Against Her Will

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Temperance's body was hurting from the abuse that two weeks on a horse's back had put it through. Her thighs were red and chaffed and last night she had noticed a bit of blood as she had relieved herself in the bushes. Her stomach ached from holding herself steady on the beast's back and while she hadn't wanted to, she'd been forced to wrap her arms around Yancy's waist in an effort to keep from falling.

She had been working hard to stay on Yancy's good side. Those two smacks were enough to let her know she didn't want to anger him any further. Honestly, he wasn't terrible to her as they traveled just so long as she minded him. He made sure she had the softest bed that sleeping on the ground would allow and he always ensured she ate plenty at her mealtimes.

But Temperance was not foolish. She knew that wherever he was taking her was going to be bad. She may not know the details about what happened between a man and a woman but she knew enough to know that that is what this filthy, smelly man kept talking about when he would make his off the cuff remarks.

Temperance shivered. She certainly did not want to do what her brothers had told jokes about doing with this man. She would not moan beneath him the way she had heard her mother moaning beneath her father several times in the night.

He had also mentioned the amount of money she would bring him several times--if he thought that she would be like one of those women who worked in those places if ill repute she'd heard about then he was very very wrong.

It had been two weeks of riding from daylight to dark and having no idea where Yancy was taking her before a home came into view and Yancy seemed to be heading straight for it.

It was a larger house than she had imagined it would be. It was a log home with freshly mudded walls and a barn that was in nicer shape than the cabin she had once called home. Temperance's eyes were drawn to the wide porch when two men with guns on their hips stepped off of it.

"Yancy, what have you got there?" the taller of the two men asked. He was over six feet and very lean. He had a clean shaven face that was streaked with dirt and there was amusement filling his brown eyes. The other man was shorter and stouter with a round face and tired eyes. He too was dirty and his clothes sweat stained.

"I got us a new one, boys. This one out to fetch us a real good price," Yancy replied, hopping down from the horse before pulling Temperance down as well. She shivered as all three men looked her up and down with assessing gazes.

"It'll be damn nice to have one here. It's been a while since we've had a pretty woman here," the shorter man stated. "Selling them negros just ain't the same."

Temperance gasped when the tall man reached out and let his finger graze against her neck. She tried to jump away but Yancy grabbed her and held her tight while all three men laughed. "Damn, Yancy, this one's purtier than any you've brought back before. Teaching her is gonna be fun...real fun."

Temperance had no idea what these men planned to teach her but something told her it wasn't arithmetic.

"Let me get her settled in her room, boys, and then we'll talk business," Yancy stated. He grabbed her sack of belongings and strode up the porch, dragging Temperance behind him. The iron grip he had on her wrist was very painful and she had a feeling he was leaving bruises.

She was led inside the dusty and unkempt home. The floors were polished wood, though they were scuffed, and they matched the polished beams on the ceiling. She caught a glimpse of a messy kitchen before being led up a narrow staircase.

A tight hallway led to a door that Yancy opened with one hand as he shoved her inside with the other, "This is your room. Your door will be locked at all times and there is no window. If you are caught attempting to leave your room without permission there will be severe consequences. Do ya understand?"

Temperance nodded slowly. Yancy grinned, tossed her bag roughly on the floor at her feet and winked. "You get settled in, girlie. Lessons will be starting soon."

"Lessons in what?" she asked, causing him to pause in his exiting of the room with his hand on the door.

"On being a good and obedient wife, girlie."

"I'm not marrying anyone..." Temperance countered.

Yancy's eyes flashed with anger and for a moment Temperance feared he would strike her again. She quickly lowered her gaze and stared at the floor. "You will marry whoever pays me the most for ya, girlie. We'll teach ya how to please a man and then we'll let ya go for a small fortune."

Temperance blanched. "Please a man?" she whispered. What did that mean?

Yancy laughed and the sound was cold and caused a shiver to rush down Temperance's spine. "We're gonna teach ya how to please his cock, girlie. We're gonna break that fighting spirit that I can still see shining in your eyes and we're gonna teach ya how to take care of his most basic needs. We'll leave your innocence intact, though. They always pay more for the ones that still have that barrier between their thighs."

Temperance heard the door click closed as he left and then she quickly ran to the wash basin she had seen in the corner and lost the contents of her stomach inside.

She knew what a cock was and she knew what Yancy was saying. Dear God these men were going to make her do things to them... things that she didn't want to do! Things that she was only meant to do with her husband someday.

She had to find a way out.

Temperance wiped her mouth and sat back on her heels as she looked around the room. There was a small metal framed bed with a thin mattress against the wall, a wardrobe that needed sanded down and painted beside it and this wash basin and vanity. Other than those things the tiny room was empty and Yancy had been telling the truth--there was no window to slip out of.

Temperance stood slowly on weak legs and went to the door. She tested it but it was locked. She was stuck here.... There was no escape.

Grabbing Robert's coat from the sack, Temperance went to the bed and sat down upon it, keeping her back against the hard metal bars of the headboard. She put the coat around her shoulders and curled up inside of it, praying that somehow she'd be saved....

She desperately wished that she could go back to thinking that all Yancy wanted her to do was work at a job and give him her earnings--she wished she could lose herself in that naiveté once again but it was no use. She had been afraid before but now that she knew the real reason she was here--now that she had learned the truth--Temperance was terrified.