Twenty-Five

**“I** wish that I be brought to my parent's farm, in their humble cottage, and be left there. I do not wish to be sent to Louis Didier’s estate,” she told him quickly.
He stared at her, his eyes puzzled now and he wasn’t scowling anymore. “And will you tell me why? I promised him my men would return you to him when this is over,” he asked in a calm voice.
“I... I do not wish to carry on with the marriage.” She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She couldn’t cry now. She had to give him a proper and determined explanation of her plans. “I will ask my father to return the bride token. I would rather work as a slave for an aristocrat or like a man on the farm than go through with a marriage that will eventually kill me,” she replied in a trembling but forceful voice, which she also could not help. She felt like she was deluding herself that the Baron would allow her to do this. She felt like everything was hopeless.
“And what made you think you could have this choice? You are the daughter of a peasant farmer, whose land belonged to me, who rules the manor. What made you think you could violate a contract your father made with a man like Louis Didier without repercussions for you, your family, and me who’d invoked and claimed the prima nocta for you?”
This time, she truly trembled with fear. But she answered anyway, even when it was through a voice she could barely hear. “Then I would rather suffer in jail. I will accept any punishment, my Lord,” she closed her eyes in utter misery as tears fell down both her cheeks, “as long as nothing will erase what happened to me last night. I would rather die than live and prolong my death every minute of the day!”
She heard him sigh. It was a rough sound, and she hoped it meant she had reached him with her supplication and that he would grant her wish to be brought home. He was, in effect, the only man who had the power to do so.
“But you are not going anywhere, ma bichette,” instead, he said.
She looked up at him in surprise, the trail of her tears cold on her face. “Wh-What? My Lord?”
“I rode out at first light to try and catch Louis Didier before he and his manservant could leave the inn where they stayed last night, and I paid the equivalent of your bride token, with considerable interest, because I heard the man can easily be swayed by money.”
She stared at him, feeling incredulous even as hope started to spread like wildfire inside her chest. “Wha-What? What did he—”
“At the sound of the tinkling of coins, he immediately accepted the new terms and left for his estate knowing he would not be expecting your coming today or any other day in the future.”
For a few moments, she just stared at his smug-looking face. And when nothing changed there, and nothing indicated that he was playing a jest on her, she finally gasped. “You did?! You paid him so he didn’t need to... so that I wouldn’t have to...”
He was nodding his head vigorously. “Yes. And then I went to your father’s farm and paid for your dowry. I also let them keep the bride token.”
“Dowry.... bride token... but...” She felt faint at the amount she was expecting to raise so she could repay him, and she swayed.
He was quick to catch her, and when she was able to talk, it was very near his face that one more move from both of them and they would be kissing.
But he was the Baron again now, not her Fabian of the night before. And she tried to push the thought aside as she struggled to understand what was said and what it all would mean for her.
Did she just hear from him that he had freed her from Louis by paying for her? He basically said he had bought her from him.
“But why did you do that? I will not try to pretend I did not like it and am extremely grateful. But... what do you propose for payment?” Her head was thinking faster than her mouth could work. “Do you consider it a loan? Will you let me work for you? Or is there an arrangement made with my father so my family can pay you back?”
His eyebrows rose up in surprise. “Why are you asking all these questions? The deed is sealed and done. No one can now contest that you’re a free woman.”
She struggled to think because it was hard when she saw his face. “Bought by you...” she told him. “I am not free. Are you now not my master?” she asked.
His eyes blinked, and the shadows of his thick lashes fell on his cheek as his whole face softened. “I have always been your master. Your family lives on my land. You are under my governance and protection,” he said gently.
“That’s not the same. Please... I can’t understand. And you know what I meant.”
He smiled at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she realized he was still holding her so close to his chest now that she could feel the heat of his body and the smell of his skin. “I may have bought you from your groom, but you are a free woman, Adalene. You were so miserable that I cannot bear to send you to someone who will force you to do things you don’t want to do. I have met many others who went through arranged marriages that have been successful, but I have never quite met a man as offensive as Louis Didier, and I knew sending any woman to live with him would be like sending her to hell. I can never forgive myself for it.”
“But... will you let me pay for everything? I can be your servant. I can work for you for the rest of the time needed for the debt to be paid. I can. I will.”
“You would rather work?” he was scowling again.
She nodded vigorously. “Yes! You bought my freedom, my Lord. I am at your service.”
He shook his head. “But again, like last night, I will give you a choice.”
“Choice...?” she asked as her heart skipped another beat because of the tone in his voice and the look in his eyes.
“No, choices,” he corrected. “You could prefer to be free, or you can stay here and... work, for me.” He was frowning as if he had planned to say something else.
She also shook her head, but she was smiling. “I can be free while working for you. Your servants... are content and happy while they work for you. I can do the same.”
He frowned still. But he had not let her go. The awareness that had heightened since the knight De Montpessat had left them seemed to grow more between them, and she found herself getting breathless. She knew he noticed it, too.
“I still want you,” he suddenly said in a voice gone hoarse.
She gulped. It sounded like thunder between them and she closed her eyes, recognizing how her senses were heightened again just by being this close to him. “I still want you, too, my Lord,” she admitted helplessly.
“I’ve been thinking of you since I left,” he admitted in a broken voice.
She looked at him worriedly. She did not want to see him so weak. “Is that a bad thing, my Lord?”
“It could be. I said you are free, but the thought of you being in another man’s arms...”
She realized what he meant. “Oh no! It was not like that. I stumbled when I stood up and saw you. I was startled to suddenly see you there when I’d been waiting for you all morning. Sir Bertrand only held me so I would not fall.”
“I know that. Bertrand is a friend. I understand why he was taken with your beauty, but he will not make advances to a beautiful woman he finds in the Manor if he is not sure you’re not with me.”
“He indeed asked what I was to you. I said I was not with you... like that. But what could I say? It wasn’t truly his business why I am here.”
“The son of a drunken braggart.”
She smiled. “You can’t be jealous, my Lord? After the night we spent together?”
He took a few breaths before speaking. “I believed him when he said he found you here alone and looking miserable. You have a reason to be. But I still did not like it when I saw you in his arms.”
“Fabian...”
“Yes... call me by my name,” he ordered gruffly.
She looked up at him helplessly. “What are we going to do?”