Allison Boldilare Ch. 01

The journey from London to the town of Shadow Hills was rough and exhausting. I had left behind my family, and my home in order to escape an arranged marriage to Mr. William Fuller. All I had brought with me was a small trunk of my least attractive dresses, my horse, food and water for the two-week trip, and three thousand pounds that I stole from my father's private safe.

I can never let anyone know I have that much money, they would ask too many questions, and then word would spread to London, and I would be found by my family. I need to be careful, make sure I have a convincing story to tell people, and make sure I don't show my wealth.

I could see the town off in the distance. I had passed a few smaller houses and one large estate on my way down the main road. When I entered into the town, there were people everywhere. Young woman in there expensive dresses, being escorted by handsome men who are hoping to find a bride. It was market day, children ran around freely, chasing each other. Butchers, and vegetable growers, fishermen, wool shearers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and bakers were all out in the town square selling their products.

I directed my horse to the only hotel, which was rite next to a building called La Diomante; which means The Diamond. There was a foul looking woman sitting on the porch smoking, she was wearing too much make up and her dress looked old and tattered. Her bosom was spilling over her corset top, and she showed her bare legs with no shame. I turned my face when she looked over at me, embarrassed to be caught looking at her, with obvious disgust on my face.

I tied my horse to a post and I got down from my small two-seated carriage. I walked up the steppes that lead to the Hotel, and walked across to the end of the porch, where I was able to look out over the town square. There were many people looking at me, obviously the town was not use to having many people come from out of town. The people of higher class were the ones interested in who I was, while the people selling their merchandise would only care if I showed interest in their product first.

I noticed a beautiful young woman with long raven black hair down to her waist, helping her mother at the bakery booth. She had beautiful olive color skin and her eyes looked as black as her hair. Her smile was very pleasing, and she had the same air as her mother; confident and lost of spirit. She busied herself with putting bread into baskets. A small boy who looked old to be seven walked up and tried to snatch a loaf of bread, the young woman shooed him away and gave him a firm tap on his arse before laughing at him as he skipped away.

I started to turn around and head for the door of the hotel when I accidentally ran into something that was as firm as stone. I stumbled backwards but felt something wrap around my waist and pull me upward, away from the ground. I looked up into slate gray eyes. I was standing in the arms of the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes upon, he has rich brown hair and golden bronze skin, and the scent he gave off was that of a rugged yet sophisticated man. He had a proud nose and stern looking mouth, but his eyes revealed a more playful, humorous, and mysterious side to this man that seemed to be a proper gentleman from first glance.

Although he was an extremely agreeable man, I found myself in a compromising position. My body was held tightly against his, my breasts pushed against his chest while his hands encircled my back. I looked up at him with wide eyes, completely embarrassed and I knew not what to say. I could feel my face turn a bright shade of red, as I lowered my head to stare at his throat, which was covered in stubble. I bit my lip before looking up into those captivating eyes again.

"I-I am so sorry, please, excuse me, I am so very clumsy." I said, as I tried to push my self out of his arms, but he held me with a firm grip.

"You are excused," he said as he smiled down at me. I was taken off guard when he did not release me like I had hoped he would, instead he held me tighter against him.

"Uh, I beg your pardon, but do you mind to please..." he cute me off before I had the chance to finish.

"Have you just arrived in town, I am very sure I have never seen you before, I would have noticed someone as breath taking as you." He pulled me closer to him as he spoke, I could smell his heady scent as it invaded my senses. I looked at his throat again before speaking.

"I, uh, yes I have just arrived, and can I ask that you not hold me in such a compromising position. My business is my own and I have been traveling for many days and would like to acquire a room, however your iron hold is preventing me from doing so." I was shocked by my ferocity, I have never talked to a man like that, but I feel like my freedom has not only captured me in body, but in mind as well.

"Please forgive me," he said as he released me and took two steps back. "You have quite the welcoming personality, may I acquire as to what your name is miss?" I glared at him before speaking, trying to ignore his jab at my propriety.

"I am Allison Parker," I said, knowing that my real name, Allison Boldilare was well known. "Now, please excuse me, I am very tired." I walked past him and went to open the door to the hotel, but he pulled it open before me and bowed as I walked past him.

"Good day, Miss Parker." He closed the door behind me and left. I couldn't believe the way my body reacted to how close he was. I felt heat between my thighs when I looked into his striking eyes, I felt short of breath and my heart was beating three fold. When his warm breath had rushed across my face, I could feel chills and bumps across my skin. My face was flush from embarrassment and from a strange sense of excitement inside of me.

Of coarse when he interrupted me I was extremely insulted, I knew nothing of this man and already he was holding me so close and demanding to know who I was. I quickly walked up to the hotel desk and arranged for a room. The building was beautiful, and I found it extremely comforting.

"Please take my horse to the stable's, she needs food and water, and I need my trunk taken up to my room, and I would also like to take a hot bath and have dinner. Can that be arranged?" I asked the hotel keeper.

"Yes, and it will be done rite away Miss. Parker. Please let me show you to your room, our stable boy and servants will take care of the rest. Please fallow me."

After I got settled into my room, and made arrangements to stay for the next few days, I went out to walk around the courtyard and see what types of things this town sold on market days. When I first walked outside I noticed the man I collided with sitting on the porch of La Diomante while talking to the young woman who was there earlier. The woman glared at me while she inhaled her cigarette and then blew smoke out of her mouth like an angry dragon in one of my old storybooks.

The gentleman noticed me and put a half smile on his face, and I quickly turned the other way and walked into the sea of people and selling booths. I walked over to the baker's booth, where I had noticed the young woman and her mother earlier. The Young woman was sitting in a chair reading a book while her mother was putting some bread into a basket.

The Young girl stood up and set her book on the booth table. "Good day Miss, are you interested in buying anything?" She had a beautiful voice, and her smile was one from sunshine. Here eyes were as black as I though they would be, which gave her a mysterious quality. She had thin lips, and beautiful dimples that showed on her oval face when she smiled.

"Do you have any suggestions, I am new in town, and I am afraid I don't have much money." She smiled as I talked, and it was extremely infectious, I could only smile back.

"Welcome to Shadow Hills, my name is Rebecca Blancher, this is my mother, Mary Ann. Are you going to be staying in town long?"

"Yes, I plan to continue living here, although I am going to have to find a job. My name is Allison Parker, I am hoping to later buy a house."

"A woman, buy a house?" she said, "well I have never heard such a thing, but it is quite a refreshing thought. Actually my mother and I are looking for someone to help us at our bakery, if you are interested in making cakes."

"I actually love baking, I used to wonder into the kitchen and help my families cooks make supper when I was a little girl."

"Well now, did you hear that mother, Miss Allison is interested in working for the bakery, she even has experience." She said as she turned to her mother who had just finished packing up a basket of baking goods.

Her mother was a rounded woman, with a proud nose and bright rosy cheeks. She had disheveled yellow hair that was up in a bun; her stray curly hairs framed her long face. She had deep eyes, the same black color as her daughters. Her mother was never without a smile it seemed, and that also seemed to be a trait Rebecca inherited.

"Oh, that would be absolutely fantastic." She said in her loud and joyous voice. "I have been looking for someone to help me in the bakery for months now, we have the only bakery in town and orders are quite demanding. My last help got married just this winter and it has been hard trying to pick up the slack. Of coarse she comes in often and lets us know how she has been, its very hard keeping a house, pleasing a man, and baring child all at once.

"Hopefully my Rebecca will get an offer for marriage soon, she is just now seventeen, quite the lady I like to think so. It would be sad to see her parted from me, and I would have to find help again, but it is worth it to have your daughter happily wed and starting a family. And I feel there are good prospects for her, many of the men here are quite handsome and respectful, of coarse I encourage her to accept a man at least twice her rank."

"Mother, please, I'm sure Miss. Allison does not want to hear all that, she does not even know most of the people you speak of, she has only arrived just today."

Mrs. Blancher was definitely a woman with a lot of personality, and a woman who loved to talk. But I could also see she was a woman who cared deeply for the happiness of others.

"Oh yes, of coarse she doesn't want to hear all that," she said as she covered her mouth a giggled like a small schoolgirl. "Now Rebecca, why don't you give miss Allison a tour of the town, and make sure to show her where our bakery is located so she knows where to come tomorrow morning. I'll see you at supper, and Miss. Allison you are more than welcome to join us for supper. Now, off you go, I have much work to finish." She shooed us away with her hands while she bent down to get something out of a basket.

"Have a good day Mrs. Blancher," I said before Rebecca and I walked through the square. She pointed out who was who, and gave me the names of everyone, but I remembered not one of them. My mind was distracted by the man I had run into earlier that evening; his eyes were haunting and I felt myself aloof almost the entire walk. "Rebecca, forgive me if I am being to forward, but I must say that I have a feeling you and I are going to be very good friends."

"I have the very same feeling myself," she said as we walked down the main street through town. She showed me all the clothing stores, and the local shops. She showed me where the ladies go at night, and where the gentlemen go at night. She pointed out the stables which where across the road from my hotel.

"Rebecca," I said, "what is that place next to the hotel?" She looked a little embarrassed by it.

"That, Allison, is our town bar, but it is also a brothel. Mother says they have a bar, as well as gambling and female entertainment. It's owned by Mr. Henry Coal, he also owns the Hotel next door. He is extremely rich, and also extremely available. He makes a little over forty thousand pounds a year, but also has the reputation of being fond of virgins. But lets not talk about him, his dearest friend, Mr. Joseph Davies is a much more agreeable man."

She continued to talk to me about Mr. Davies, no doubt a Welsh courtier, but I was to busy thinking about Mr. Coal. I had the strangest feeling that this Mr. Coal was the man I had bumped into this afternoon. The same man that made my blood boil, and my desire spike at the feel of him pressed so intimately against me. We had walked all the way to the library when I shook myself out of my haze and noticed Rebecca was still talking.

"This is our library, it is quite large for a town of our size, we are really very proud of the collection that we have. If you enjoy reading, like I do, then you will consider it a literary heaven."

"Yes," I replied, "I am very fond of reading. I am afraid that I must return to the hotel, I am extremely tired from my long trip. I believe it time for me to eat some supper and have a nice hot bath, but thank you very much Rebecca for giving me a tour of town. I will see you tomorrow at dawn, and please thank your mother for me."

Rebecca and I said good evening and I returned to the hotel while she stayed at the library to look for a book. I decided to stop by the stables to see how my horse's accommodations were. She looked very happy, standing in her stall and nibbling on hay. "Oh, Bella, what am I going to do, I can not live in a hotel for the rest of my life."

"Then why do you not come live with me?" said a deep voice from behind me. I turned around and looked into the same slate gray eyes I feel into earlier this afternoon. I was leaning against my horses stall, he was only about half a step away; close enough for me to feel his breath brush my cheeks.

"Excuse me?" I asked him, hoping that I had heard him wrong. I would gladly take deaf ears over what I though he just asked me.

"I said, you should come and live with me."

"Well you surly are forward. You must be daft to think I would ever live in a house with you. First of all, it is compromising to my reputation. I may have just arrived, but I will not allow myself to be tarnished by words. Second, you have already compromised my reputation, not only by being here with me alone, but by holding me so closely just this afternoon, when I had just arrived, and you did so in full view of the public. And, thirdly, I have absolutely no idea who you are, or what your intentions are."

I had kept my back straight and looked at him with convicting eyes. I had my hands placed firmly on my hips, and my head held high as I delivered my words with anger. His handsome crooked smile graced his lips, and my firm resolve almost melted away. He was the most attractive man I had ever met, but I was not going to let my guard down.

"I believe I have made my intentions quite clear," he said as he stepped closer to me, "and I am sorry if I have compromised your reputation. I am Mr. Henry Coal and I own the hotel your staying at, and the bar next door. Have I mentioned how lovely you look this evening Miss. Allison?"

His hand moved one of my red curls from my face and tucked it behind my ear, his finger trailed a line down my neck and across my shoulder before he returned it to his side. His skin was like a white-hot flame against mine, it invoked so much passion within me that I never knew was there. I could feel my stomach tighten up and a heating ache between my thighs. It took all of my control not to reach out and touch him in return.

"Please, maintain your distance Sir, I am not a woman from your bar." He looked surprised when I said that.

"And what exactly are you insinuating?" he asked me.

"I insinuate nothing, I am only stating that I am a woman who answers to no man, regardless of his rank and position. And, it would do you well to maintain your distance."

"I must say Miss. Allison, you have quite a free spirit, I find it very refreshing."

"Well I am glad that my ideas please you so, but my actions may not have your desired affect. Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to eat a cold supper." I walked past him but his arm was around my waist before I took the third step.

He held my back against his front, and I tried, but failed to pry his hands off of me. "You didn't not wish me a good evening, that is very rude," he whispered into my ear.

"Good evening," I said as I tried to wiggle free.

"That was not so hard now, was it? I will see you tomorrow, my Diomante el es piniaro."

He finally released me and I walked as fast as my legs would take me back to my hotel room. When I arrived there was a hot dinner waiting for me, and a maid ready to help me bathe. I ate quickly, and dismissed the maid so I could relax in the large tub of water. I let my dress and shift drop to the floor and then I stepped into the steaming hot water. I let my long, curly, red hair soak in the hot water after I washed it with the soap I was given. I poured my lavender and sweet grass oil into the water and slowly let my worries evaporate.

I started to think about Henry, and how close he was to me. How his fingers felt against my skin. I wondered what his lips would feel like; I wondered what he would taste like. My hands slowly started to massage my large breasts under the water. I could feel my stomach tighten again from just thinking about Henry. I took my nipples between my fingers and gently pinched them, which caused me to moan from the sudden pleasure.

My right hand traveled down my flat stomach to the valley between my thighs. I could feel my curls, which protected my inner sex. I slid my fingers between the puffy folds and brushed them against my hard nub. I had a sharp intake of breath every time my finger rubbed against it. I eventually got bolder and made my hand move faster, but the bud became so sensitive I could no longer touch it without moaning loudly. I rubbed my legs together and thrust my hips in frustration, I needed something to happen, I just didn't know exactly what.

I got out of the tub and dressed in my nigh shift, and then curled up on the bed. I knew getting attached to Henry Coal was a very bad idea, so I set it upon myself to make sure the man loathed me. I just had to come up with a convincing plan. I just had to find something he enjoyed doing, and ruin that activity for him. Sleep came slowly, but eventually I drifted into a dreamless slumber.