Raw Fever Chapter 3

The evening sun settled down behind the horizon and as the servants busied themselves for dinner, Dakota sat in the study room watching each one of them work. The servants were strange just like their master. They tended to things just as normal servants did, but they didn’t smile or have life in their eyes. They were quiet, to the point, and they never looked at each other. They hardly spoke to one another and she found that strange. Her last servants gossiped, laughed, and joked with each other as they worked. But these ones were eerily quiet. She tried to focus on her book, but she hadn’t turned a page since she sat down half an hour ago. She’d been watching them and hoping that she could figure out something about their master by watching them. But they’d been tightlipped since she sat down.

          The servant ladies wore all brown like muddy waters and the men wore all black just like their master. Their attire seemed to be moody and dark. Their eyes held secrets, it seemed, because they shielded their eyes from others. Their lips seemed to hold a story they wanted to tell, but couldn’t. Were they being held against their will? She shook her head, angry at herself, for caring so much about the owner.

          She shut the book and set it aside. She got up and her father walked in with a weary look on his face. She frowned as he shut the door and took a deep breath. He handed her a piece of paper and she took it. She looked at it and then she gasped when she saw that it was the deed to the company. She looked up and shook her head.

          “Father, you cannot give him the deed to the company!” she cried.

          “Do you have three hundred thousand pounds?” he asked.

          She shook her head. “Of course not.”

          “Then the deed must go to him.”

          Tears filled her eyes and she held it to her chest. “No, this is not his! It does not belong to him. You can’t do this. I will find a way to save us. Please, just give me some time.”

          He touched her face. “We’re out of time, sweetheart. Time is no longer on our side. It has abandoned us.”

          She started to cry. “My ancestors built this. He bled for this. A stranger from a place we don’t know, waltzes in, and takes it away from us. It is my right to own it, not him.”

          Her father pulled her into his arms. “Sweetheart, there is nothing I can do. My wish is for you to have it. All of my heart wishes it. But there is nothing I can do.”

          Dakota shook her head and pulled away. “No, father, you can’t!”

          He took the paper from her and kissed her forehead. “I must. Do not mistake that this is not killing me either. I am near death myself.”

          Dakota began to cry as her father walked out, deed in hand, and shut the door. She fell to the ground sobbing as her heart felt as if it would explode. Every part of her throbbed and ached for the loss of a company that her own ancestors spent building. She was the rightful owner, yet it had slipped through her hands and would go to a stranger.

          “Milady, dinner is served.”

          Dakota sighed and set the brush down. She’d been painting in the study room to pass time. She got up and walked out to the table where she heard dishes being set. She expected to find her father, but instead, found Lincoln. He was dressed in a different tunic, still black, but it had ruffles in the chest. Her father was nowhere in sight. She stopped short of the table and looked around. The servants left as soon as dinner was set.

          “Please…sit down,” he said.

          She remained standing. “Where is my father?”

          He picked up his glass of ale. “He’s not here. He’s gone off with my assistant to Loreview.”

          “Loreview? That’s four days ride.”

          He took a gulp and nodded. “I know how far it is.”

          “What is he doing there? And why wasn’t I informed of his departure?”

          Lincoln sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I refuse to indulge more information until you sit down.”

          Dakota stared at him and then she took a seat four chairs away from him. He leaned forward and shook his head.

          “You truly are a child.”

          She gasped and stood up so fast the chair almost fell over. “Do not call me a child!”

          “You are acting like one.”

          She frowned and pushed her chair in. Then she walked to sit down beside him and stared at him. “I am not a child.”

          He cocked his head. “True, you possess nothing of a child. But your actions remain childish.”

          “You cannot blame for I have lost everything in an entire day. You stripped me of that.”

          “I have? What have I stripped you of?”

          “You have stripped my rights to a company. You took what my ancestors have worked hard to run and took it away from me. I am the rightful owner to that company.”

          Lincoln sighed and shook his head. “You’re just like a stubborn mule.”

          She blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

          “You heard me as loud and clear as thunder on a rainy day. I need not repeat myself and waste my breath. You have yet to learn that I am not going to change anything around here. I am simply here on a task and if you are as nice and kind to me as I am to you, then you will not have to yield to anything. But if you make trouble for me, I will deliver to you a life from hell. So far, you have showed me that I must use a bit more force when it comes to words because you do not seem to understand when I put things finely.”

          “Is that an insult?” she asked.

          Shrugging, he replied, “You tell me, for you are the one who is so well educated in that department.”

          She swallowed. She grabbed the glass full of ale and tossed it into his face. She stood up, this time, knocking her chair over. “Here is how I do things around here, my lord. I do not respond to things finely put? Well, then, forgive me if I am to use force just the same. From here on out, you are not to dine with me. I am sickened at the sight of you being near me and I am fearful I will vomit. Please save me the torture and dine alone. I do not need your company.”  

          She turned to go and he grabbed her arm. She was surprised by his touch that it sent shivers down her arm. But what she didn’t expect to happen was meeting his lips when he turned her around. He slammed his lips against hers so hard that she felt their teeth knocking together. Then he bit her lower lip until he drew blood. She yelled out and pushed him away as blood dripped down her chin. She felt tears enter her eyes.

          “Are you mad?!” she cried. “You’ve drawn blood!”

          Lincoln’s eyes turned dark. “Good. Perhaps the next time you scold me, you’ll remember that I fight my battles dirty until I win victory. I am not without my ways, milady. The sight of me may make you want to retch, but I am here to save you from the dumps of the alleyways. If you are not going to thank you me properly, perhaps I shall show you that I do not like it when others insult merely to entertain their own pity. Remember that the next time you open that pretty little mouth of yours.”