The door to the chamber suddenly opened and the Baron walked in, stopping as he saw her where she stood, her tears clearly visible in the light flickering from candles still alight in the room.He was quickly by her side.“What’s wrong, ma bichette?” he asked, his voice urgent and concerned. “Are you hurting?She shook her head. She did not want to speak.He turned her to him, and his mouth descended on hers, devouring her lips. She kissed him as hard as he did, opening her mouth to his and sliding her tongue against his, feeling a surge of triumph as she felt his manhood hardening and rapidly growing against her lower stomach.He wanted her.Her hand eagerly went for it, and he sucked his breath in when she found it and traced its shape with her fingers. He was wearing a loose shirt and soft breeches, and she left his mouth to kneel before him, pulling at the string and the cloth down his thighs.“Adalene!”“I want to taste you,” she whispered, her voice breathy at the beginning of t

IT WAS a beautiful huge garden, with the entrance to the grounds littered with a few statues of horses, lions, and wolves. The inside consisted of forest trees that lined outer walls topped with thick, sun-tanned bricks. There were irises, English roses red and white, tulips and lavenders on boxed compartments. She strolled in between boxes and boxes of perennials and annuals, basking in the sweet smell of flowers until she reached the gazebo that was at the farthest end of the pavement her feet followed as she explored.Once there, she sat and faced the pond where water flowed under a short, romantic-looking bridge. Flowering peas, of all things, climbed this bridge and it looked very pretty to the eyes. As she watched the water and basked in the coolness of the breeze on her face, for a moment it seemed like her troubles disappeared.But it all came back when she heard the neighing of horses arriving in the chateau.The Baron had come back.Would he ask for her? The servants knew wh

“I wish that I be brought to my parent's farm, in their humble cottage, and be left there. I do not wish to be sent to Louis Didier’s estate,” she told him quickly.He stared at her, his eyes puzzled now and he wasn’t scowling anymore. “And will you tell me why? I promised him my men will return you to him when this is over,” he asked in a calm voice.“I... I do not wish to carry on with the marriage.” She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She couldn’t cry now. She had to give him a proper and determined explanation of her plans. “I will ask my father to return the bride token. I would rather work as a slave for an aristocrat or like a man on the farm than go through with a marriage that will eventually kill me,” she replied in a trembling but forceful voice, which she also could not help. She felt like she was deluding herself that the Baron would allow her to do this. She felt like everything was hopeless.“And what made you think you can have this choice? You are the da

“What were you doing outside?” he asked as they started to walk back towards the house. “What exactly were you thinking that made Bertrand want to sing to you?”She smiled. “I was thinking about my options, my Lord,” replied. “I thought I cannot go to Louis Didier, and there must be some other way. I was planning to ask for work when you get back...” She lowered her face. “I didn’t know yet that you’ve paid Louis for me.”He was thinking. “Do you realize that once word gets out that I’ve paid to release you from your marriage, everyone would expect that you're going to be my mistress?”She gulped but managed to nod. “I was thinking the same thing.”He was quiet for a few moments. “I can give you work,” he finally said. “And I can pay you a part of your wage while I took back my investment. But I know I cannot promise not to take you to my bed, ma bichette. The temptation is too much. And besides, I cannot secure your safety from other men if you will not hold the status of my lover.”

Upon arrival at the Duke’s castle, Adalene’s senses were assaulted by all things royalty. Color, smell, and noise of different tones and varying degrees of emotions were all over the place. She tried not to get too overwhelmed especially since Fabian—Baron Deschamps, her lover, and keeper—warned her she could get overwhelmed by the aristocrats. But it was difficult because she had never been exposed to something so busy and noisy and colorful!Now, as she looked down at what she could see of the activities from the window of the room she occupied with him, she couldn’t help but think back to the events that happened in the most recent days.Just a few days ago, she was just a bride being married to a callous, old man whom her father had arranged for her to marry in a drunken moment. She grew up on a farm that was mostly quiet in her whole existence except for days of seasonal feasts, and she expected that by now she would be living in a vineyard this time that would be made callous by