you anything you need, milady, should you show us a little consideration.”
“No, no!” resisted Alexa hotly. “How could you ask such a thing of me? I’ll never give in to you.”
“Never is a long time and from what I hear you haven’t much time left. You and Fox are to be brought to trial within a fortnight.”
“Then Mac is still alive!” Alexa breathed, expressing a swift surge of joy. “Is he being held here also?”
“You’ll get nothing more from me, milady, until you are ready to cooperate and bestow a little of what you’ve been so jealously guarding. If I forced you. Captain Barrington or your husband might get wind of it and ruin my chances for advancement. But nothing was said about you giving your favors freely.”
“Over my dead body!” gasped Alexa, rage mottling her perfect features.
“Perhaps, if you’re still warm, I might consider it.” Bates hinted lewdly.
“Oh God!” gagged Alexa, sickened. Bates snickered, backing away from the grille. “Wait! At least you could empty the … the bucket in the corner. Would you want me to sicken and die of disease before I can be brought to trial?”
Bates gave Alexa an oblique look, carefully weighing the consequences should Alexa die before her day in court. Finally, he shrugged, unlocked the door and carried out the offensive waste container. Thereafter, either Bates or Grubbs provided that service every other day.
Two weeks passed and it seemed to Alexa in her solitary cell that she had been forgotten by the world. Dirty, her hair a rat’s nest, Alexa was never so close to giving up in her life. It was no wonder she seriously considered subjecting herself to the base desires of her guards in order to ease her deplorable circumstances. The disgusting odor of her own person became far more offensive than the foul bucket resting in the corner.
What could be keeping Adam? Alexa despaired. What if he failed to arrive in time to save her? Not for one minute did she doubt that Adam would set everything right when he returned. In the meantime she existed beneath the earth in a void as dark and forbidding as the hole she lived in.
Then one day Alexa received a surprise that gave her back her will to survive. Mary Forbes was allowed to visit. The moment the cell door creaked open Alexa was assailed by a terrible fear. Should Grubbs or Bates suddenly decide to renew their assault upon her she was far too weak to resist. But when she spied the slim figure of Mary Forbes outlined in the dim light of the doorway, she nearly fainted with joy. Mary stepped inside and the door closed behind her.
“Ten minutes,” warned Bates in a gravely voice.
“Oh, Mary, Mary, how did you get them to let you in to see
me?”
Squinting in the murkiness, Mary was shocked to the core by Alexa’s bedraggled appearance. It was obvious she had not had an easy time of it these past weeks and Mary’s soft heart went out to the younger woman. “Alexa, what have they done to you?” wailed Mary, struggling for composure.
“I’m fine, Mary, really,” assured Alexa with a calm that belied her inner turmoil. “But how did you convince the guards to let you in here?” she asked again.
“Tom bribed them,” Mary divulged, lowering her voice in a confidential manner. “That pair would do almost anything for money.”
“Thank God!” Alexa moaned, her despondency evident in her violet eyes. “I had almost given up.”
From under her cloak Mary drew forth a bundle and laid it before Alexa on the table. “I’ve brought you a change of clothes. I’ve also included a brush, towel, soap and a few other necessities,” Mary confided. “I had much more but they wouldn’t let me bring it in.”
“Thank you for that much,” Alexa said earnestly as she eyed the soap greedily. “But as you can tell by the odor I’ve not been able to bathe in all the time I’ve been here. I’m only allowed enough water for drinking purposes.”
“Poor Alexa,” Mary murmured soothingly. “Tom still has sufficient coins left to secure adequate fresh water for bathing each day. Now sit down while I try to work the tangles out of your hair.”
Complying gratefully, Alexa settled on the chair while Mary worked diligently on her long tangled locks. As Mary strained over the snarled mass. Alexa asked the question that burned on the tip of her tongue. “Have you heard from Adam. Mary? Has Tom been able to locate him?”
Mary bit her lip in consternation but knew she owed Alexa an answer. “No one seems to know where he is. He appears to have disappeared into thin air. It’s assumed he was captured when General Prevost sent him north on a secret mission.”
“Oh, no!” cried Alexa, stifling a sob. “Then I am surely lost! Somehow I expected Adam to return and save me.”
“Alexa, don’t give up. All is not lost,” pleaded Mary, hugging Alexa’s slim shoulders. When Mary drew her arms away her hand inadvertently caught in a fold of Alexa’s cloak, pulling it away from her body, revealing the gaping edges of her torn bodice and chemise. Mary stared in horror at Alexa’s exposed breasts and fading purple bruises marring the pale mounds.
“Oh, God, what have those two brutes done to you?” she groaned. “Oh, my lady, how dare they rape you! You, a countess!”
“They didn’t rape me, Mary, honestly.” Alexa quickly assured her. “They attempted to but I fought them. They haven’t tried since. I’m fine, truly I am.”
“Dear God! I can’t stand the thought of you in this place at the mercy of those two creatures in charge. If only there was something I could do …”
“You’ve already done more than you realize, Mary. You literally pulled me out of the depths of despair by making my lot more comfortable. I’m eternally grateful to you and Tom for all you’ve done for me and all you attempted to do.”
Casting an anxious glance at the door, Mary said, “My time is almost gone, Alexa, is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Has Tom tried to see the Governor? Or the General?”
“Not a day has gone by without Tom calling on one or the other. But they steadfastly refuse to see him, Alexa. From what Tom has been able to learn, they intend to make an example of you and nothing or no one can sway them. I’m sorry.”
“Keep trying, Mary,” encouraged Alexa. “If only I were allowed to talk to them I know they’d …”
“Your time is up, lady,” a gruff voice announced, halting Alexa in mid-sentence. This time it was Grubbs who appeared at the grill. “You were only promised ten minutes.”
Grubbs opened the door and Mary reluctantly moved toward it after bestowing one last hug on Alexa, whispering in her ear as she did, “Don’t give up, Alexa. I know your husband will arrive in time. Or that the General will relent.”
“Out!” ordered Grubbs curtly. Then the door closed and once again Alexa found herself alone, surrounded by a terrible silence.
But miracle of miracles, a short time later Grubbs returned with a basin of water. Bless Mary, Alexa thought as she quickly shed her cloak and dress and stood in her torn chemise. Almost reverently Alexa took up the bar of soap and washcloth, the luxury of soap and water on her skin so sensual she closed her eyes and gasped with joy.
“She’d rather have that water than a man between her legs,” goaded Bates from the other side of the grill.
“That’s because she’s never had a real man,” Grubbs gibed crudely.
“Go away!” raged Alexa, holding the towel before her breasts. “Am I to be allowed no privacy? You treat me no better than an animal!”
“Traitor, animal—no difference.” Bates shrugged, grinning at his cruel joke. Nevertheless, they moved away, allowing Alexa privacy in which to wash and dress in her clean clothes. She felt like a new person and was amazed at how the feeling of cleanliness lent her courage. It was almost as if fresh blood surged through her veins with the clean clothes. Now she was ready to face anything, or so she thought.
A few days later Alexa had another visitor; one so unexpected and surprising that she was rendered speechless when she recognized the face she knew as well as her own.
“Hello, Alexa.”
“My God! Charles! What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same of you. I never thought to see you again. Certainly not under these circumstances. You’ve fallen about as low as anyone can go, milady,” he mocked cruelly.
“Charles, have you come to taunt me or to help me?” Alexa asked, a spark of hope lighting her eyes.
“Help you, Alexa!” Charles laughed nastily. “You’ve committed treason against the crown. Surely you don’t expect me to lift a hand to save you, do you?”
“We were to be married once, Charles. You said you loved me.”
“That’s before you showed me your true colors. Your father told me how you became whore to Adam Foxworth who just happens to be Lord Penwell, the man who attacked me in the summerhouse on the night of our engagement. Did you have the whole thing planned in advance, Alexa?”
“Charles! You are despicable! You well know I was taken against my will and … and forced. It was all part of a grand scheme by Adam to hurt and embarrass my father.”
“You ran off and married the fellow, Alexa,” Charles accused childishly.
“And without allowing me the courtesy of an explanation you broke our engagement to marry Lady Diana,” Alexa retorted hotly.
“What did you expect?” shrugged Charles haughtily. “You were damaged goods. And as it turned out expecting another man’s child.” He glared fixedly at her flat stomach.
“I lost the baby,” Alexa said softly, surprised at the stab of pain she still felt over the loss. “If you haven’t come to help me, Charles, why did you come? To gloat?”
“Perhaps,” admitted Charles sheepishly. “Then again, maybe I just wished to see you once more before … before …”
“Before they hang me,” supplied Alexa. “No need to stumble over the words, Charles, I know what they intend for me. But tell me, what are you doing in Savannah?”
“I’m a captain, now,” he boasted. “I have a ship of my own, the Avenger. My ship took part in the successful attack on Fox. We’ve been ordered to patrol these waters for several weeks in a concentrated effort to rid the area of privateers. They are creating havoc with our shipping. Now that the Fox has been eliminated our job has been made much easier.”
Alexa smiled ruefully. Little did Charles know but the Fox was still at large and no doubt The Gray Ghost would rise up from the ashes to harass the British. “Do you find this amusing, Alexa?” Charles asked, his voice laced with sarcasm. “I should think one facing death would show some remorse.”
“I have no guilt over what I did, Charles. A man came to me gravely wounded, a friend of my husband. I
took him in and cared for his wounds. If that constitutes treason, then I plead guilty.”
“The man you conveniently took in was the notorious Fox, a traitor with a price on his head.”
“You’re wrong, Charles. Mac is not the Fox.”
“The authorities think so.”
“They are wrong.”
Charles shrugged. “What about the careless words you uttered before hundreds of people declaring your sympathy for Fox and the so-called patriots? Barrington told me that General Prevost would have jailed you then and there had you not been pregnant at the time.”
Unable to curb her tongue a moment longer, Alexa lashed out heedlessly. “I meant every word I said! These Americans don’t deserve the treatment they’re getting from the English. They want nothing but freedom from oppression and unjust taxation. They are a hardy and tenacious people and I find I greatly admire their spirit and courage!”
“My God! You are a traitor!” gasped Charles, aghast. “I must admit I seriously had my doubts concerning your guilt, that’s one of the reasons I requested permission to see you. But now,” he shook his head sadly. “I believe all the charges leveled against you. You’ve changed, Alexa.”
“Of course I have,” charged Alexa crankily. “After all I’ve been through do you expect me to remain the same selfish, spoiled child?”
“When I arrived and learned about you, I felt almost sorry for you. But it’s obvious to me you deserve everything that’s coming to you. Goodbye, Alexa.” Without a backward glance Charles stomped haughtily from the cell, his pride and bearing echoing his disdain for a traitor to her own country, no matter how beautiful and desirable she may be.
“Well, my lady,” sneered Bates through the grille, “not even one of your lovers will lift a finger to help you. Now it appears doubtful that your own husband cares enough about you to come to your defense even though he has been back in Savannah for several days.”
Stunned, Alexa cried, “You lie! Why should I believe you? If Adam was in Savannah he would surely do his utmost to set me free.”
