Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Away ❯ Her Arrival ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: This is an original novel, and is under copyright. All rights are reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2
Her Arrival

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her ship was nearing the shores of Maryland. Naomi could see the shore through the drizzle that was frosting her hair. Naomi huddled further into herself with a shiver at the dampness around her. The wind whipped her damp hair as she looked through it to the docks which were littered with eager family members and friends awaiting the arrival of the other occupants on the vessel. She didn't have any eager family members or friends waiting for her down there. There was only a man that she didn't know, whom she was supposed to give the rest of her life to. The man that her uncle had given her to.

“Mama's up here—look here honey!” one of the ladies on the ship yelled to the ground while waving her hand in the air. Naomi watched the woman, not really seeing her. Another sneeze racked her body as she looked around and thought back to the time she'd spent among these people. She felt as though she had been gone from the England shores for more than the three months she'd been on the trip. Although she enjoyed finally being on her own and away from Rufus, she was more than ready for a real bath and a real bed on a floor that wasn't rocking. She was used to sleeping on the floor; she had been ever since she'd begun sleeping in that shed behind her uncle's cabin two years ago. It was the rocking of the ship and the stench of it that had her feeling so tired and dirty.

 

And her hair hadn't had a real wash in the three months she'd been on the ship. Considering the conditions she'd been living in for three months, she wasn't terribly surprised that she was getting ill.

 

Over those months, Naomi had constantly thought back to the events leading to her trip to America as a `payment' to her uncle's employer. She couldn't help but think of it, when her uncle told her what was to become of her the day she boarded the ship to abruptly leave the country she'd always called home. Lecherous uncle or no, it had still been her home.

 

Naomi sighed as the ship docked and everyone aboard readied themselves for unloading. Naomi's trunk was being unloaded for her, so she took her spot in line for departure. She stepped off the plank to the ground while looking around at what was to become her new home. There were stalls of all kinds lining the docks, set up for the passengers of the ships arriving from various places. Her eyes caught one stall that was selling turkey legs and she then realized how hungry she was. The rations that were provided on the ship could barely have qualified for food. It was too bad that she had no time for food now. Or money, she thought dismally.

 

Suddenly all thoughts of food were knocked out of her when she was tackled by two men and hurriedly whisked away into a coach where she fair choked with disgust at the rankness now surrounding her. There had been some foul smells on that ship she'd just come off of, and the smell in this coach was nearly as bad. Her eyes adjusting to the light, she could now see that she was in a run-down coach in the company of three men all wearing matching smiles. Indeed, they all looked quite proud of themselves.

 

“He gonna like this one. Bes' lookin' girl I seen in a long while. Lucky we was here ta see her all by her pretty little self,” the man sitting next to her right side gushed, watching her closely and obviously looking forward to a fat reward, “I bet he keeps `er for `imself, selfish bastard.”

 

“I bet `e does, too. Poor thing was lost, weren't you, kitten?” the man sitting across from her cooed to her, grabbing her hand to inspect it as if she were a piece of livestock. She yanked her hand back as fast as her muscles would allow.

 

“Now, why you even botherin', Jess? Ya know she prob'ly don' know what yer sayin',” the third man put in, “Where was that boat from, anyways?”

 

Naomi narrowed her eyes imperceptibly. These seemed to be men who preyed on foreign girls for a living—girls from overseas fresh off the boat that didn't have escorts. Then they'd turn around and sell them to the highest bidder. If the men didn't know she was from England, and that she could understand them just fine, that was their own problem. Seem to have had a slight advantage on them in the mental capacity as well, she decided as she watched one of them pick his nose.

 

The coach lurched forward on its way to its destination, the men in the coach with her still trying to inspect her hands, her hair, and her teeth.

 

Naomi did her best to avoid panicking as she fought off roaming hands. She had to be sure they didn't get very far from the docks. She wouldn't know how to get back, so she had to think fast. God, she could hardly breathe in here! An idea formed, and Naomi held her breath, slumping over on the dirty man next to her. Sometimes one has to make sacrifices.

 

“Well, shit. Now, what?” The man who had first tried to look at her hands said.

 

“She fainted, Jess. Women do that a lot, right?” Man number three said.

 

“Yea. Women faint a lot, but I don' think she's breathin', either,” supplied the man she was laying on.

 

“Breathing or not, we can't take an unconscious woman to our employer, anyway,” Jess said. He must be the leader of their little group.

 

Jess knocked on the wall of the coach, telling the driver to stop. “We need to get her some water or somethin'. Gus, go and find some water for her,” he told the man she was not laying on. After Gus left the coach in search of the water, Jess leaned forward to see what might be wrong with her. He looked up at the man that she was laying on, “You're lovin' the hell out of this, aren't you?”

 

“You bet your ass, I am. I only wish she was doin' it on purpose…”

 

“Man, she's changin' colors. I think you were right, Will, she ain't breathin'. Great, this is all we need.” Jess grabbed her around her shoulders and lifted her off of Will, pulling her into his own lap, “Go tell that dog ta hurry up, Will. She can't die; this one could make us fair rich. Get a doctor if you `ave to. We'll say she's yer sister or somethin'.”

 

“My sister?”

 

“Shut up and go, Will,” Jess barked.

 

With that, Naomi was left alone with the one called Jess. Not able to hold her breath any longer, she took a huge gust of air as if she had just come to, coughing a lot for good measure. She could hear Jess audibly sigh with relief as she took several large gusts of stinky air, which of course made her cough more.

 

“Jesus, girl, you scared me ta death. I thought we'd done killed ya,” he said.

 

Naomi sat up slowly and looked straight at him in the eyes while trying to catch her breath and purred back at him in a raspy voice, “You should be scared, you witless cretin. You didn't snatch a helpless girl that doesn't speak English,” After which she used the technique on the man that had proved useful to her in the past.

 

Seconds later, she had the hem of her gown in her hands and was running from the carriage as fast as she could, hearing Jess' cursing coming from the inside carriage. She turned the corner and stopped to catch her breath as best she could, welcoming the fresh air into her abused lungs. Naomi slowly looked around the building to see the other two men arriving back to the carriage with the water, shocked to learn that their quarry had tricked them. They turned and began running in her direction, and that's when she realized that if they thought she would make them rich, they would try and catch her again.

 

She immediately started running again down the street she was on, praying that it would get her back to the docks. She could hear Gus and Will shouting at her to “Get back here,” and she ran harder. As Naomi rounded another corner, she could see the crowd of people at the docks. She'd made it back! Frightened that she would be caught again, she darted into the crowd, searching for some kind of authority. Those men wouldn't let her get away so easily if they caught her again. She located an officer on a horse and started in that direction when she literally ran into another rather dirty man.

 

Doesn't anyone bathe around here?, she thought as she swallowed the nausea crawling up her throat. Looking down, she saw that this particular dirty man had her trunk at the ground next to his grimy boots. She looked back up at his face in apprehension.

 

“No doubt you be N'omi Foster,” he ground out, “Yo're uncle don't lie do he, girl? Where ya been, anyway?”

 

This was reassuring.

 

“Are you Caldwell Cokrain?” Naomi asked slowly once she'd gained control over her rebellious stomach, afraid to hear his answer. She was still breathing hard from her escape from those two men that had chased her back here. She quickly looked behind her for any sign of them. Not seeing them anywhere, she turned back to the man who she hoped had only been sent to retrieve her.

 

“I could be,” the man said with a cackle as his eyes moved down her 5'8'' frame from her long sandy brown curls to her soft, beautiful young face, still flushed from her run. He continued looking down her solid, slender body covered by her gray and royal blue gown, and then they went back up to her face, “Maybe I'll just be keepin' you instead of takin' you to him.”

Oh lord. “You wouldn't dare!” Naomi was horrified.

 

“Ooh, not very docile are we? He's gonna like you a lot,” the man observed as he started walking.

She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought that bothered her just as much as the thought of this man keeping her.

 

“Why don't we hurry an' get ya to `im `fore he hunts me down for takin' so long, huh?” He led her to a very ornate coach with two horses and velvet seating. Thankfully, the coach was empty when she ducked into it. No matter, she had to meet this Caldwell Cokrain man eventually. Resigning herself to her fate, she settled in her seat with a sniffle. She sat there quietly on the soft seating while the man put her things on the coach, then he climbed up to the driver's seat.

 

During the ride to Cokrain's estate, she wondered why Mr. Cokrain didn't simply find himself a wife in America. A man so obviously rich would probably have no trouble finding a lot of eager brides here. Maybe he just wanted a woman from his home country?

She let those thoughts slide, recognizing that it didn't matter now, because she was the woman who had to take that place. That was, of course, unless he took pity and decided he didn't want to force her into the position. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd be repulsed by her runny nose…

 

After what had seemed like only minutes, the coach came to a stop and the foul driver opened the coach's door. Clutching her handkerchief, she carefully stepped into the overcast morning and looked up at the most oppressive looking mansion she had ever seen.

 

The castle-like structure was three stories tall and had two outer buildings on either side of it. For the help, she guessed. The house was made of a dark stone, and there was minimal landscaping around the huge fountain in the front courtyard. The poor thing looked so lonely.

 

“Are ya gonna ogle all day, or ya gonna come and meet yo're man?” the man again cackled; a quite unattractive noise that she supposed was intended to be a laugh. She rolled her eyes as she followed him up the walkway to the huge doors, and walked through after he had creaked them open. Somehow she felt like an animal being led into her cage.

 

The house was cavernous inside. And immaculate, as well. The décor practically demanded one to keep their hands to themselves. There was marble as far as she could see; lining the floors and some of the walls. To her left was a doorway which led to what was probably the parlor. Across from it was an identical doorway opened to what was the library from what she could see. Directly in front of her was a wide staircase leading to a walkway that disappeared into a hallway.

 

She pulled her eyes away from her perusal with a wince when the driver yelled.

 

“Hey boss, yo're woman's here!”

 

Naomi didn't like that at all, “I'm not…”

 

“For heaven's sake, Hank, don't shout in here. This place echoes whispers,” a voice from the doorway to the parlor said. Moments later, the man that the voice belonged to appeared out of that doorway.

 

Naomi watched him approach with certainty. This would be the man that she was sent to; Caldwell Cokrain.

 

She looked at this tall, trim, very blonde man in his late twenties and began to feel unnaturally nervous. Sure, he was very handsome, but….

 

Naomi inwardly shivered at the unease she felt when he looked at her. He'd spoken to the ill kept man who had delivered her, all the while with his violet eyes roaming her openly.

 

His eyes! Naomi very nearly gasped when he got close enough that she could see them. They were incredible. They were violet in the outermost of the iris and faded to lavender toward the pupil. She'd had no idea that people could have purple eye color...

 

“You are quite the picture, aren't you, Naomi? I am Caldwell Cokrain.” He said to her. His voice caused chills to run up her spine uncomfortably. It was very deep and was lined with a hungry huskiness. She could see the same hunger in those eyes.

 

“I'm sure you're famished. Why don't you join me for breakf…” his sentence roughly got cut off by a sneeze from his new houseguest.

 

Naomi instantly sniffled into her tissue after practically sneezing in Mr. Cokrain's face, “I'm sorry about that. I'm afraid I may have caught a sneeze of late.

 

“Hn, you should be fine. I was simply about to invite you to join me for breakfast,” he smoothly continued.

 

Of course she was hungry, but she doubted she would be able to keep it down since not only had her upset stomach from earlier not abated, but she was now pretty sure that he had every intention of keeping her.

 

“I would much rather just rest right now,” she was quick to answer, “Could you show me to a room where I could do so?”

 

“Yes, I suppose that would be best. Hank, go and tell Mr. Tyler that I will be back shortly. I am going to take our new guest to Chloe.”

 

“Yessir,” he mumbled, disappointed that he hadn't gotten that job. Watching them walk away, he started toward the room that Caldwell had emerged from moments ago. Inside the room he caught sight of a man that easily topped Caldwell be three or four inches in height. He had dark chocolate hair that was thick and wavy. His hair was just long enough to need a haircut, but it was well kept. His face was classy, but rugged with chiseled features. And where Caldwell was trim muscle, Breagan Tyler was thicker muscle, wider in the shoulders. Both men trim around the waist.

 

“Is there a problem?” Breagan asked impatiently of Hank as he entered from the foyer.

 

“No, sir. The boss just went to help `is new woman settle in `er room. He'll be back when `e's finished.” Hank informed him.

 

“Since when is he married? That woman looked as if she barely knew him.” Breagan was already irritated that he had to make this unwanted visit. This meeting was one reason he had trouble sleeping the night before, and he was impatient to get back home where he could rest. Still, his trip was made worthwhile for the sight of the woman that had come in with Cokrain's driver. She had looked unimaginably despondent after having spoken with Cokrain, who had practically jumped off his seat upon hearing them arrive. That surprised him; Cokrain never did things like that as long as he'd known him.

 

The woman had obviously gotten a raw deal somehow, if the look in her eyes gave any clue. Even though there were women after Cokrain, he thought it was safe to assume that she was not one of those women.

 

“She's `is payment for a debt.” Hank explained, interrupting Breagan's thoughts, “Her uncle needed to repay `is boss fer somethin' and sent `er ta him. Now boss owes `er uncle, huh?”

 

Breagan had been stricken with this woman's beauty, as Hank seemed to be. Her hair was long and thick and she was very graceful. She was apparently from England, like Cokrain was, with that accent. She was magnificent.

 

It infuriated him that someone would subject any woman to Caldwell Cokrain as payment! And this woman in particular was the most stunning thing he had seen in along time. Still, he couldn't very well steal her from him. Although he wouldn't mind…