HELD CAPTIVE BY A ROGUE

Chapter Six

Several days had past and Kathryn settled into a daily routine of getting up early and helping Emma prepare breakfast for the household. She would start by setting the table each morning in the dining room where his lordship would normally take all his meals.

The first day, Emma was about to pull her hair out for Kathryn had no idea how to go about preparing any kind of meal what so ever. Finally, she had found something she could do and that was to set a proper table. Emma would just grit her teeth every time Kathryn broke something.

"Lordy child, haven't you ever done any kind of work before?" She would exclaim, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. Christopher also had noticed that she seemed so incompetent where work was concerned. The first morning she had served him his breakfast, he was seated at the head of the table and watched with genuine amusement as Kathryn struggled to carry the heavily laden tray to the table. But when she tried to set the hot plate of ham and eggs in front of him, she lost her hold and dumped the entire tray of hot food in his lap.

"Damn it to hell, woman!" He bellowed furiously and jumped up quickly from the table. "What's wrong with you? Can't you even hold onto a tray?" He yelled incredibly as the hot food slowly dripped off his breeches. "Look what you've done to me! Now I'll have to go change my clothes again," he said, cursing under his breath again.

Kathryn stood there staring in horror, not believing what she had just done. Tears instantly came flooding down her face as she ran out of the dining room, straight up to her bed chamber. She threw herself across the bed wondering why she couldn't do anything to please him. She could still hear him in the adjoining room cursing her out for being such a clumsy oaf. I'll just have to try harder that's all! She vowed determinedly, to herself.

Every day Kathryn improved under the firm guidance of Emma and learned the basic duties of running a household. She didn't dump any more plates in his lordship's lap, but he watched her very carefully though whenever she was serving him.

"Do you have to wear that same old blue and white flowered dress? Or is it you've grown such a liking for it, you must wear it every day!" He taunted her, his voice thick with sarcasm.

Inflamed by his remark, Kathryn glared back at him. "Sir, the reason I wear this same old dress every day is because it is the only one I have!" She spat.

A concerned frown crossed his brow for he suddenly realized he had brought her here against her will and without any kind of wardrobe what-so-ever. "My apologies, madam. I'll see to it that you are provided with adequate clothing from now on."

"Thank you for your kindness, sir but I do want to work off the cost of the clothes!" She said proudly, not wanting to accept anything from this arrogant Marquis.

"Kindness! I'm not doing this out of kindness, madam. I'm just sick to death of seeing you in that old rag every day!" He retorted, feeling offended that she wouldn't accept his generous offer.

Kathryn hadn't seen the Marquis the rest of the day so she quickly finished up her chores and retired to her room. She changed her clothes and climbed slowly into bed to read a book on poetry his lordship had allowed her to borrow from his library. Finally, her eyes grew heavy so she laid the book down and dozed off to sleep.

Christopher was in a deep sleep when he was suddenly awaken by loud screams coming from the next room. Quickly he donned his breeches and went flying through the adjoining door to see what was amiss.

Kathryn's body was thrashing from one side of the bed to the other as she clawed at the air. Tears were running down her pale face and she was screaming for someone to release her. "No, no please Constable Hawk... don't take me away. I don't want to hang! Please ...."