Released: MC Secret Baby Romance (New Adult Contemporary Biker Romance) (62 page)

“So…. I really am here,” she sat up and clutched her head.

The absinthe, although she’d only had a single shot, had taken a toll on her and she vowed to never try the foul smelling green stuff again. The inside of her mouth felt as though it was lined with the driest of fur, and she ran her tongue over her teeth and grimaced.

“Urgh…..”

She hurried to the bathroom and got washed and dressed before beginning to apply her makeup. She sat on the floor like she always did when concentrating on her eyeliner in front of the full length mirror with her butt planted on a pillow.

However, a knock on the door startled her and she flinched, sending a rogue flick of liquid liner across her entire eyelid.

“Ah crap!” she grabbed a tissue and dabbed at her face.

“Miss Kershaw?” Gerard was calling from the other side of the door. “Breakfast is served.”

“Be there in a minute.”

“Very well, though better not keep your new employer waiting,” and his footsteps dissolved into the distance.

Through all the chaos, Jane had scarcely thought about who her employer was, and now, she was all aflutter with nerves, as she wondered who it could be.

“Hopefully, it’s some mad old Hollywood actress who’s gone senile,” she thought, as she fixed her makeup. “Or some rich kid who just wants me to play video games all day.”

Of course, she knew this was highly unlikely, but if she knew what the truth was, she would have fled the house screaming.

With her heart in her mouth, she meandered down the long staircase and followed the smell of breakfast to the dining room that sat just off the great hall. It had large windows that reached from the floor to the ceiling and a gargantuan, sparkling chandelier that dangled down into the center of the table.

The table; however, was so long that she couldn’t see who was sitting at the other end of it until she was standing directly opposite him. The first thing she noticed about him were his eyes, dazzling and green. They looked like glittering emeralds. Then, there was his face, regal and handsome with high cheekbones and a chiseled, diamond-shaped jaw. His hair was black and slicked back, and his demeanor aloof and arrogant.

He regarded her curiously, as she sat down at the other end of the table and looked amused by her timidity.

“I’m Ferdinand Gilbert,” he announced with a voice that was as alluring as his looks. “You must be the new housekeeper.”

“I am,” Jane croaked out a terrified reply.

“Good…. I hope you last longer than all the other silly girls.” He looked at Gerard and reached out to grab the morning paper from him. “Tell me, Gerry, has she been a well behaved?” He joked.

“Oh, she’s a very lovely girl,” Gerard simpered at his boss.

“Good.” Ferdinand began reading the paper while twiddling his fork in a rasher of bacon. “I don’t need any more trouble.”

There was a long silence, as Ferdinand ignored Jane. With nothing else to do, she began to eat and was delighted by what was on offer. She hadn’t eaten since the previous afternoon, and she wolfed down her bacon and eggs and washed them down with a strong coffee.

“Right then.” Ferdinand stood up and paid no attention to his new housekeeper. “I have a meeting in the city,” and he strode out of the room abruptly, leaving Jane and Gerard alone.

“Is he always so……” she fumbled for the right word. “Is he always so…. Er….”

“Rude?” Gerard offered her a word. “Yes, always.”

They both shared a conspiratorial giggle, and then fell silent once again.

“So, now what?” She looked up to the butler with wide expectant eyes.

“Now, you wait.”

“Wait?”

“Until the evening… that’s when your work begins.” Gerard was on the cusp of turning on his heel, but Jane stopped him.

“What do you mean? I thought I was going to be a housekeeper.”

“You are, of sorts…..”

Jane didn’t like the sound of that or the way Gerard spoke so furtively. Her mind went to terrible places; dark corners of her psyche where she imagined a whole multitude of sexual horrors to take place.

“This isn’t some weird kinda…. sex trafficking thing, is it?” She nodded her head in the direction of Ferdinand’s departure.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” and the butler left too, leaving her alone in the grand dining room.

There were countless portraits everywhere she looked, and she didn’t feel comfortable at all in their presence. In fact, she felt as though at any moment, she would turn and see their eyes moving, as though they had come to life.

She shivered under the gaze of Ferdinand’s ancestors and hurried out of the room. Reaching the crisp, cool air of the great outdoors, she immediately felt relieved to be out of the house. From the outside, it looked even more threatening and it loomed down on her with its great Gothic architecture; however, she soon found if she looked out to the nearby fields that were bathed in sunlight, she was soon soothed by the sight.

Relaxing on the grass, she pondered on what was to happen once the evening came. There was something about Gerard that she felt particularly unhappy about. He was elusive and brisk, not to mention he spoke in riddles half the time. Nevertheless, he’d treated her perfectly well, hadn’t he?

With the trauma of the previous night long behind her, she was still exhausted at its memory and her thoughts turned to Lee once again.

“The bastard,” she mumbled to herself, as she picked at the grass. “He better regret hitting me. I hope to God he misses me so much he can’t stop crying,” and she smiled at the thought of seeing his tears splashing over his favorite Pink Floyd t-shirt. “Asshole.”

Laying her head down on the grass, she let the sun carry her troubles away on the lightness of the springtime breeze. It wasn’t long until she felt so relaxed, she was almost falling asleep. In the distance, she could hear Gerard pottering about in the abandoned stables, and she pretended for a moment that it was her mother moving pots and pans about her childhood kitchen. It was then that she fell into a blissful sleep.

*****

It was cold when she opened her eyes and saw the gray skies above her. A drop of rain had fallen and landed square in the center of her forehead. She frowned and rubbed it away before hurrying inside to escape the impending shower.

“Very nice to see you settled in,” Gerard appeared behind her. “I assume you are most rested for this evening.”

“Eh….. I guess so,” she murmured.

“Wonderful…. I’m afraid you missed dinner you pesky girl, but as you can see,” he pointed to the grandfather clock against the back wall. “It’s almost eight o’clock,” he announced with great excitement.

“Ok…… What’s so special about eight o’clock?” she asked quite genuinely.

Gerard burst out a maniacal cackle.

“It means your work begins,” and he narrowed his eyes into a sinister glare.

Jane wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew something terrible was about to happen. She could feel it in her gut like an omen.

“Come with me.” Gerard wiggled a finger at her in a hitherto motion.

She followed him up the stairs with each step feeling like a step closer to her doom.

“Hurry up. There’s not much time!” Gerard was now running while urging the young girl to hurry up. “We’ve only got a few minutes until the clock strikes eight!”

Jane, in her state of confusion, ran to catch up only to lose him once again, as he sprinted around a dark corner before dashing into a nearby room. As she approached, out of breath and panting, she saw he had left the door flapping open with a draft catching it.

“Here, Miss Kershaw,” a voice called from inside.

She was about to follow it, but stopped on the threshold, as she saw the scene that was unfolding in front of her. Ferdinand was stripped to his boxer shorts, his muscles rippling, as he lay on the bed. Jane immediately began to blush and her cheeks grew hot, as she held her cool fingers to them.

“Hurry!” Gerard was now shouting.

She entered the room feeling more nervous than she’d ever had before. This was worse than the time she wet herself in elementary school during the school play. In fact, this was worse than the time she had a hot date with Jackson Smith, the hottest guy in her school, and when she arrived, all the cool kids threw ice cream at her and made pig noises.

She was staring blankly with no idea what to do when she heard Ferdinand say:

“I think this girl is an idiot.”

And, she snapped back to reality.

“I’m not an idiot,” she explained in a caustic tone. “I just have no idea what’s going on? Why aren’t you wearing clothes? I mean, what is this fucked up shit that’s taking place?”

The two men were taken back by her sudden outburst and looked to one another with concern.

“Tell her,” Ferdinand flung his arms up in resignation.

“Very well,” nodded Gerard. “Miss Kershaw, you have one job here as housekeeper. You take these and you lock them tight. Then, you walk out of this room, close the door, take a seat out in the hall, and wait until morning.” He held up a thick iron shackle and expected her to take it. “Now, Miss Kershaw, we only have a few seconds left.”

She saw the shackles were attached to Ferdinand’s wrists and ankles and, in a daze, she did what she was told. Fastening down the locks on the shackles, she watched as the young man was secured to the bed.

With so many questions needing answered, she tried in vain to say the right words. Yet, the more she tried to make sense of the situation, the more she found herself looking up and down Ferdinand’s body. He was so perfect in every way. He was lithe and tanned, yet strong like an ox and bright eyed too with that emerald gaze of his glistening with cunning intelligence.

“I don’t understand,” was all she could muster before the clock in the corner chimed and it was eight o’clock.

*****

“Hurry!” Ferdinand grunted, as he flicked his eyes up toward the door. “There’s not much time.”

Gerard prodded Jane in the back and gestured for her to take the chair in the hallway. Once she’d sat herself down, she watched as the butler closed the door behind him and handed her a set of silver keys.

“These keys and that door must not be out of your sight until the morning,” he explained.

“You mean I have to sit here all night?”

He nodded before walking away.

“Hey!” She called after him. “What am I supposed to do?” She cried after him, as his body faded into the shadows of the house.

“Why, you wait until eight in the morning; of course,” his voice echoed back to her.

Now, alone in a dark and drafty hallway with nothing but a set of keys, she sat bolt upright, awkward and uncomfortable, as she sat back in the antique chair. It would appear that ladies of her size seldom existed in the time of such carpentry, and she found her curvy hips were pressing up against the sides of the armrests.

“ This is fucking crazy,” she moaned, as she stood up.

Walking over to the bedroom door, she wondered what on earth could be happening to the man that was now her boss.

“Hello?” She tapped on the door.

Silence.

“Mr. Gilbert? Sir?” Her voice was shy and ineffective, and she found herself only listening to the silence that was shrouding the house like a black cloak.

Not wanting to land herself back in the chair, she slumped against the wall and traced a line through the dusty floor with her finger. All around her sat cobwebs, as husks of dead moths gathered, stuck against the peeling wallpaper. She turned her nose up at the place and grimaced.

What have I gotten myself into?

It was then that she heard something coming from the bedroom, and her ears pricked up as though she was on high alert. The chains and shackles were moving with a steady rhythm like someone was struggling against them. Then, a noise so visceral and animalistic followed. It sent a shock wave of goose bumps up the back of her neck, as a growl echoed down the hall.

She remained paralyzed against the wall. Too terrified to move yet too curious to run away, she sat with her wide eyes fixed on the door. At any moment, she was certain some frightful beast was going to burst through the door, rabid and wild. Yet, although the growling and sound of the chains continued for some time, the mysterious beast appeared to be going nowhere.

“Mr Gilbert?” She said to herself. “Is that him that’s making that noise?” She whispered into the night, her breath lingering in the air in a frosty mist.

It wasn’t long until the noise subsided and, once again, she found herself in an all-encompassing silence with only her beating heart sounding in her ears.

“Maybe I imagined it,” she tried to tell herself. “Or maybe it was a dream.”

She hoped to God the noises were inside her mind and, as she lay her head against the wall, she prayed they wouldn’t come back.

When the sun split through the window, it lay upon Jane’s head with a gentle warmth. She woke slowly, not quite remembering where she was. The first thing she felt was the dust and cobwebs beneath her fingers and, as she raised her hand, she looked at her fingers with disgust.