Free Goodly Creatures: A Pride and Prejudice Deviation by Beth Massey Page A

an avenue of escape in this room that had not been explored. She ran to the hall door and turned the handle…it too was locked. Her breathing became erratic and her knees felt weak. She feared she was about to collapse.
    A horrifying thought streaked through her foggy mind. For the first time, she became aware of what would happen if he ripped her gown. Now that she was convinced there was no escape, she quickly changed her tactics. Her new priority became making sure no one learned of her violation. Her goal was to leave this place without the Darcys’ staff noticing anything untoward. In addition, she also wanted to keep from having to explain a ruined frock to her aunt, and that meant keeping him from forcibly removing it.
    Before acquiescing, she tried one last ploy. “Please sir, I do not want to remove my clothes. My body is not pleasing. My mother complains that I have not become womanly yet, and she fears no man will want me.”
    “What do mothers know? Oh no, little one, I like you this way. You are most pleasing to me. I think I might enjoy disrobing you myself.” With that he walked over to her.
    Elizabeth wished he would stop smiling and showing those teeth. Instead of thinking it the most beautiful smile she had ever seen… all that came to mind was the picture of the big bad wolf in the storybook. She pushed the image from her mind and said, “I will help with the buttons.” She quickly unbuttoned her gown, stepped out of it and carefully placed it on a chair. Standing before him shivering in her chemise, she prayed.
    He had gone back to his chair, port and pipe. With a leer, he said, “Do you want me to help you with the rest?”
    She shook her head in refusal and with bowed head proceeded to remove the rest of her clothing. Raising her head, she observed the look he gave her and heard the words he spoke to describe her when she was naked. Nothing she had ever read prepared her for this humiliation. She closed her eyes and turned from prayer to thinking about anything but her here and now. She thought of dawn on Oakham Mount. She thought of Jane… oh, how she wished she were at Longbourn with Jane.
    “The time has come, Elizabeth, “Lord Wolfbridge said, “to move on to other things.”
    The impropriety of his using her first name registered and she choked back an hysterical laugh. What a ridiculous thing to think of at a time like this. She would allow him to call her anything… or say anything about her if she could just stop him from doing what he was about to do.
    The minute he put his hand around her arm again and started dragging her, Elizabeth receded once more into memories of her life in Hertfordshire. She thought of her childhood…Tom, Jane, Charlotte and Becky…walking the fields …making flower wreaths…Tom teaching her to climb trees while Jane, Charlotte and Becky looked on in horror because they were sure she would fall. She remembered their teasing because she was afraid of horses.
    When he was finished with her, she was unaware of exactly what he had done. Her eyes had remained closed throughout her ordeal and she had desperately tried to stay focused on pleasant images. She had felt pain occasionally and let out involuntary cries and moans. Somehow she had been conscious the sounds she made were pleasing to him.
    After it was over, she lay perfectly still for quite some time. Upon hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, she realized he was gone. Finally she screwed up her courage and walked to the door to the hall and tried the handle. It was unlocked. With disgust, she realized she smelled of him. There were blood stains on the bed linens, and she could also see blood and something sticky on her thighs. Her desire to search for water to wash was overridden by the fear he or Anne would return. Instead she quickly dressed and tried as best she could to tidy her hair.
    Downstairs, she asked for her cloak and was also given the basket in which she had brought Anne’s