Romance Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Away ❯ Fear, Panic, Change ( Chapter 5 )

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

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 5
Fear, Panic, Change

 

 

 

 

She was sitting in the library that afternoon with Cokrain as he read off her `rules'. He leaned comfortably on the edge of his desk in his maroon shirt and vest over gray slacks. He had his ankles crossed, and he watched her with a half-lidded look as he shot out each rule.

 

She simply couldn't fathom his thought path…did he really think that she owed him or something?

 

She'd been sitting in the same spot as he recited what she was and was not allowed to do in her new household.

 

First, she was not allowed, ever, to go outside unless he personally took her out. Second, she must only eat or drink what he approved of. Third, she was not allowed to speak to other men unless he was there. Fourth, and so far the most perturbing, she was to call him either Caldwell, or `My lord'. Ugh.

 

Lastly, she—and only she—was allowed to clean up their room. She noted with some disturbance that he had used the singular term of the word `room' for the both of them.

 

Okay, that one was just as bad; she amended with a sigh that fluttered the hair hanging in her face.

 

“Am I boring you, love?” he queried when he saw this, laying the charm on thickly for her.

 

Naomi drew her brows down at that, “Um…no, I…” she nibbled her bottom lip unconsciously as she thought of her words carefully, unknowingly drawing his stark eyes to her mouth.

 

Remembering their conversation over dinner a couple of days back, Naomi stopped biting her lip and lifted her eyes defiantly, “I will be sleeping in my own room, contrary to your obvious beliefs.”

 

Cokrain languidly blinked at her sudden change of attitude. Ah…there is the Naomi that has gotten me so excited of late, “Mmm. Yes, you will continue to own the room you have now, but you will not want to be staying in there so much. And you most certainly will be sleeping in mine,” he smoothly rumbled.

 

Naomi broke eye contact with his hypnotic lavender gaze and turned her head to avoid snarling in a very unladylike manner that his beliefs were completely off the mark.

 

Cokrain quickly reigned in the chuckle that threatened to release in his throat. He could see how much she wanted to scream at him, and he would have welcomed it, if he had the time.

 

Unfortunately having the need to get on with his workday so that he could finish early, he strode forward to draw her angry eyes back to him, “You may go and eat the lunch that Chloe has made for you today. I will be taking a brief break to join you for dinner tonight. Until then…” he said, tilting his head back with his eyes still on her, “Give me a kiss to tide me over?”

 

Naomi reared back at his questioned order. Seriously, she could tell he meant for her to follow his every word, and want to do it.

 

Scoffing at his very nerve, she momentarily entertained the thought of doing so only to bite his lip, and then knee him in the groin. She decided against it, of course, figuring that he might very well enjoy something like that for all she knew.

 

Instead, she stalked off with him letting loose a quiet chuckle behind her that sounded remarkably dark to her ears. Stopping her retreat at the stairway, she turned back to glare contemplatively at the doorway that held Cokrain on the other side of it. Somehow, she felt like nothing more than prey in a chase with a temporary reprieve.

 

 

Munching on her fruit in the kitchen, Naomi stared blankly at the countertops.

 

“Hey, hun,” Chloe came up beside her and gave an awkward hug when she caught her brooding, “We both knew that this day was comin' around. You will have to deal with his advances sooner or later, you know. Just keep on your toes, and you'll be fine, okay?” she said, rubbing small circles in the younger woman's back.

 

“I know I'll be okay, it just makes me wonder, you know? I've spent the better part of my adulthood fighting off over amorous men; I shouldn't be so scared of him. Yes, he's mean and has that “don't come near me” feel to him, but like I said; it should be easy,” Naomi turned to her companion, “I'm scared of him, Chloe,” she confessed, trying to hold back the need to cry.

 

Pursing her lips, Chloe gently grabbed Naomi's vaguely trembling chin in her hand, “You listen to me, darlin'. Whatever happens, I know you'll pull through it okay. I remember what you told me about your uncle, and I think that you're stronger than that,” she praised her as she dropped her hand from Naomi's chin, “He can't beat that,” she finally said after another moment of silence.

 

“Woman, you got any o' that left over? Boss wants `is lunch now,” Hank rudely barged in.

 

Pulling away from Naomi at the counter to retrieve her boss's tray, Chloe sent Hank a dark look as she slipped past him in her path to the library.

 

Hank looked back at Naomi when the servant woman left the room. He'd tried again that morning to convince his boss that he needed to loosen up about the girl.

 

He rubbed his throat tenderly. He would have bruises from where Caldwell had grabbed his neck in reply to that. Hank couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his boss do something like that for the loss of temper.

 

Looking over at the woman now, though, he could clearly understand why. She was nibbling on fruit quietly and hardly noticed that he was still there. Her hair was scandalously loose and hung to the small of her back. She looked positively delicious…smelled it, too. He could smell the scent of berries coming off of her from where he stood.

 

Chloe returned, breaking his line of thought, and he went back the way she'd just come from without a word to Naomi. He didn't have to be sporting bruises to know that Cokrain would have his head if he did that.

 

 

Dinner began uneventfully when Cokrain once again escorted her from the stairway, though Naomi did not take his arm this time, he noted.

 

She now sat looking at her half-eaten food, trying to ignore the tenseness in the air. Naomi knew that Cokrain was watching her now, having finished his plate already. She almost rolled her eyes. She sure hoped he would eventually tire of that particular activity.

 

“You seem irritated with something,” Cokrain's voice pierced the deafening silence of the room, “What could be upsetting you, love?”

 

Naomi was almost surprised that he'd said that with a straight face, no matter how out of character that would have been for him; he knew very well what was troubling her.

 

Truthfully, though she wouldn't dare tell him, she was torn between her anger, and nearly crippling fear. Naturally, she continued to try masking her fear with the anger. It was far easier to be mad at him than it was to be scared of him.

 

Frowning angrily at him for practically toying with her, she carefully controlled her reply, “What do you mean, my lord,” she feigned, neatly sending Cokrain's eyebrow up at her reply.

 

Oh, she just gets better and better, he chuckled in his head.

 

Naomi continued her small tirade, “I am doing quite well after my bout with fever, though I should've expected to catch something after that horribly long trip from England. Why, I should feel lucky I didn't catch something more dangerous.”

 

While listening to her little fit, Cokrain casually wondered if her last statement were meant to be a veiled insult toward him. He didn't miss the sarcasm dripping from her words.

 

He sat back quietly until he was sure she was done speaking before jumping in, “Indeed, I am pleased that you arrived here relatively safely. Though I do lament the time missed to become better acquainted with you,” he winked as he reached for his glass.

 

She blushed again. She knew he was doing it on purpose, but that didn't make his insinuation any easier to take. She was still untouched, after all.

 

“You can stop with the flattery, you know. It will not change my mind in your favor,” she put down her flatware and prepared to leave her dinner prematurely; her mind was screaming at her to leave the room, “Any man who would accept a woman as a form of payment is not worthy of my amiability,” she told him surely before she turned and left the room, breaking into a near jog once she reached the stairs.

 

Watching her go, Cokrain was certain now that she would put up a fight against him. Standing to take his leave to his study, he checked the time on his watch.

 

Only a few more hours, then she'd be his for the taking. He allowed himself a small vision of the woman lying in front of him at his whim before studiously clearing it and returning to work.

 

 

 

After several hours of strained work, Cokrain closed the books he had been working on and crept around his desk to leave the study.  He closed the door behind him, locked it, and went toward the kitchen to make certain that his cook was no longer there.  Chloe didn't like him; that was obvious enough.  A glance about the pristine room, and he was satisfied that he and Naomi were alone in the house.  He walked toward the stairs with measured grace and started up to his bedroom, heightening his anticipation for what was to finally come.  Once he'd made it to his room, he closed the door quietly and locked it.  With his wait for Naomi finally over, he looked over to the door separating his room from hers with a decidedly evil smile on his face.  Deliberately keeping his movements slow, he kicked off his shoes and moved to it.  He had no idea whether she was a light sleeper or not, so he gingerly tested the doorknob, expecting that there would be a need to unlock it as usual.  

 

As he'd suspected, the doorknob remained in its locked position. Chloe thought she had one on him by stealing any keys she found to this door, but he was not so dim-witted. He huffed, and went over to his dresser where he kept a spare key for such occasions. Slowly turning the lock, he was satisfied to feel the internal click signaling that the door was now open.

 

Standing just inside the door to her room with his hand on the doorknob, he looked over at the object of his obsession.  She was sleeping on her back as she had been earlier.  This time, though, she was between the sheets and he could tell she was wearing nothing but a night gown, because she had kicked the heavy blanket off of her.  Her hair was fanned across the pillow and the light from one of her lamps illuminated her hair to golden, her face peaceful in sleep. 

 

Elated that he was finally about to taste the woman's flesh, he closed the door behind him and turned to lock himself in with her.  When he got it locked, he returned his eyes to her to discover that Naomi had somehow awakened, and her beautiful eyes were staring at him in a frozen panic.

 

Cokrain turned to face the woman, “Well my dear, I've decided that it's time that you got to know me,” he said calmly.  He started toward her and began taking his shirt off.  By the time he had gotten to the bed, she had jumped off of it as if it were on fire.  She frantically looked around trying to find anything available she could use to protect herself from him.

 

 “Don't tell me that you are going to try to fend me off with that,” he said motioning to the lamp that she had seized.  Now with shirt off, he began working his pants from his body as he spoke, “That little lamp will not keep me from what I have been working toward for two years, Naomi.” She frowned at him, confused by what he had said when he started moving closer to her with all but his leggings shed.  She gripped the lamp firmer in her hand, backing up as he advanced on her.  Naomi fought to control her panic once when she felt the wall at her back.  He was getting closer to her, so on impulse she swung at him once with the lamp.  Naomi flinched when she saw that he jumped back in time to miss the blow.  Once he cleared the lamp, he lunged, caught her wrists and slammed them to the wall, making her wince.  The lamp fell hard to crash on the floor several feet away.  After he had disarmed her, her initial fear began to couple with rage.  How dare he do this to her!

 

 “I will not submit to you, you horrible gnat!” she screamed at him as she struggled. He held her fast with ease.

 

“A gnat, am I?” he angled back at her with clear amusement.

 

“Yes, would you like some more embellishment?” Naomi growled back at him.

 

“My goodness, you have some venom, don't you?  You know you would do better to simply enjoy it.  There are lots of women who would give me anything to be where you are now.  And quite honestly, I've waited for you long enough,” he informed her, kissing her roughly as he pressed himself up against her.

 

With his long awaited prize now in his arms, he turned her around and crossed her arms over her chest, still holding on to her wrists.  She paled when she realized she could feel his heat pressing against her backside, and redoubled her efforts to fight harder against him.

 

Picking her up off her feet, he walked her back to the bed where he laid her down, all the while with her kicking and trying to wrestle her arms free.  He was much stronger than he looked; Cokrain's lean muscles were well formed and they held a lot more power than she ever would have guessed

 

With Naomi safely on her stomach beneath him, he partially stood up to free his hands from between her and the mattress and grabbed her nightgown at the neckline, tearing it down the length of her back to stop just above her tailbone and giving him access to her tanned skin.  He parted the gown and slowly ran his hands down her back, reveling in her form.  Naomi flared with a renewed combination of terror and fury when she felt his hands touching her skin.

 

Without Cokrain's full weight holding her down, she tried to use her legs to lever him away from her.  She bucked, throwing him off balance and quickly rolled out from underneath him.  On her feet again, Naomi ran to the door to the hallway and clumsily fumbled with the lock, 'Why did I drink wine tonight?' she scolded herself, cursing the precious seconds that were ticking away.  She finally got the door opened, but he was there within moments; slamming it shut again with his palm. She jumped back and yelped with surprise, her torn gown slipping off a shoulder.  She scrambled to keep herself clothed around the tear.

 

“You'll not escape from me, Naomi.  You belong to me.  If you run away, I will find you no matter where you go,” he ground out mere inches from her face, more excited now than he had been in a long time.  She was proving to be great quarry, but now she had nowhere to go and it was only a matter of time before he was buried within her.

 

Naomi didn't think she would win this confrontation and escape with her virtue by outrunning him, and he was too strong to ward off physically.  Once again she desperately looked around the room, trying to decide what would be most effective in her bid for escape.  A quick glance at the dresser revealed the large decorative platter she had noticed when she'd arrived.  She started in the direction of the dresser, feigning fear.  When she felt the dresser at her bottom, she grabbed the platter and pivoted toward Cokrain, smashing it on his temple.  With a shocked look frozen on his face, Caldwell Cokrain fell to the floor amidst the broken pieces of the ugly platter.

 

“Oh God,” Naomi said aloud, thinking she'd killed him when she saw his head beginning to bleed, staining his blonde hair.  Gingerly, she knelt down to check for his breathing when he moaned and started to wake.  Not wanting to be there when he fully awoke, Naomi ran around him and out of the bedroom door, stumbling down the staircase in the dark and nearly twisting her ankle in the process.  She went toward the front door and put all of her weight into opening the huge thing.  When the door was open enough to accommodate her, she ran out into the night.

 

 

Hank was just coming in the house through the kitchen on his way to inform Caldwell of the fight that had broken out among the stable hands again.  Just as he was about to step into the foyer, his attention was drawn to the woman his boss had begun obsessing over. She was flying down the stairs in a nightgown that was torn down the back.  He stood there, unmoving and amazed to see her heave the gigantic doors open before he realized what it was she was doing.  He started to run up the stairs to see what she had done to his employer when Caldwell appeared at the top of the walkway, half dressed and holding his bleeding head.  Seeing Hank, Cokrain snapped at him to go after her.  Immediately, Hank went back down the stairs and raced through the doors to see Naomi tearing through the yard toward the front gate, her gown giving him flashes of skin at her back through the tear.  Running after her, he watched her get though the gate and turn to run to the left.  Once he got to the gate, he caught sight of her turning a corner with her mane of hair trailing after her.  Hank followed.

 

Naomi had run a few blocks blindly before she'd realized what she was doing. She was running away from someone through a strange town, half dressed with bare feet in the middle of the night with nowhere to go.  

 

She started to scan the streets for a place where she could hide until she could figure out what to do.  All the shops she ran past were dark and she didn't waste time testing them all to see if the doors were looked.  She hated the idea of hiding in an alleyway.  Naomi knew Hank would probably check there first if he lost sight of her, knowing that she knew no one here and had nowhere to go.  She knew that Hank was after her because she had heard Cokrain's deep voice yelling at Hank to go and catch her.  She didn't bother looking behind her because that would just slow her down.  Naomi knew Hank was back there because she could hear his footsteps following her.  

 

Naomi continued scanning the empty streets for any possible solutions to her problem. There!  She nearly sagged with relief when saw a large house just ahead.  It looked as if there was a get-together of some kind and every light was on.  She ran straight for the house.  On the seat of one of the coaches, she spotted a cloak the driver had probably been wearing.  Hearing the echoing footsteps of Hank coming around the corner she had just come from, she grabbed the cloak and quickly wrapped herself in it, keeping her long hair underneath the un-hooded cloak.  She calmly walked toward the front door of the house, hoping that there would be no one in the foyer.  When she ducked in the front door, her eyes met with the blue eyes of a plump woman who was hanging up a luxurious dressing cloak.