The Training of Rose

As the morning sun filters through the covered window Rose finally stirs, only to find herself wrapped up in someone's arms. Immediately she turns her head and finds herself staring into the eyes of the man that she honestly never thought she would ever see again.

Sitting up against the pillows he gently pulls Rose between his legs and reaches for a bowl that is on the table next to the bed. Without saying anything he starts to spoon some of the cooled broth between her lips. When she tries to struggle he merely wraps his legs around her and holds her closer.

"Please, Rose, at least drink the broth."

"Milord, why are you doing this? I am not worth your time. Please, just let me go."

Setting the bowl aside he wraps her gently up in his arms and holds her close. "Rose, I need you. I need you to stay here with me, and I need you to get healthy again. I will do whatever you want me to do, but I cannot let you go again. I will not keep you prisoner though. I am asking you to please stay with me."

"Milord, you bought me last night. I am yours. I will not leave you. I saw the bag of coins that you gave to Sire Christopher, and I know that I was never worth that much, so I will not leave you."

"Rose! I did not buy you! That was a gift to him and his wife for caring for you! That was not a purchase."

Slowly she manages to get out of his arms and she stands up next to the bed. With a sigh she looks down at the nightgown that Mari put on her and she knows that they have seen all her scars. She also knows that he will never again use her the way he did when she was unscarred and untouched. She has to try though. "Milord, please, I know that I am not much to look at, but will you please fuck me? I don't care how you want it, but I ask you to please fuck me."

"Rose, why do you need this? To me you are so much more than a whore. Rose, if I have my way, you will never have to spread your legs for another man as long as you live. Now come back and lay down. Let me take care of you." He is stunned when he sees tears in her eyes but quickly she turns her face from him so he will not see the devastation that his words have brought her.

"Milord, please, I know that I am worth nothing. Please, if you will not let me go back to the tavern, at least let me find some employment someplace else. Otherwise I will have to go back to the docks, and to be honest, I can do it, but looking like I do I will not be able to get enough to support myself. No one wants a whore that is scarred up like I am."

Frustration tinges his voice finally. "Rose, you are not going to be a whore anymore. From now on, I want you to be my wife! That morning after the auction, I was going to ask you, no BEG you to become my wife, but you had already left." She feels his emotions washing over her, but she interprets them as guilt instead of the love that they are. "Please, Rose, please say that you will stay with me."

Finally she sits down on the edge of the bed. "I will stay with you. I will never be good enough for any other man, and you already have seen my scars." There is defeat in her voice. "I will be a maid or some other servant in your house though. I know it is just guilt that makes you say that you want to marry me. If I am a servant in your house, then you can still use my body when you choose, and I cannot say no. Also, if you choose to share me with your friends, I cannot say no then either, because you own me."

Suddenly he cracks. His anger over finding her in the condition that she was in, and her words about being worthless finally bring his anger to the surface. Jumping up off the bed he grabs her and throws her onto the bed. "Is this what you want?" Roughly he opens his trousers and lets his manhood out. "You want me to be your master? Then get on your hands and knees! NOW!" Immediately she obeys him. When he pulls up the back of her nightgown he sees again the scars that are crisscrossing her body, but by now his anger is to far gone. It is only when he grabs her hips to pull her back onto him that he feels her bones and realizes how skeletal she had actually become. Immediately his anger leaves him. Pulling the nightgown back in place he straightens his own clothing and walks to the other side of the room. Without looking at her he leans against the door that goes to his bedroom. "Rose, why did you push me like that? Is that really what you want? To just have your body used?"

When she doesn't answer he looks over at her and sees that she is sitting on the side of the bed and there are tears running down her face, but she is making no sounds. Walking back over to her he gently takes her in his arms and just holds her as she cries. When she looks up at him she does not see the judgment that she figured she would.

With a sigh she finally gets out of his arms and goes over to the bedside table. Picking up the bowl of broth she slowly drinks some of it down. Taking a deep breath, because she knows that if she doesn't try to get it all down he will not let her leave this room, she tries again and gets a little more down. On the third try, however, her stomach rebels at having so much in it and tries to heave it all back up. Quickly, Lord Cumberland grabs a bucket and she heaves it all back into it. Taking the bowl back up she tries to drink it again, but this time he takes it from her.

"We will work on getting you eating more over the next few days. Just take a little bit for now." After she takes a little sip he puts the bowl back on the table. "Good. Now come back here, take off your nightgown and lay down on the bed." Not knowing what he is going to do, she follows his instructions. Before he lays down with her he gets out of his own clothing. "Rose, I do want you to stay with me, but not unless you want to. I also do want to marry you, but not out of guilt or any other emotion except that I love you." He gathers her up in his arms. "Rose, please, just stay with me for a while. Just lie next to me, please. Nothing has to happen." Gathering her close to him he feels again the thinness of her body and tries not to react to it. "Rose, just please, go to sleep." Feeling the thinness of her form brings back all the feelings of guilt that he has battled with for the last six months while he was looking for her. Finally he comes to terms with the fact that this skeletal form in his arms, that is so different from the warm, softly formed women that he knew, is his responsibility. Realizing that she is cold to the touch he gathers her close in his arms, trying to give her some of the heat from his own body.

By the time that Mari comes in the room to check on them Rose has snuggled back into Lord Cumberland's arms again and fallen back to sleep. When she looks at Lord Cumberland she can see that he has had quite a morning already. She sees that neither of them are wearing any clothing, but she knows that he would not have done anything to Rose during the night. Slowly she goes back out of the room to give them both the privacy that they need.

By mid morning Lord Cumberland and Rose come downstairs and find Mari in the morning room working on a sampler that is turning out surprisingly well. Looking up at them Mari can see that there has been no decision made as to whether or not Rose is going to stay with them. By the look of Rose's face she can tell that something has happened to her to completely break her spirit. Getting up and coming over to her she gives Rose a hug.

"Little Sister, I am so glad that you are here. Now we can take care of you and get you well again, then we will get you all set up in your own place. I know that Jeremy has been over there a couple of times looking it over and figuring out how to make it a profitable house of pleasure. If you choose to, I know that he has it all figured out, but if you would like to open it up and live there I think that would also be an option, wouldn't it?" With an almost unconcerned attitude, Rose just gives her a small smile and goes to sit down by the fire. Confused, Mari looks over at Jeremy but doesn't say anything. With a small shake of his head he tells Mari not to say anything.

Jeremy goes over and sits down by Rose. "Rose, My Dear, will you please take a bite to eat? If you just take a bite every now and then, maybe you could actually gain some ability to eat."

With an attitude that says she doesn't care she takes a little bite of the sweetened pastry that was brought for her and a tiny sip of the milk that was brought out for her as well. With eyes that are more dead than alive Rose looks around the room until she sees Jeremy sitting nearby, drinking a cup of tea and looking very much like an aristocrat should. With a cry she bolts up out of the chair and runs out of the room followed closely by Mari who tells Jeremy to just stay put for this time.

When Mari finds Rose huddled against the corner of the hedge she realizes that something else is going on besides what she has told them. Crouching down by her Mari gently pulls her hands from her face. Rose's eyes are closed for a moment, but when she opens them Mari sees something new in them: Resolution.

"Rose, what is it? What is going on?"

If Rose knew that Jeremy was nearby listening she probably wouldn't have opened up to Mari the way that she did. She tells Mari that when she was young there was a marriage contract for her an a young man in a neighboring house, but when she went to meet him he was arrogant and wanted nothing to do with her. Because of him telling his parents that he wanted to break the contract her parents could not get another contract for her before they were killed. Before they were killed, they sent her to the convent. After they were killed, her brother came to the convent and told the nuns that they could do with her what they wished because he could not afford to continue to pay her fees. The Mother Superior told her that since she had no dowry that she would never be able to become a nun and she would only ever be a servant.

When the word came of her brother's death she was sent home to shut up the family house. After looking at the books that were at the house, she discovered that the estate was without any funds. Making a decision to help the estate she had gone out to try and find the house of the neighbor boy that she had been contracted with to see if she could possibly become a servant in his house. That was when the snowstorm hit.

"Rose, what was the name of the young man that you had been contracted to?"

Stepping out from where he had been listening, Jeremy answers for her. "His name was Jeremiah Cumberland." Both of the ladies look up at him in astonishment. "Mary Elizabeth, is it really you?" Rose nods her head. "This is going to make everything easier." With those words he refuses to answer any questions until almost a month later.

He surprises both women by telling them that he is going to be giving a ball. Before the day arrives though Rose goes to the library where Jeremy is spending most of his time.

After a short verbal exchange she finds herself on her knees over the divan in front of the fireplace. For the first time since he found her in the tavern he makes sure that she is ready by pressing two fingers into her ass and moving them around before he pulls them out and presses his cock into her deep. Feeling the tightness around himself he knows that he will not last long and he starts pulling out only to push back into her harder that the last time. Finally he pulls her hips hard to him and unloads his entire load into her ass. Pulling her up against him he supports her body as he rests his head on her shoulder. "Rose, I have missed you."

Looking over her shoulder at him she smiles a sassy smile at him. "Milord, I have missed you too." With a playful growl he pulls her down to the floor and spends the next few minutes tickling her until she can't breathe because of laughing so hard.

By the time that she runs up the stairs to her room her hair is mussed and her dress is skewed but she is smiling like she hasn't since she was found in the tavern. Mari, who is waiting to help her change her clothes and get ready for the guests that Jeremy is expecting, knows that he finally fucked her and that is why she is smiling again.

When Rose meets the two elderly people that are in the drawing room she immediately recognizes them as her grandparents. Jeremy tells them a story that he had come up with so that she would still be respectable and not an outcast as she would be if it came out that she had been a whore. They accept the story and welcome her back into the family.

On the night of the ball Jeremy introduces her as Mary Elizabeth and again tells the story of her kidnapping and subsequent life as a servant to a border lord and her brave escape which lead to her taking a spill off the horse that she had stolen and her losing her memory until he found her in the tavern. Surprisingly, everyone accepted the story.

"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you the lady that is behind the reason that I never married. When we were children there was a contract between our families. Now I can fulfill that contract. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce my soon to be wife, Mary Elizabeth Rosemary Johnston." Amid the cheers and well wishes he brings her to the center of the dance floor and proceeds to open the dancing with her.

After the last guest has left he grabs he up and places her on the nearest table. Pushing her dress up and freeing himself he looks up at her and when she nods her head he presses two fingers up into her and finds that she is already very wet. Pulling them out he slams himself into her and rams himself up into her only a few times before he cums deep inside her.

Pulling out he gathers her up and as he is carrying her upstairs he realizes that his feeling of contentment is back and it is all because of her. "My Dear, welcome home."