Becoming a Lady Read Free Page B

intent.


    “ Perhaps I intend to carry you off into the woods and slaughter you like a little deer.”   His tone did not match the spoken words and Anna wondered if he were trying to be amusing.  “Do not mistake my courtesy for affection.”


    “ Since you have shown me no affection, I do not,” Anna huffed, but remained staring up at him.


    “ I can see why you have no husband,” he grumbled then.


    Anna balked.  “You have made no attempt to distinguish me from any other woman; how dare you say that of me!”   Anna shook her head.  “You are a piece of filth.”


    “ You have made no attempt to distinguish me from any other man so I must say that your view is tilted.”   His voice was low and threatening and she could feel his breath on her ear.


    “ I have no comment to that, Sir.”   Anna was growing weary of this.  She was not used to talking to anyone at all, and she was not used to this sort of banter.


    “ For that I am grateful.”  
    He pulled up on the reigns and straightened .

Anna spun her body completely around to face him.  “I have done nothing to you and do not know you, Sir.  Tell me now, what use am I!”


    The man slowed, then stopped the horse.  “Have you lost your mind?   Turn around and do not address me until I tell you to.”


    Anna raised an eyebrow.  “I already told you that I will not take orders from you.”


    The man narrowed his eyes.  “What could you have done that your father never disciplined you?”


    Anna was confused.  What had her father to do with this?   “I am of no use to my Father.”


    “ You were not taught to listen to a man and I want to know why.”   He kept his eyes on hers.  “Has no one told you what happens to a woman who speaks sharply to a man?”


    “ I do not speak sharply.  I do not have ties to you, Sir, and so I will not take orders.” Anna shrugged casually.


    “ You will turn around and you will do what I tell you to or your cheeks are going to be as red as my bag.”

Anna held a hand up to her face and scrunched her nose.  She could not tell if he was bluffing or not. 
    
 ”I am not speaking of those cheeks, Little One.”


    Anna ’s eyes went wide and she immediately turned around.  He could not possibly mean that he would spank her!  He had kidnapped her for no coin and was now threatening to discipline her?   She was no longer a child!  How dare he speak to her in such a manner!  Yet Anna was deeply intrigued by the thought.  “You are saying that to scare me.”


    “ Try me.”   The man adjusted the reigns again.


    “ I will not.”   Anna ran her hand down over the horse’s mane and tried to stop the thoughts that were barreling through her head.  The thought of his doing such a barbaric thing to her made her nervous - and something else.  It was something that felt like excitement.  Had she gone mad in her mind?   Did she actually anticipate with pleasure the thought of being touched that way?   Anna bit her lip and nuzzled closer to the horse.  She missed tending to the horses, and as they rode further on, Anna began to lose hope of ever seeing her village again.  Her thoughts returned yet again to the man sitting so close to her.  Surely, if he wanted nothing to do with her or to cause her harm, he would not be so casual to tell her of such consequences.  They continued to ride on until it was unsafe to continue.  The man dismounted first, and then set her down as well.  Anna kept her mouth shut and said nothing, as he tied the horse to a tree and urged her forward.  


     
    ***


    Anna cringed as he tied her arms up over her head.  “You tie me as if I could think of escaping in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere!”


    The man said nothing as he drew the rope tighter .


    “ Do you not understand how very sore my arms will be in the