Chapter four

'Labour?', She asked clearly confused

'Yes', he curtly said as they were now strolling back to the grass fields of Bainbridge. The buckets, still on his hands as he made it seem so easy and effortless

She gave a frown, 'Why Labour?',

'You do want to see what's across that Bridge, don't you?', he quirked

'Yes I do', she said

'Then why question my conditions. Sounds like you're determination was feigned—',

'No— No it wasn't, why would you say that',

'Well it's not there now, is it?', He scowled

'It is, as soon as you take me across that Bridge and back, I'll begin to work',

'I think you should have that the other way around', He drawled as his lips twisted.

'You mean—',

'I mean, work starts tomorrow at 5:00 AM. Meet me at the horse stables', Was his sharp response as he settled the buckets next to a polished wooden door.

'5:00 AM?',

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Day had dawned and Jane was ready for a tailspin of adventure. As a refined English lady, she didn't own many outfits fit for work, that's how discriminated woman were, even though the whole of England was governed by a queen. Staring warily at her blue velvet gown, which temperature was still up in the seventies, she really had no other choice. It was the simplest dress she'd had.

'Good morning—',

'You're late', he abruptly interrupted her grim greetings, 'I said 5:00 AM, this is 5:16', he cautioned.

The firey protest died on her lips as she recalled she asked for this, wanted this, 'Well I'm sorry Demetrius',

'And what in the world are you wearing', he quirked

'You know, I realize I asked for this, but you don't have to be so impossible Demetrius', She gave a frown. He wasn't even listening, 'Oh I believe I'm not speaking to a rubber stamp, now am I', She snapped

'I don't think I'm the rubber stamp here Jane, I'm getting work done and you? What are you doing, looking so damn attractive in that gown of yours', He ottered drily.

Jane felt a sharp throbbing of her heart to her chest, she did not know why it'd happened but it did, 'I—er—would like to get work done if you'd told me what to do already', she dismissed her quick response to his averted compliment by protesting.

His lips twisted into a formidable smile, 'I don't think you're getting any work done in that petite dress', He said as he tapped on the back of the Shire horse. A British breed of draught horse, in shades of bay.

'What do you expect Demetrius, discrimination has come this far to my choice of clothing, now what kind of clothes do you think an English woman such as myself would own, aside from her Gowns and Crosets', she defended waspishly

'Well an English woman such as yourself, is not supposed to be getting their fingernails all dirty with men's work like this. The only thing you should be doing is arranging your shoes and dresses in matching colours',

She gave a stare of reproach, 'That was unnecessarily cruel Demetrius',

'As unnecessary as your attempt to work is?', his lips twisted but she didn't reciprocate

'Your assumptions about me are very bitter Demetrius, I assure you never to underestimate me', she ground out

'I don't underestimate you, Now why would I underestimate a person with a figure like Ralph's Wrench?', his comment was abrupt and not relating to their previous conversation. Jane was surprised by the sudden change of subject

'We should get started, don't you think?', she bit out

'It seems almost impossible for you to accept a compliment Lady Winston', he said drily

'It's Jane, Demetrius. And you should know I do not accept Subtle Compliments at all', she scowled icily

'Not a fan of subtilty, I see', he feigned astonished.

'As a matter of fact, I'm a very crude in my own special way', she said

'Well I wouldn't mind being your opposite, I'm not artless at all. Subtilty is one of my, spectacular features', he beseeched

'Then we would get along very well, you know what they say, opposite poles attract', she said in a very cool tone and was taken aback when she heard no response, just an abrupt chuckle and that was it.

Horse grooming was not as easy as Jane had expected it to be. Giving the horse hygiene care was as difficult as it looked. Especially when she was put on horse dung duty. Considering the fact that her gown had torn about six times now and she was covered in horse manure from below, she realized Demetrius was right indeed, woman weren't made to do this kind of job. But then she was well willing to prove him wrong. She could see the twisting of his lips each time she'd stepped in the manure, popped a stitch of her gown and literally broke a fingernail. He promised to get her cleaned up before they begun work. She grimaced, realizing they hadn't even started anything.

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'How experienced are you in cooking', he asked as they headed back to the Winston's mansion

'Why do you ask', she frowned

'Well, I'm guessing you've been told that I'm your family's head buckler, therefore I oversee many of the household responsibilities. I want you on kitchen duty today', he chided

Jane's brow creased at that idea, cooking was never one of her best qualities, she'd never had to cook her whole life, even in the United States, she'd had a stay-in householder that kept her in the right state. She'd had no idea how this would turn out to be, 'Can't I attend to something else De—', her words were cut short by the rich ground of his laughter

'Are you saying you're inexperienced in the kitchen', he said

'I didn't say that, I just wish to do something else', she protested

'Well I don't wish to grant you that wish Lady Wins—er— I mean Jane. Then you go ahead nagging on about discrimination when you discriminate yourself', he caught her off guard

She wanted to say something, she really did but she could not anticipate the motioning of her lips to bring out the words she'd wished to otter. Her silence had told Demetrius that she had nothing to say to defend herself.

They'd waltzed into the mansion and for the first time in her life, she'd come to see the servants quarters. It was kept neat and tidy, it had an odd feel of orange and it looked much bigger from the inside.

'I thought I was on kitchen duty', she snapped provocatingly

'You still are Jane, but as I've said before, you do not work in princess gowns like that', he rasped referring to her clothing, 'You get changed and then into the kitchen you go', he said tersely

'Change? into what!', she queried

His smuged look had told her he wasn't in the mood to hear her speak so she kept silent and followed him into a small branch of the Servants quarters.

There she was handed a plain white shirt with a pair of denims, a defrunte foot wear and—

She felt her mouth run dry when she discovers Demetrius's attempt at loosening the top buttons on his play shirt. Scarlett faced with mortification, she turned around quickly, 'What are you doing', she demanded

'The question is what are you?', he said, 'I told you to get dressed not to blush', he added grimly

'Well I most certainly can't do that with you in the room', She snapped

There was absolute silence, before she decided to turn around. An exposed chest was up close to her causing her to catch her breathe. With broad, wide shoulders and gorgeously tanned play of muscles, his chest had revoked her to burn bright red. But it had to be the temperature of the enclosed room, because she never blushed, she told herself. He came closer until the awkwardness stood still and so did she, leaning back each time he took a step forward.

Flicking her head sideways, she conjured a whistle and looked away waiting for him to leave, his erotic presence becoming very aware to her. What was he doing, what was he thinking, her thoughts were exploding but she could only play it cool infront of him, his nostrils releasing hot air against her lips, she couldn't let this happen, no it wasn't right. She'd be betraying herself by falling prey to a man. She'd never been faint hearted and she wasn't about to start now.

'Behind you', his husky voice cut through her hurricane of thoughts, she couldn't anticipate anything before she heard again, 'Behind you', he rasped tersely again. Oh goodness, what was she thinking. She'd arched her body away from his immediately and then saw him taking a plain white from a closet, which was behind her!

Now she was burning, blazing red.

'A penny for your thought, Jane. Oh my, I have no idea why you're burning red right now. Was that your first time being sexually aroused', he asked as she burned even brighter

Was that it, arousal. She'd heard about it but had never known about it like she'd just did.

'Well I'm guessing I wouldn't know', she unconsciously revealed her own innocence, although she wouldn't have cared if she had realised; she never wore her virginity and guileless like a talisman, but neither was she ashamed of it. When the time and man were right, she knew she wouldn't give two thoughts of her innocence.

'Still inexperienced and non primitive, respect Jane', he said grimly. She didn't know if that was a compliment or not. But what she did know was that she would try to avoid every emotion she'd come across during her encounter with Demetrius. It would be very hypocritical of her to have refused a marriage proposal and then fall in love with another.

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