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Forty-Nine
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Claimed by the Baron ONE
Adalene could not believe what was happening.Shocked, numbed and scared as she was, she could only gasp as they lifted her up onto the Baron’s horse. She could barely hear him as he apologized for not having a pillion seat for her, for he had not expected to have a rider on his way back to his chateau today.Today.Today was her wedding day, but it was not to the Baron that she was married this morning.No, of course not.She was a peasant maid, the daughter of a villein-a peasant farmer. How could a Baron marry someone like her?The actual story was that her pere, in what they all suspected was a drunken state, was convinced somehow by a man named Louis Didier to marry her off to him. She had never even met him! Her father said he was a vineyard owner and had a considerable amount of money, which meant Adalene would live a comfortable life as his wife and her immediate family would gain from the betrothal, too. They needed the payment for the farm. They were not having good harvests
Claimed by the Baron TWO
Adalene turned to her mother as more protests erupted from Louis.“She will not be a willing wife, Rene! See that?! I told you, I wanted a wife who knows how to please a man! Have you given me a virgin?”“What?” her mother hissed beside her husband. “What did he mean? Of course, my daughter is a virgin! What did he expect? Someone who worked like a... Rene, tell him we’re not going through with this arrangement. Rene!” her mother asked her husband in the ugliest voice she had ever used on him.“We need the money for the fields, Mama!” her father protested.“Oh, you stupid...”“You cannot back down. I have already handed the bride token,” Louis Didier protested, and turned to the priest and told him to hasten with the ceremony in an attempt at haughtiness that did not sit well with his looks.She held on to her mother for dear life, so engrossed in the horrible unfolding of her worst nightmare that she did not notice unfamiliar voices amongst the crowd-male baritones that were certainl
Claimed by the Baron THREE
“What is going on here, Puis-je savoir?” she heard the Baron’s voice asking her father, who now looked as pale as vinegar. He cowered under the Baron’s regard, but one look at his wife and he somehow found the courage to speak.But his hasty explanations could not make up for the vehemence and righteous anger of the “wronged” Louis, who kept on interfering and countered every word that came out of his pale lips. It did not help that my poor father looked very insignificant in his peasant church clothes as he stood beside the more opulently clothed Louis.“They duped me! They were all into it all along! This is quite humiliating! I have paid a price and I get a plain peasant wife in return. This is a disgrace to my honor and they are the ones who did it, my Lord!”“And what of you, ma bichette? Can you tell me what happened?”She hadn’t known he had addressed her until her mother shook her again. Adalene looked up at the Baron without comprehension. He had turned to her from atop his h
Claimed by the Baron FOUR
“SO, it was your father who had betrothed you to Monsieur Didier?”“Oui. About three weeks ago,” Adalene replied in a soft voice. She had calmed down from the tumultuous event of the morning but was coming to grips at the moment of being with the Baron, of all people.It had taken about three hours of riding in his horse on dusty, uneven roads from the chapelle before they halted in a cabin in the woods to rest and eat. Someone started fire to cook food while the Baron brought her to the riverbank, which was just a short walk away from the cabin to clean up and stretch her unaccustomed muscles from the cramp of riding his horse.And now, she watched as he arranged his equipment of bows and arrows in their leather pouches on the surface of a shaven log that obviously served as a table of sorts by whoever owned the cabin. She could smell the delicious smell of soup and jerky from there and she was suddenly hungry, and grateful that they were going back to the cabin to eat after he was d
Claimed by the Baron FIVE
HE STOPPED when he reached where she leaned on a log that was beaten down by a storm a long time ago but survived and grew, except the ordeal left it with the shape of an old man bowing low. He then leaned hands on both sides of her, securing her between them, and between the log and his body. She already knew how solid that body was, so she had no intention of even pushing him away. But she was tensed, and she knew it wasn’t because she was afraid. She realized it was from the excitement of being so near him.His face was so near hers that she could see the pores on his smooth skin, but it didn’t tarnish the handsomeness of him. The only danger she could see was her getting cross-eyed. Besides, he was right. It was only a kiss. She had seen no one of her friends dying of a kiss. In fact, they found it to be so thrilling they’d kissed several of their suitors-and as many times not suitors-before they committed to just one and got married to him.Even so, kissing remained thrilling tha
Claimed by the Baron SIX
HE HELPED her to get down the shaved log, and by the time she had her feet on the ground and had fixed her skirts, her face was aflame with embarrassment and deep shame. She remembered sounds she’d made she had never done before, and they were loud - the men in the cabin must have heard her. Adalene realized how ignorant she was for not learning more about this thing that eluded her in books her mother had stored in the house, those she was allowed to bring home after retiring from working as a handmaiden to an aristocratic woman.“You’re so quiet, ma bichette,” the Baron observed after he, too, had straightened his clothes and recovered the leather bags from the rocky ground. “Is there something wrong?”“I feel so inadequate, my Lord,” she replied upon when the Baron remained quiet, waiting for her answer.He fully turned to her and frowned. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Inadequate of what?”She couldn’t look at him. “I realized that... after everything I thought I know ab
Claimed by the Baron SEVEN
ADALENE moved to lay on her back on the log. He followed to lay on her side, and kissed her mouth again as thoroughly as he did a moment ago. When he moved down again and opened her thighs, she gulped and closed her eyes, getting herself ready for it. She felt him raise the hem of her skirt and the layers under them, and since he had torn whatever as hindering his exploration under there the first time, she knew the moment she was exposed to him. She felt the breeze touching her there.It felt like her whole body was in flames as she presented to him a sight that she had never, ever imagined she could present to a man, much less him!“Are you comfortable?” she heard him ask from there.“Y-Yes, my Lord,” she whispered.“Hold on to the log,” he commanded, so she did. “Adaline, you can open your eyes.” I did. His voice was amused, as his face was when she looked down her body to see him standing just between her thighs. “You can watch me if you want to.”She nervously bit at her lower li
Claimed by the Baron EIGHT
ADALENE was dressed for a banquet or, as much as a peasant maid like her could possibly know, it felt like she was dressed for a banquet. The gown that she wore was the most beautiful, luxurious gown she had ever worn in her entire life that she almost fainted upon first sight of it!The skirt, flaring from a high belt tightly tied on her ribcage, was dark blue. The underskirt was in brighter turquoise. Her headdress was like a cone sitting atop her head, and a pale blue veil cascaded from its peak down her back. It concealed her hair which had never appeared that shiny or soft or lovely, and enhanced the blue in her luminous, wide eyes. She spread her arms so she could see the embroidery of gold threads trimming the sleeves in the biggest mirror she had ever seen in her entire life. Under her skirt, she was wearing the softest undergarments. And on her feet were the most beautiful scarlet slippers.If her mother could see her now... or her friends, but she could barely recognize hers
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