"Hurry up!" his growl reverberated throughout the bed chamber.
She rushed up to him, book in hand, her small satin slippered feet scurrying up the steps that led to the huge, ancient bed in the center of the dark stuffy bedroom. Sitting upon the edge, she lifted the book, showing him the front of it and waiting quietly.
"Go on!" he growled, his temper foul.
"Once upon a time," she began opening the old book, for that is how all good fairytales begin here and everywhere in the world. "There was a girl born on the edge of a small village of poor people..."
****
Marissa was a beautiful girl, full of love and laughter, and always a kind word to say to any who needed it. She lived with her parents, her father a slightly bewildered farmer whose crops never amounted to much more than what the family needed.
Her mother, once a carefree woman, took in mending and made clothing for the family's more affluent neighbors to help make ends meet.
When it became known that the big manor house outside of the village was being cleaned out, that an owner had been found and would be moving to the country for health reasons, her mother sent her to inquire about work, Marissa was old enough to be a maid.
She dressed in her nicest dress, a muted green that made her hazel eyes shine with gray green flecks and brought out the gold in her blonde hair. She pulled her long tresses back from her face, catching it up in a tail at her nape that fell to the small of her back. She'd blossomed into a beauty in the last days of her eighteenth year, her figure filling out the bodice of the dress nicely, leaving small mounds of flesh to draw the eye. Her hips were slender but ripe, her buttocks pleasing to watch as she walked to the manor house and rang the bell.
"Yes, miss?" said the older gentleman who opened the door. He was thin to the point of leanness, his head bare of hair except for the tiniest bit at his ears. His arms seemed almost too long for his body and his nose filled his face overly much making him one of the homeliest men she'd ever seen.
"My name is Marissa, sir. Marissa Turner. I come from the village seeking employment." Her voice was breathless from nerves, her cheeks were burning and she knew they must be bright red.
The gentleman opened the door wider, ushering her into the foyer of the huge manor which was still full of cobwebs and dust. "My name is Jeffrey, Miss Turner. I will let the master know that you be wishing to work here." He turned, hesitated a moment and turned back toward her.
"The master is a sick man, Miss Turner. His illness has taken a toll not only upon his body but upon his manners as well. He isn't...an easy man to be around. But he is a good man and a fair master most of the time." His ears turned red and he stammered out the order to stay put, as if he were embarrassed by what he'd just said.
He was back before she could get even more nervous, waving her ahead of him, guiding her to a room at the back of the manor house. "He will see you, Miss, but I must warn you. Today is not one of his better days. Do not be offended by anything he says. He's not himself."
Marissa nodded. "Thank you, Jeffrey," she said, bobbing him a small curtsey and taking a deep breath as he opened the door and waved her in.
She entered the room. It had once been a grand library, with shelves over all the walls that were now empty of books and covered with dust. A fire roared in the fireplace sending a wisp of smoke back into the room and causing her to cough lightly as she looked around.
"Well," a voice roared from the shadows. "What are you waiting for?"
"Sir?" she asked, her hand rising to her throat as nerves tried to overtake her.
"You want something...Spit it out girl."
"A...A job sir, that is all that I want," she said, speaking up loud enough for him to hear. "I will work hard for you if you will but hire me."
"Undress," he growled from his hidden corner.
"But..."
"Do you want the job or not, girl? Undress or be gone."
Marissa stood indecisive. Her mother had told her to not return home without the maid's job. But to undress in front of a strange man, could she do such a thing? Her hand rose to the buttons on the front of her gown, her face and chest burning with embarrassment.
She heard the rustle of material shifting as she slowly pushed the small disk through its hole, staring everywhere but the corner where she could just make out the darker shape of a man. The second small button was undone before she could think and then the third, showing a goodly amount of dark cleavage between her lush and bountiful breasts.
She was on the fourth when her fingers faltered and her hand fisted, holding the two sides of material together. Her chin dropped and she stared at the floor, unable to even glance at the figure in the corner.
She heard his growl, low and menacing, a beast that was denied its feast, and a small cry sprang from her lips before she could stop it.
"You wish for a job, you come in here, looking for money from me. Yet you are unwilling to disrobe for me to decide whether you are worth the price of a fuck?"
His voice started low, growing louder and crueler with every syllable.
A single tear slipped down her now pale cheek. "Sir, I came for the maid's position. I do not even know what a f-fuck is," she said, stammering over the unfamiliar term.
"Come, come! A girl with a face like yours in a village in the middle of nowhere and you have no knowledge of sex? That is unthinkable." He snarled, though it sounded almost as if he were laughing. "Come closer girl."
Marissa closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to step closer though she still refused to look at the form of the master as he stepped into the light.
