Farm Life

How long had she been sitting there in silence, just watching the long grasses being pushed this way and that by the light breeze which had risen in the late afternoon, but had again died when the sun went down, leaving Lilly alone with her thoughts, and muddle over them she did.
How could such a thing be tied to her? The look in Adams vibrant, beautiful emerald eyes, so shocked, so confused, hurt and disgusted with her… she was disgusted with herself as well. What she had spied through that little keyhole, those young boys, even younger than herself, doing such horrible and disgraceful things, it seemed to be occurring just beneath everyone’s nose, an open secret in the house, for Adam did not seem too surprised with the whores presence. She shut her eyes tightly, leaning her head against the cool wood of the rail, which extended beside the stairs she sat upon.
Still lost in her confusion, it was a while before Lilly noticed Eric’s presence, only when he stepped down from his place in the doorway, the wooden porch creaking beneath his weight. He did not speak, which signaled to her just whom it was, for anyone else would have the courtesy to announce themselves. She could not bring herself to speak, still leaning her weight against the stairs, adjusting her position slightly, her body language revealing that she indeed acknowledged him.
The wafting scent of tobacco eventually reached her nose, telling Lilly he was waiting patiently for her to speak, offering no physical or even verbal comfort, she huffed slightly, her frustration with the gorgeous man’s lack of emotion getting the better of her, she finally uttered a few words.
“I’m sorry Eric… but, the sun, it seems to have gotten the better of me, I just don’t feel up to your tour, maybe t-tomorrow.” She managed to mumble out, turning her form so she could look up to him, leaning over the railing of the porch. She couldn’t stop the sting of tears in her eyes then, caught in the stony eyes of a man, whom would soon know the horrendous act she had witnessed, and thusly had ruined her status on the house. Adam, if she was anything like the boys at home, had told everyone around him and then some. It was surprising that Eric didn’t know… or possibly, he already did.

Typically, Eric did not respond to her. Billows of smoke wafted into the crisp night air, intricate patterns morphing into whimsical animals and ghostly apparitions before fading into nothingness with the fusion of temperatures. Tendrils smoothed the defined cleft in his upper lip, curling up over his line of vision, and gifting his eyes with a smoky, wavering emerald sheen.
Small towns have always born the tendency to be characteristically close-knit communities which share the fitting trait of needing to gossip. Large families assume the exact same propensity albeit to even greater extents. It was therefore unsurprising that Eric’s first words uttered in the growing chill affirmed Lilly’s fears that the story had spread like a forest fire in the household. “It is not uncommon to see the scum of the streets floating around the house every once in a while.” He stated in his assuming tone, pausing to glance across at the broken damsel. His gaze harnessed the strength of a ton of bricks, filled with the inner potency which typified his manly stature. Easing himself into a standing position, he strode forwards into the dusty turf leading down to the quarry, ignoring the sniveling girl’s protests to her health, expecting her to follow him without even needing to declare the order.
“The stars are beautiful tonight. Much comfort can be drawn from their twinkling smiles. Do not let your shining tears join them in the heavens.” Eric spoke with little compassion in the tone of his voice, yet the effect of his words put his intentions in no doubt. Turning from her again, he restuffed his pipe of tobacco, the elegantly carved bowl offering the glowing hum of the firefly, or a candle, beckoning to the enthralled, palpitating fragility of the moth, seeking answers to questions that could not be formed.


She had thought that her words would have been clear enough, but Eric, being the purely male creature he was, spoke freely, but somehow gently to her as he mentioned the prostitute, seeming not to acknowledge the fact that she had been caught gazing like a curious schoolgirl through the keyhole. She sighed silently, tipping her head down and letting the tears finally spill into her lap. Still, there was no comfort for her, Eric simply walked passed, speaking his eloquent words as he passed, aggravating and soothing at the same time. He urged her on, and feeling so low, she rose from her spot, burying her emotions as she walked toward him, she wiped her eyes in the back of her glove, careful of the makeup around her eyes. She may be in distress, but it didn’t mean she had to look bad.
Coming to Eric’s side, she looked up to his face. The was something about him, as he bit down on that tattered pipe, puffing away without a care in the word, though his eyes looked as if they carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, always and completely composed within himself. It was wilding aggravating that she could not merely bury her face into his muscled chest and cry her eyes out, with his trunk like arms holding her close…. Lilly sniffed slightly, shivering a bit in the cool night air. Having lost herself in her thoughts all afternoon, she had forgotten to change into an evening gown, still in the silk and satin of a thin afternoon dress. Standing next to Eric, she might have looked like a night moth, cold, starkly white and as fragile as the wings it flew on.
“Come, let us walk then, standing in the night is putting a chill in me.” She said softly, still a crackle in her voice from her tears, lifting her arms to loop around one of his, it was then she realized just how rock hard he was. She was a little shocked, not even Dirk felt so built and grounded, it was comforting in a moment like this one, and she pulled herself closer, breathing in his sweet and sour scent, so lost in his aura she did not notice when he began to walk, shuffling along beside him.

The night was young, the first cold draughts of twilight filtering through the grand veil of the atmosphere which rose about them. The dusky colours that had greeted her upon arrival a few days previously proved stark contrast to the soothing blues and silvers that painted the landscape during the darker hours. It was a comforting change to the bright yellows and oranges of the dusty trails, and added to the calm introduced by the bulk of the man Lilly clung to. He allowed her to latch onto his sizeable arm without supporting her, teeth grinding on the weathered stem of the decorative, ebony stem.
As he lead her through the magnificent outdoors, he spoke to her about astrology, inviting her to participate in idle conversation and debate about the formulae of the ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Sophocles. That both Eric and Adam demonstrated such erudite intelligence was startling considering their upbringing in the distant Western regions of an unexplored country. That Dirk and the younger relatives displayed none of the intellect bestowed upon their elder counterparts was even more worrisome. How was it that only two of the brothers had been blessed with this depth of ethos whilst the others had somehow been neglected in the process?
Eric broached subjects of nature, nightlife in particular, challenging the recent discovery and claim of Charles Darwin’s theories. Because of the nature of work in which the family was involved, it was more than likely that the travelers, customers and visitors who sought a healthy stable to replenish their rides’ energy reserves or a location of reputation to purchase the best young fillies in the land, that both Eric and unsurprisingly Adam, had milked these bypassers of news of the outside world. The iron giant guided her into the sparsely fertile plane into which the breeding pens dipped, talking of everything that had absolutely nothing to do with the traumatic experience she had suffered barely two hours prior. It was as if he were working her mind, coaxing her voice into the spotlight, inviting her to forget. Adam had chilvarously walked her through the grassy knolls to the West of the ranch, Dirk had roguishly whisked her into the romantic arena of the barn; Eric was guiding her to the opposite side of the farm, to his own private place of comfort.

The cool air was really getting to Lilly by this point, but rather than be sent back to the confines of the house, where everyone would no longer look at her with that elevated awe, but with distain and disgust… she just couldn’t bare the thought. So, she pulled Eric’s strong limb all the closer to her, stealing his heat almost greedily, as her white skin was dappled with goose pimples.
He spoke in that same voice he always had deep, resounding, controlling, but ultimately uncaring. His topics remained around small talk, seeming to avoid the possibility of even approaching the topic, which clouded her thoughts, leaving her own answers just as enigmatic as his. She deviously wondered if it would bother him, but on the contrary, he didn’t seem in the least but perturbed.
They had walked a little in silence, along the rolling, sparse hills where the breeding females were held, all of which were probably asleep by now. It was sprawling and empty before her, but still fenced and controlled. The idea of it made a shiver roll down Lilly’s back, a part of her not wanting to face such an existence, but to which she would ultimately fall into. And now, the one man whom had shown such wonderful, innocent interest in her, who would respect and love her….. probably couldn’t even bare to look at her face. She whimpered, glancing behind her, and around her… it was obvious why Eric loved a place so empty, it was out of sight of everything.
“ I-I cant go back there…” she eventually broke the silence, stopping in her tracks and reaffirming her grip on Eric’s arm, but not looking up to his stern face. “What I saw… it was so strange and alien to me… and now..” She sobbed out, crumbling before possibly the worst person. She slumped down on the dusty ground, releasing him from her grasp only to burry her face into her hands, crying uncontrollably.
Having lost her resolve, she simply vented, looking up to Eric with tear stained eyes, black rivulets down her pale face, looking as if she was crying ink. “ Those two hellions, doing such a thing, and I feel all the repercussions merely for idle curiosity! Its so… Unfair.” She chocked out the last word, lacking a better one in that moment, she glanced back down to the dirt, her slim shoulders heaving and shivering in the same instant. “This moment could destroy my life. If any man outside this farm ever knew… They would never marry me. I’m… marred. “ She was almost hyperventilating now, unable to look up to Eric again, and too weak with sobs to rise from the dirt. “It was all going to be so… perfect.”

Lilly was progressively goading herself into a frenzy of uncontrolled hysteria, building up the indecency in her mind until it had been rendered a hundred times worse than it had truly been. In this day and age, scandals were the rage that rode the highest peaks of the whitecaps of society. For the high-class citizens of the growing influence of the West, it was an invariable task to keep balance on the summits of these waves, without succumbing to the devious, and sharp tongues which strove to dismount the respectful from their high-horses with as much fuss and commotion as possible. Consequently, Lilly’s anxieties were not incongruous with the given situation.
Eric however, was having none of it. As the maiden’s outburst descended increasingly into blind panic, the bushy, dark eyebrows which complimented the stony, vivid gems of his eyes knotted together into a single, frightening cloud. The clear quality of his stony emeralds darkened to a liquid, fiery jade. Powerful hands gripped the young lady around each shoulder, hoisting her to her feet. Taking a forceful draw on his pipe, he expelled the balloons of smoke from his lips, hazing up over those fearsome orbits. “Stop.” He barked formidably, without relinquishing his hold on her. “You are a lady. Lady’s comport themselves with a little more dignity and stature. Your reputation and influence are intact because the indiscretion of your curiosity has happened not in the hallowed corridors of Versailles under the scrutiny of the President of France, but in a small town situated in the middle of nowhere.” The tirade paused; it was the longest sentence that Eric had ever articulated in her presence. The harsh tone of voice and the deepened green of his escapes lingered in the air, which had warmed suddenly. Masculine fragrance enveloped her within the sheer proximity of his body, caught, helpless under his robust fingers. Everything about him loosened as abruptly as it had flared. The jade softened into the familiar stony emerald, guarded and circumspect, his fingertips ceased to dig into her pale, unblemished arms. “Don’t worry…this is the only outlet with which external travelers deal with, other than the local hotel. I’ll see to it that the tale does not leave the household.” He assured her. A pause drew out, as if he were contemplating wrapping his arms around the shivering girl. But instead, he removed his vest, slipping the snug garment around her shoulders, then bizarrely proffered his pipe to her. At her surprised and uncertain expression, Eric wiped one of the black snakes from under her eyes, and smiled for the first time. “It’s the only condition to my helping you.”



The intensity with which she blubbered couldn’t seem to be restrained, her tear flooded eyes were blind to the word around her, it was only when those two strong arms suddenly grasped her, hauling her to her feet, which she weakly barely stood on, leaning onto the strength of his hands. But he demanded that she come to her senses, and the intensity with which he spoke immediately stopped her sounds of woe, so that she became as silent as he normally was, her hazel eyes just gazing into the smoky emeralds with which he showed emotion, the thick scent of his tobacco awakening her senses. She nodded; finally able to stand on her own once he finished, coming slowly to her own realization.
It was true, Adam had seen her peeking through the keyhole, but what she saw, no one truly knew. She could always play the confused and sobbing damsel, caught in a bad situation, completely not of her own accord. A small smile flecked the corners of her lips then, sniffling lightly and looking up to Eric, whom had released her and was beginning to remove his vest. Even in the upheaval of the moment, she felt a tensing of all her organs as he removed a mere article of clothing, making a little warmth flow into her body as his thin cotton shirt clung gently to the muscular pecks of his chest. He was delicious to look at, like a rich dark chocolate cake. She smiled softly as he placed the garment around her shoulders, soft, worn suede leather, surprisingly lined with a thin and tattered amount of lambs’ wool. Lilly snuggled tightly into it, breathing in the crisp night scent that clung to his clothing.
“Thank you.” She said in almost a whisper, her eyes still caked with messy makeup, which he gently stroked from her cheek with the pad of his thumb, the roughness of his hand clasping her small and fragile face in grasp caused another tremor of excitement to rush through her.
To her amazement, he then proffered his pipe to her. Raising and eyebrow to his words, she nodded, taking the object from his hand and examining it for a moment. It was heavier than she had first thought, made of some sort of black ivory or bone, she was not sure, carved intricately along its stem and bowl. It smelt somewhat foul, but she took the bite mark ridden tip between her own soft pedals, sucking in lightly, and just as quickly expelling it with a choking gasp of ones first inhalation.
“You are a cruel puppet master.” She managed to gasp out, playfully smacking him on the barrel of his chest, still coughing somewhat and handing the pipe back to him.
“There. The deal is sealed.” She spoke when her voice returned to her, standing more closely to him, dwarfed in his large vest and his mere presence. “I am in your debt sir….. Is there anything I can do for you maybe? A favour from my father perhaps?” She asked demurely, though there had sparked a light fire in her eyes, watching him intently for an answer.

Perhaps it was the warming sensation of the incensed Caribbean tobacco, or the cozy kiss of the lambs wool interior of the vest clinging so snugly to her elfin frame, most likely it was a combination of both and more, but the atmosphere had clearly raised a decibel in terms of temperature. The intoxicating scent of man emitting from Lilly’s current escort indubitably had a part to play in the temperature elevation. It was not dissimilar to the smell of horse and leather that had been so prominent in Dirk’s general aroma, but it bore less of a wild edge. More like the tamed leather of books in a library rather than the tanned pelt covering the undomesticated beasts, which flocked into the pens of the ranch.
It was most likely the touch of deference for decent protocol and etiquette within the robust male that made his response to Lilly’s playful invitations so different to both Dirk’s and Adam’s reactions. Eric turned from the girl, propping the pipe between his lips again sucking the toxic perfume into his lungs, then propelled it into the night sky as he began to walk away from her. However, his back was not directly turned towards her, encouraging her to walk in his stead. “You owe me nothing.” He told her in his direct tone, though something about the candor of his voice seemed to indicate that she owed him everything, and that he enjoyed that power, assumed it, expected it. It was in his nature.
The heat rose about them, Eric angling his stately strut in an arced circle, around Lilly. They were situated in the middle of a glade, a small opening, but a glade nonetheless, well-lit by the silver glare of the moonlight. It was as if the clearing had been created intentionally like a theatre stage, and Lilly found herself in the middle of it, in the middle of nowhere, with a man who in truth was a relative stranger. She knew even less of this dark giant than the golden demi-god who had weaseled his boorish hands up her skirts two nights prior. Vulnerable and exposed in the center of the strange, midnight ampitheatre, the bear of a man stalked around her, green eyes traveling over her in the brittle night air. “What would a youngster like yourself have to offer me?” he spoke without changing the blunt frankness of his voice. It was a direct affront, a challenge, and he was calling the shots. He was the inquisitor, she the detainee, guilty until proven innocent, those stony irises, captivating as they were frightening as they held her gaze without flinching in his wandering about her.


He seemed to return to his normal self, much to Lilly’s dismay. His curt removal of himself from the warming situation made her pout, beginning to walk away, but coaxing her along with him. She knew she owed him her life practically, and so did he, which made his remarks all the more aggravating. She walked along with him for a bit, before coming into a small open glade, thick grasses tickled along her ankles beneath her thin dress, making her shiver again, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, rubbing them, hoping for a bit of warmth that the male was seemingly refusing to gift her with.
She huffed slightly when he finally stopped in the center. Her teeth audibly chattered behind her lips, the night’s chill had finally set in completely, not the thickly warm night it had been yesterday. There was a telling scent of rain in the air, which she was hopeful might wash away the events of the day.
But in this very moment, she was caught in yet another delicious trap. Eric, ever the domineering individual, had been walking slow circles about her, measured steps, examining her without so much as a word. She suddenly felt nervous, so far away from the main house, with a man whom could easily overpower her without so much as breaking a sweat. She bit her bottom lip, and as worrying as the thought was, it was somehow arousing as well. A part of her begged to have him on her in that cool lush grass, where no one would ever hear or know about it.
“Wh-what would I have to offer?” She mumbled out, cold hands grasped together in front of her. “Um, Favorable trading perhaps? I could send you some books from France and Italy…” she stopped, biting her bottom lip again. That look in his eyes…. He didn’t give a damn about money or literature in that moment.
“O-or perhaps, you would prefer something more… feminine?” She lingered on the last word, a sudden cool wind whipping around her, playing with the hem of her skirts. “I’m sure that were I to travel back home, there would be a constant traveling of beautiful girls for you to pick from, I would let only the best.” She assured him with a shy and playful smile, getting up enough courage to tease him slightly, hoping it would lighten his mood.
“You may prefer something… a little more… accessible as well… “ She paused, swallowing to clear her throat. “I am willing to give or find anything you need.” She finished, lowering her eyes from him, finding it impossible to look on his features in the moonlight any more, it was too intimidating, foreboding… She truly was in his debt completely, and whatever he wanted, she would give it to him.

The mood refused to lighten. On the contrary, her attempts only supplied the furnace of the atmosphere with additional fuel. It caught like dry paper and twigs, crackling and popping in the surroundings, portentous to the impending danger the young damsel was getting herself into. Silence drew out, contributing to the ominous peril undoubtedly descending upon her, broken only by the exhalations of honeyed smoke from the predator’s lungs.
Eric’s rings around her petite frame were narrowing with each completion of a new circle. The steady cycle of his breathing could now be heard, deep and unashamedly heavy. Footfalls, padding like a grizzly bear, so daunting and intimidating, so unpredictable, that one might have been inclined to freeze at the sound before even setting eyes on the beast. The steps paused behind her, and the unmistakable aroma of bound leather grew even stronger, mingled with the tang of tobacco, caressing her bare cheek like the whisk of a late summer breeze. “Shameful.” The word growled out accusingly, blunt as a caveman’s club, crushing her expectations as swiftly as they had been hatched. “Offering a strange man the secrets of what lies under your skirts.” A thick slab of a hand clapped around her throat from behind her, clenching ever so slightly. Tremendous power could be felt, vibrating beneath those fingertips, suppressed and restrained. He could easily have crushed her, caused her severe injury, had whatever he wanted out of her, yet by the way he was toying with her, he had a lot more up his sleeve than Dirk had. Dirk had lunged straight for the jugular, Adam seemed to have little idea of the where that particular jugular was, catering instead to the more romantic notions of the heart. Eric, however, was intangible. What he wanted was impossible to discern.
“If I didn’t know how to read you better, I would say that virginal flower under those elaborate petticoats had already been pierced.” The voice continued candidly, primitive in his lexis, direct in everything he voiced. “Were I a weaker man, I might accept the gift of your harlotry. But what would your wealthy husband who you shall undoubtedly encounter in the future think when the crimson blueprint of your virginity fails to make its much awaited appearance on the white of your wedding sheets?” He inhaled fiercely, drinking in her pampered perfume at the throat reeling the dome of her skull against the confines of his barrel chest.
“Another reason for your young self to be indebted to me perhaps.” He avowed huskily. “I now possess a lot of information your entourage would love to know about back home.” He released her.


Shock was the only word one could use to describe how Lilly felt. Eric, the soul member of that horrid place which she thought she could confide in and hide behind, was now calling the shots at her like some hustler on the dusty streets of the town center. His grip about her throat, though not painful, was patronizing and belittling none the less. she let out a small gasp when it wrapped around the pale slender length of her neck, Holding her against the firmness of his chest. The moment had changed so rapidly, she thought herself able to elude such a situation, but such was not the case.
Eric’s words were what hurt Lilly the most however. So cold and nonchalant, as if he treated every woman with such distain and hatred. He questioned her intentions, innocence and even her virginity, her mouth fell open with shock as he wove a story together, seeing it as another way to get to her, she was sure. Lilly’s blood boiled at the accusations, refusing to take such abuse for something so untrue. She grasped his wrist in her hands, so small in comparison to his that they barely wrapped around the width of it. She managed to slip out of his chokehold, facing him, and letting her gloved hand rap as hard as she could manage on his cheek.
“You… you… Disgusting pig.” She spat at him, stepping back a few feet, gaining some distance between the two. “How dare you speak of a lady in such a way? How dare you question my virginity and wholesomeness? I spoke not of giving myself to a rancid animal such as you; I spoke of marriage you fool. If you had half a brain you would know that a marriage between our two families could only result in prosperity, but your mind was too buried in your lustful intentions, that you couldn’t see past the way I felt against you.” She screamed at him, now crying once again, but this time silently, tears spilling down her face unashamedly.
“How could I have been so wrong about you? You’re even worse than Dirk, I’ve never heard images so foul put to words. I hope I never see you again Eric.” She spat his name out like rotten fruit, but was still too frightened to walk away. She had yelled at him, even hit him… a shudder of fear coursed down her spine, taking another step away from him. Had she merely coaxed the inferno?

Lilly’s outburst came as no surprise to the malicious indictments thrust upon her. Infuriatingly, she was met with nothing but silence again, a deafening pause which gave her the opportunity to take a few craven steps backwards. Then, as if the physical and verbal backlash had never occurred, Eric resumed his pacing. This time however, the steps were not aimed in a rotational sweep about her person, but alarmingly, straight towards her, in carefully considered strides. His expression had not altered, aside from those savage jade irises, puncturing her feeble defenses and burning her soul with their ethereal quality. “Marriage? To a common horse-dealer? To a man with little future in the vast cosmos of the growing industrial cities on the East coast and Europe? Marriage?” the directness of his voice had adopted spiteful disdain. “Marriage to a man with no aspirations to live anywhere other than the enormous, beautiful veld this country has to tender to an adventurer?” He angled his march until he saw, to a glimmer of delight, that the girl had come against the barrier of a great ash. “Your father would never allow it. And you know that full well.” He paused, noticing the bowl of his pipe sticking out of the unkempt grass. Squinting, he realized that Lilly had snapped the precious utensil in half when laying her dainty palm across his cheek. Collecting the ornate, ebony cup into his large hand, he studied it enigmatically.
“As for my ostensibly lustful intentions, I’m certain that had I truly wanted to further disgrace your physical self, I would undoubtedly been able to take advantage of you in the seclusion of this glade.” The two separate pieces of his prized possession jingled menacingly in his hand, toying them round and round ponderously. The green gems of his eyes seemed to fill the night, large, and luminous from the reflection of the silver light blaring from the heavens. “Whether you want to see me or not, I am afraid you shall have little choice if you wish your reputation to remain intact. Your credentials hang from a fine thread Miss. Lilly. If snapped, your despicable act of voyeurism shall find itself whipped away on the next wagon which travels through New Mercia. Do not doubt that such information shall not find its way to the East Coast. The high-class, as I’m sure you are aware thrives on a good scandal.” Suspending his tirade, he let the severity of his words sink in before confirming that he meant business. “You have a lot more to lose than I. Think of your family reputation.” With a raise of his bushy eyebrows, he swiveled, marching away from her at that steady gait, throwing a casual remark over his shoulder. “You might want to stick close. The coyotes are feisty during their mating season, especially towards smaller individuals such as yourself.” He disappeared down the path back the way they had come.