Called to Order (15 page)

“I do not belong to Adam.”

The girl rolled her eyes and waved her comment away. “Fine, but still, Adam is a man of worth. He is good and honest and brave. He never loses his patience, and his word means everything to him. He doesn’t lie. If you ask him something he will give you an honest answer.”

Overwhelmed and oddly tired regardless of having only been awake for a few hours after sleeping for almost two days straight, Annalise did not feel like talking anymore. Perhaps she wanted to sleep so she could wake up again and discover that all of this was a dream. She wanted to shower and clean herself up. The scent of manure seemed to have clung to her hair.

Gracie laughed. “The animals smell worse when it is hot like this. The drought has not helped either. The leaves are beginning to turn toward the sky though, so I am guessing we will have rain by morning.” The girl was insanely perceptive. “I can show you where the bathing room is and fetch you some water if you’d like. I can also find one of Larissa’s old sleeping gowns.”

Changing out of these clothes sounded divine. Not only did Annalise stink, she was sweaty. She had so many heavy layers on her skin felt like it couldn’t breathe. “Thank you. I would appreciate that.”

If Annalise thought she wasn’t in Kansas anymore an hour ago, nothing compared to the way she felt after bathing. What a process! Gracie had brought her a pitcher of water and poured it into the basin sitting on the chest of drawers in the corner. Annalise wasn’t sure what to do with it. She had seen vases and bowls like that in historic homes before, but she wasn’t really sure if they were for washing or drinking. She remembered watching an episode of
Deadwood
where she thought a whore used the water to wash under her arms after sleeping with a brothel customer, but she still wasn’t sure. She suddenly wished she’d read Regency romances where an author would describe such things.

Luckily, Gracie returned a moment later with two buckets of water and asked Annalise to follow her down the hall. Outside of a wooden door, the girl asked if she had to empty her bladder. Annalise said yes and was surprised that the girl did not lead her into what she assumed was the bathroom, but placed the buckets on the aged wood floor and led her down a set of stairs and out the back of the house. She panicked thinking the girl expected her to pee in the bushes, but then Gracie had pointed to what appeared to be a real-life outhouse.

The outhouse was surprisingly larger than what Annalise had expected. There was a fairly modern looking latrine, a dry sink, towels, soap, and another pitcher with water. The only issue Annalise had was with the lack of lighting. Oddly, when the door shut and she found herself in pitch black, Gracie opened it and said, “I’m sorry. I forgot your eyes do not see well in the darkness.” She then lit a lantern and left before Annalise could react to the unusual comment.

The room was drafty and utilitarian. Annalise worried about spiders and night crawlers, things that didn’t normally bother her, yet for some reason concerned her now.

After she managed to wash her hands using the crude bar of soap and the washstand, all the while hoping she wasn’t breaking houseguest protocol and leaving a mess behind, Gracie led her back to the house. When they entered the bathroom, it was again not what she had expected.

The stucco walls were bare. There were no mirrors. The floor slanted at an odd angle toward the exterior wall of the house. There was a drain of sorts on the floor and a sort of gutter system coming from the ceiling. It reminded her of a child’s sand toy.

Gracie carried the twin buckets of water inside and placed them on the floor. Everything seemed so surreal that a hysterical giggle slipped past Annalise’s lips. She felt like Alice after she fell through the looking glass. Nothing was as it should be. She didn’t know where she was. She was not allowed to leave. These people were acting as if everything was as it should be and, on top of it all, nothing appeared familiar. It was as if she had slipped back in time. Unable to comprehend a bit of it, she decided once and for all that she must be dreaming and surrendered to it all.

Gracie stood behind her and began untying Annalise’s gown. She stood patiently docile and let the other woman take charge. When she was stripped down to her panties, the other girl smirked. Annalise supposed Gracie was accustomed to seeing women in the large willowy pantaloons Adam tried to get her to change into. The girl seeming more intrigued by the modern panties than scandalized however.

When Annalise was completely nude, Grace led her to the far end of the room by the gutter contraption. The girl poured a bucket into a trough of some sort then turned a crank that had the trough lifting toward the ceiling.

“Here, you pull this and the water comes down like rain.” Anna did as the girl instructed and gasped when cold water dumped over her head. Blustering under the onslaught and now shivering, she immediately released the pulley. “Oh dear,” the girl said, now wearing a slightly damp dress. “Not so much. You will use all the water before you get yourself clean. Is it too cold? Would you like me to heat the water? It will take a quarter hour, but I can if it would make you more comfortable.”

Annalise flipped a clump of her sopping hair away from her face and examined the pulley system again. She suddenly began to cry. She could not do this. Gracie frowned sympathetically and then rolled up her sleeves. Pulling a bar of soap from her apron pocket, she dunked it into the still-full bucket on the floor and began to work a lather inside of a small piece of cloth. “Do not cry, Anna. I will help you. Here, this is a nice soap my grandmother makes for us girls. It is filled with perfumed herbs and isn’t as abrasive on the skin. She says the secret is adding milk to the fat.”

Annalise stood while the girl washed her as if she were a child. She washed and rinsed her hair gently. The longer she stood, the less startling the water became. She just let go of all of her thoughts allowing a much-needed calm to wash over her.

When she was finished bathing, Gracie wrapped her in a large blanket and told her she would be right back. When she returned, Annalise’s skin had begun to dry and she was finally warming up. Gracie had exchanged her wet apron for a dry one and now carried a light gossamer nightgown in her arms. She pulled the blanket away from Annalise’s body and quickly slid the nightgown over her head, pulling her wet, knotted hair out from under the light fabric.

The gown was surprisingly sheer, the narrow sleeves leaving her arms and neck bare. It was a refreshing change from the restrictive garb she had worn earlier that evening.

When they returned to the bedroom they were in earlier, Gracie hung Annalise’s dress, apron, and shirt on studs protruding from a plank hung high on the wall. The girl seemed strangely in tune with Annalise’s fragile grasp on her emotions. If she spoke at all she used a softer-than-usual voice and was very gentle in the way she led Annalise from place to place.

Sitting on the bed, Annalise looked around the room while Gracie slowly combed the knots out of her damp hair. The room was very sparse. There was a chest of drawers where Gracie had placed what Annalise now knew was called a pitcher and ewer and some essentials for personal hygiene. Again though, there was no mirror. There was a simple chair in the corner and a small table next to the bed that held an oil lantern. The room was bathed in a soft glow of golden light. The furniture all appeared very old and handmade. The floor was wood and a braided mat rested on each side of the double bed. A tall narrow dresser stood on the adjacent wall and there were small wooden figurines of different animals and a timber box sat neatly on top.

“Is this Adam’s bedroom?”

The brushing paused and then continued as Gracie answered, “Yes. He should be here shortly.”

“He will expect to share this bed with me.”

The girl paused from brushing her hair again then sighed and walked the brush over to the chest of drawers. Kneeling down in front of Annalise, she took her hands and softly said, “My brother is a good man, Anna. He will do whatever he must to be worthy of your heart. Right now things are just…
shrecklich.
I know you do not understand, but you will. The sooner you accept this as your fate, the easier things will become. You can fight him, and I do not believe he will force you. Adam is kind and gentle before all else. However, you are his, and it is his right to claim you as his mate. Most males would not be so patient. The longer you put him off, the more difficult things will become for us all.”

Rather than even try and form a reply to that, Annalise simply said, “Thank you for helping me tonight. I think I will go to bed now.”

Gracie nodded and stood. She straightened a few items and gathered the soiled blanket from the shower then gently shut the door. Alone at last. Annalise stood and walked over to the chest of drawers. Her fingertips ran over the items that rest there. If she were not so confused she might find the items more interesting. Currently she had no room in her jumbled mind for intrigue.

Stepping over to the narrow dresser, she opened the small timber box. A shard of wood rested inside and a sharp slender knife. Annalise picked up the wood and examined it. She gasped when she saw the beginnings of a kitten’s face carved into the side. She recognized that kitten. Placing the items back in the box, she began to examine the other figurines on the dresser. There was a fox, a bear, a goat, and a horse. Had Adam carved these? They were incredible.

The door quietly clicked open. Adam stepped inside, as if conjured by her thoughts, and she turned back to the dresser. In such an empty room, his size seemed even more impressive. She would never be able to overpower him. She watched from the corner of her eye as he hung his hat and removed his suspenders. When he undid his crisp mint-green shirt and hung it on the peg next to her dress, Annalise wondered why she would want to fight him anyway. He was gorgeous.

“Did you enjoy your time with Gracie?”

The sound of his voice made her heart rate jump from a rapid thrum to a gallop. Her throat was suddenly very dry. Keeping her eyes glued to the timber box, she answered, “Your sister is very sweet.”

“Good.”

He was now standing directly behind her. She hadn’t heard him move. His closeness caused a fury of chills to race up her arms and down her spine where the heat from his body pressed through the flimsy chemise she wore. He lifted her loose hair away from her back and draped it over her left shoulder. As he stepped closer and pressed his soft lips to the nape of her neck, she shut her eyes and took a shuddering breath. Annalise could feel his length pressed into her back. When had he removed the rest of his clothing?

His fingertips gently pulled the sleeve of her gown down her arm, exposing her right shoulder and his mouth kissed a trail of soft kisses there. All the fight left her and she relaxed into his caress, tired of combating his advances.

“Yes, relax,
ainsicht.
Let me love you.”

His gentle fingers reached over her breasts and tugged the threads of her gown loose. With one swift move, the gown fell from her shoulders and whispered to the floor. Her nipples pulled tight as his warm hands glided from the underside of her arms, down her back to her hips. She felt heat pull deep in her belly and wondered if he would stop if she asked him to.

His hands curled around her hips and pressed into the soft skin of her lower belly, right above where her body ached most. He pulled her backward so that her back was flush against his naked front. She shivered. Her eyes opened, and she watched one long tapered finger travel slowly upward, between her ribcage into the valley of her breasts. The fingers of his other hand splayed wide and slid down to cup her sex. She whimpered.

“Do not fear, Anna. I would never hurt you.”

He kissed and nibbled her shoulder as his left hand played at the soft underside of her breasts. This was not what she wanted, yet now she found herself growing wet and frustrated at his slow-teasing seduction. The entire buildup of the evening had made her feel like some innocent, frightened virgin bride, yet suddenly she wanted to grab his wrist and direct those long slender fingers where she needed them most.

When she heard him chuckle softly, she finally looked at him. His eyes had that feline look in them again. The pupils elongated in an almost inhuman way, and the silver was so bright they held a glow like that of a nocturnal creature’s. “Why are you laughing?”

“You are aroused. Will you deny it this time and make me call you a liar?”

The memory of the last time he’d made such an accusation came rushing back to her. Heat stole across her face at the humiliating way he’d proven her wrong. She did not want him to touch her so impersonally this time. She wanted him to do as he said he would and love her. “I will not lie this time.”