Historical
Deadly Courtship
By Bethany
Jul 12, 2007, 05:17

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, leaning up against a tree for some support.  His leg muscles began to throb and, for a moment, he considered surrender, not believing he had the strength to go on.  The sound of hounds, closer than he would have liked, gave him a second wind.  His choice was easy.  A quick glance around offered the faintest of lights glowing in the distance.  His mind was set; he took off running once more, this time with a destination.

The pebbles stuck into the soles of his feet like hundreds of tiny knives, causing the abused flesh to bleed even more.  The pain began to dull when the lights in the distance slowly began to take shape.  A house, a red brick house with candles in each window.  As he drew closer, the foliage gave way to a wide expanse of green lawn, slightly wet from the dew and completely free of anything hard or sharp.  He offered a quick prayer of thanks to the heavens before he sprinted the last few feet over the gravel drive and up the familiar brick steps.  Taking a deep breath, and checking behind him to make sure that he was not in sight of the constable, he pulled open the heavy oaken door, slipped inside, and slammed it home behind him.      

He took only a moment or two to catch his breath before looking up and realizing that every pair of eyes in the room were focused upon him.  He offered as charming a smile as he could, tilted his head and flashed perfectly white teeth as he spoke. 

“Good evening, ladies.  Might I bother one of you for a place to stay for a bit?”  The silence in the room was deafening as he stood there, watching them watch him and hoping one of them would take pity on him.

One girl did show a response other than muted surprise.  She looked up from the pianoforte she had been playing, her hands frozen in mid-air as a she regarded him.  Despite his haggard appearance, he attempted to hold himself with a certain amount of poise, not wanting to upset her further.  When he spoke, it was with a sense of command, even when asking this favor.  The faint sound of dogs barking broke through the silence, and he glanced nervously out a nearby window, belying his confident air.  He could not see anything yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.  When he turned back, the girl, Julianna, was coming towards him with her hand outstretched.  Given their history together, he was shocked that she would be the one to offer help.  She took his hand in hers, and he let her guide him toward the stairs. 

“Come with me, and I will hide you.”  Her voice was little more than a whisper as she spoke to him, gently tugging him in the direction of her chamber.  She sent a look of warning to the other girls, and they all seemed to find something more interesting to look at as they waited for more men to arrive.  When they reached the top of the stairs, she pulled him into her room and shut the door, motioning for him to go to the bed.

“Thank you very much, my lady.”  His gratitude was obvious in his voice, but the slightest bit of arrogant superiority was still there.  Something he could not control, as it had been taught to him since he was young.

“You’re quite welcome, and you do not need to call me something that I am not.  We both know what type of establishment you are in, and there are no ladies to be found here.  Merely girls of ill repute.”  Her expression was one of barely controlled anger; her lips pursed and her brows close together. 

Downstairs, the door opened, allowing the constable and his hounds access.  A voice ordered him to leave the dogs outside, that they would ruin the furniture and there was no time to clean it.  They listened intently as words were exchanged and the constable insisted that he check each and every room, not taking the girls at their word that there had been no visitors as of yet this evening.  The constable’s heavy boots thudded forebodingly against the wooden stairs, warning Garrick that he had better think of a plan very quickly.

The girl pulled the blankets off of the bed, and motioned silently, but urgently, for him to get in.  He did as he was told, having no better option than to trust her.  She pulled the covers back over him, mussed her hair, and walked to the door.

He watched her go to the door and step outside; into the company of the constable.  He hoped that whatever she had planned would work, because his very life depended upon it.  He strained to hear what they were saying, but was careful to stay where he had been put. 

“Good evening, Constable.”  Her voice was low and seductive, and he could just imagine the theatrical display she was putting on behind the door.  “I am working at the moment, but I would be more than happy to accommodate you in an hour or so.  Please say you’ll wait for me.”

The Constable had to clear his throat a few times, presumably, to gain his composure.  “Juliana, I’m not in the mood for your games tonight.  I’ve got to catch an escapee.  I need to check every room.”

Her seductive voice turned to one of surprise as she continued; Garrick couldn’t help the smile threatening to turn up the corners of his mouth.  “You mean someone got away from you?  Have you been chasing him all night?  Surely after a night like this one, you are going to need some love.  You are my favorite customer you know.”  Her voice was seductive again.  His imagination was running rampant, imagining her scandalously clad body moving closer to the constable’s.  For some reason, the thought upset him.  He pushed the thought down, burying it as he had before.  He could not afford to be weak, not now.

“Jules, I really can’t right now.  Move out of my way, so I can clear your room.”  Aggravation dominated the constable’s emotions, his voice making that perfectly clear.

“Please don’t.” Her voice was a bit panicked, but still smooth.  “I told you that I’m working with someone right now.  You wouldn’t like it very much if someone were to barge in on you when you were in nothing more than the suit God gave you, now would you?  I give you my word that the man with me is no escaped convict.  If he is, he’s been escaping every night for two weeks to spend time with me.”  In her next words, the panic was gone, as if it hadn’t even been there in the first place.  “Stop wasting your time here, catch that dirty rogue, and come back to me.” 

 “All right, Jules, but you let me know if he comes around here.  He’s dangerous, a convicted killer.  A pirate.”  Resignation was there now, it seemed that he knew he would get nowhere arguing with her.

“I promise.” 

Garrick heard her heavy sigh of relief and the constable’s heavy boots taking him out of the house, and he and his hounds farther away.  There was no time to revel in his relief, as he heard Juliana angrily moving towards him just before she ripped the covers off. 

“A convicted killer?”  Her voice was shrill, but still a whisper, as she demanded answers from him.  “A pirate?”

“I didn’t kill anyone, not that I expect you to believe me.”  He sat up, flinching as the flesh on his back protested.  “A nobleman was murdered several years ago, and the man’s daughter disappeared shortly afterward.  Due to my already illustrious reputation, the wife decided that it must have been my doing.  I was convicted on grounds of her purse being far deeper than my own.  I had been part of an arranged marriage to the young girl, before I turned to being a merchantman.”  He stopped for a moment to gauge her reaction. 

“Merchantman.”  She rolled her eyes as she looked away from him.  “Your occupation is no more respectable than mine.” 

 Her only visible emotion was a slight stiffening of her spine, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and he wasn’t even sure he had really seen it.

     “Lie down on your belly, and let me see what they did to you.”  Her tone of authority was not lost on him, nor was her blatant move away from his story.  He hid a smirk in her mattress as he did her bidding.  The soft material felt like heaven against his skin; he couldn’t hide the sigh of contentment as he stretched out.  Her scent filled his nostrils and he inhaled deeply, it was a scent he hadn’t been treated to for a long time.  Roses and lilac.  Before sitting down, she took a bottle of liniment from her bedside table and a cloth, preparing to treat his wounds. 

  “Why did you protect me when you didn’t have to?”  He folded his arms beneath his head, and laid his cheek upon his arm, watching her movements as she came closer to him.  He couldn’t deny her beauty, or the perfection with which she had been made.  Like a goddess she was, the flowing pink silk adding to that image.  As he slowly dragged his eyes to her face, he was met with a scowl.

“Even a man who has just barely escaped death can only think of lust.  It amazes me.”  Sitting upon the bed beside him, she wet the cloth with the liniment and began dabbing at his back.  “I wish I were not the one to tell you so, but you will not be able to handle my type of loving for quite some time.  Certainly not until you are healed.”  Sarcasm laced her voice, but she never broke her stride with her ministrations to his back. 

“A man is a man no matter his present circumstances.  I’ve been locked away for quite a while, and despite my near-death experience I am still quite capable of appreciating a fine female specimen.  Namely, you.”  His words were cut off as she dabbed harder, and he inhaled sharply in response.  The oil was meant to clean, but it burned so badly he wondered what was worse; the cleaning or the beating. 

As he searched the room for something else to focus upon, his eyes settled upon the drawer she had opened to retrieve the liniment.  “Do you always carry weapons with you, or just while you are working?”

“I was attacked once, and I swore the event would not be repeated.  Despite my profession, I am still to be respected.” 

There was an unmistakable emphasis on the word respected, and Garrick knew that it was directed towards him.  There would be plenty of time for him to explain, for the moment he simply wanted to enjoy being with her again.

It seemed she was not about to elaborate, and he thought it wise not to ask further.  He turned his head to get a glimpse of her face, and was amused by what he saw.  It was still drawn up in a scowl, marring her natural beauty, but making her quite endearing.  He was about to ask her what she was brooding about, when her emotions seemed to have gotten the better of her and she began dabbing at his back a bit too hard again.  A sharp inhale from him was enough to bring her mind back to her workings, but a muttered apology was all he received. “A word of caution, please.  I’ve been beaten quite enough, I need no more of it.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and Julianna rose to answer it.  “Yes, Margaret, what is it?”

“It’s Madame, Jules, she’s sent for the constable.”  Without another word, she fled down the stairs.

Garrick wasted no time, he reached into the drawer and pulled out the gun, leaping to his feet as he did so.  “Please forgive me for this, Julianna, but I’m not about to go back.”  He grabbed her before she could have realized what he was doing, and pointed the barrel of the pistol against her temple.  “Do not make a sound, simply find yourself some clothing and get dressed.  Understood?”

She nodded silently, and he pushed her away, keeping the pistol pointed towards her as she rifled through her clothes, finding a plain brown muslin dress.  He hoped it would be enough to keep her warm. 

“I believe I may have some men’s clothing for you, at least a shirt.”  As she tugged the gown over her head, she walked to a single trunk at the foot of her bed, opening it and handing him a white lawn shirt. 

     She took a handful of pins from her bedside table, and began shoving them into her hair in all directions, attempting to keep the mass secured atop her head.  The riot was finally tamed, aside from a few tendrils escaping down to kiss her cheeks. 

     He gingerly pulled the white lawn shirt over his head, trusting her not to run for the instant that he would have his eyes off of her.  He then grabbed her again, placing the pistol back against her flesh as he guided her by the arm out of the room and down the stairs.  He stopped for a moment before he walked out the door with her, turning to every shocked expression in the room.  “If anyone sends the constable after us, she will die.”

He couldn’t help but count his blessings, as no men had shown up yet for their nightly entertainment.  Not wishing to press his luck, he brought her outside, grateful that it was still warm, and probably would be for the next few weeks.  They moved as one towards the stables, and he did his best to saddle two of the horses without taking the gun off of her.  When he finally managed it, he led them both outside, and ordered Julianna to mount one.

     “Do it quickly and quietly, and you have my word that no harm will come to you.”  The look she gave him made him regret his rash decision, but there was no going back now.  Once she was mounted, he mounted his own, and gave her one last warning.

     “If you try to run, I’ll kill you.  If you scream, I’ll kill you.  If you do anything other than cooperate-”

     “-you’ll kill me.”

     He nodded his agreement to her finishing the sentence for him, her voice laced with venom.  Without another word, he kicked his horse into a gallop, trusting her to follow behind.