Her mother's words rang in Netti's ears as she walked through the field to her neighbor's house. She felt like she was intruding, but her mother had insisted that their landlord would want to get to know her since she came home from college disenchanted.
Her mother insisted that she look entrancing, so she was almost shivering in her lacy crop top, the off-the-shoulder sleeves inadequate in the drizzly weather. Her umbrella could keep off the rain, but not the cold. Her skirt only barely reached her knees -- short and somewhat flirty, meaning that the tall wet grass made her legs cold as well.
This was a stupid idea!
By the time she reached the landlord's luxurious mansion, she was shivering uncontrollably.
Fortunately, the opulent door opened as soon as she rang the bell.
"Get inside!" an elderly man demanded, taking her umbrella. He showed her to an elegant sitting room and withdrew, only to return a few minutes later with a hot drink. "Sip it as you can. You've got to warm up!"
He left her alone again.
Netti tried to stop her teeth chattering as she sipped the drink, a sweetened cocoa. It was too sweet, she thought, but sipped anyway, allowing the delicious warmth to permeate her body.
She heard arguing in the hall, then an irritable man burst into the room. She wondered if this was the landlord her mother was enamored with. He had been so kind to her, she said, yet the man Netti watched come into the room was anything but thrilled!
His gaze met hers and his face softened visibly. "What were you doing walking about in the rain without adequate clothing?" he asked kindly.
"Mother said I should come meet our landlord since I'm back in town for awhile."
He laughed, his eyes sweeping over her hungrily. "She thinks sending you to me will pay the rent, I guess."
"What?!" She gulped the last of the cocoa, ready to go home again.
"Your mother is almost two months behind on rent. So, she thinks she can pay in other ways..."
Netti shook her head, not fully understanding the insinuation.
"Never mind. You've got to get out of those wet clothes and get warming up, since you're done with your cocoa."
"I've met you, I need to go home now," Netti argued, getting up, still shivering.
"Nonsense! If you catch pneumonia and die on the way home, it will be on my conscience forever!" His hand was on her arm as he maneuvered her to another room, one with a large bed. She feared that she was in worse trouble than she'd thought -- though he was very handsome, and kind once his gruffness had evaporated.
