Romance Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Koi Pond ❯ Stupid shoes... ( Chapter 1 )

AN: *peeks around corner* …I know I haven't updated things that I've need to, but things like work and new relationships tend to eat up time. ^^; I'll still do so, but this little snippet came from nowhere when I was almost asleep the other day. You know that those are the ones that absolutely must be written down. This is another of those that may turn into a chaptered story in the future, but works well as a one shot for now. I still love you guys!!

 

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Somewhere in England, 1853

 

 

It had been one of those days. To top it off, it had started raining long enough ago for her hair to be dripping along with the rest of her sodden clothes, “Bloody stinking shoes…branches…dirty trees don't block a thing,” she began mumbling, beginning to make her observer think she had lost her mind with annoyance.

 

She was a tall thing with wavy dark red hair, currently hanging about her face in long, straight clumps due to the rain. While she was somewhat quick-tempered on any given day, she looked as though she would throttle a bear bare-handed were she given the chance by this point. He figured her shoes were partly to blame judging by her ramblings as she made her way through the spring rain back to her village.

 

Merritt smiled behind his chosen hiding spot as she quietly cursed in a very unladylike manner. Yes…a perfect time to introduce oneself.

 

 

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The grumbling made her feel better, but not by much. If her mother heard her right now, she would be in so much hot water. Not an entertaining prospect right now, but her mother was not here. Slipping yet again on the slimy undergrowth in these Godforsaken woods, she bit back another of those ear-burning phrases that her mother was not aware she knew.

 

“Of all the days to loose my trail…” she swiped a sticky slop of hair from her forehead before finally succeeding in falling to the forest floor despite her best efforts. Instead of cursing as she had been doing for the last hour, she merely sat there in the relative shelter of the canopy above her and let her legs out straight with a sigh, “I'm probably sitting on my hair, too,” she grumbled, unpleasantly aware that she was being unreasonably pessimistic. She figured she was allowed; she had not even caught one rabbit before it had started raining! She had tried for a spell after that to catch something else, but lost her bow and arrow in a ravine when she lost her footing. It was a spectacular beginning.

 

The sodden maiden looked up with a snap of her head. Until now, there had been no other sounds save her, the gentle rain, and occasional thunder. Now she became aware that she was not alone in the middle of the woods with no protection.

 

Lovely.

 

Before the bright thought of raising herself to her feet had registered in her limbs, something of a frightening bulk heaved itself out of a tree to the forest floor. Right in front of her. Now…Here was a smart girl…mostly. She saw clearly that it was bigger than her, but she also knew that she was feared by the men in her village for reasons beyond her size. With her rounded eyes glued to the creature before her, she prayed that whatever scared them off would do the same to whatever that was. As it stood up to at least six feet in height, the girl slowly became aware that it was, indeed, a man. She sucked in a breath to try and keep from screaming like a little girl.

 

“My dear, you look as though you may keel over at any moment with fright,” the creature said pleasantly, “I must say that I had absolutely no intentions of scaring you,” he squatted on his haunches down to her level, “might I help you up?”

 

While the beast that just scared the old out of her pleasantly chatted with her, she idly noted that his eyes were inhumanly blue. Far too light to be natural, but no being could change their eye color like that!

 

When the girl didn't answer and merely stared transfixed into his eyes, he took matters into his own hands. Sighing at her uncharacteristic befuddlement, Merritt reached over and grasped her hand. Standing up, he dragged her with him to their full height.

 

That had seemed to snap her out of it, but now she stared at their hands as a frightened rabbit might look at a fox. With a stout yank, she attempted to pull away. When her hand did not break free from his, she looked him straight in the eyes with her own blue ones and yanked again. While she was unmistakably disturbed by the contact, she still looked at him in a broiling manner for denying her what she obviously wanted.

 

Finally, she spoke to him, “Release my hand, good sir,” she gritted out through her teeth, emphasizing the title he most blatantly did not deserve. The insufferable man merely smiled a very inappropriately sensual smile, seemingly heating her from the inside out, “I will,” he paused, turning her hand up and inspecting it, “on one condition,” he said.

 

She narrowed her eyes, “What condition?” she asked him against her better judgments.

 

Merritt sighed as he looked back up to her face, “I merely wish to know your name.”

 

Frowning, she fished for a convincing name she could give this perfect stranger who held her hand in the middle of the forest…where she was still getting soaked, she might add… “Jillian,” she tried, inexplicably earning her a fond chuckle.

 

“Nice try Love, but you will have to give me the real one,” he said behind his damned charming grin. How did he know that wasn't her name?

 

He continued to look at her expectantly and she put on her best `innocent' face, “Cassandra?”

 

Dammit…she was horrible at lying to anyone.

 

He shook his head at her and she began to get justifiably peeved at his cool perceptiveness. With ire in her eyes, she yanked a third time. “I give you my word that I will not harm you, I only wish to know what you are called by those who know you,” he said again, this time with an unquestionable ring of sincerity.

 

Sighing heavily to show him how annoyed she was at this whole debacle, she blurted out her given name, “It's Edythe.”

 

One side of his mouth quirked up moments before she yanked a final time, this time with no resistance on his end. She fell once more onto her backside, the wet leaves beneath her squelching at the sudden pressure. The Beast only looked into the distance and pondered, “Really? That's rather an old maid's name than a young beauty,” he seemed to say to himself, then peered down at her again, “It does not suit you much. Do you carry a second name? Neither that nor a surname?”

 

The girl fumed, “One name is not good enough for you merely because you do not like it? I know it sounds of an elder woman's name, but I did not choose it!” she raised her voice, the sound barely making much distance in the still pouring rain. Belatedly, she realized that she had control of her hand once again and stood with as much grace as a soaked cat. She turned her back to him and began limping her way back…hopefully in the right direction. She did not get far when she felt herself get lifted from the ground. He'd picked her up in the manner of a man carrying his bride, and she immediately flushed, “PUT ME DOWN!”

 

“I will not, I hadn't realized that you were hurt. I did promise you that I would not harm you, yet you walk unevenly. Please forgive me for handling you in this manner without your consent, but you do seem to have a stubborn nature,” he walked on, looking down to her face as she held onto his neck, “This really seemed to be my only option.”

 

“I'm not so sure I like the idea of a forest creature knowing where I live,” she mumbled.

 

“If you really wish it, I will set you down here and let you be,” Merritt sorely hoped she would not voice that desire, but he offered anyway, mostly sure she wouldn't. He hitched his breath when she seemed to give in and sigh.

 

The girl called Edith resigned herself to being carried by a complete, undeniable stranger…with gorgeous eyes. She looked in the direction he was walking when she grudgingly admitted her loss among the soggy, cold rain, “I am not even sure if I was going in the right direction anymore.”

 

He smiled softly, the same filling his eyes, “There is a village in this direction…the closest for another fifteen or so miles. I will assume that it is yours, but if you had actually travelled that far from the other I will take you there.” With that said he pulled her closer and stepped out from the canopy to cross a field toward her village. As tired as she was, she feared she might fall asleep in this perfect stranger's arms (hardly a smart thing to do…).

 

She tried to avoid being decidedly not smart in such a way by sneaking looks at his face. He had fairly pale skin for a male, and his eyes seemed to match that pattern by being unnaturally light. His hair was a shaggy black, hanging over a bandana that was wrapped around his head to tie at the back. She'd seen at the beginning that he wore a simple and very exposing black tank with simple black pants. She would say he looked like a lower-class worker, were it not for the hands. No, she clearly remembered his hands to be no less than beautiful…not factory rough. So, what was an upper-class man doing in the forest, in the rain, wearing naught but a tank and slacks?

 

“Satisfied with your examination?” he asked pleasantly, a cocky little smirk playing across his perfect face.

 

He couldn't help himself.

 

She gritted her teeth to keep from actively slapping the grin off of him, “Actually, I am attempting to keep myself from falling asleep,” she snapped back at him, “I do not relish the idea of finding myself in an undesirable predicament when I wake, so I will remain so.”

 

She nearly followed that with an immediate apology when the smirk dropped and he looked at her dejectedly, “Is life so unfair to you that you feel no man is capable of a good deed without ulterior motives?” He said this very quietly, turning his head back to the tree line they were approaching, “I realize I broke my word by allowing harm to come to you when you fell, but I will not deliver you home in any less condition than you are in now.”

 

He took a deep breath, “I will still let you down and leave you alone if that is what you want.”

 

She swallowed at his entirely changed demeanor from moments ago. Since nearly scaring the pee out of her a while back, she had seen him impish, charming, amused, even confusion and desire. She had not seen him in this face.

 

Another roll of distant thunder sounded, announcing that the bulk of the storm had passed, and the young woman bit her lip. With a breath, she sucked it up, “I'm sorry. A girl can't be too careful…to answer your question, yes. Life has been unfair, but it has only taught me lesson upon lesson. Thank you for helping…but I will still pray that you really do mean no harm.”

 

He nodded. Her distrust was understandable, yet she still allowed his help. Hoping it wouldn't risk their tenuous truce, he squeezed her a little bit closer from the rain and continued. Before too long, she spoke up again with a gravelly voice heavy with weariness, “My second name is Korrine.” She lost the battle with sleep minutes later.

 

“Korrine,” he rolled the name from his tongue, looking down to her sleeping face, “I am Merritt.”