Desired by the Duke: An Age Play Romance

by Lucy Wild

  Caroline slipped her arms upwards, attempting to free herself, her legs lashing out above her. “Let me go!” she shouted.

  “ ‘Old ‘er legs, Billy,” Charlie said.

  Billy took hold of Caroline’s legs as Charlie moved his hands from her shoulders, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wicked looking knife. “You struggle, you gets this,” he said, waving the knife back and forth between her eyes. “Understand?”

  “Please,” she begged, shrinking away from the blade. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

  “You just lay still a moment,” he said, reaching down with his free hand towards her chest. He placed the flat of his palm just under her neck as she continued to stare at the blade in his other hand, frozen in place at the sight of it glinting before her. Would he take the locket?

  Charlie’s hand moved down her chest, finding her cleavage with a mud covered finger, sliding down inside her dress. She felt the heat of his hand move across her chest to her right breast. It slid over her nipple and she shuddered with disgust, seeing him leering down at her as if daring her to complain about his treatment.

  She winced as he tweaked her nipple roughly, running it between his fingers. “You know,” she said through her fear, forcing her face into a less pained look. “If you put down the knife, you could use both hands.” She managed a half smile as Charlie looked down at her in disbelief.

  Keeping her legs still, she glanced down at Billy. Just a little movement to the right, she thought, just move a few inches and it will be enough. She shifted her ankle apart, her dress sliding up her legs. As it did so, she bent her knee, watching his expression all the while. His eyes widened as he leaned forwards, glancing up her dress. As he did so, his grip on her ankles lessened.

  “You can touch if you want,” she said to him, all the while attempting to keep her voice calm and level, hiding the terror threatening to take over at any moment. He slid his hand up her ankles, moving them rapidly up her stockings, his body moving forwards further as he did so. Another second and he was in the right place.

  Charlie still had his hand on her breast as she shifted suddenly onto her side, bringing her knee firmly upwards in a single swift motion. It caught Billy square on the chin, sending him sprawling backwards with blood spurting from his mouth, his teeth biting deep into his own tongue.

  Charlie turned at the noise of his scream, his attention away from her long enough for her to reach down and sink her teeth into his wrist. He yelled in pain as she reached out and shoved his knife hand away from her. She loosened her jaw and he yanked his wrist away but as he lifted his hand to punch her, she saw it coming, sliding to her right and reaching up, twisting his shoulder with a swift shove. His punch connected with Billy who was just getting to his feet, sending him sprawling to the ground once more.

  Caroline scrambled away, getting to her feet as she heard the pair of them yelling behind her. She was up and sprinting before they could react. She was off the path at once, darting amongst the trees and immediately turning right, slowing almost to a walk, trusting on their rage to send them blundering onwards. She dipped behind the first low bush she saw, listening to the sound of them approaching. They crashed past her, blood dripping from Billy’s mouth as he cursed all of womankind for their cruelty to him. “She’ll pay,” Charlie told him, the knife gripped tightly in his hand. “She’ll pay handsomely.”

  Only when she could no longer hear them did she risk standing up, heading in the opposite direction to them. She walked steadily, not wanting to risk making any noise that might alert them to her presence. Her heart only began to slow down once she was out of the forest. By the time she emerged into the open, the sun was beginning to set and the first rumbling of a thunderstorm could be heard in the distance. Already she had locked down her emotions, telling herself no one would ever know what had happened in the wood.

  She wrapped her cloak around her, making her way along a lane she did not recognise. Just as the sun vanished below the horizon, the rain began to fall, a rain that did not stop until long after she was sitting by the fireside at The Knotted Yew watching Lord Hudson seducing the barmaid.

  Chapter 4

  George could not believe it. He had been on the verge of securing the buxom little blonde behind the bar, the one who’d been giving him the eye since he entered. They were all the same. The slightest signs of wealth and they were ready to tear their clothes off, hoping one thing would lead to another and that would lead to marriage. More fool them. He was happy with the removal of their clothes, he was even happier with what that led to. He had no intention of marrying though. Where was the fun in living with one woman for the rest of your life?

  He had used all his charms to bring a reluctant smile to her face, taking his time to ensure she was at her ease, the best way to ensure she said yes when he asked the killer question. He was about to do it, to invite her to join him at his table, when Lady Caroline ruined everything.

  “My Lord, you are too familiar,” Sally had said, chuckling as his hand slipped around her waist. “Stop it!”

  “Oh, come on,” he replied with a grin. “We’re all friends here, isn’t that right, Lady Caroline?”

  His companion had looked across at him, taking in the sight of his leer, the barmaid’s cleavage spilling out of the top of her dress, and then splashed cold water on his hopes for the evening. “My dear,” she said, looking at Sally, “You do realise what he wants from you, do you not?”

  “What?” George replied in mock outrage. “I merely desire the company of a beautiful young woman, what is so wrong with that? Is she not a feast for the eyes?”

  “You must get very hungry Lord Hudson, you feast on so many women.”

  The barmaid frowned, looking confused. “What is she talking about?”

  “Nothing, my dear, nothing at all.”

  “If I were you,” Lady Caroline continued, leaning towards Sally, “I would walk away before he gets his claws in you. Unless you want to be parent to one more of his bastards.”

  The barmaid was gone in seconds. George attempted to call her back but she would have none of it, refusing even to look at him anymore. “Why on earth did you say that?” he asked Lady Caroline. “I have sired no children.”

  “Oh come on,” she replied. “I have heard enough people tell stories of your dalliances to have no doubt. Oh are you going to tell me they are all liars?”

  “What stories?”

  “That you bed all and sundry without a care for the consequences.”

  “And you believe them?”

  “I believe my own eyes. Another few minutes and you’d have been off upstairs with your friend there.”

  George picked up his drink, thinking hard. She was right, in a way. He would have happily taken Sally to one of the bedrooms and to hell with the consequences. But it was not true that he had sired bastards. He had been with countless women in his time but not one of them had fallen pregnant, a fact which occasionally worried him in the dead of night. At those times he would lie awake and wonder if perhaps his family line would die with him. He felt a growing anger that Lady Caroline had mentioned children, bringing his thoughts to bear on a subject he always did his utmost to ignore.

  He looked across at her, feeling his anger building. She had spurned him once. She had spoilt his fun and had put him in a foul mood. There she sat, looking like butter would not melt in her mouth, a vision of innocence. He doubted whether she had ever kissed anyone. A thought entered his mind at that moment and he had to resist smiling. She had ruined his chances with Sally, she had embarrassed him for the last time. Now he would embarrass her. That would be the sweetest revenge.

  “What are your plans?” he asked, maintaining a mask of innocence.

  “What do you mean, Lord Hudson?”

  “You told me you would not return to your parents nor go on to the Academy as they desire. What then are your plans, you rebellious soul, you?”

  Her shoulders slumped and her left hand went to
her hair, twirling a length of it through her fingers. “I do not know,” she said absently. “My mind is on other things.”

  “Things other than your vagrant nature? The lack of a roof over your head? The loss of your inheritance?”

  “They will take me back. I just need to avoid them for a while. Give them a scare and then all will be well.”

  “In which case you just need somewhere to stay for a while. Correct?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps. Why?”

  “You could come and stay with me. I have a hunting lodge not far from here. Rest up for the duration and then return to them for a joyful reunion.”

  “You would attempt to bed me the minute we crossed the threshold.”

  George looked hurt. “I swear upon my honour that I will not commit a single carnal act of any kind. I will not even offer you a goodnight kiss.”

  “I do not believe I can trust your honour.”

  “Then come with me and see. The door will remain unlocked. You will be free to leave whenever you wish, make your way to some far distant land and seek your fortune in growing sugar cane or money trees or whatever else might secure your future. I am sure you would be a popular choice in a brothel.”

  Lady Caroline’s features flared with anger. “Do not jest about such things.”

  “I am sorry,” he replied, reaching out and taking her hand in his. “But do come with me. It will be warm and safe and that is more than can be said of a night on the road.”

  Lady Caroline sighed, looking down at the table for a brief moment before meeting his eye. “Very well. But if you lay a finger on me, I shall be gone before you can blink.”

  George had to resist laughing. His plans did not involve laying a finger on her. They involved placing the flat of his hand directly on her posterior with as much force as he could muster. He would soon see how innocent she remained after a damned good spanking.

  Chapter 5

  When Caroline awoke the next morning, it took her some time to recall where she was. The room was unfamiliar. That was her first thought. This was not her bedroom. Where was it? For the briefest of seconds she was lost and then it all came back to her in a flood. The Academy, leaving home, the forest, those men, Lord Hudson, the ride to his lodge. The lack of servants, the place dark as a crypt. Her walk by candlelight to a bedroom that smelled faintly of damp. Her belief that she would never fall asleep, the dark shadows of the room containing those brutes from the forest, waiting for her eyes to close so they could continue their assault. And then nothing.

  She realised she must have been so tired she had fallen asleep in her clothes. The morning light was streaming through the unshuttered windows. By the bed her shoes sat, the mud on them had dried overnight. She sat up and pulled back the covers, looking out of the window to the pasture outside.

  She was in a small bedroom, the four poster bed taking up the majority of the space. There was a dressing table with chair, a writing desk, and a small cabinet near the fire. Otherwise the room was empty, the wood panelled walls devoid of decoration. She slipped into her shoes and tied the laces before making her way out onto the landing. The house looked completely different in daylight. Last night, it had scared her, the darkness had scared her as had the silence. It struck her as odd that Lord Hudson kept no servants here to tend to the place.

  “Not much point unless I’m here for a while,” he had said to her last night. “I will send for them in the morning. The post passes here at seven.”

  “I thought it was an offence to slow the post,” she replied.

  “It is if anyone finds out. You’d be surprised how far a guinea can take you in getting an important letter to join the others on the coach.”

  Without servants, she thought as she walked downstairs, who will provide breakfast? Her stomach growled in response as she heard a noise at the far end of the hallway. Reaching the only open door, she stepped through to find Lord Hudson sat at the head of a table, filling his pipe with tobacco. Her hand went straight to her locket at her chest, as if she thought he might have stolen it in the night. His expression was not one she trusted.

  “Good morning,” he smiled as she walked into the room. “Nice locket as it is, it is not my style. Sleep well?”

  “Yes, thank you,” she replied, pulling out a chair to sit down. “Are the servants here yet?”

  “The letter has only just gone,” he said with a frown. “Are you scared to be alone with me?”

  “Not at all. I merely wondered for…”

  “For you want breakfast. Well you will have to go and make it yourself I am afraid. While you are at it, you can make some for me too. I will take bacon and eggs. You will find the larder stocked well enough.”

  “You expect me to make your breakfast?”

  “I do indeed. Consider it payment for staying the night.”

  Caroline sat rigidly upright in her seat. “A lady does not cook.”

  “You are a not a lady. Not anymore. You are just Caroline now and you will do as you are told.” The smile had faded from his lips and he set his pipe down gently as he spoke. “Now go and make me breakfast before I lose my temper.”

  “Your temper?” Caroline said, unable to hold in a laugh. “What will you do, shake your fist at me? Throw me out of your hovel? You would not do a thing to a lady.”

  He scraped back his chair and stood up, a dark look on his face. “I told you already, you are no longer a lady. You are a guest in my house and you will do as I command. I will tell you only once more. Go and make breakfast.”

  “I will not,” she replied, folding her arms to keep from revealing the tremble in her fingers. The sight of him towering over her reminded her too much of the look of the ruffians in the forest. It was a look she had not seen upon his features before. She could not acquiesce to his demand though, it would a breach of decorum that was unforgivable. A lady did not cook for herself.

  “That is your final word?” he asked, taking a slow step towards her.

  She nodded. “I will thank you to return to your seat Lord Hudson. You are frightening me.”

  “I will do a damned sight more than frighten you in a minute,” he said, pouncing on her like a lion upon a gazelle. She had time to gasp before his hands were on her but nothing more, the shock of being manhandled upwards taking her breath away.

  He dragged her over to his chair. “You are a brat,” he said as he sank down into his seat, pulling her down with him. “You are nothing more than an insolent brat and I will not stand for it. You will take six of the best I have to give and by the Deuce you need it.”

  Caroline fought herself from his grip but he was far stronger than she had realised. She had an inkling of what he intended but the madness of it made her certain she must be mistaken. He would not do it, it was another of his jokes, in the poorest of tastes but a joke nonetheless.

  He gripped her tightly over his lap and she felt his hand move to the hem of her dress, yanking it upwards. “You will take your punishment,” he said as her legs kicked back and forth. “Wipe that bratty look off your face or I shall make it a dozen.”

  She felt her knickers being yanked downwards and she let out a scream, fighting all the harder to free herself as his hand whipped down through the air and smacked her left buttock. She screamed all the louder, feeling the burning heat of it spreading through her posterior as he raised his hand above him. He had actually done it. He had spanked her. It was a nightmare. It could not be real. No one would spank the daughter of a Lord, not even George Hudson.

  “Five more to go,” he said with a smile as she fought with fresh urgency to free herself. “And by the devil, I shall enjoy each one.” He looked down at her as she scowled up at him. “You have been asking for this since the moment I met you.”

  She snarled, unable to articulate the rage and shame engulfing her. His hand remained above his head as he shoved her in the small of her back, pressing her into his lap. “I believe I am going to enjoy having you as my guest. I believe
I’m going to enjoy it very much indeed.”

  His hand flew through the air as he spoke and a second blow struck her in the same place as the first. She screamed as he smacked her twice more in quick succession, the sting of it moving deeper into her body. “Two more to go,” he said, moving his hand to slam down on her right buttock. As she twisted her hips away from him, he shoved her back in place. “Stay still or it will be a dozen,” he growled, smacking her a final time.

  She looked up at him and saw that he meant it. Slowly, she lowered her head, remaining in place as his grip on her loosened. Immediately she leapt to her feet, pulling up her knickers whilst backing away from him, attempting not to stumble as she did so. “You are a fiend,” she said, bumping into the wall behind her. A tear rolled down her cheek and her chest heaved as she fought to control her breathing. Every nerve ending in her posterior was alive with stinging pain, reminding her without pause that he had struck her six times on her bare flesh. The scoundrel had seen her posterior without a single stitch covering it. How could he?

  “You will go and make breakfast,” he said, brushing down his trousers before picking up his pipe. “Off you go.”

  “I will not stay here another second. I hope I never see you again as long as I live.”

  “You have nowhere to go if you recall. Go to the Academy and Kensington will discipline you far more severely than I ever would.”

  “I would rather live there for the rest of my life than spend another minute with you,” she said, turning and walking from the room. She half expected the front door to be locked but it opened when she tried the handle and a second later she was outside, walking away and not looking back.

  Chapter 6

  George knew she would return. A whisper in the back of his mind asked him if he had gone too far. It was easy to dismiss. Better to begin things the right way. She would leave, acting for all the world as if she were completely appalled by his actions. But she would soon be back. He could tell from her eyes, they gave away the secrets of her soul that her voice had attempted to hide.